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 he US Conference of Mayors and the Mortgage Bankers
Association of America have announced a five-point plan to encourage
city reinvestment at the same time they released a nationwide
poll that found city and suburban residents alike support tax
dollars being spent to revitalize central cities. This finding
challenges the widely-held belief that cities and suburbs have
little in common and are often in conflict with each other over
housing, transportation and other community development issues.
 The
poll found that 68% of city residents and 66% of suburban dwellers
said rebuilding cities and relying more on public transportation
is the most effective way to solve the impact of sprawl and traffic
congestion.
"We must
focus on the well-being of families and the livability of our
neighborhoods in both cities and suburbs. We are in this together,
and this poll shows there is common ground between the two. Upon
this ground, we must build policies and strategies that will
benefit all, making housing affordable, reducing commute times
and managing development," said Boise Mayor H. Brent Coles,
President of the US Conference of Mayors.
Joining Coles
in the announcement was Christopher J. Sumner, President of the
Mortgage Bankers Association. "For the first time, suburban
and city residents are agreeing on issues that have blocked consensus
building in the past. This is good news for policy makers looking
at ways to deal with affording housing, traffic and sprawl,"
said Sumner, who is also CEO of CrossLand Mortgage. "This
presents an opportunity to stimulate private investment in cities
throughout the nation to build strong local economies and healthy
communities."
Other participants
at the press conference included Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino,
USCM Advisory Board Chair; Mayor Sharon Sayles-Belton of Minneapolis;
Andrew D. Woodward, Chairman of Bank of America Mortgage and
MBA President-Elect; and Thomas Jacob, CEO and Chairman of the
Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corporation.
The five-point
plan (see details below) includes the establishment of The Council
for Investment in the New American City, a partnership between
the US Conference of Mayors and the Mortgage Bankers Association
of America. Importantly, the Council's formation marks the first
time mayors have come together in an official capacity with the
country's top financial lending and development leaders to confront
and address issues around housing, transportation, commercial
and retail development in central cities and suburbs.
The plan also
calls for a Washington, D.C. summit within 120 days of next year's
congressional session and several regional summits across the
country to help develop a national policy proposal on city reinvestment.
This national policy proposal will include strategies to help
develop public transportation, solve traffic congestion, manage
development in suburban areas and provide housing affordable,
not just for low-income families but the middle class as well.
The Council
released last October's poll as part of a report, entitled The
Changing Realities of Cities. This report and poll are the
first of several to be developed by The Council for Investment
in the New American City to measure public support over time
for reinvestment strategies and document the most recent research
and innovative policies.
Of the poll
findings, Mayor Sayles-Belton said, "This survey clearly
shows that the public is overwhelmingly in support of using creative
public-private funding to improve the quality of life in our
communities in tangible ways, such a building better public transportation
systems to combat traffic congestion, and sprawl and creating
opportunities for affordable homeownership in central cities."
The major
findings of the poll include:
- The overwhelming majority of Americans polled
(67%) favor rebuilding cities and relying more on public transportation
as the most effective way to solve traffic congestion and lessen
sprawl.
- City dwellers and suburban residents are
in agreement on many issues related to sprawl, housing affordability
and public transportation. For example, 68% of city residents
and 66% of suburban dwellers said rebuilding cities and relying
more on public transportation is the most effective way to solve
the impact of sprawl and traffic congestion.
- 67% said they support public and private
incentives to help families buy or rent in cities.
- More than half, 52%, of both suburban and
city residents support encouraging people to live in cities in
order to discourage the overdevelopment of suburban areas --
59% of city residents and 44% of suburban residents.
- 77% support the use of tax dollars to help
improve public transportation where they live -- 81% of city
residents and 73% of suburban residents.
- 62% said the cost of housing had gotten worse
in the city where they lived while 60 percent said job availability
had improved over the past five years.
- More people in the suburbs than in the city
feel that crime levels have gotten worse where they live, 30%
of suburban dwellers compared to 23% of city residents.
- ople in cities are becoming more confident
about where they live, with 38% saying that crime levels have
gotten better, compared with 22% of suburban residents.
- 74% said affordable housing should be made
available to public servants, such as teachers, firefighters,
and police officers, so they can live in the communities where
they work.
- 72% said that traffic had worsened in the
city where they lived and 55 percent said access to public transportation
had stayed the same or gotten worse in the past five years.
- in 8 suburban residents said they are very
likely or somewhat likely to move back to the city. This finding
challenges the conventional belief that suburban residents universally
wish to avoid the city.
The
poll, conducted by the Global Strategy Group for The Council
for Investment in the New American City, measured attitudes of
residents in seven cities: Atlanta, Boston, New Orleans, Phoenix,
San Jose, St. Louis and Washington, D.C. About 66 percent of
respondents were Caucasian; 19 percent African American, 6 percent
Hispanic/Latino, and 5 percent Asian. The majority of the respondents
earned incomes between $25,000 and $100,000. About a third were
renters, and 65 percent, homeowners. More than half (54%) were
married; 26 percent, single. The poll has a margin of error of
2.7 percent.
The Council's
five-point plan to develop a national policy proposal includes:
- Conducting regional education summits across
the country from January to April 2001 to inform the public on
city revitalization issues, share information about successful
financial and development projects for cities and gather ideas
and input on a national policy proposal and city revitalization
strategies.
- I. Holding a national summit with mayors
and the private sector to address key policies and issues affecting
and promoting city reinvestment, within 120 days of the congressional
session in Washington, D.C. next year. Some of the key issues
that will be addressed by the Council at both the national and
regional summits include:
- Incentives and strategies for transit-oriented
mixed use development
- Options to encourage private investment and
lending into both inner-city redevelopment and efficient patterns
of development in high-growth areas outside the urban core
- Incentives and barriers to private finance
in housing (rental and home-ownership), retail and commercial
development
- The affordable housing crisis: the explosion
of working poor and its effect on national housing policy; the
growing housing crisis for middle class families; innovative
down-payment assistance programs; low-income tax credit for new
homeowners; location-efficient mortgages; retooling existing
housing program
- Tax credit for employers who give their employees
assistance, such as down payment funds, when buying a home
- Reduction of local and federal barriers to
reduce the cost of home production
- Construction defect litigation, land availability,
zoning and tax base policies and other factors
- The promotion and access of programs to advance
financial literacy among residents
- Protection against predatory lending
- Expansion of the Hope 6 public housing program
- Financial incentives to stimulate market
support of businesses that build metropolitan economies
- Efforts to stimulate private investing and
lending in urban brownfields that will complement federal grants
- I. Conducting surveys and providing ongoing
research into central city livability for the general public
as well as for government officials, planners and researchers.
- . Sharing and promoting "Best Practices"
through numerous publications and web sites of what has worked
and has not worked in cities around the country.
- Marketing of Council-sponsored programs to
raise media and public awarenessnd ultimately drive participation
by the general public.
Additional
information can be found on the US Conference of Mayors Web site,
usmayors.org. 
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