After rodeos and resolutions, mayors go home to tackle urban ills

RENO, Nev. - The nation's mayors were feeling decidedly upbeat about the direction of urban America as they wound up their annual meeting Tuesday.

"Cities are on the upswing. We still have problems but we are definitely back," said New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial as the 66th U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting ended.

During five days of ranches, rodeos and resolutions, the 300 mayors wrestled with a range of urban issues including the availability of guns, illegal drugs and the spread of legalized gaming.

The mayors passed dozens of resolutions, from supporting quality child care and early education to opposing global political violence.

The majority of the resolutions, however, dealt with issues closer to home, including one that calls on the federal government to turn prisons into drug-free zones.

Citing a study that found less than 25 percent of prisoners who need drug treatment receive it, supporters of the resolution also called on governors to expand jail drug treatment programs and test prisoners for drugs before releasing them.

"If we can't have drug-free prisons, we won't have drug-free streets," said Gary, Ind., Mayor Scott King.

Some mused over the state of urban America, wondering if cities are doing as well as boosters say or as poorly as critics contend.

While new downtown attractions such as arenas, waterfront complexes and convention centers dot the urban landscape, pessimism is growing in some quarters.

Even cities hailed for their turnarounds such as Baltimore and Cleveland continue to lose their middle class population to suburban flight, according to a federal study on the state of cities released during the conference.

However, most mayors are positive.

"Cities are on the way back and doing great things. We have downtowns again. But crime hasn't stopped, poverty isn't over. We still have issues to confront," said Edward G. Randolph Jr., mayor of Alexandria, La., a community of about 50,000 in the central part of the state.

Robert Moeller, mayor of St. Charles, Mo., a St. Louis suburb, agreed that while cities boast of revitalized downtown areas, in many cases neighborhoods haven't shared in the good times.

"The inner cities have been ignored for too long," Moeller said. "Now its time for them to get the same attention downtowns have been getting over the past decade."

In between the Wild West barbecues, country line dancing lessons and trip to the Reno rodeo, the mayors swapped war stories and notions on how to better serve their communities, said Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer.

"No one here is ashamed to take a good idea they've heard is working somewhere else, adapt it to their own city and take it home," Archer said.

Archer was among the 25 mayors who met with Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater on Monday to discuss how money from the recently passed transportation act will flow down to cities.

"Just because we got the law passed doesn't mean we can sit back and rest," Archer said. "We talked about how we must make sure the proper funds get to where they are supposed to."

A forum on gambling with eight mayors who have casinos in their communities found near universal support for legal betting.

Kevin Kelly, mayor of Elgin, Ill., outside Chicago, said the four-year old casino in his city has produced $59 million in tax revenue.

"It's turned a form of vice into a form of entertainment," Kelly said.

Kansas City, Mo., Mayor Emanuel Cleaver II, an ordained Methodist minister, said he wouldn't allow his theology "to trespass on government policy."

Cleaver added, however, that the 7,000 new jobs and $13 million in added revenue created by the three casinos have brought both benefits and problems.

The subject of children and guns was also central to this year's convention. On Tuesday, Attorney General Janet Reno asked the mayors to develop programs to keep guns out of the hands of children.

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