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Mayor TV is a challenge from America’s mayors to the 2008 Presidential candidates: Start talking about cities. Learn more
- Mayor Rocky Anderson
- Salt Lake City, UT / Pop. 178,858 / Elected 2000
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“President Bush has not only neglected cities, but has hurt our cities in such enormous ways.”
— Mayor Rocky Anderson
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- Mayor Rocky Anderson: “These disastrous Bush years”
- By Andrea Batista Schlesinger, DMI Blog
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It's easy for Americans to be abstractly frustrated by the war. We know that Iraq is drawing away resources and attention. We spend $200 million a day in Iraq -- so much money it's hard to understand the implications. It's hard to know what that means for our daily lives.
Not for Rocky Anderson.
Anderson is the headline-grabbing mayor of Salt Lake City. He made international news by organizing an anti-war protest against George W. Bush in 2005, and later calling for Bush's impeachment. (This in the middle of Utah, which voted stronger for Bush in 2004 than any other state.) Every day, he sees what happens when the nation's coffers are devoted to war, not the cities in which 80% of Americans live.
"This is a president who has not only entirely neglected cities," the Mayor said, "but has hurt our cities in such enormous ways, both in terms of policy-making and fiscal decisions."
Bush's focus on terrorism and war has meant a near-complete disengagement with urban policy, Anderson charges. "Republicans and Democrats alike, among mayors in this country, have been very, very upset and concerned about the disregard for cities by this administration."
- Read the full article on DMI Blog >
- Mayors We Interviewed
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Antonio Villaraigosa
Los Angeles, CA
“Poverty, work and opportunity, bolstering the middle class, housing, infrastructure ... it is absolutely criminal that the federal government has failed to address these issues.”
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Shirley Franklin
Atlanta, GA
“We must invest in infrastructure, or Atlanta's economy -- and the national economy -- is going to shrivel up and die.”
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Manny Diaz
Miami, FL
“The media and the pollsters focus on issues like war, abortion, gay rights. Quite frankly, for those of us in the trenches, they're not the hot button issues.”
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John Hickenlooper
Denver, CO
“Cities are America's laboratories. But once we figure out solutions, we need the federal government's help to roll them out to the entire country.”
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R.T. Rybak
Minneapolis, MN
“I want a community organizer in the White House, because that's what I do every single day.”
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Douglas Palmer
Trenton, NJ
“Our cities are where it’s at.”
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Christopher Doherty
Scranton, PA
“The strength of a city is the combustion engineering that takes place inside it.”
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Pegeen Hanrahan
Gainesville, FL
“Use our cities more effectively.”
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Byron Brown
Buffalo, NY
“The presidential nomination process certainly has a negative effect on the coverage of cities.”
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Tom Menino
Boston, MA
“I challenge you, presidential candidates - talk more about cities. It will be beneficial to you, it will be beneficial to the country.”
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Rocky Anderson
Salt Lake City, UT
“President Bush has not only neglected cities, but has hurt our cities in such enormous ways.”
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Sheila Dixon
Baltimore, MD
“We have wars here in our city. We should be making strides against drugs and gang violence, but it's something I never hear the presidential candidates talk about.”
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Bob Duffy
Rochester, NY
“Our cities across this country are proud. They have a great history. But like a boxer, they've taken one knee, and they have to bring themselves back.”
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Antonio Villaraigosa
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