    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [June 19, 1998]
    [Pages 989-994]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Teleconference Remarks and a Question-and-Answer Session With the
    United States Conference of Mayors
    June 19, 1998

        President Clinton. Thank you very much, Mayor Helmke, for all your wonderful introductions. I
    hope they didn't hurt you too much. This one won't cause you as much
    trouble as the last one did.
        Seriously, I want to thank you for your fine leadership of the
    mayors this year. And Mayor Corradini, I
    look forward to working with you over the next year. I also want to say
    hello to your advisory board chair, Mayor Webb, who

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    joined me at the White House this week when we honored the Broncos
    together for winning the Super Bowl. And hello to your executive
    director, Tom Cochran, who does a great
    job for you day-in and day-out here with us.
        Let me also congratulate my good friend Jerry Abramson on his award for distinguished public service.
    Jerry, I'll always be grateful to you for a lot of things--for your
    friendship, your support, and especially for your leadership for the
    1994 crime bill. All across America, neighborhoods are now safer because
    of the community police officers you helped to put on the street. You
    have really made a difference. I congratulate you and thank you again.
        And I have some good news about one of your alumni, the former mayor
    of Laredo, Saul Ramirez. Last year at
    this meeting I announced his nomination for Assistant Secretary at HUD.
    Well, I'm giving him a promotion and nominating him now to be the
    agency's new Deputy Secretary. Congratulations to him and to you.
        This is the third time we've been able to get together just this
    year, and I'm only sorry that I can't join you in person. I know that
    I'll be well represented by members of my Cabinet, including our great
    HUD Secretary, Andrew Cuomo. I send
    greetings also to you from Mickey Ibarra,
    who's with me here and who runs the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs
    and works hard for you. His Deputy, Lynn Cutler,
    is stranded in an airport, but she'll soon be in Reno to represent the
    White House. And I'm proud that senior representatives from a total of
    22 Federal agencies are attending your conference. You can tell from the
    breadth and depth from the team I've sent that my administration is more
    committed than ever to working with you to help our great cities thrive
    and reach their fullest potential.
        Last week a number of you were able to join me here at the White
    House as I signed a transportation bill that will help cities to build
    and modernize roads, bridges, and transit systems for the 21st century.
    It encourages mass transit, protects the environment, expands
    opportunities to disadvantaged businesses, and moves more people from
    welfare to work with transportation assistance. Thank you for helping me
    pass this law.
        In no small part because of the innovation, commitment, and hard
    work of America's mayors, our cities are revitalized, reenergized, and
    back in business. The second annual ``State of the Cities'' report,
    which Secretary Cuomo will share with you in
    much greater detail later, shows that unemployment, crime, poverty
    rates, all are down and falling in our central cities. New job growth
    and homeownership rates are up and climbing. Our downtowns are coming
    back as centers of tourism and entertainment. The state of our cities is
    strong, and I thank you for leading this renaissance.
        America is enjoying the strongest economy in a generation, an era of
    sunlit prosperity and abundant opportunity, but we cannot afford to sit
    back and bask in the glow. Instead, we must make the most of this rare
    moment in our history and ensure that our economic renaissance touches
    every corner of every community.
        As the ``State of the Cities'' report shows, cities still face
    critical opportunity gaps when it comes to jobs, to education, and to
    housing. If we're going to lift even more people out of poverty and
    bring more middle class families back to our cities, we must do
    everything we can to close these opportunity gaps. The way we will close
    our opportunity gaps is with the new vision of government.
        Over the past 5\1/2\ years, we've moved beyond the false debate
    between those who said government could solve all our problems and those
    who said government was the problem. Our new vision has been of
    government as partner with business, community groups, and individual
    citizens. It's been a vision of government as catalyst to bring the
    spark of private enterprise to our hardest-pressed neighborhoods.
    Whether it's putting more police officers on the streets to fight crime
    or offering tax incentives to lure businesses back to abandoned
    downtowns or providing small business loans to inner-city residents, our
    goal has been to empower people with the tools to make the most of their
    own lives.
        Secretary Cuomo's new streamlined HUD,
    which David Osborne has called the most
    exciting reinvention in a decade, epitomizes this vision. Along with the
    Vice President, who chairs my Community
    Empowerment Board, I am committed to helping HUD and other Federal
    agencies work even better for you. And I ask you to support our expanded
    community empowerment agenda, that reflects our new approach to filling
    the opportunity gaps in, for our cities.
        First, we can fill in the jobs gap and bring more businesses and
    credit to our central cities

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    by launching a second round of empowerment zones, renewing community
    development financial institutions, and supporting HUD's Community
    Empowerment Fund. I ask you to tell Congress that America needs 50,000
    new welfare-to-work housing vouchers to help hard-working people
    successfully move off welfare by moving closer to their jobs. And I hope
    you'll work with me to ensure all Americans get the child care
    assistance they need to be good parents and good workers.
        Second, we can begin closing the education gap by helping school
    districts modernize and build 5,000 schools, hiring more teachers,
    reducing class sizes in the earliest grades, and creating education
    opportunity zones to help poorer school districts make the tough reforms
    they need to improve.
        Third, we will bridge the housing gap by strengthening our efforts
    to fight housing discrimination, raising FHA loan limits, creating more
    section 8 housing vouchers, helping families with good rental histories
    turn rent checks into mortgage payments, and expanding the low income
    housing tax credit. This tax credit now has the support of a majority of
    Members in the House and the Senate. Let's call on Congress to pass the
    bill right away.
        Finally, I ask for your help on another critical issue for cities:
    making sure that the 2000 census is as accurate as possible. As you
    know, census statistics help to determine how much Federal aid your
    communities receive for roads, WIC, Head Start, job training, and other
    services. Because of an undercount of inner-city residents in the last
    census, many of you were shortchanged when it came to Federal funds. We
    must make sure it doesn't happen again. The scientists agree:
    Statistical sampling is the most accurate and most cost-effective way to
    get a full and fair count of our people in the year 2000. Let's work
    together to ensure that we use this method in the next census.
        All these are tough challenges, but I know that if we work together,
    we can meet them. Last year in San Francisco, we set ourselves a
    challenge of helping 1,000 police officers buy and move into homes in
    the communities they serve. Well, I'm proud to announce that the Officer
    Next Door program has met the challenge. Later today, Secretary
    Cuomo will present the program's 1,000th key
    to Deputy Mark Burgess, a key that will unlock
    the door to his new home in Salt Lake City. With citizens like Deputy
    Burgess who are taking active stakes in our community, and with your
    continued leadership, I know the best is yet to come for America's
    cities.
        Throughout our history, our cities have always been the face America
    shows the world. Visitors have gotten their first taste of America--our
    energy, ingenuity, and promise--through our great cities. They've always
    been the gateway to opportunity for millions of Americans, places where
    new immigrants have worked hard, built thriving communities, and
    achieved the American dream. We can, and we will, make sure that dream
    thrives in our cities well into the 21st century.
        Thank you for all you do, and thank you for working with me.
        Mayor Paul Helmke of Fort Wayne, IN. Thank
    you, Mr. President. I understand that you have time for a few questions
    from some of the mayors. I had a few folks I know that wanted to ask you
    questions.

    Millennium Activities

        Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston, MA. Mr.
    President, the millennium is up in 2 years. A lot of cities are
    preparing for the millennium as we go forward. What is your vision? What
    do you think that this country should be doing with the new millennium
    when it comes in the year 2000?
        President Clinton. Tom, first let me say that I'm very sorry about
    the floods in Boston. I know our FEMA people are there, and I hope they
    will all work out of it and dry out of it together.
        Let me say to all of you, I think every mayor in America should be
    heavily involved in celebrating the millennium. And I hope that as a
    group you will be in close touch with Ellen Lovell, who is running this project for the First Lady and for
    me, so that we can coordinate what we're doing. I think our vision
    should be the one that Hillary has
    articulated: We should honor the past and imagine the future. That means
    to me that, at a minimum, every city should find someplace in the city
    important to your city's history and heritage and make sure that you
    have restored it or protected it or enhanced it for all future
    generations.
        Second, I think every city should identify some great opportunity
    that you believe is there for your people in the new century, and
    elevate

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    that opportunity, highlight it, literally enshrine it as a mission of
    your city for the future.
        And thirdly, of course, I think there should be a great celebration
    on New Year's Eve 1999/2000, that all the cities in the country
    participate in, that is tied in with a national celebration and that
    involves as many Americans as humanly possible.

    Education Initiatives

        Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago, IL.
    Mr. President, where are we on achieving your education goals, whether
    it's smaller classrooms or school construction or after-school programs?
    How can we as an organization be more helpful to you?
        President Clinton. Well, you can do a lot. Let me deal with each of
    them in turn.
        The only part of the education program that is imperiled by the
    present setback to the tobacco bill is the funds that we wanted to give
    the States which would enable them to distribute them to communities to
    hire the teachers necessary to reduce class size to an average of 18 in
    the first 3 grades.
        The school construction initiative, which would allow us to build or
    repair 5,000 schools, is still very much alive; it's in my budget; the
    Congress can approve it. There is some bipartisan support for it. And so
    I think if the mayors, particularly the Republicans and the Democrats
    together, could really press this, then when we get down to the
    appropriations in the month of July and in the month of September, we've
    got a good chance to get the construction money out. And that would make
    a huge difference, not only in repairing a lot of older schools that
    need to be repaired but in providing the needed classroom space, without
    which we can't have the smaller class sizes.
        On the after-school funds, we have funds in both the Justice
    Department budget and in the Education Department budget; it's just
    going to be a question of fighting for those things and making sure that
    they're priorities in the Congress, just as they are priorities for you
    and for me.
        And again, there shouldn't be any politics in this. The evidence is
    so overwhelming--as you know, in Chicago, where you have tens of
    thousands of kids eating three meals a day in the schools, that this
    increases learning and lowers juvenile crime--that I would think that
    the cities that have had good experiences with these programs could take
    the lead.
        But again I say that if the Republican and Democratic mayors could
    do this together and say, this is a grassroots American issue, this has
    nothing to do with partisan politics, that this part of the President's
    budget should prevail, then I think we have a good chance to win.
        So I'd say on two out of three we're in good shape. Whether the
    States get some more money that then can be used for aid to education to
    hire those extra teachers depends on whether we can get the tobacco
    legislation back on track. I'm still hopeful that we can. Anything you
    can do to encourage Congress not on this point, but on the larger point,
    to pass legislation to protect our children from the dangers of tobacco
    and pass something comprehensive that will have credibility in the
    public health community, that we know will work, will make us closer to
    that goal as well.

    Violence in Schools

        Mayor Lee R. Clancey of Cedar Rapids, IA.
    Mr. President, I have a question that's a side issue related to
    education concerns. In the next couple of weeks, I'm going to be hosting
    a meeting with city and school officials on the issue of school violence
    and how we can prevent it, how we can cope with it, what we can do to
    address it. And I know it's an issue that concerns many of us in our
    cities. What is being done at the Federal level, and do you have any
    suggestions for us to take back to our community?
        President Clinton. Well, let me first of all, Mayor, say that I applaud you for doing this, all of you, and I
    applaud your leadership in doing it. I think the first thing I would say
    is, that in the last couple of years when we've had all these horrible
    instances of school violence and killing in our schools, we should not
    lose sight of the fact that, ironically, that has occurred when we've
    finally seen the first drop in juvenile crime in many, many years.
        So I think it's important to keep pushing the larger issue of the
    after-school funds and the other kinds of programs that we've seen work
    so well in Boston and elsewhere to drive juvenile crime down.
        Then I think we have to say, no matter how low we get juvenile
    crime, we're going to be at risk of these violent instances in schools
    because there will always be a small number of children who will be
    profoundly disturbed,

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    where some incident at home or at school can set them off, and they live
    in a culture where the access to guns is too easy and where they're too
    exposed from their earliest years to repeated barrages of almost casual
    violence in the media that they see. So, too many children become numb
    to violence and, I think, take guns in their hands and pull the
    triggers, often without really feeling and knowing the consequences.
        Now, there are, I believe, two things that we can do at the Federal
    level that we're working on. First, as I said when I was in Springfield,
    Oregon, I've asked the Attorney General and the Secretary of Education
    to prepare a manual to train teachers, parents, and hopefully other
    students as well, on early warning signs of children in trouble, so that
    we'll be better at picking this up.
        In every case where we've had a killing over the last year, there
    have been some indication that there was something wrong with the young
    person involved, that something has happened, or the young person said
    something or friends knew something, that did not lead to preemptive
    action. So I think we need to really focus on this prevention.
        Secondly, we're going to be working on what can be done to get some
    more police officers out there in and around the schools, just as we
    have on the streets.
        Thirdly, there is a big debate going on in Springfield, Oregon, and
    in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and I'm sure in all the other communities about
    what can be done if children are found in trouble, to try to do
    something before they go over the edge.
        The two Senators from Oregon have introduced legislation which would require of any
    child who was sent home from school because he or she had a gun in
    school--and there were 6,100 children who had guns in schools and had
    the guns taken away and were sent home because of our zero tolerance for
    guns in schools just last year. The Senators think that--their
    legislation, I think, calls for some sort of mandatory 72-hour
    examination period, including a psychiatric exam.
        Whether this is everything that should be done, exactly what should
    be done, or not is something we're going to debate up here. But it's not
    too soon for every mayor and every school leader in the country to
    determine what should be done if a case occurs like the case in
    Springfield, Oregon, where the young man
    who is now charged with all these killings was sent home the day before
    with a gun in the school.
        Now, presently that's about all that happens, because most cities
    and most school districts don't have a system for dealing with that. I
    think you should make sure that your schools do have a system--and maybe
    not just when a person is found with a gun and sent home but when
    threats are made or when people say they're going to do something--maybe
    unspecific threats but give evidence of that. We need some sort of
    intervention that can get these kids analyzed and then get them quickly
    to some sort of comprehensive program if necessary, to try to give them
    the help they need and to take them out of the pressure-cooker situation
    for a couple of days in the hope that this can be avoided.
        I believe that we can do a lot more on the prevention front. And we
    now know, just looking at the facts of all these cases, that there were
    significant early warnings in at least several of them that might have
    permitted, with the right kind of intervention, circumstances to develop
    that would have avoided the tragedies.
        So that's what I would ask you to look at. Everybody should know:
    What does your school district do with a child that makes a threat? What
    does your school district do with a child that has a gun? Does the
    school have a system where they encourage other kids to talk to
    responsible adults if they hear some child making a threat? Most of
    these children, if they could just get 4 or 5 or 6 years down the road,
    would look back in horror that they ever entertained such a thought--if
    we can avoid it happening in the first place.
        So I think we can do better. We're determined to do our part. And
    after you have your meeting, if the mayors and the others from whom you
    hear have any other ideas, for goodness' sakes, give them to us. This is
    something we've got to do more on.
        Mayor Helmke. I want to thank you, Mr.
    President. I know your time is short, but we appreciate you taking the
    time this afternoon to talk to us and taking the time again this past
    year. You've worked collaboratively with us, consistently with us. We
    know you're concerned about the city issues and you're always willing to
    listen to us and we thank you for that.
        In particular, I wanted to thank you for working closely with us
    this last year while I've been

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    president of the mayors group. It's been an experience, and we
    appreciate all of your efforts this past year. And you've outlined a
    number of things that we need to continue to work with in the future,
    and we plan to do that with you, too.
        So again, thank you very much. We thank you or all of your efforts
    and for your staff members and Cabinet officers that are here, too.
    Thank you, Mr. President.
        President Clinton. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
    Thank you all, and I'll turn it over to Secretary Cuomo and the rest of our crowd. Have a great meeting.

    Note: The President spoke by satellite at 5:20 p.m. from Room 459 of the
    Old Executive Office Building to the meeting in Reno, NV. In his
    remarks, he referred to Mayor Paul Helmke of Fort Wayne, IN, president,
    Mayor Deedee Corradini of Salt Lake City, UT, president-elect, and J.
    Thomas Cochran, executive director, U.S. Conference of Mayors; Mayor
    Wellington E. Webb of Denver, CO; Mayor Jerry E. Abramson of Louisville,
    KY; and David Osborne, president, Public Strategies Group, Inc.