It is particularly timely that we meet today and talk about what the nation's mayors can do to support renewal of ISTEA, a landmark federal statute that made mayors and other local elected officials full partners in transportation decisions affecting our citizens, communities, and regions. This historic and visionary statute expires September 30, 1997.
We have all worked hard to realize the full promise of ISTEA over these past five years. We see the potential for even more progress ahead with renewal of this Act, as local officials strengthen and improve partnerships with state and federal officials, within the ISTEA framework...Conference leaders and others have been hard at work these past months laying a strong foundation for this year's debate on ISTEA renewal.
For more than one year we have been partnering with our sister organizations representing local government, metropolitan governments and community organizations, to get ready for this debate. We are aligned with the National Association of Counties, the National League of Cities, the National Association of Regional Councils/Associations of Metropolitan Planning Organizations, the American Public Transit Association, the Surface Transportation Policy Project, and other organizations who all share a common vision on the future direction of federal transportation policies.
We are pleased that governors are also stepping forward to demonstrate their strong support for renewal of ISTEA, embracing the framework set forth in 1991. In the congress, mayors partnering with governors, business leaders and other representatives of our communities is important in securing the support we need from our Congressional delegations.
Our first challenge with our Congressional delegations is one of education, with mayors and others telling the story of how ISTEA has made a real difference in finding solutions to our transportation needs. Only one out of every two Members of the 105th Congress were in Congress in 1991 when ISTEA was enacted.
The Conference and our other ISTEA partners will be working collaboratively to make needed adjustments here and there, largely of a technical nature, in the existing ISTEA framework. All of these efforts, however, will be made within the context of a broad-based campaign by the nation's mayors and our other partners to retain the ISTEA framework as set forth in 1991.
The nation's mayors played a pivotal role in shapeing ISTEA in 1991. We are now being called upon to engage in this debate and continue the partnership we have built under this Act.
Source: USCM Special Report for the ISTEA Forum of the 1997 Winter Meeting, for more info, contact: The United States Conference of Mayors, 1620 Eye Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006 Telephone (202) 293-7330, FAX (202) 293-2352 USCM Web site: http://www.btg.com/USCM/home.html Transportation and Communications Committee site: http://www.btg.com/USCM/wash_update/documents/transportation_highways.html| Main Page | What's ISTEA? | What's Next? | What's New? | What to do? | More Info! | You Asked? | Who says? |