Over 250 mayors from across the country attended the 83rd annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in San Francisco.
The gathering was held June 19-22 and allowed mayors the opportunity to collaborate and share ideas on how to deal with issues within their cities. They also debated and adopted dozens of resolutions that will be submitted to the United States Congress.
Among the delegates was Birmingham Mayor William A. Bell. I asked Bell about his involvement with the conference, some of the policy suggestions he supported, and other issues in Birmingham.
Mayor William A. Bell: I have been a part of the U.S. Conference of Mayors ever since I was elected in 2010. The entire purpose of the organization is to look at ways that mayors can dialogue with each other to find best practices on moving cities forward – also to have influence on legislative activity in the Congress to try to support our efforts to maintain strong cities and strong city centers.
Alex AuBuchon: Tell me a little bit about the policy side. In this particular session, what are some of the resolutions that the conference is going to be proposing?
WB: One particular resolution is of interest to everyone and that's asking Congress to support infrastructure funding, which is so critical to many of our cities.
As you drive around cities all across this nation, you find that our railroads are in great need of support from the standpoint of passenger transportation. You look at our bridges and highway infrastructure, many of those need support. And at a time when cities are under the greatest stress, we find that Congress is cutting funding to many of those programs that we rely upon. So we have to look at other ways of either cutting back or finding other resources to maintain the viability of our cities.
AA: Are there any other resolutions that are pending or that you've been working on that you're particularly excited about?
WB: We've been working on My Brother's Keeper, an initiative to try to find funding to help turn around the image of young men and boys of color, and to give them opportunities to really become part of the positive fabric of our country, to make them productive citizens and not be looked upon by people as a drain on our cities as well as our nation. And that's been part of the effort that I have been working on.
We're also looking at how we can rebuild our communities. For example, in Birmingham we have a program called RISE in which we look at how we can restore the wealth within our property structure within the city, and improve the quality of life within those communities, to start attracting people back to the city center. The U.S. Conference of Mayors is very much interested in that, and we have a number of resolutions of support that are going forward in those areas.
AA: I want to switch now – of course, the big news over the past month or so has been the UAB saga finally concluding with the reinstatement of the football team. I want to get your take on the initial decision to cancel the football program at UAB, and your reaction to the team now being reinstated.
WB: My initial reaction was one of disappointment, because I felt that there was sort of a rush to judgment in terms of a decision that was being made about the football program. If the general public had been given the opportunity, the private sector as well as the governmental sector would step up to really support the program, as being seen by the new support that is coming forward from the private sector and people in government to help with the football program.
I'm grateful that the decision was made after careful thought to reinstate the program. Now, it may be 2017 before they actually field a team, but that's fine because it's going to take time for them to restructure and rebuild the program itself.
AA: I also want to ask about the recent Deontay Wilder fight that occurred on the campus of UAB in Birmingham that really put Birmingham in the national spotlight. How valuable was the exposure in that fight, and is that a sign of things to come for Birmingham?
WB: We work consistently to put Birmingham in a positive light on the national and international basis. The heavyweight fight that came to Birmingham is just one piece of the puzzle to help us do that, and it was a tremendous success.
When it was first announced that we would hold the heavyweight championship fight there, many people were skeptical. Skeptical of whether or not we could pull it off, skeptical of whether or not anyone would come. But as it went forward, it put us in a positive light. We've had some discussions with officials at Showtime about future bouts in Birmingham, and we're just excited about the opportunity. I think that everyone who participated in the event came away with positive feelings about the city of Birmingham and its support of that effort.