12/17/2008

The USCM has been working for several months to put together a list of "ready to go" projects from its member cities around the country. Those projects would create jobs and rebuild the nation's crumbling infrastructure. The conference has released two "ready to go" reports on jobs and infrastructure projects, garnered extensive media attention, met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and four House committee chairs, met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other key senators, and presented the Main Street plan to the intergovernmental transition team for the Obama administration.

"For the sake of the people of Meridian, I am honored to serve with this group," said Mayor Smith. "Certainly, Meridian submitted our list of projects ready to go, and I'm pleased to have the opportunity to represent the interests of smaller cities as we move forward to develop an economic stimulus package that works for all of us."

Mayor Diaz said the incoming administration has agreed to a meeting between the Obama economic team and the USCM group to discuss the mayors' economic recovery plan.

"While we have made good progress, we have not received any commitments that our package will be the basis for the massive Economic Recovery Plan that President-elect Obama and Congress want to create 2.5 million jobs over two years," said Mayor Diaz. "We have been told in our meetings in Washington that things are going to move quickly, so we must continue and strengthen our call for a plan that supports our nation's metro economies."

Other members of the working group include the mayors of some of the nation's largest cities, including Denver, San Francisco, New York City, Chicago and Boston, plus the mayors of a number of mid-sized cities. Besides Meridian, the only other city under 50,000 on the panel is Newark, California.

Maureen Lofton
Assistant for Governmental Affairs
City of Meridian
P.O. Box 1430
Meridian, MS 39302
Phone: (601) 485-1819
FAX: (601)485-1911
e-mail: maureenlofton@meridianms.org