President Clinton Meets
with Mayors from Major U.S. Cities to Discuss Job-Creating Urban Infrastructure
Banks
Atlanta Mayor Kasim
Reed, Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx, and Portland Mayor Sam Adams among leaders
to join Clinton Global Initiative Aug. 9-10 in Tarrytown,
NY
NEW YORK – Today, President Bill Clinton and the Clinton
Global Initiative, in partnership with the Center for American Progress and the
Rockefeller Brothers Fund, will convene seven U.S. mayors in Tarrytown, New York
to discuss strategies for attracting private investment in public infrastructure
in cities across the country. The gathering follows an initial meeting among six
mayors at June’s Clinton Global Initiative America Meeting in Chicago and was
spurred as a result of President Clinton’s support for Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s
newly created Infrastructure Trust, which will promote job creation and economic
growth in Chicago.“I was thrilled when Rahm Emanuel set up America’s first urban infrastructure bank in Chicago, and I see this ongoing conversation among America’s mayors as an important step towards finding a workable model that can be replicated in every other city around the country,” said President Clinton. “My hope is that coming out of this meeting, mayors will realize that attracting private investment in their cities’ roads, bridges, water and sanitation systems, waste to energy projects, and new electrical grids is an idea that will put people to work, stimulate the local economy, and increase the value and quality of life of their cities in the long term.”
Participants at today’s meeting include Asheville Mayor Terry M. Bellamy, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch, Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx, Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown, Joplin Mayor Melodee Colbert-Kean, and Portland Mayor Sam Adams, as well as high-level city officials from Chicago, Denver, Kansas City, Louisville, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, and San Francisco. Also in attendance will be former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, former director of the Office of Management and Budget and current Vice Chairman at Citigroup Peter Orszag, infrastructure experts, and capital providers such as Nuveen Asset Management and Rockefeller Foundation.
After opening the two-day meeting with a discussion led by President Clinton, mayors and city leaders will discuss the current fiscal challenges to investment in public infrastructure, look at existing models of leveraging private capital for investment in public infrastructure, and think through the steps of creating an urban infrastructure bank and identifying investable projects. Participants will also have an opportunity to work together towards establishing programs and constructing projects that grow the economy.
The meeting follows the 2012 Clinton Global Initiative America meeting in Chicago, where Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, and Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer met with President Clinton to discuss the possibility of replicating Emanuel’s Infrastructure Trust, a nonprofit entity designed to attract private capital for infrastructure investment, in other cities. The idea has since gained momentum, with Mayor Nutter, President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, recently expressing interest in similar strategies.
The meeting will take place at the Pocantico Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund in Tarrytown, New York.
The meeting is closed press.
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About the Clinton Global InitiativeEstablished in 2005 by President Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) convenes global leaders to create and implement innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. CGI Annual Meetings have brought together more than 150 heads of state, 20 Nobel Prize laureates, and hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations and NGOs, major philanthropists, and members of the media. To date CGI members have made more than 2,100 commitments, which are already improving the lives of nearly 400 million people in more than 180 countries. When fully funded and implemented, these commitments will be valued at $69.2 billion.
CGI also convenes CGI America, a meeting focused on collaborative solutions to economic recovery in the United States, and CGI University (CGI U), which brings together undergraduate and graduate students to address pressing challenges in their community or around the world. For more information, visit clintonglobalinitiative.org and follow us on Twitter @ClintonGlobal and Facebook at facebook.com/clintonglobalinitiative.
