Mayor Williams says White House meeting productive

By Linda m. Linonis

Mayors are concerned the stiumulus money won’t trickle down to the cities.

Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams said he is encouraged by President Barack Obama’s executive order to create an Office of Urban Affairs and is hoping to serve on the council of mayors, its advisory board.

The new office, based in the White House, was created Thursday and will be headed by Bronx borough President Adolfo Carri ≥n Jr.

Williams was among about 70 mayors who met with Obama on Friday at the White House. He also will be a guest on “Washington Journal Live” on C-Span at 7:30 a.m. today, and said he would be discussing concerns among mayors that stimulus money going to the states wouldn’t trickle down to the cities.

“I believe the meeting was fruitful,” Williams said of the session, which lasted nearly an hour. He said Ohio was second only to California in the number of mayors attending.

Also at the meeting were Vice President Joe Biden, Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Energy Secretary Dr. Steven Chu, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and White House senior staff.

Williams said he and the other mayors have voiced concerns about the majority of the stimulus plan money going to the states. “We’re concerned because the states are facing budget deficits,” he said. “We wanted to impress on the president that the states’ administrations should specify that a certain amount of money will go to cities. And we’re going to vigorously pursue that money.”

Williams said that though he understands the situation of the state, Youngstown also is facing a shortfall. “We’re facing a budget deficit,” Williams said, noting it could be $2 million to $3 million. “So far, we have avoided layoffs.”

Williams said grants for COPS, Community-Oriented Policing Solutions, a component of the U.S. Department of Justice, have helped.

He said that though Youngstown faces challenges, it also has experienced success. The U.S. Small Business Administration has used Youngstown as a model and recognized its economic development programs.

Williams said stimulus plan funds coming directly to cities would benefit some of the projects in which Youngstown is engaged. He offered a guarantee based on a $5 million stimulus investment in Youngstown — that the city, over the next three years, will match 25 percent of the stimulus investment in the city economic development programs with local funding; will commit to facilitating and documenting the creation and retention of 2,000 jobs; and will commit to multiply threefold the stimulus investment with private investment collars.

Williams said that if the city failed to achieve this goal, the city would offer to repay the stimulus money.

Williams said one of the purposes of the meeting with the president and key officials was to impress upon them the capacity of cities to help stimulate job creation. He pointed out that Youngstown is a good example of this because of its business parks.

He noted that Brilex Industries, which makes and machines very large industrial parts, started out small with about 12 employees and now has 100. He also cited City Machine Technologies, Fireline Inc., Coronado Steel and Data Recovery Services, which all began small and have grown.

These kind of examples of success would be in line with what Obama hopes to achieve in terms of creating jobs.

Williams noted that President John F. Kennedy said, “We will neglect our cities to our peril, for in neglecting them we neglect the nation.” So it is imperative that cities receive stimulus funding, but also be accountable. Williams said Youngstown’s track record in economic development speaks to that issue.

“Hopefully we will get some traction,” Williams said of money that would benefit cities directly. He noted community block grants, HUD programs and energy efficiency block grants would benefit the city.

XThe Associated Press contributed to this report.