Advocating for Flagstaff
In late April, I joined nearly 50 other mayors and descended on Washington, DC on a mission to fight for solutions to address the housing and homelessness crisis affecting U.S. cities. We advocated for changes to voucher income qualifications for veterans, additional funding for housing choice vouchers, and increasing or eliminating the cap on the number of project-based vouchers (vouchers that are attached to a rental development rather than an individual or family).
On the first day of our trip, we met with Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services; Adrianne Todman, Acting Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; Denis McDonough, Secretary of Veterans Affairs; Tom Perez, Senior Advisor to the President and Director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs; Neera Tanden, Domestic Policy Advisor to the President; Shalanda Young, Director of the Office of Management and Budget; and Jeff Zients, White House Chief of Staff. On day two, we divided into four groups and met with approximately a dozen members of Congress each, including Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Whip Katherine Clark, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, and Senator Ron Wyden, Chair of the Senate Finance Committee.
Most (not all) of us following a day of meetings with White House staff.
Tempe Mayor Corey Woods, me, and Mesa Mayor John Giles.
With Senator John Fetterman (tall man in the back giving a “thumbs up”) following our meeting.
After my two days with the US Conference of Mayors, I was joined in DC by Vice Mayor Austin Aslan, Councilmember Jim McCarthy, City Manager Greg Clifton, Deputy CM Joanne Keene, and Senior Project Manager Christine Cameron. We were there to lobby for Flagstaff’s FY25 appropriations requests and to keep city projects front and center with various agencies.
Our appropriations requests are for projects for which we have local matches, are past the design phase, and/or are part of a larger project already underway. These projects are: improvements to the Amtrak station platform, enhancing ADA accessibility, drainage mitigation, and improved safety—this is part of our already funded Downtown Mile; design work for airport terminal expansion and accessibility and design and construction of drainage improvements; La Plaza Vieja phase 2 infrastructure improvements, including traffic calming, safer pedestrian crossings, and improved storm drain locations; Fanning Wash flood mitigations, including improved culverts, flood wall, and/or a new diversion pipe; and a biochar facility at the wastewater treatment plant to use converted forest biomass as usable biochar.
Other projects we discussed and urged ongoing support for include: Rio de Flag flood control project, wildfire risk reduction and forest health, continuing seven-day service on Amtrak, Workforce Housing Tax Credit Act, HUD Fair Market Rent that is specific to the Flagstaff area, and renewal of transportation funding in the Infrastructure, Investment, and Jobs Act. In our two days in DC, we met with Senator Kyrsten Sinema, Senator Mark Kelly’s staff, Congressman Eli Crane, Congressman Ruben Gallego, Congressman Greg Stanton, staff with the Army Corps of Engineers, Federal Aviation Administration, and the Department of Transportation. To read our lobbying packet, which includes much more detail, see the city council’s April 23rd meeting agenda packet.
City Manager Greg Clifton, Vice Mayor Austin Aslan, Councilmember Jim McCarthy, Senior Project Manager Christine Cameron, me, Deputy CM Joanne Keene.
Senator Mark Kelly’s flight suit displayed in his office.
Congressman Ruben Gallego and me following our meeting.
