[BoulderCouncilHotline] Debrief of my recent trip to DC

[Jones, Suzanne]

Dear Colleagues—

Last week I went on a 4-day trip to Washington, DC, where Policy Director Carl Castillo and I represented the city in several venues: a day lobbying our senators and agency officials, a 100 Resilient Cities dinner and briefing, and the winter conference of the Mayors Innovation Project.  Below are some highlights and takeaways from the trip.

Congressional & Agency Lobbying
We had productive and collegial meetings with both of our Colorado senators where we made the pitch for:

  *   their support of our US 36 Mayors & Commissioners Coalition TIGER grant application to complete 28 “quiet zone” railroad crossings along a 30-mile stretch of the Northwest Rail corridor;
  *   the importance of supporting and protecting funding for Boulder’s dozen federally funded research labs;
  *   support for “Dreamers” and our desire to see DACA protections passed; and
  *   amending federal autonomous vehicle legislation pending in the Senate that would pre-empt state and local jurisdictions from passing any laws that affect “performance” (which is not defined, and could be interpreted, for example, to prevent things like cities instituting a VMT tax) and which fails to address data sharing (which has implications for safety and enforcement, not to mention other “smart city” endeavors). The legislation also provides insufficient representation for local governments in the related working groups that have been proposed and fails to assure the necessary exchange of data from AVs to local governments.

Both of our senators are very supportive of our TIGER grant application and of full-funding for our labs and the role they play in furthering science. We had good discussions on other matters including discussions about our ongoing efforts to create a local electric utility and how it relates to our larger efforts around climate action and community resilience, and briefed them on the efforts of the Colorado Communities for Climate Action.

We also met with agency officials--a mix of long-time career folks and political appointees, which made for some interesting tensions and thoughtful choice of words on climate mitigation. At the Dept of Commerce, we met with the Acting NOAA Administrator’s chief of staff (Stuart Levenbach) and the NTIA Administrator (David Redl) where we discussed the important role the Boulder NOAA and NTIA labs play. For example, NIST did work on radio frequency spectrums that led to the establishment of FirstNet emergency response, and are doing research of 5G technologies that has relevance to our own broadband explorations. NOAA is on the forefront of what they term “near-term” weather forecasting (2-4 weeks out), creating nano satellites, and encouraging space commercialization. While it normally would be presumed, it was nonetheless heartening to be reassured that science is being allowed to continue. At the Dept of Energy, we had a very promising meeting with their expert on microgrids (Dan Ton) who is working with CU’s David Kang and city staff on a CU microgrid project. It was exciting to hear that he wants to put CU on DOE’s list for the next round of project support, specifically to bring about more expansive microgrid pilots throughout the campus.

We also had a great lunch with staff from “Transportation 4 America,” a non-profit started by several foundations which is a part of the “Smart Growth America” and “Smart Cities Collaborative.” T4A is playing an active role in influencing federal autonomous vehicle legislation (discussed above) to protect cities’ control and access to data. They also encouraged Boulder to become members of the Smart Cities Collaborative to receive technical support from them on issues such as Vision Zero and transit.

100 Resilient Cities
I also was able to attend a Rockefeller Foundation 100 Resilient Cities dinner and briefing with other 100 RC mayors. At the briefing, they did a soft release of their detailed report: “Safer and Stronger Cities: Strategies for Advocating for Federal Resilience Policy,” which provides specific policy improvements to address resilient infrastructure, healthy housing, economic development, and improving public safety and justice. Boulder should review these recommendations to see if we want to adopt any of them in our federal legislative/administrative policy agenda. I especially appreciate 100 RC’s emphasis on both environmental and social resiliency, with social justice seen as an important element of healthy cities. I also took it upon myself to thank New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu for his efforts as chair of the US Conference of Mayors (and his incredible speech last year on removing confederate monuments—worth a read sometime).

Mayors Innovation Project Winter Conference
Finally, we attended the two-day winter meeting of the Mayors Innovation Project (MIP), which is an association of small and medium-sized progressive cities that get together to discuss and swap solutions to key city challenges. Each meeting they pick a handful of issues for an in-depth panel and discussion, which this time included: creating immigrant-friendly communities; building bike infrastructure that supports equitable transportation access; expanding voter access; and fostering civil discourse. A lot of useful materials and tools were discussed, which are posted on MIP’s website at https://www.mayorsinnovation.org/events/winter-2018-meeting#Briefing.

I was particularly struck by:

  *   National Association of City Transportation Officials’ bike infrastructure recommendations (see nacto.org);
  *   Baltimore’s outreach efforts to create an immigrant-friendly climate;
  *   Takoma Park, MD’s voter access efforts, which provide for voting in municipal elections by 16- and 17-year-olds (as of 2013) and non-citizens (since 1993); and
  *   New Richmond VA Mayor’s sharing of his tough community discussions around the future of confederate monuments along Richmond’s famous Monument Avenue (with his insights of “be true to your process” and “listen, and then lead”).

I was also struck by the universality of issues facing cities across the country, but was also reminded that we are lucky to be in a purple state where we don’t face state pre-emption of local initiatives like our colleagues in North Carolina and Indiana, and to be ahead of the game with our strong economy which means we have more available resources to tackle challenges.  As part of the Innovation Showcase (3-min pitches where you share some cool idea your city is doing), I shared the results of Boulder’s Inclusionary Housing policy and our recent amendment to add 5% to our goal to address middle income housing, along with other housing initiatives underway—which were impressive to our counterparts.

The keynote speaker was Bruce Katz of the Brookings Institute, co-author of a recent book “The New Localism: How Cities Can Thrive in the Age of Populism.” He gave a very thought-provoking speech
about how power has moved downward and horizontally from the national and state levels to the cities and city associations: “We all got the memo from the feds, and it said, ‘You’re on your own!’ So, cities must finance their own future.” He noted the large transfer of wealth that is currently occurring to a few corporations and individuals, and the need for cities to learn to tap into it. He urged us to think creatively about how to organize existing public, private and civic (philanthropic) wealth, by essentially creating new financial products with an “investor prospectus” that establishes a clear vision of our goals, how we will deliver on outcomes, and convinces investors that their money will be managed well.

 A year ago when we were in DC, the city was reeling from the recent elections and Trump’s impending inauguration. Today, it is surreal to see this administration now in power, starting to inflict some damage as it begins to unravel important policies and degrade values we hold dear . . . That said, it was a great trip and useful to gather with people from around the country to think strategically about how to continue moving forward.  It was also exhilarating to visit the capitol city with its streets full of people and energy; I was reminded how refreshing it is to be amidst the full spectrum of humanity, with people from all walks and cultures, where no one sticks out as being “other”.

Cheers,
Zan

Suzanne Jones
Mayor, City of Boulder
(720) 633-7388
joness at bouldercolorado.gov

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