Transcripts For CSPAN3 National League Of Cities 2019 Report 20240714

This is about an hour and 40 minutes. Good morning and welcome to the National League of cities. It is my distinct honor to bring you greetings on behalf of the board and the staff of the National League of cities. We are excited about this presentation this morning, as we discuss the state of cities across the united states. You know, city leaders, whether you are in a city, town or village are uniquely situated. What do i mean by that . In the state of the union you have National Media do you have congress and its all about trying to score partisan points. But, in the state of the city its really talking to constituents, connecting with them about what youve done and about what you are going to do. I will tell you another place where we are uniquely situated. We see our constituents every day in Grocery Stores and in our places of worship and in everyday areas like the ywca and sometimes they just show up at city hall, whether they have an appointment or not because they want to talk to the mayor. Guess what . We talked because that is what mayors and what city leaders do. This year i gave my eight state of the city address. I will tell you, we have gone to doing this as a ted talk because quite honestly it got so long and i got so tired of reading it and they got tired of hearing it. But, at this state of the city, i talked heavily about the financial challenges in our city, not just the challenges but about solutions. I talked about a lot of the same things that mayors talked about throughout the country. I talked about the infrastructure and what we have done on page 32 improve our sewer system. I talked about the challenges we have for vacant and blighted buildings and what we have done to address the challenges. And yes, i talked about not just the financial challenges but laid out a detailed Financial Recovery plan. Because, at the end of the day, our job is to be fiscal stewarts and make sure we have balanced budgets. My state of the city was very similar to states of the city all over the country because, as mayors we find that we all face the challenges around infrastructure and housing and around all of those things that our citizens are so in tune to everyday. Lets hear from some of the mayors across the united states. We have heard the federal government talk about the need to face the infrastructure but no action has been taken. While others talk, Salt Lake City is putting shovels in the ground, laying pipes for our future generations and rebuilding our roads. We are also going to reshape vocational offerings that are high schools so that more students graduate, prepare for good paying jobs and allow them to stay and raise their families right here in the district. The market is growing, the stories are heartbreaking and the pressures they faced will not be believed by legislation alone. When it comes to policing we have to do two things at once, you have to fight Violent Crime and the same time win the trust of communities. We made San Francisco the first city in the country to eliminate punitive wasteful court fines and fees. These fees did nothing more than drive people into poverty or worse, back into prison. We will continue our work to give the next generation opportunities and ending up in the criminal Justice System in the first place. We treasure our healthy environments and now we have an action revolution to protect them as one city. We can get these things done. All it takes is for all of us, in one clear voice to stand up and say yes. Thank you. Here is what we know. Its not just mayors, its councilmembers, its appointed officials, its all city leaders , we know our constituents will accept nothing less. So, to hear about the report please welcome to the stage Christina Mcfarland and anita. Thank you mayor, thank you for being here today. Im happy to be here [ inaudiblestatic ] i need a and i will have a conversation and then we will go right into first some background. [indiscernible low volume] were talking about specific goals and there are strategies subtopics that say for example. Better . Yes. So lets get to it. What are mayors talking about this year. When we look at the top 10 issues in 2019, the mayors Top Priorities are Economic Development, infrastructure and health and Human Services. Economic development and infrastructure has been court issued for mayors since we have been doing this analysis and for much longer than that of course. Weve consistently been top contenders in the list but health and Human Services in particular is one of the most interesting findings in 2019. As we can see, health and Human Services has made a gradual increase over the past couple years. What are the court issues leading to this increase as a major topic for mayors . Thank you for the overview and welcome everybody and thank you for attending our event today. I think its important to talk about what health and Human Services accomplishes and its this wide range of issues from Healthy Living and wellness to active lifestyles, for youth, seniors and everybody in between. Some of the issues we commonly associate with health and Human Services like Mental Health, substance abuse, opioid addiction and, what we are seeing is mayors are really focused on uplift thing parks and recreation in spaces where we can create these for resident. There was a study just released the ranking cities on parks and recreation facilities in dc ranked very well in the report and other cities did as well. When we think of parks and recreation we also think about infrastructure sustainability. What is the context we are seeing for health and Human Services . We normally do think about it as infrastructure and are mayors also talk about it in the way of infrastructure. This year we heard a lot about rules and about Irrigation Systems that they were trying to implement but in terms of health and Human Services is about improving the quality of life for residents through improving forts programs for our youth, installing sports courts, we did see this last year we sought this year for Senior Citizens. Whether its improving developmental play among youth through playgrounds , the mayors are talking about the wide range of issues that hit at improving the quality of life and health and wellbeing of residents and we talked about equitable access to health and recreation as well, so its great to see that in the speeches as well. And other Health Related issue is the old national crisis. Talk to us more about this issue in particular. I know you looked back from when we started tracking opioids in 2016 and noticed significant changes in terms of the way they talked about opioids. Can you talk about that a little bit . Opioids is not new but its becoming more prevalent in the media we are becoming more aware of the devastating impacts of opioid addiction and substance abuse. It started popping up in 2016 and the way that mayors were talking about it is trying to understand what this is and how much of an issue it is in the community, is it happening in my backyard, how do i start dealing with this . They started providing more Immediate Solutions and they started talking about we need to get drug dealers off the streets. So that was the narrative we need to improve Police Forces and fastforward a couple years and its becoming more prevalent so mayors are trying to find longterm solutions in trying to understand that its more than just a drug dealer problem, its more than a Mental Health issue. They are trying to realize that they need to be talking to other parties like social workers, addiction counselors, they really need to involve all the people at the table when they are trying to help our most vulnerable populations. Its pretty incredible to see how quickly, because mayors are on the ground dealing with these issues day in and out how quickly they come to the conclusion about addressing the issue as a longterm problem and really addressing the problem at its root causes. Lets shift gears to infrastructure. Of course, the big news out of dc yesterday was the less than productive conversation and meeting between congressional leaders and the president. But, we will remain hopeful. In the meantime, how are the nations mayors tackling infrastructure, what are their main priorities when we think about infrastructure . As our president the mayor freemanwilson said we know the mayors are closest to the ground and closest to the residence and solving fundamental issues, even mundane issues so the ever problematic pothole came up across many speeches and that mayors are just trying to fix them and provide safe streets for drivers and for commuters and walkers. They also talked about improving safety in other ways like improving Traffic Signals but i was talking to the mayor offline and in her community there doing that as well along with other western cities across western cities. And what we are also seeing if they are installing roundabouts and safety mechanisms so that we can really move our walkers and our communities through these neighborhoods. So some of the mover issues that we noticed between last year and this year is ridesharing and e bikes, e scooters tried to crop up and last year there were only about three mayors that discuss the issues but now there is over 20. Mayors seem to be really focused on if you need to go out for lunch you can get a car and grab a bike or scooter and go out for lunch. So they are really highlighting these Innovative Solutions in their communities. What about the perennial challenges funding and financing infrastructure has not cropped up as well . That has come up and been prevalent over the last couple years. I do a lot of Pension Research and it came up again in that topic area. Last year where our cities are just struggling to pay their unfunded liabilities and licking to higher levels of government to provide support. Okay, life infrastructure, housing is a Core National issue playing out locally and regionally across the country. We can see from the top five subtopics that mayors are primarily approaching the housing issue in terms of housing supply and development. I think this can mean a lot of Different Things depending on how the housing challenges are playing out within cities. What are some of the different ways that they talk about housing supply and development . Housing supply and development that mayors are hyper focused on dividing a mix of Affordable Housing for all the residence, especially low income ones and we are also seeing that in some communities they are improving the abandoned homes like we heard earlier today and they are trying to improve these homes to provide more housing opportunities for middle income household. We are also seeing certain topics like demolitions that are coming up. That is also related to beautifying the communities and offering more opportunities for the residents. What about mover issues, were there some issues this year that were less reveling in years past . Senior housing started cropping up and, i am from annapolis maryland and lisi these assistedliving facilities coming up all over the place and these are great ways that mayors can think forward in terms of the growing Senior Citizen population. We heard in the clip earlier , the mayor talking about tenant protections, the clinical element of the housing strategy and also ensuring that is wrapped up into other issues around housing supply, development and affordability. Its full to hear how the full gamut is playing across the country. Turning to environmental issues, an area where obviously we seen quite a bit of mayoral activism over the past few years, relating to Climate Change in the environment. This topic is ranked in the bottom through the top 10 list over the past few years but have jumped into the top type this year and in addition to acceleration around climate, given the withdrawal from the paris climate agreement we see cities respond to the ban on solid waste and recyclable imports. Have you seen this is related to actions we seen in city speeches . Definitely a big mover has been trash service and waste service. Its a sexy topic this year and it could be because of the china import ban and definitely the restrictions around how much contamination could be present in recyclable materials. But, somebody like me, how can they recycle these things and mayors are making a real priority through tactics like recycling words meant to reduce confusion around how do i do this and where do i put these items. Some mayors are taking this seriously and they are promoting antilitter campaigns and are even arresting folks for illegal dumping. There will be a lot more coming online as strict or bands come into play in 2020. Last but certainly not least, turning to Economic Development, Economic Development has maintained its dominance as the most significant issues for mayors over the past six years. Within Economic Development we see downtown, arts and culture, community, these are features of how cities and mayors are addressing Economic Development in their communities. We have also Seen Movement in terms of business attraction and we know obviously amazon hq team has been in the headlines over the past year. We seen a big drop in the number of mayors talking about Economic Development, business attraction, from 20 last year to 10 this year. Particularly in the midwest we see movement on issues, particularly related to Business Expansion and retention in Small Business development as well as the core element of Economic Development for the core cities. But of course, these days we cannot talk about Economic Development without addressing opportunities. Is have we seen the zones head into the city speeches this year . That yeah that was definitely a big mover for the Economic Development area. This has become a big priority. At the most recent conference, the city summit, the room was packed, standing room only and people are trying to understand what these things are and how we can Leverage Opportunities around Opportunity Zone. In terms of the narrative and how that might be changing over time, because we really dont know much about these unless you think about enterprise zones or financing areas as similar techniques. I imagine that the narrative will change similarly to opioids. Right now mayors are discussing these as we are trying to understand what these are and we want the communities to understand there are potential advantages to these and we need to talk to developers and the right housing authorities and so on. In a few years once we start seeing actual outcomes and successes they will talk about this in a different way. But, right now its just trying to understand and make known to the public that these are here. I also wanted to highlight that there is some intersection an Opportunity Zone and education. For in new jersey, the home of records university, they already had highlighted six tracks as Opportunity Zones. This is meant to improve their research and Development Efforts in the incubator districts. All right. Before we close out, anita, i just wanted to ask you, youve been in the research and in the city speeches for a couple years now, any closing thoughts or anything that surprised you are was interesting this year . Last year i came appear and i talked about gun violence in schools and last year was also a record year for gunfire incidents at schools. We expected to see that this year, we did not see the specific callout but we are seeing that mayors are taking a more holistic approach, trying to improve School Safety and general and also police and Community Relations are ever important as they are trying to Work Together and provide Suicide Prevention and anti shooter campaigns and so on. At this point we will turn it all to you for questions, specific to the read port. There will be an opportunity at the end of the program for q a with the mayors in particular, but if you have questions relating to our findings this year, please go ahead. Please state your name and organization as well. Hello im chris, you mentioned the city level fight against Climate Change and i was just wondering if youve seen an uptick in standing up for speeches and announcing bold plans and massive Emissions Reductions and how has that evolved over the years particularly after we pulled out of paris . Thank you. , you and just around the promises cities are trying to keep around this issue. We did see Solar Power Movement in the topic area and we have seen an uptick over the last few years but generally speaking, mayors are very aware that this is something that is happening and that they need to be paying attention to it and highlighting it to residents. But they are not coming out and actually providing specific commentary like you suggested. Hello. Im a reporter and my question is about infrastructure. So, as infrastructure gets more attention, has that become a bigger topic in the transportation community, im trying to see whether its broken through to the mayoral offices. Yes. Absolutely. Its a big mover and its been prevalent over the last few years, infrastructure providing walkways and accessibility to amenities, waterfronts. I think we also saw a lot of talk about intersection improvements and traffic flow improvements, particularly as it relates to pedestrians. This is another area where parks and recreation was another intersection point because mayors are using these green spaces as ways to improve the health and wellbeing of residents but also want to make sure that residents are able to get to those safely. Im with the International City Council Management association. Mention was made of investments in sewer infrastructure and im wondering what the funding and finance source was and if that was mentioned . It wasnt mentioned as specifically but sometimes we are hearing the mayors talk about improving tax revenue streams, increasing sales taxes and so on but, its not always tied to a specific area. In terms of financing. Any more questions . Okay. If there are no other questions, thank you so much. This year, obviously the analysis has shown an interesting dynamic in emerging issues that we are writing nuance responses to and we see mayors coming to the table with clear plans and actions and strategies for addressing the emerging issues hitting close to home and that not only their city but issues again, Climate Change, infrastructure, that really extend well beyond the city limits and for us to be able to provide an opportunity for the mayors to have one clear, concise voice is an important step. At this point id like to welcome to the stage brooks rainwater, Senior Executive and director for the City Solutions at an lc. You will talk with the panel of mayors and provide voices to the conversation. Thank you. [ singing ] good morning everyone. Thank you chris and anita for the great rundown on research this year. Now we get to get into a portion of the program where we hear directly from the mayors and we hear what they are talking about in their own state of the citys and really get to see the leadership we see all across america emanating from the ground up. So, to get into it i would really like to go ahead and introduce our panel. To my left we have mayor Karen Freemanwilson who is the mayor of gary indiana and president of noc, freemanwilson has served as mayor of her hometown since 2012 when she became the first woman to leave the city of gary and the first African American woman mayor and the city of indiana. To her left is mayor lily may who was sworn in december 2016, fremont californias first woman minority mayor in the 63 year history and was first elected to the Fremont City Council in 2014 and currently serves as cochair of the noc Transportation Technology subcommittee and president of the asianpacific american municipal officials constituency group. We have mayor wayne mess him wont iron as moammar mayor in 2015 and serves on the board of directors in an lc. He announced his campaign to run for the democratic nomination for president in 2020. Van, we will have mayor Muriel Bowser joining us and as many of you know when youre the hometown mayor things come up. She was drawn away and will be here shortly. So, lets get right into it. Starting with you, lets talk about the key issues that you really saw this year in your city, what we you focused on in your state of the city address . You always hear about infrastructure and thought it just so happens that most of the state of the citys comments in february and march and in both climates where you have serious winter, you are right in the midst of potholes forming or impeding progress. So, that is always top of mine. Certainly, you are concerned about the Water Infrastructure and that has really been driven by some of the National Issues that weve seen around water and also local issues. So, that is always an issue. Then, people are consistently concerned about Economic Development. What are you doing to create jobs, what are you doing to ensure, that not only that jobs are created but they are created for local residents, which is something that we have always been focused on. Those are some of the issues that are top of mind and certainly, we heard it talked about in San Francisco and some of the other places. This comes from a variety of perspectives. Certainly, from detection and enforcement and also from prevention because we would rather the people not submit crimes and not be prosecuted and not have to be punished and what better way to do that than to create educational systems that provide opportunities for everyone and what better way to ensure that everyone has access to employment to employment and education. Sure, my apologies. I had my coffee this morning obviously. So. Or not is prone to the exciting things going on and were very innovative city for those of you who dont know fremont, its the fourth largest city by population and second largest by landmass. Being a city that is growing with such change, we are working on a lot of different infrastructure needs. So, everything from being one of the greenest stations at home to one of the largest manufacturing so as we look at 900 manufacturers expanding cleantech to biotech to innovation, we are home to a lot of Disruptive Technologies that you see. We have tesla manufacturing and facebook, we have everything so we are looking at Economic Development and infrastructure and how we expand on the area and implementing technologies to address concerns in our community. Earlier we heard the discussion talking about Greenhouse Gas emissions and the focus of that we as cities are still being smart that even if the federal is going with different policies, we as a city are making the pledge to continue to focus on the areas. So, its everything from looking at infrastructure or housing which i think is a key area that everyone struggles with right now in the nation in terms of affordability and being thoughtful and how we plan to address the needs. One of the struggles is the missing middle and so looking at those types of areas and then finally, Economic Development, i will touch upon that later as we talk about it but we are one of the six cities in Silicon Valley in the Opportunity Zone. So as i look for the type of innovative opportunities, that is key to us. That is why i was out here and pleased to be able to join and to make voices heard for so many in the cities last week for infrastructure week. Its the fact that while some people are taking a pause, we cant just sit there and wait for action to happen. We as mayors, because we hear from communities directly that we have a need to amplify and make sure the citizens voices and concerns are heard and are moving forward as mayors and city leaders to make sure that action is being made as policy or that we Work Together through these cooperative efforts. Good morning everyone. In the city of miramar, when i was elected in 2016, my predecessor would give the state of the city address to the chamber of commerce and was not really inclusive of the entire community. I took it upon myself to make it a community event, really big event and have everyone call of our stakeholders able to convene in the Cultural Center to see exactly where the city is to talk about our accomplishments as well as to identify and showcase what they want for the city and then to end it off by talking about some of the challenges and what are some of the aspirations to address in the challenges. But in terms of the same concentration and focus during my address i talk about Economic Development thats crucial, as a growing city we are a suburban community in the city of miramar, equal distance between Fort Lauderdale and approaching hundred 50,000, the city of miramar has one of the Fastest Growing economies for cities are size for twoyear running and we have more fortune 500 companies from miamidade county. The community is situated between two urban cores and we are redefining ourselves, we are defining ourselves especially it with our growth. First important for communities understand that we recognize that we have grown beyond a Bedroom Community to a player within the state as well as the region because we serve as a gateway to the caribbean and latin america. We focus on Economic Development and infrastructure needs and the key point that we are talking about now is preparing for the economy. Implementing smart city principles in preparing our youth for the skill set coproduce that of come to the cities and one of the challenges i made in my last address was we are the champions in terms of Wonderful Companies that of come to the city but 20 years from now, they will not be our fortune 500 company. Most of them wont. What will we do to remain attractive for whoever will sit at the top in terms of major employers by these innovators that are providing solutions, products and services, not only for our community before the world. They will remain and continue to be attracted to our city. So, i tried to bring all of the Community Together so that everyone has buyin so that they feel they are part of the growth and part of our success we also invite those who see where the shortcomings are to see if we are applying the proper resources for the needs and desires of our community. Thank you all, one thing i saw you all touch on is infrastructure atop priority and so maybe we could talk about the key issues with infrastructure in the community and build better relationships with the federal government. Anything about infrastructure you think about the surface. You think about internet and broadband but then you think about Workforce Development as it relates to infrastructure because, what is infrastructure if you dont have anyone to build it for you. But isnt that the opportunity to create not just employment but opportunities for career development, for growing our communities through both the hard aspect of infrastructure but also the access of infrastructure that allows people to really look at new careers and new opportunities. I think you certainly herded in the report that you heard it from both of the mayors, to talk about the opportunities own play if you will as it relates to infrastructure. We have five and gary and one of them is in an area that is called Buffington Harbor and its an area where once a casino lived but it soon to be moved and they are looking to develop intermodal. Potholes and issues that everyone faces the traffic and timing but also allows us to look at innovative ways so that when were doing the paving and encouraging things like micro mobility, we are creating opportunities for people to have communities doing striping and awareness and at the same time planning for the future as a smart city. We want to be able to implement the technology and as we build opportunities in downtown as we lay the groundworks for the new Development Center next to one of the greenest stations we implement signaling and also broadband and Detection Services that allow us to use Smart Technology to recognize some of the walkers and the traffic in terms of signaling. So, those are some of the things we try to do in terms of innovation. When it comes to infrastructure, i agree on building the workforce and development, its everything from us when we look at our next generation having the maker space and people that utilize Critical Thinking and skills for students and have the workforce that companies are seeking. Also, things like in terms of equity and education and opportunities and back to work programs. The governor wants us to build a lot of housing but for us to be able to address the needs whether its for the City Planners for the workers doing construction, there is a shortage right now, i need so if we want to be able to deliver those its not just enough to have the policy but also include thoughtfulness and planning to ensure we have the workforce needed to help us deliver those. Infrastructure is one of my favorite topics. By trade emma builder, contractor. In fact im a climate conscious contractor and accreditation on Building Council and ive been a part of my professional experience before getting elected into office. I think infrastructure not only will be an investment infrastructure, this would not only be the savior of our cities but be the saviors for the country. When we address infrastructure, we not only solve the challenges of our daytoday lives in terms of how cities in our communities operate but, we also impact directly, indirectly and directly impact Climate Change and Economic Development because to input or to install infrastructure improvements, we are putting people to work and making communities more resilient and everyone knows the state of florida everyone knows its perhaps ground zero for sea level life so many seth order communities have to elevate their streets. We have to fortify our utility systems and currently the city right now the city of miramar is spending over 100 million in infrastructure to improve the water Distribution Systems that we are renovating our Water Treatment plants and the city of miramar has one of the most advanced utility systems in the state of florida and we are now positioning ourselves to be a regional supplier because some of the older utility systems in the region are really catching so to speak because the saltwater intrusion and the coastlines, its really threatening the water source. So when we identify the opportunities to invest in infrastructure and when we make communities more resilient, we are able to apply resources to putting people to work and we ensure that our community has the wherewithal to be sustainable for years to come. That is why infrastructure is so important. Where the federal government can partner with cities is to make Resources Available in terms of how we fund projects. We are not asking washington to completely fund our projects, we want to leverage our own resources with resources that can come from washington. But, because of the gridlock and the differences of opinions and this very partisan climate we are in right now in washington, cities, as stated before, mayors find themselves having to look elsewhere for solutions. The downfall to that is that it is simulates the progress and slows the progress. When we can leverage resources together in a very intentional and specific way, we can quickly address the infrastructure to ensure that we save our communities and save our country. Thank you, mayor that was great. Good morning. Were talking about washington being the challenge and i think where we see the opportunity in real leadership is here in the city. Real washington. Were talking about infrastructure and id love your thoughts on what you see is an infrastructure priority for the people of washington d. C. Thank you for the question and thank you mayor, i was just coming in as the mayor was speaking. We are like a lot of the nation sitters in that people are flocking to the city and have been for the last 10 years. We are 700,000 people in washington now and we have not been this size and 40 years. So, our infrastructure challenges are real. People are living in places they did not live 15 years ago and working in places where we didnt have employment 15 years ago going to restaurants and the like and the strange thing about people is they like nice places to live, parks, food and they want their kids to have great opportunities. So, our challenge is to make sure that we are keeping up with the growth and when i talk about infrastructure, of course we talk about transportation infrastructure. We are blessed in many ways to have a great metro system, but one that is middleage and in need of tlc that we didnt appropriately plan for. Were talking about that. But, we all know what heavy rail means and how much it cost and how hard it is to get going. So, looking at our infrastructure now, we are looking at the capacity we have and how we better use it with bus and other modes of transit. So i will put the transportation discussion to the side because i think and mayor freemanwilsons leadership has been very important for this issue, for an lc, making sure that when we talk about infrastructure, we talk about housing because that has not always been the case and especially our Public Housing infrastructure and Affordable Housing and how we get more of it is the key to cities. Otherwise, you will have the challenge we have become even bigger, other cities also where the growth we all want creates other problems of displacement and that is even more difficult to solve. The infrastructure issue being housing and being a part of it in the National Discussion is key to how we move forward. Speaking of housing as many in the audience know. In the Housing Task Force, i like to hear from all of you about how housing issues from the affordability side is playing out and maybe you could pick us up there mayor . First i want to again i want to thank mayor bowser. Im excited. Every time we got together there was a robust conversation and a section of conversation about housing because its so multifaceted. In gary, our issues are many and the two that i would lift up for the purpose of this discussion, is the issue of really looking for Single Family homes that are newer and that our market rate. Not every community is concerned about market rate housing. A lot of communities are faced with issues of affordability. But, what we find is that we have some young families or individuals with resources who want to live in the city and who want newer housing that is one of the issues, on the other end of the spectrum we deal with the very serious vacant and abandoned housing problem. In fact, the Lincoln Land Institute did a study and placed this among the top 10 cities with percentagewise, vacant and abandoned homes. We are looking at probably 20 to 25 of the Housing Stock vacant and abandoned. So, that means both demolition and reconstruction and it also means repurposed thing. That is where the Dollar House Program came in and that is where, allowing people to simply buy the homes as they are and to give them a specific time to get them up to code, to occupy them and that is not only addressing the housing issues but it addresses the population issue. How are issues in fremont . The Biggest Issue is affordability and we have so many people who want to live in our cities that are finding themselves placed out because of the cost of living. This is a key focus, we have focused our energy in particular on some of the infrastructure near those but the challenge we face is that while we are building the affordability of the housing and 5600 units that we are also focusing on offering different parts of our community with over 500 units of Senior Housing coming in and its important for us as we look at different types of housing. , then also in the past 2 to 3 years weve been permitting specifically to meet on Affordable Housing in almost 1000 units, the most in our citys history and working on that. One of the challenges that we are seeing, not just in our city but other areas is middle age for teachers, first city workers but when we talk about health and quality of life, the commutes that people are facing now, so we are seeing that people go further and further out in terms of finding accessibility. I didnt explain earlier that fremont is in a situation right now where we are between so many cities north of san jose, south of oakland and close to San Francisco, we have traffic traveling through us every day in north, south, east and west and comes together in fremont at times so when it comes to housing we want to make sure we have different types of mix and that we plan ahead in terms of looking at affordable by design looking at things like vast mile in 1st mile so that when we have the houses that are there that they are able to have accessibility and quality of life for the amenities needed , so those are some of the key areas we are working on when it comes to housing but we are doing what we can also, none of the challenges, the state right now is coming up with a lot of ideas in terms of policies and they are good but the job is having balance and weve always been working on them and weve been successful in trying to address Workforce Housing and other types of Housing Units needed within the communities. Theres not enough recognition and thats why were excited to be able to work with an lc. We feel is local leaders its important to echo what we are already doing in terms of building critical infrastructures and not just have state policies that come down to supersede and take over the local feedback and Decision Making because we are the ones that live every day and closest to the communities and the residence in terms of what they feel is the impact and sometimes other state and federal level that they cant realize how the policies impact everyone elses lives. The housing is a really big issue and its more so a supply issue. The demand is so high for housing in general and in fact, last year i was floored when i saw a report in the miami herald that listed miramar as the least affordable city in all of the state of florida. That seems to be a challenge a concept you think would come from a very large urban core like the city of miami or tampa. When we look at miramar as a suburban community, right behind miami and Fort Lauderdale, you wouldnt think we would be in that category. But, when you think about it and look at the situation as a suburban community, it doesnt have a Housing Authority where we were once one of the fastest cities in america, most of the Housing Development has been through market rate development. So, now is a city what we are doing is we are already on adopted codes that have designated some areas of the community as a transit oriented corridor that comes with certain entitlements that encourage a mixeduse development. So, developers can have less barriers in terms of development and property. We are seriously right now with many stakeholders leveraging opportunities owns and city resources and the school board to look at a Major Development opportunity that will intentionally have a certain number of Affordable Housing, Workforce Housing for teachers and combined with market rate housing with private development. Because we have already started to put in the ground, significant infrastructure that will reduce impact fees, developers otherwise would have to pay, this makes our city more attractive to come to, to develop the housing that would be affordable as well as providing units for Workforce Housing. But, florida, south florida specific he has a larger issue. In the state of florida we have what is called the Sadowski Trust Fund which is fees paid during real estate closings that go to a trust. Where those dollars are then applied across the state for developments of Affordable Housing. The state of florida collects almost 400 million in the trust fund every year but, annually the state legislature seeks half of that to go to the general fund. So, since 2009 when it was adopted, nearly 2 million have been swept out of this trust fund. So, if you can imagine 2 billion going towards Affordable Housing in south florida, southwest florida, the panhandle, we would have tens of thousands of Affordable Housing Units Available for floridians. So, working with those authorities that have a higher pay grade then municipalities like state and federal governments, if we all just Work Together so we can ensure that we serve our constituents much better. Can we talk more about what we are seeing here in the district of housing as well as the National Scope of the Housing Task Force . I think what youve heard by listening to my colleagues is that some of the issues are different but all mayors are dealing with housing issues at some level. We have heard mayors who are very concerned about vacancy, we hear mayors who are concerned about homelessness and how you eradicate homelessness and temporary housing and, as youve also heard, we are concerned about having all income levels be able to live in the city. The things that make cities vibrant and it tracks people to cities in the first place is our diversity in the income diversity, racial diversity, background diversity and, the things that we have to be very concerned about, its becoming a city where only the very rich can live because they can afford the market and above and they are driving the market even higher or, only the very poor can have access to subsidized housing. So what about everybody in the middle . We know that cities are vibrant when we can have people of all income levels live in our city. You heard the mayor talk about a concern about the middle and people who have jobs and they may even have good jobs but, they cannot find housing in the cities where they work. We employ in the district 33,000 people, about half of them live within our city limits. We are concerned about our middleclass shrinking. And, we have targeted, or i have, our workers. I know they have great jobs and great benefits and they have stability and, i know that if they live closer to work, not only would it improve their quality of life other likelihood to stay in our employ but it also puts them closer to the people for whom they are providing services which is critical. We have, the council is debating my budget right now. A [ laughter ] fun times. Im lucky because we all want more housing. But, we have different approaches to getting there. So, that is what we are debating now. I was encouraged, one of our colleagues in San Francisco and in your neck of the woods, they put forward a 20 million Workforce Housing initiative idea. We have a 20 million Workforce Housing initiative and, the debate in our city again, its me and 13 councilmembers. We are very close ideologically but there is still a debate over where, if the city should encourage the production of housing for people who have jobs and are middle income. They may even have incomes that you think theres no way they should be involved in supplying housing and yet still these people are finding it difficult to find housing in the city where they work. Thats a debate that i think that we will continue to have because we want to have a city where people in every income strata can have a shot. Another issue we saw a lot of movement in was immigration but a different conversation happening in cities compared to what we see at the National Level almost what was our communities welcoming immigrants and talking how immigrants make cities thrive so i wanted to hear from all of you what you were saying with immigration in your committees and how you approach that is an issue . So, in gary, indiana we have a small immigrant population. At the same time, we are welcoming community and we were very intentional in promoting this ordinance in asking the council to pass the ordinance because we understood the fact that it was important to send a message about the whole discourse on immigration and the lack of policy that addresses immigration and places that may be even closer to the issue