Mayors seek to slow down anticipated “U-Turn” on key national policies
Mayors are stepping up on the future of U. S. immigration, public safety, climate change, and infrastructure.
“Pooling Mayoral Power To Rally Against Trump”: It has started with big-city mayors but it has the potential for a broad grassroots coalition.
“If you combine the power of America’s cities, that could really be a game changer in terms of moderating that [Trump] agenda,” New York City mayor Bill de Blasio said during a New York Times interview. “That’s the shape that people are taking about. Maximum coordination. Maximum simultaneous activity.”
Of course, that’s much more easily said than done, especially in today’s greatly divided nation.
Nevertheless, The Times reported that, “In conference calls and informal meetings, mayors from Seattle to New Orleans have been discussing how to best position their cities as a kind of block of island nations, with shared concerns over the prospect of diminished federal support for urban centers and of major shifts in immigration, public safety and climate change.”
To really have clout, this incipient movement will have to broaden greatly to engage across partisan political divides and represent small and medium cities as well as large population centers.
That could happen with greater involvement by the United States Conference of Mayors. A delegation recently met with Mr. Trump “focusing on areas of bipartisan agreement like infrastructure needs and tax exemptions for municipal bonds.”
However, the meeting reportedly “lasted 15 minutes and didn’t touch on more contentious issues like immigration.”