National League of Cities: 2015 Annual Report > The Year of Connecting

There was an article in Mesa Independent today Mesa City Council members appointed to National League of Cities committees, . . . here's long-time public servant Dennis Kavanagh addressing consequences in immigration and public safety, urging people to put aside partisan rhetoric for immigration reform. It's worth a look-and-listen to a short 04:02 You Tube video uploaded on January 24, 2013  [it's had only 78 views as of today]
Yours truly was curious if all the numerous recent appointments made in announcements from the National League of Cities starting off on November 7, 2015 to the leadership board and board of directors had gone from the top national level to local-level city elected officials committee appointments to improve the governance structure of the organization that was subject to complaint.

At the same time, all these new top-to-bottom appointments are targeted at raising the profiles and capacity of city leaders while increasing diversity and growing NLC's membership.
Let me digress just a little bit before getting back to Dennis Kavanagh who will be retiring after many years of distinguished service.
All the appointments were made after newly-elected President Melodie Colbert-Kean [seen in the image to the right],  Missouri's first female African American mayor and the first African American mayor of Joplin, assumed the office to lead the organization for a one-year term.

She succeeds Ralph Becker, former Democratic mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah who was defeated in his re-election campaign.
It was reported on November 13, 2015 that The Utah Attorney General’s Office has concluded its investigation into Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker’s re-election campaign.
In a statement the attorney general’s office said it had a panel review a claim that Becker’s re-election campaign had been involved in improperly collecting primary election ballots. Ultimately, the attorney general’s office said it was declining to take action.
A campaign spokesman said that their sole intent was to increase voter participation and engagement. Going forward, those involved remain committed to encouraging and facilitating participation in the political process and will continue to do so within the confines of the law.”

It's a  big shake-up in Salt City politics. Salt Lake City made history by electing Utah's first gay mayor, Jackie Biskupski, seen in the image to the right. Both candidates were endorsed by  
She served for 13 years in the Utah House of Representatives, first elected in 1998 despite an avalanche of hateful personal and anti-gay attacks. As with many gay politicians, part of her achievement was that her sexual orientation was not a central issue in the mayoral campaign. Biskupski’s opponent, incumbent Ralph Becker, has also been a staunch LGBT ally—notably, the advocacy group Equality Utah endorsed both candidates in the race.

Mesa City Councilmember and Vice-mayor Dennis Kavanagh was part of a playlist for
Local Officials Speak Out on Immigration Reform
America's immigration system is failing our cities and our economic future. In this video series, local leaders speak out on the importance of immigration reform for public safety, economic development, tourism, and job growth. The National League of Cities supports the passage of a strong, comprehensive immigration bill that includes resources for cities to integrate immigrants into their communities and provide the services necessary for stable neighborhoods.

Three years later .... nothing.

So, how effective is the National League of Cities? 

Immigration reform is still at the center of attention with the looming mass deportation of children and families from Central America and Mexico [some in Mesa] and complicated by the recent so-called "migrant crisis" from Central Asia into Europe. Surely both complex and contentious issues.
Let's put that aside right now to take a look at the NLC 2015 Annual Report whose legislative goals were closing the online sales tax loophole, investing in local transport, and protecting municipal bonds - a mixed bag of priorities. Set aside also the online sales tax issue.
Locally, both Congressman Salmon and Congress woman Krysten Sinema voted against transportation funding in the big year-end federal budget that was approved by both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

On December 4, 2015 the National League of Cities published this press release:
Cities Applaud Congress on Passage of First Long-Term Transportation Bill in a Decade
Image to the right of Barbara Boxer D-California, ranking member of Environment & Public Works Committee

On December 22, 2015 the National League of Cities posted another press release
Cities Nationwide Join Litigation to Support Implementation of EPA Clean Power Plan
Great, right? Another "plan", with litigation to "support implementation for clean power" when both the AZ Department of Environmental Quality [ADEQ] and Maricopa County issued High Pollution Advisories for dirty and unhealthy air - dangerous to health - for the last year of 2015 and the first year of 2016.
The source = emissions from burning petrochemicals and fossil fuels that are responsible for over 90% of pollution [prohibiting wood-burning in fireplaces is way off stopping that problem]
One can at least hope that the Mesa Councilmembers now serving on committees will start raising and making their voices heard to do more than influence policy in Washington.



Back here in Mesa - that brings us to protecting municipal bonds. Readers can see an infographic to the right for the $256.9 million dollars from bonds by project category here in Mesa to the right [all images used here are from http://www.mesaaz.gov/about-us/city-projects/capital-improvement-programs]

Water and waste water account for more than 50%. Funds for parks have been slashed ... sales-tax revenues are down.
We want to find out more about the correct status of city finance in general, so going again to the National League of Cities website there is a resource City Finance Information Page . According to the page Here you will find links to the most recent NLC research reports other material relating to city finances. Looks promising but please notice Recent Commentary and Reports stopped way back on March 9, 2012.

Floating municipal bonds is debt owed by the city,  a potential issue here in Mesa where the average citizen may not recognize or know each of us has a per capita debt of $4,530 from taxpayer-approved obligations incurred during the administrations of Scott Smith and John Giles.
The image to the right shows the locations of Capital Improvement Projects - notice the big brown square in northeast Mesa.
Readers can access specific information from the link included above.

That figure is from FY14 reports from AZ Department of Revenue from a year ago [figure cited of $3,691 on budget on City of Mesa website has not been updated since FY13]. Furthermore, and again from AZDR for FY14 bonding reports, new debt in Maricopa County increased by a whopping 62.7%

President Obama, preceded by the director of the Department of Homeland Security, address the National League of Cities on March 9, 2015 @3:48 p.m.

See and hear it here >> http://www.c-span.org/video/?324732-2/national-league-cities-2015-congressional-city-conference

 

 

... and here to finish the post is a  link to the NLC's 2015 reported issued on November 9, 2015

 

Here's the official statement:

"Over the course of 2015, The National League of Cities supported city leaders by connecting them to big ideas, research, grants and technical assistance, and to innovative leaders in the public and private sectors.  

The "Year of Connecting" was a year of results, bringing NLC closer to the goals outlined in our strategic plan.  

We are increasingly visible in the media, on Capitol Hill and at the White House.  

We are helping cities innovate and are raising the profile and capacity of city leaders.  

We are working under an improved governance structure and are financially strong"

Readers can download the report here >>

http://www.nlc.org/about-nlc/annual-report

.