A busy weekend for Mitchell at mayors’ conference

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WASHINGTON — It’s one of the few places where you can turn several heads just by saying, “Hey, mayor!”

More than 270 mayors from across the country descended on a Marriott in Washington, D.C., this past weekend for the annual winter meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

They held panels on topics ranging from clean energy to public safety to immigration policy. As mayors dined on sponsored lunches, the organization’s leaders set their federal policy priorities for 2025.

More than 700 city officials, subject matter experts, and businesspeople registered to mingle with the mayors in color-coded lanyards. On the eve of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, then-President Joe Biden and two officials from his cabinet addressed the conference. Mexico’s ambassador to the U.S. answered immigration questions at a panel. 

New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell is a regular at these meetings — he recently went on five trips for the organization in a one-year period, The Light reported in an analysis of his travels. Mitchell sits on the organization’s board of trustees.

“I don’t want to brag about it, but I actually think it’s a big deal,” he said in an interview with The Light in December. “You guys didn’t report on it, but I think that could be something relevant to frankly report on.”

So, The Light sent a reporter to D.C. to report on it.

What Mitchell did in Washington

The New Bedford mayor was a leading voice on climate issues at this meeting. At the closing session on Sunday, Mitchell said mayors must lead the climate conversation.

At a panel on clean energy tax credits, he spoke briefly about plans to use geothermal energy in the to-be-constructed Congdon-DeValles School. 

“The thing about geothermal is, it works,” he said, because it lasts long and lowers energy costs.

In an interview, Mitchell said some of the most interesting things he heard at the conference were about climate.

“It’s been diminished as a political issue because some people are fatigued about hearing it,” he said.

The mayor said he learned about better ways to message on climate by keeping messages relevant and fact-based — and not coming across as a “smarty pants” about it.

Mitchell spoke up at a panel on hate, where experts described a rise in antisemitism, Islamophobia, far-right anti-immigrant sentiment, and violence on college campuses. The mayor told other attendees it’s important to acknowledge the Jewish community’s fears of violence.

“When people are upset, you gotta show up and have their back,” he said.

He jokingly added: “I am a golem of New Bedford,” likening himself to a servant creature in Jewish folklore. One of his recent trips was an expedition to Israel with other member mayors.

Mitchell also attended a panel on gun violence. He said the panel topics were important, but the discussions didn’t teach him much he didn’t already know. 

“As time goes on, there are fewer best practices to internalize,” he said.

The mayor said he also holds private meetings with other leaders at these conferences, which are often more important to him than the formal panels. He spoke to a Light reporter in the hallway just before one of these meetings; he declined to say with whom he would be speaking.

If the conference had been held two weeks later, there might have been more to learn, Mitchell said. By then, there’s likely to be more clarity on what cities can expect from President Trump and the new Congress in the coming years, he said. Without more information, mayors could only speculate at this meeting.

Mitchell didn’t spend the entire conference weekend in the windowless bowels of the Marriott Marquis. He said he also made the “usual round on Capitol Hill” with a visit to Sen. Ed Markey on Friday. They talked about the planned closure of a federal building in downtown New Bedford, NOAA’s future headquarters, offshore wind, fishing, and port infrastructure, Mitchell said.

Also on Friday, Mitchell said he had a meeting with America250 about ways New Bedford can participate in the country’s 250th birthday next year.

“I think people need to know that I spend my time here working very hard for New Bedford,” Mitchell said on Friday.

The mayor simultaneously managed affairs at home. On Saturday morning, he said he was remotely handling New Bedford’s snowstorm prep and state pier matters. And later on Saturday, after the Biden Administration lifted its suspension order on Vineyard Wind, Mitchell returned a call from the offshore wind company after finishing his conversation with a Light reporter.

Other mayors in leadership positions praised Mitchell in brief interviews with The Light between conference sessions. The New Bedford mayor is very involved in the organization’s internal governance, said Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt, the organization’s vice president.

“Jon’s a great guy,” Holt said.

Why mayors attend the conference

The U.S. Conference of Mayors is registered as a not-for-profit and describes itself as a bipartisan organization. It has hundreds of dues-paying member cities, New Bedford among them. 

Mitchell and other mayors say that a key reason why they attend these conferences is to learn from other mayors. Cities face similar challenges, many of them said. Mayors are trying to keep housing affordable, streets safe, and economies healthy.

Chicopee Mayor John Vieau said he tries to persuade other mayors to come to the conference because of how much they can learn.

“We don’t invent wheels; we borrow them from other communities,” he said.

Vieau spoke to a Light reporter after listening to the clean energy tax credit panel where Mitchell described New Bedford’s geothermal school plans. Moments later, Vieau struck up a conversation with Mitchell to see whether Chicopee might be able to use the same credit.

Outside of conferences like this one, mayors have few opportunities to network with colleagues who share their job title. At a breakout session for new attendees, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria likened the conference to “group therapy.” Holt, the Oklahoma City mayor, said the meeting gives his mental health a boost.

The other important reason mayors cited for attending: This organization serves as a unified voice for city governments at the federal level, which helps them lobby for resources.

“When we lock arms and we advocate in Washington, we’ve had some success,” Holt said.

As an example, Holt pointed to money allocated to cities in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Mayors said that package helped finance pedestrian improvements and other big projects. In New Bedford, it funded planning for the city’s waterfront paths and lead pipe replacements.

Mayors focused their federal advocacy on the housing crisis at this gathering. It’s the biggest challenge cities are facing, mayors said at a press conference.

“We don’t talk nearly enough about our housing deficit,” Gloria said. “It is enormous.”

The organization’s housing report showed that an overwhelming majority of the 120 mayors surveyed agreed that the crisis is “severe, widespread, and worsening” — and most said it will continue to worsen if Congress doesn’t pass a “significant” housing production bill.

Mayors said many cities are already taking action, but they need federal dollars. They called for flexible funding to be sent directly to cities — not through state legislatures. Nine in 10 surveyed mayors said this was extremely or very important.

At the same time, mayors said the federal government must protect existing federal housing grants, vouchers, and tax credits. Most surveyed mayors said it was important to expand the programs too.

Biden team visits

President Biden gave a brief speech to the conference at a lunchtime session on Friday. The organization awarded him with its highest honor, the Distinguished Public Service Award. Biden recapped his administration’s accomplishments, including signing the American Rescue Plan Act and measures to reduce prescription drug prices. 

Attendees gave a standing ovation when the president announced that the Equal Rights Amendment is the “law of the land.” Critics say Biden’s assertion is based on an incorrect legal interpretation of what it would take to ratify the proposed Constitutional amendment.

Earlier on Friday, then-Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said the drivers of fulfillment — relationships, purpose, and service — are missing from many Americans’ lives. “Hustle culture” doesn’t bring lasting fulfillment and it’s a driver of unhappiness, he said.

“It is up to us to rebuild community in the country we love. Mayors have a special role to play here,” Murthy said. He received a standing ovation as he finished speaking.

Mayors showered the next speaker, then-U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, with just as much, if not more, admiration. “Mayor Pete” was the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, before he launched his 2020 presidential bid and landed in Biden’s cabinet. Friday’s speech would be his last public engagement as secretary, he said.

Buttigieg’s speech, like Biden’s, was somewhat of a résumé of the administration’s accomplishments. The transportation secretary focused on federally funded infrastructure projects in cities. 

“Today, every form of U.S. transportation is in better form than we got it,” he said. But there’s more work to be done, he added, and much will be up to mayors.

Buttigieg called on mayors to unite their “diverse and divided” communities by building trust.

“The community of mayors is about to matter more than ever,” he said.

Praise for the work of mayors was not in short supply at the conference. “Mayors get things done,” and similar sentences were common refrains.

“We are killing it,” Holt said at a press conference. He went on to call mayors “the greatest class of political leadership this country has.”

Email Grace Ferguson at gferguson@newbedfordlight.org

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