Mayors Across America Call for Infrastructure Support

Members of the United States Conference of Mayors from all across the nation gathered at the W New York Hotel on August 14 to demand a new local/federal partnership on the building of public infrastructure.
Mayors Across America Call for Infrastructure Support
Mayors from across the United States surround New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at The United States Conference of Mayors on Thursday August 14th. ((HELENA ZHU/THE EPOCH TIMES))
8/15/2008
Updated:
10/1/2015
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Mayors from across the United States surround New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at The United States Conference of Mayors on Thursday August 14th.  ((HELENA ZHU/THE EPOCH TIMES))

NEW YORK—Members of the United States Conference of Mayors from all across the nation gathered at the W New York Hotel on August 14 to demand a new local/federal partnership on the building of public infrastructure.

Around a dozen mayors, including the Mayor of Miami, and President of the United States Conference of Mayors, Manny Diaz and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, called for improvement of the current transportation system in a way that is efficient and energy-conserving.

After Mayor Diaz’s introduction, Mayor Bloomberg addressed reporters, stating, “We better make infrastructure investment a national priority; it is not something we as mayors can do on our own.”

Following Mayor Bloomberg’s words, Mayors of different cities also gave speeches regarding the issue. All the mayors called in union to put America into action, as they believe that public infrastructure is the base for economic development.

According to a report on water infrastructure released by the mayors, for every dollar invested in public water and sewer infrastructure services, about $8.97 can be added to the national economy.

“Today’s action forum has put the spotlight on the national failure of our infrastructure policy,” said Mayor Bloomberg in a press release. “It’s a failure that has two fundamental causes, the federal government is not investing enough in our infrastructure, and, when it does, it’s not investing wisely. If America is going to remain the world’s economic superpower this must change.”

The mayors are confident that our national budget will be able to cover the costs associated with the long-term plan. They also expressed their hope that the two presidential candidates will support this national project.

When questioned if the country has enough money to build transportation links while fighting a war, Mayor Bloomberg replied, “If we don’t do the infrastructure, we are not going to have the money to keep this world safe, to protect our borders, to pay our teachers and educate our kids, to reduce crime, we have to have our infrastructure or we don’t have a tax base to do anything else.”

Mayor Bloomberg expressed his conviction that Americans will support this idea since the lessons learned from recent high gas prices and that the plan can lead us away from dependency on foreign fossil fuels.
He argued that oil prices are becoming a drag on the economy, and that it is definitely time to find energy alternatives. The proposals from this forum and four other propositions will be presented to the next President of the United States during the first 100 days of the new administration, in hopes of improving the current infrastructure of the nation.