Madison is honored to be hosting the 70th annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in June. The whole city should feel proud of this opportunity to showcase Madison to mayors from across the country who will attend the event at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors is a national forum for mayors representing the nation’s larger cities. It deals with issues that directly impact cities and helps develop an agenda for Congress and the administration that reflects the goals of the cities and their residents.
With just over 200,000 in population, Madison is the second smallest city ever to host the event. While they are here, the mayors are not only interested in networking among themselves and defining an effective agenda for the nation’s cities. They also want to get to know Madison better, what works here, and what might be applied back home.
Beyond the positive economic boost from hosting the conference, estimated at more than $1.5 million, is the incalculable benefit of having Madison seen nationally as a city with the capacity to host events of this magnitude. It puts Madison on the map for future conventions. In the convention industry, the prestige of hosting such an event is enormous.
There are many things about Madison to share with the mayors. One is our commitment to improve race relations. This is an issue that confronts many cities. But we’ve done many things over the past five years to affect positive change. The Task Force on Race Relations led to numerous recommendations and practical steps that have been implemented. Taken together, they represent progress toward improving race relations.
Some of the better-known initiatives to improve race relations, easily replicated elsewhere, are creation of the Study Circles on Race program, the annual Celebrate Madison! festival, the free summer dance series Dane Dances, and the Read It, Share It community reading program. These are all new opportunities for people of different backgrounds to come together in a safe environment to share their experiences, and have a really good time. Students are invited to participate in these events, and many do.
We hope to share the steps we are taking to ensure affordable housing options for Madison residents. Madison never wants to become the kind of city that people flock to for work but flee afterward because they cannot afford to live here. We do a lot to make sure the heart of the city remains strong. Downtown revitalization is certainly an essential part of that, but expanding affordable housing options throughout Madison is, too.
We have set many things in motion to address what the U.S. Conference of Mayors has called “the crisis in affordable housing” and will continue to do so. We’re encouraging private developers to include affordable housing as an essential component of their development plans. We partner with local non-profit housing agencies to assist people to find and retain affordable housing. We build bridges to home-ownership for low- and moderate-income individuals and families.
As students very clearly know, the process to revitalize the downtown is not something that can be accomplished overnight. The reconstruction of State Street is a high-profile aspect of it, but so too are new condominium and apartment buildings that attract students and others to live downtown. It’s interesting to see the pendulum finally swinging back toward the downtown as the heart of the city, after so many years when our major development was on the periphery.
Visitors to Madison often remark upon the overall cleanliness of the city. They are amazed not to see abandoned vehicles cluttering up neighborhoods or trash littering the ground. We may take it for granted, but a tidy appearance is an important part of the first impression people make of Madison. With that in mind, let me invite you to become a Clean & Green Day volunteer. Clean & Green Day is actually a month of cleanup days sponsored by the BID, the city, the UW and downtown businesses through May 4. Volunteer by calling 255-1008 Ext. 321. You’ll be part of a “Clean Team” that spends approximately three hours picking up trash, washing windows, removing debris, raking grass, and performing other chores up and down State Street and around the Capitol Square.
Madison is a beautiful city in so many ways. We’re lucky to have opportunities like the upcoming U.S. Conference of Mayors to showcase it. The greatest thing we have to share, though, is our commitment to work together to make Madison the best place it can be to live, learn, work and play.
Susan J.M. Bauman ([email protected]) is the mayor of the city of Madison.