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Harry Moroz

MayorTV Richmond, Cleveland, and Santa Fe: From Obama’s New Reality to Fighting ICE

MayorTV finished up today interviewing Mayor L. Douglas Wilder of Richmond, Virginia (the nation’s first African American governor), Mayor Frank Jackson of Cleveland, and Mayor David Coss of Santa Fe. Mayor Wilder expressed deep support for Senator Obama and ran with the Illinois Senator’s “new metropolitan reality” theme, insisting that cities, suburbs, and metro regions be recognized as the drivers of economic progress. Mayor Wilder emphasized that revitalizing urban cores is essential for the prosperity of surrounding regions. “You can’t bake a cake from the outside in. Nor a pie,” the Mayor told us.

Mayor Jackson spoke about reclaiming for Cleveland the wealth gained by “Wall Street firms” from the foreclosure crisis by suing 21 banks involved in the subprime mortgage market. He also talked about his "Urban Agenda: A Blueprint for Our Future” (Mayor Jackson had pledged that he would endorse whichever Democratic candidate provided the most money for his plan and for Cleveland), describing that investment in cities is no longer a “nice” thing to talk about: “It’s a necessity.”

Finally, in a wide-ranging and at times poignant interview, Mayor Coss of Santa Fe described the need for immigration reform (his resolution calling for a halt to all Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids was passed by the mayors’ Criminal and Social Justice standing committee today and will go before a plenary session of the mayors for an up or down vote on Monday) and the need for energy block grants to help Americans deal with rising gas prices. Mayor Coss emphasized that not only is action on environmental issues necessary now, but we are already eight years late.

Check in with MayorTV later this week to see the full videos.

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Posted at 6:41 PM, Jun 21, 2008 in Election 2008 | MayorTV | Urban Affairs
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