Hundreds of America’s mayors are in Indiana this weekend for the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ annual conference.
They’re calling for Congress and the presidential candidates to support the nation’s cities.
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake leads the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Kicking off the group’s annual meeting, she emphasized the importance of metropolitan hubs to the nation’s economy.
“Cities and metro areas accounted for more than 96 percent of all new jobs in the country last year,” Rawlings says. “Further, cities and the metro areas accounted for nearly 99 percent of the increase to the gross domestic product.”
Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett, playing the role of host, says he’s enthused by what the non-partisan group might accomplish.
“And I look forward to a free exchange of innovations and strategies that aim to make all of our cities the very best they can be,” he says.
Several mayors, including Rawlings-Blake and New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, criticized Congress’ lack of action on addressing gun violence, with Rawlings-Blake calling Washington’s inability to develop bipartisan compromise “shameful.”