The Collective Project of Urban Revitalization:

A Roundtable Discussion with U.S. Mayors 

Mayor Douglas H. Palmer

Trenton, New Jersey

Current President, United States Conference of Mayors

Mayor Byron W. Brown

Buffalo, New York

Marc H. Morial

President and CEO of the National Urban League and former Mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana

Monday, June 30, 2008

6:00pm to 8:00pm  

Kirkland & Ellis LLP 

Citigroup Center

153 East 53rd Street, 50th Floor (At Lexington Ave.)

New York, NY

In partnership with Drum Major Institute for Public Policy. 

Space is limited. RSVP by June 20 to  agibson@nycup.org .

Please include your company affiliation.

PANELIST BIOGRAPHIES

MAYOR DOUGLAS H. PALMER

Douglas H. Palmer took the helm of leadership in New Jersey's capital city on July 1, 1990. He became Trenton's first African-American mayor and has been re-elected four times since to lead a sustained revitalization effort that has reshaped neighborhoods, lowered unemployment, and initiated sophisticated innovations across the spectrum of municipal government.

Since being elected, Mayor Palmer has made tremendous strides in rebuilding his hometown. He has implemented changes and improvements in every area of city government, orchestrating plans producing more than 1,600 new and rehabilitated homes for working families – with another 1,600 in the works by 2009. His efforts to expand recreational programs have led to the creation of the award-winning SCOOP holistic youth development program, which provides dozens of free after-school and Saturday enrichment activities for youth at-risk of school failure and gang involvement.

The transformation of downtown Trenton owes much to the Mayor's perseverance, as the City has seen its abandoned properties reduced from more than 8,000 to fewer than 2,500 during his tenure. Trenton has become a magnet for mixed-use development benefiting homeowners and businesses alike.

Some of Mayor Palmer's other outstanding achievements and awards include:

·   Winning the national "City Livability Award," a very prestigious award given annually by the U.S. Conference of Mayors to recognize mayors for exemplary leadership in the development of effective programs that improve the quality of life in their cities. This first-place national award in 2005 recognized the Mayor's Youth Advocacy Cabinet, a who's who of local youth services leaders that created the SCOOP holistic youth development program, which has registered more than 5,300 young people between the ages of 7 and 18 for programs at 10 sites accessible via a free bus system. \

·   In December 2006, upon the passing of Dearborn, Michigan Mayor Michael Guido, Mayor Palmer became President of the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM).  Having been in line to become President of that national organization of Mayors in June 2007, Mayor Palmer now is serving in this leadership role for one and one-half terms.

MAYOR BYRON W. BROWN

Mayor Byron W. Brown took the Oath of Office as the 58th Mayor of Buffalo, New York on December 31, 2005.

Elected Mayor with over 60 percent of the vote in the November 2005 General Election, Mayor Brown came into office emphasizing greater accountability and efficiency in City Hall, improving the quality of life for all city residents and a commitment to strengthening and expanding the city's economic development activities.

Since taking office, Mayor Brown has followed those three guiding principles by launching a Zero Tolerance Law Enforcement initiative targeting quality of life crimes, along with other criminal activity in the city; implemented the management accountability CitiStat Buffalo program, which monitors city departments' service delivery activities on a weekly basis; and reconfigured the city's economic development activities by creating the Department of Economic Development, Permit and Inspection Services, a change that has provided greater coordination and cooperation in all development activities taking place in the City of Buffalo.

A surge of economic development activity has followed Mayor Brown's election, including over $4.5 billion in planned, ongoing or completed development projects occurring throughout the City since 2006.

Complementing this economic development activity is the continuing decline in crime in the Queen City. Since January 2006, Buffalo has experienced a 7% reduction in overall crime, with the city's homicide rate declining by 27% in 2007 versus 2006 and violent crime in general declining 12%.

Prior to his election as Mayor of Buffalo, Mayor Brown served five years in the New York State Senate.  Sworn in January 1, 2001, Mayor Byron Brown became the first African-American elected to the Senate outside of New York City. He also made history by becoming the first minority member of the New York State Senate to represent a majority white district.

Mayor Brown was first elected to represent the Masten District on the Buffalo City Council in 1995. While on the Council, Mayor Brown was called "bright, creative and hardworking," in a Buffalo News survey and was recognized in 1989 by Ebony Magazine as one the "30 Leaders of the Future."

MARC H. MORIAL

Entrepreneur. Lawyer. Professor. Legislator. Mayor. President, U.S. Conference of Mayors. CEO of the National Urban League, the nation's largest civil rights organization. In a distinguished professional career that has spanned 25 years, Marc Morial has performed all of these roles with excellence, and is one of the most accomplished servant-leaders in the nation.

As Mayor of New Orleans, Morial was a popular chief executive with a broad multi-racial coalition who led New Orleans' 1990's renaissance, and left office with a 70% approval rating. With vigor and creativity he passionately attacked his city's vast urban problems. Violent crimes and murders dropped by 60%, the unemployment rate was cut in half, and New Orleans' poverty rate fell according to the 2000 Census.

Elected by his peers as President of the bi-partisan U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM), Morial served during the 9/11 Crisis and championed the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, and the Federalization of airport security screeners.

As President of the National Urban League since 2003 he has been the primary catalyst for an era of change -- a transformation for the nearly 100 year old civil rights organization. His energetic and skilled leadership has expanded the League's work around an Empowerment agenda, which is redefining civil rights in the 21st century with a renewed emphasis on closing the economic gaps between Whites and Blacks as well as rich and poor Americans.

Morial has been recognized as one of the 100 most influential Black Americans by Ebony Magazine, as well as one of the Top 50 Nonprofit Executives by the Nonprofit Times.