University City Mayor Attends Conference of Mayors in Washington, DC

Today I will leave for Washington, D.C.  It will be nice to be back in the nation’s capital again – I used to live there when I worked for ABC Network News. But this time I’m going for my new job.  The U.S. Conference of Mayors is holding its 79th Winter Meeting and I will be one of the new mayors in attendance.

The group is solicitous of us newcomers – they assign us a seasoned “buddy” mayor, and mine, I am happy to say, is St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay.  I hope to work with Mayor Slay on a number of issues in the coming years, so I am pleased that I might have the chance to get to know him a bit better.  (I’ve met with Mayor Slay once since I took office.  I set up meetings with mayors of surrounding communities to introduce myself.  I was pleased he took the time to meet with me. But that was just a first step in the getting-to-know you process.)

There’s a real benefit to conferences like this, if they are well planned and organized.  What I hope is that I will hear best practice stories from around the country.  I want to hear what  programs are being tried elsewhere – and then figure out if they would work here. There will be much talk about workforce development – something I think we need to approach on a regional basis here.  We’ll hear from someone on vacant and abandoned homes.  We could use some ideas on that here in University City.  I will want to attend the Energy Standing Committee meeting.  And there is a full session on Mayors Ask What Youth Can Do.  I plan to attend this session and gather information for my Mayor’s Task Force on Seniors and Youth.  Caroline Kennedy will make remarks at that panel.

That evening we will go to the Kennedy Center for a 50th anniversary celebration of the inauguration of Caroline’s father, John F. Kennedy.  The event celebrates “the lasting legacy made by our 35th President to the performing arts.” 

I am pleased to see that the conference will focus a good amount of time on the arts – the arts are always hard hit in tough economic times.  Not everyone is able, or willing, to see the long-term benefits of supporting the arts, the hard-to-quantify benefits to our society as a whole.  Governments cut back funding, schools cut back funding.  We lose something important when we don’t support the creative impulse in humanity.  So I am pleased to see a whole session dedicated to this subject at this conference.    

They’ll be giving out an award for the best drinking water – St. Louis should be in the running for that.

 And finally, we get to go to the White House – always cool.  I’ve not been there (except for a quick visit about five years ago) since my days at ABC Network News when I used to produce President Ronald Reagan’s radio addresses.  This is REALLY cool because, at this point at least, President Barack Obama is scheduled to talk with the mayors for two hours.  That’s a long time in a President’s schedule, and it may change, but this is a rare opportunity.

I’m looking forward to this trip.  I’m looking forward to seeing how University City fits into a larger picture, and how I might work within that larger frame for this great community.

Mayor Shelley Welsch                                                                                       

mayor@ucitymo.org

To hear more about what the mayor has in store for U City go to her personal web site at http://www.ucitymo.com