Las Vegas Hosts U.S. Conference of Mayors
The 71st annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) was held June2-6 in Las Vegas. More than 200 of the U.S.’ big city mayors were in attendance.
USCM is the official non-partisan organization for cities with populations of30,000 or more.
The meeting was led by USCM president Beverly O’Neil, mayor of Long Beach,Calif. Mayor Oscar B. Goodman, Las Vegas’s mayor, hosted the event.
Themeeting was held at the Paris Hotel. Key speakers included Senator John McCainof Arizona, and New Mexico’s governor, Bill Richardson. Of special note, mayorWang Qishan, mayor of Beijing, China, and president of the China Association ofMayors, led a delegation from China. Mayor Qishan’s speech was entitled,“Management Is an Everlasting Theme for a City Government.”
The Urban Water Council, chaired by Martin Chavez, mayor of Albuquerque, tookthe opportunity to meet during this gathering of mayors. A special presentationwas made on, “The Effect of Global Warming on Community Water Resources.” Thespeakers were Bradley Udal, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,University of Colorado; Joel Scheraga, Global Change Research Program, U.S. EPA;and Ken Albright, Southern Nevada Water Authority.
The council passed two resolutions during this meeting period. The firstresolution concerned the re-capitalization of the state revolving loan program.The resolution urged the U.S. Congress and George W. Bush’s administration toannually approve re-capitalization authorizations to the Clean Water staterevolving funds at the rate of $1.35 billion or more, and the Drinking Waterstate revolving fund at $850 million or more. The second resolution concernedpromoting municipal water conservation by increasing local government activitiesto help communities conserve municipal water supplies.
Mayor Chavez and Don Correll, CEO of American Water, also presented the 2006Municipal Water Conservation Achievement Awards. American Water is the sponsorof the award. There are two $7,500 awards for overall water conservation,innovative water conservation or water conservation achieving economic andenvironmental benefits. The winners will be announced during the 2007 wintermeeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Applications are due by Nov. 1. Thecontest is open to all U.S. Conference of Mayors members. For information, visitwww.usmayors.org, or call Brett Rosenberg at (202) 861-6782.
Mayor Goodman’s personality was evident throughout the meeting. This wasparticularly so at the Saturday night social night, entitled, “Oscar’s Night.”Performers who made guest appearances in support of mayor Goodman included WayneNewton, Lance Burton, Glenn Holmes and the group Forever Plaid.
