The nation's mayors send their ideas for Obama

Louisiana

Covington, LA
Pop. 9,700
Candace Watkins, mayor
1. Coastal erosion. This is critical to my community and the entire state of Louisiana, as well as anyone who uses our oil and gas reserves. Coastal Louisiana needs restoration and protection. These issues don't only pose hazards to the state, but the offshore oil and gas industries as well.
2. Facilitating affordable and workforce housing. The lack of affordable housing in our community is a growing concern, and we have no homeless shelters.

Lafayette, LA
Pop. 215,000
Lester J. "Joey" Durel, Jr., mayor, parish president
1. Finish Interstate 49 from I-10 all the way to New Orleans. Currently I-49 ends at I-10 in Lafayette and turns into U.S. Hwy 90. This is a dangerous road with heavy traffic because of its proximity to New Orleans and the oil and gas industry in Southeast Louisiana. It is an important energy corridor and serves as the main hurricane evacuation route for much of that part of the state. This is also good for much of mid America for getting farm products and other goods to the Port of Orleans.
2. The city of Lafayette is installing fiber optics to every home and business in the city that wants it. We will give our citizens, peer to peer connectivity of 100mbs -- for free! This is being done through our city-owned utility and we will have something 80 to 90% of America won't have 20 years from now. The federal government needs to do all it can to encourage municipalities to do what we are doing.

Maine

Cape Elizabeth, ME
Pop. 9,068
Mary Anne Lynch, mayor
I would like mandatory universal cell phone chargers. How many of us have boxes of used chargers that only fit one phone? A small issue, but why are we filling our landfills with this stuff? Bring on the universal charger!

Maryland

Salisbury, MD
Pop. 23,743
Barrie Tilghman, mayor
1. Infrastructure: Solution to the challenge facing America's local governments to replace failing infrastructure. We bail out the financial industry, but the trillions of dollars of necessary infrastructure upgrade and replacement is pressing to the quality of life for all Americans.
2. The Economy: We have seen a dramatic decrease in construction and accompanying applications for building permits, especially in residential development. There is a major high-end condo development on our river that has been completely abandoned and will be auctioned this month. It was in mid construction when the bank pulled the financing. We have also seen an increase in homelessness, foreclosures and criminal activity related to the economy. That is, people are shoplifting essentials such as diapers and food, not electronics.

Massachusetts

Arlington, MA
Pop. 42,389
Clarissa Rowe, chair, selectmen
The two most important issues are getting an infrastructure package through Congress to create jobs, and dealing with the rising cost of health care.

Cambridge, MA
Pop. 101,355
E. Denise Simmons, mayor
1. President Obama must focus on policies that assist small business owners, and that help resolve the housing crisis. In Cambridge, store fronts that once housed small businesses are remaining vacant for longer periods than they used to. People are having trouble obtaining starter loans or investments, affording rent and other overhead costs, and getting the kind of help that can be crucial at the start of a business. We need national economic policies that will stabilize the banking situation, which will ultimately make the climate more hospitable to small business owners.
2. The housing crisis has deeply worsened in recent years. Thousands of people perennially apply to the Cambridge Housing Authority for safe, clean, affordable housing, yet the waiting lists can be unbearably long. Our housing authorities are in need of additional federal funding.

Easthampton, MA
Pop. 15,994
Michael A. Tautznik, mayor
Energy savings/carbon reduction effort: There needs to be a program through which assistance (financial, technical, and possibly legal) can be provided to local and regional governments to give us the capacity and opportunity to participate in the nation's energy independence efforts in a meaningful manner. Existing green energy programs rely on the actions of the for-profit marketplace, using income tax credits and private sector trading expertise to make the difference in successful implementation. Government energy use is significant and extremely visible. Making it the focus of such initiatives would go a long way toward instilling that same ethic in our constituents.
2. Education funding: There needs to be more federal financial assistance, including early childhood, K-12, community college, and basic adult education initiatives and opportunities. Standards should be achievable and sustainable.

Milton, MA
Pop. 26,062
Kathryn Fagan, chair, selectmen
1. Our small town was faced with a difficult situation last year when a young firefighter suffered catastrophic injuries on duty. As sufficient medical insurance wasn’t available for purchase for public safety employees, the town was faced with paying enormous medical bills and an early retirement pension out of our limited operating funds. Through efforts of our legislators, we were able to get some special legislation passed to allow us to borrow the funds over a long term, but will still have to use operating funds to pay the costs of borrowing.
2. Unfunded education mandates are crippling our town’s budget each year. Our teachers struggle to provide excellent education to all children no matter their needs, but federal and state regulations, without the funds to support these mandates, are causing dramatic cuts in services each year and pitting school and public safety needs against each other for increasingly limited funds.

Northampton, MA
Pop. 28,978
Clare Higgins, mayor
1. Focus on economic stimulus. State and local governments are struggling to close their own budget gaps and cannot afford to undertake needed infrastructure and building projects because of the high cost of borrowing. Set up a program similar to the Clean Water State Revolving Fund that would lend money at low or no interest to cities and towns so we can put people to work rebuilding our communities. We would be much more able to build a much needed police station with this kind of program.
2. Fully fund Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.The City of Northampton spent $7.4 million on Special Education in 2007. The Federal Government gave us $600,000 in our IDEA grant. The additional $2 million plus that the City would receive would allow us to avoid further cuts to our teaching staff and to preserve the small class sizes that children need.

Michigan

Beverly Hills, MI
Pop. 10,437
Hugh Woodrow, mayor
1. How do you actually plan to lower unemployments rates in the US. The typical answer  --  "I plan to re-educate the American work force to make it more competative in the world market."  --  is not an answer but a nice way to dodge the question. What is your real plan to help the American job market?
2. Without raising taxes beyond what most people can already afford to pay, what is your plan to continue the services the federal government provides without putting this country further in debt?

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