by Bill Barnes

NLC President Anthony A. Williams, mayor of Washington D.C., urged President George W. Bush last week to convene a National Economic Summit on Regional Economies and the Future of the United States that would provide a ?forum for a renewed partnership between federal and local leaders.?

In a letter to President Bush, Williams said the summit would provide ?a great opportunity for your administration to work with local public and private leaders to explore and develop solutions to the economic challenges facing our communities and the people who live there.?

?We believe strongly that the national economy is really the linked system ? the ?common market? ? of local economic regions,? Williams said.  ?That?s why the National League of Cities is seeking a summit involving both local and national economic leaders.?

Writing on behalf of the nation?s cities and towns, Williams pointed to the ?anxieties and questions? people have about the strong economic forces that are affecting their households, businesses, and communities.

The summit is a key element in a three-part strategy involving governance, information and public discussion, and program development and implementation.  It would be charged with:

? Producing reports that assess local, regional and national economic conditions;

? Recommending policies and programs that address the economic challenges and insecurities that face the nation and its common market of local economic regions; and

? Establishing on-going mechanisms to better carry out and coordinate national and sub-national economic policies.

Williams? letter to President Bush reflects the resolution that was approved by the Advisory Council and ten other NLC leadership groups at the June 16-17 Forum on Economic Vitality in Denver and then adopted on July 15 by the NLC Board of Directors.

The resolution also called for the President and Congress to establish a new regional economic strategy that is adequately funded to assist municipal leaders in assessing their regions? economic challenges and developing and implementing strategies to address them.?

It also urged ?retention and full funding of the Community Development Block Grant program.?

The Denver forum was the latest step in a multi-year NLC exploration of options for addressing priority issues that are shaping the futures of municipalities across the nation.

This effort is part of NLC?s CityFutures Program, led by the NLC Advisory Council. A ?framework for discussion on economic vitality? will be ready for analysis and comment by NLC leadership groups and NLC members at the Congress of Cities in Charlotte, N.C., December 6-10. Based on those comments, the Advisory Council will further develop the economic vitality topic in 2006.

A copy of  Williams? letter to Bush and the NLC resolution is posted on the Economy & Jobs Issue page of the NLC website, www.nlc.org.