THE MODESTO BEE - JANUARY 20, 2001
Sabatino, nation's mayors talk cities' needs
By ALEX PARKER
BEE WASHINGTON BUREAU
January 20, 2001
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Even from the opposite side of the country, Mayor Carmen Sabatino could not escape Modesto's blackouts.
In Washington for the 69th Winter Meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Sabatino spent part of Thursday afternoon in the lobby of the Capital Hilton, talking by cell phone with his secretary about power being restored to portions of north Modesto. Fortunately, Sabatino said, he can rely on the city's professionals to take care of things.
The event, which drew more than 300 mayors, focuses on improving the relationship between cities and the federal government.
Thursday, the mayors endorsed a new set of priorities for improving city life. Sabatino considers some of the priorities, such as better transportation, important for Modesto.
"Unless we have transportation, we're not going to have jobs," Sabatino said. "And unless we have jobs, (it's) going to make it difficult to have housing."
Electricity did not make the list of national mayoral priorities. But as he juggled meetings with cell phone updates, Sabatino saw a lesson in California's electrical woes.
"Deregulation, I think, is the spark that ignited all of this," Sabatino said. "I believe in the free market (but) there are certain things that people need, and government should be involved with things that people need."
Sabatino said that once the state's power problems are resolved, he is optimistic the future will be better for Central Valley cities.
He said he hopes Modesto can secure more federal money for transportation and housing development under President Bush, who has talked of shifting more authority to local officials.
"One of my goals that I have as mayor ... is to make sure that cities get their fair share of tax dollars, whether they be county, state, or federal," Sabatino said. "And, quite frankly, in the last couple of decades, the Central Valley cities have been shortchanged."
Sabatino further expressed his faith that as an organized group, the nation's mayors can garner political attention for local matters.
"If the Conference of Mayors and the League of California Cities continue to direct them toward what our needs are, I don't think those needs will be ignored."
The mayors' conference began Tuesday with the awarding of the Distinguished Public Service Award to President Clinton, the first time in the award's history that it has gone to a president.
In presenting the award, Conference of Mayors President H. Brent Coles cited Clinton's efforts to make the federal government more receptive to local needs.
"I think there's been an increase in the sensitivity to the problems of cities, especially to the area of affordable housing," Sabatino agreed.
When asked what he thought the Bush administration would mean in terms of federal mandates, Sabatino replied only: "I hope that all mandates are funded."
"State and federal people talk and talk and talk," he said, "but the city and local people have to do it."
