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US Conference of Mayors, Washington, DC 1/26/90 [OA 8130]
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US Conference of Mayors, Washington, DC 1/26/90 [OA 8130]
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Records of the White House Office of Speechwriting (George H. W. Bush Administration)
Curt Smith Chronological Files
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Originally Processed With FOIA(s):
FOIA Number:
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MARKER
This is not a textual record. This is used as an
administrative marker by the George Bush Presidential
Library Staff.
Record Group/Collection:
George H.W. Bush Presidential Records
Collection/Office of Origin:
Speechwriting, White House Office of
Series:
Smith, Curt, Files
Subseries:
Chron File, 1989-1992
OA/ID Number:
13889
Folder ID Number:
13889-002
Folder Title:
U.S. Conference of Mayors, Washington D.C., 1/26/90
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G
18
29
1
5
(Smith/Blessey)
Draft Two
January 17, 1990
MAYOR
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: U.S. CONFERENCE OF MAYORS
CAPITOL HILTON HOTEL
FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 1990
10 A.M.
President Whitmire, , Distinguished Mayors, Ladies and
gentlemen. Thank you for that reception, and for the pleasure of
being here. In particular, thanks to my fellow Houstonian and
President, Kathy Whitmire, for that warm introduction. //
( (Kathy and I go way back. Maybe that's why even though I'm
a Republican and she's a Democrat, the last time I was in Houston
she presented me with the key to the city. // Only one problem.
I found out later that the city was Anchorage, Alaska.) )) //
( (But you know me -- I don't hold grudges. So I picked up
the phone when she called a couple weeks later. She asked me to
declare a disaster area. // I told her I didn't think the
Houston Oilers were that bad. )) //
( (I'm also glad, of course, to see the "Mayor's Mayor." //
When I first heard you were honoring a famous Jewish Mayor for
his years of service in turbulent times, I thought you meant Ed
Koch. // Instead, all my best to Jerusalem's best -- the one
and only Teddy Kolleck. )) //
Teddy, Kathy, and all of your colleagues -- it is an honor
to address this 58th annual U.S. Conference of Mayor's winter
meeting. And to give you my ideas on how between us -- the White
2
House and the Mayors -- we can build a better America for all.
Nineteen months ago, I sent you a letter expressing my
thoughts on urban policy. And wrote, "As we prepare to enter the
1990s, it is clear that America needs a new working relationship
between the Federal government and the cities."
Well, I meant it then. And mean it now that the 1990s have
arrived. We need to forge a new relationship. // A
relationship which is a partnership. // A partnership which
realizes who mans the front lines -- you -- and that urban
problems fall directly at your door. A partnership which can
achieve that Thomas Wolfe called "The Promise of America."
The Promise of America means, first, utilizing our economic
resources. As we have during the longest peacetime boom in
American history. Here is the box score since 1982. Interest
rates down. Inflation down. Today, the lowest jobless rate in
15 years. And more than 20 million new jobs. And this week, we
released a budget for Fiscal Year 1991 that builds on these
beginnings. Together, let's support policies which create more
opportunity for all. //
The Promise of America also means safeguarding our natural
resources. So we have sent the Congress legislation to slash
acid rain, air toxics, and urban smog -- the first rewrite of the
Clean Air Act in over 10 years. I appreciate your support of
that Act's amendments -- now, let's finish the job. And
together, protect our environment for decades to come. //
3
Then, there are human resources. And here, too,
togetherness counts. Today, an estimated million urban
families are led by working parents. But when it comes to child
care, Washington -- unlike Robert Young -- doesn't automatically
Know Best. So I urge the Congress to pass my child-care
legislation to put choice in the hands of low-income parents. //
Each of these initiatives will nurture the Promise of
America. For the problems of the inner city must never occupy
the outer limits of our concerns. Yet even so, those problems
will endure until we meet the four challenges I discussed in
1988: Drugs and crime, education, housing, and the plight of our
homeless. ( (We must meet them, and will. For in America,
nothing is impossible. Perhaps an ex-baseball player put it
best. // "When I was a little boy,' Craig Nettles said, "I
wanted to be a [big-league] player and join the circus. With the
Yankees, I've accomplished both. ")) //
First, the challenge of urban violence. To curb it will
require nothing less than an urban Delta Force -- rescuing our
kids from the terrorism of crime, crack, and cocaine. //
Eight months ago, I sent psoposals to the Congress to win
the war on crime. For eight months, they've been sitting there.
The clock is running. America's patience is running out. So I
ask you to support our legislation to take hoods off the streets
-- and thereby take back the streets. // We need mandatory time
for firearms offenses. No deals when criminals use a gun. And
for anyone who kills a law enforcement officer -- no legal
4
penalty is too tough. That means the death penalty. Not
someplace. Not some time. But here -- and now. //
Think of crime as a snake. Drugs form its head -- spewing
venom at your cities and their kids. Last year, 23 million
Americans used illegal drugs on a "current" basis -- at least
once in 30 days. And eight million people used cocaine. A
Nation with those numbers cannot long preserve its soul. //
We have to act, and are. Through America's first national
comprehensive strategy to win the war on drugs. It's a war to
save that little boy tormented by crack. Or the pregnant mother
-- alone and desperate -- whose drug use maims her child. It's a
war we have only begun to win -- and can't afford to lose.
America's Mayors don't intend to lose. So you've urged a
frontal assault -- both here and abroad. In , you're holding
an International Mayors Conference on Drugs in Columbia -- next
month, I'll be there, too. And begun a national campaign
against the use, sale, and flow of drugs.
And we in Washington -- we don't intend to lose. So we
have asked the Congress for $ billion in Fiscal Year '91 for
education and prevention -- from grade school to graduate school.
And $ billion for treatment. And $ billion for more
prosecutors, prisons, and judges. In all, $ billion to help us
win this war -- home-by-home, block-by-block. Let's use those
funds to smash Public Enemy Number One. Let's help America get
clean, and stay clean. //
4
no legal penalty is too tough. That means the death penalty.
Not someplace. Not some time. But here -- and now. //
Think of crime as a snake. Drugs form its head -- spewing
venom at your cities and their kids. Last year, 23 million
Americans used illegal drugs on a "current" basis -- at least
once in 30 days. And eight million people used cocaine. A
Nation with those numbers cannot long preserve its soul. //
We have to act, and are. Through America's first national
comprehensive strategy to win the war on drugs. It's a war to
save that little boy tormented by crack. Or the pregnant mother
-- alone and desperate -- whose drug use maims her child. It's a
war we have only begun to win -- and can't afford to lose.
America's Mayors don't intend to lose. So in , you're
holding an International Mayors Conference on Drugs in Columbia.
You've urged tougher laws and tougher sentencing. And begun a
national campaign against the use, sale, and flow of drugs.
And here in Washington -- we're not going to lose. So we
have asked the Congress for $ billion in FY '91 for education
and prevention -- from grade school to graduate school. And $
billion for treatment. And $ billion for more prosecutors,
prisons, and judges. Let's use those funds to smash Public
Enemy Number One. Winning home-by-home, block-by-block. The war
on drugs is unconditional: Let's help America get clean, and
stay clean. //
Erasing drugs will not only save lives. It will spur the
stability crucial to that second concern I talked about: the
5
Erasing drugs will not only save lives. It will spur the
stability crucial to that second concern I talked about: the
education of our kids. In that context, let me recall a story
about a teacher -- physicist James Franck, a university professor
-- and his student -- Robert Oppenheimer, then only 23.
Oppenheimer was being examined for his doctorate. Whereupon,
emerging from the oral exam, Frank remarked, "I got out of there
just in time. He was beginning to ask me questions. " //
We want our students to ask questions. But what good are
questions if our schools don't have answers? You know what I'm
alluding to. A too-high drop-out rate. Erratic standards.
Unsafe schools wracked by drug use and trafficking. Kids ill-
equipped to read, write, or understand new technologies. The
truth is that our educational system isn't making the grade. //
To convert this "fail" to "pass" will require a partnership
of local school boards, teachers, and parents working with all
levels of government. For although education is primarily a
local and State responsibility, the Federal government has a
role. // So last September I met with a group of Mayors
including Kathy Whitmire. The same month, incidentally, you held
"Education Day." We, too, asked some questions. And I think
we've found some answers.
I'm referring to the "Educational Excellence Act of 1989"
that is now before the Congress. Legislation which has four
objectives. First, to reward excellence. Second, to see that
Federal dollars help those most in need. Third, our program
6
demands educational accountability. And fourth, it supports
greater flexibility and choice.
For example, we want to create a $500 million program to
reward schools that improve the most. And to reward schools
which create a drug-free environment and reduce the drop-out
rate. // Then, there's our new Magnet Schools of Excellence
program -- letting parents choose which public schools their kids
will attend. And Urban Emergency Grants to help urban schools
hit hardest by drug use and trafficking. // In a world,
increasingly, on the side of peace, our proposals will help
America win the battle not on the fields of war -- but in the
international marketplace of ideas. //
"The Promise of America" means making our classrooms
veritable situation rooms for the trustees of the future. It
also means meeting the challenges I mentioned earlier: Making
housing affordable and accessible -- especially for the homeless.
You know, a few months back I spoke to the National
Association of Realtors. Where its President said to me, "It's
not often we're addressed by someone who lives in public
housing.' // In response, I said we understand the private side
as well. // Barbara and I have moved 28 times in 45 years of
marriage. // What a dream client we'd make for any realtor. //
Clearly, "The Bushes Know Housing." // Sorry, Bo. // And
how basic shelter is a right of each American. Two months ago I
unveiled a project called America's HOPE, Home Ownership and
Opportunity for People Everywhere. HOPE addresses the cities'
7
umbrella of concerns. Whether shelter for the homeless or jobs
for the poor -- affordable housing for low-income residents -- or
achieving the dream of home ownership for increasing numbers of
Americans.
Look, first, at the income that can make that dream reality.
Especially at the Enterprise-Zone legislation now before the
Congress which will create new businesses and jobs within
disadvantaged areas. We need cities where battle zones are
replaced by Enterprise Zones -- at least 50 over the next four
years. And the jobs they'll create for the long-term and
structurally unemployed. // And we also need the investment
that produces income. So I ask Congress to give America a
capital gains tax cut. And an end to that tax -- altogether --
in America's pockets of poverty. //
Next, look at home ownership -- and that oft-ignored party:
the first-time homebuyer. HOPE aims to help them by allowing
them to draw, without penalty, an IRA savings as a down payment
for that first home. // We want FHA to increase the more than 9
million Americans who live in FHA-insured homes. And, above all,
for low- and moderate-incomes to have access to housing. So we
want Congress to renew the low-income tax credit. And I have
asked Secretary Kemp to convene a blue-ribbon commission to see
how we can lower housing costs by slashing regulations.
These initiatives will spur housing -- private and public.
For many HOPE reforms will directly benefit tenants. That's why
we want Congress to approve housing vouchers that empower low-
8
income families to choose where they want to live. And why HOPE
is helping tenants become home-owners. Think of East Los
Angeles. Or Kenilworth-Parkside here in Washington. Or Cochran
Gardens in St. Louis. All public housing sites with tenants in
control. Let's repeat these successes. And help low-income
Americans know the pride and dignity of owning a home. //
For others, of course, first things first: They need the
self-respect and self-reliance of regaining their life. I mean
those whose roof is the sky above and whose floor is the street
below. The homeless.
We see them everywhere -- next door on 15th Street, in our
suburbs and small towns. They are black and brown, red and
white. They need emergency shelter, food, and medical care. So
two months ago I signed a bill that increases funding under the
McKinney Act to reduce homelessness. And we want to find new
ways to put part of our FHA foreclosures into the hands of non-
profit groups. And to coordinate basic needs like shelter with
other social services.
It won't be easy: We know that. But we also know the real
answer to the homeless -- those with mental problems, or
dependent on drugs or alcohol -- is shelter plus care. And we
know that to help the homeless -- like improving education, or
stopping crime -- will require a partnership -- a combined
Federal, State, and local effort. Only then can we unleash the
resources of the profit and nonprofit sectors. And show, as a
writer said, how "America is a willingness of the heart."
9
Last week marked the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. He
would have been 61 years old. Dr. King knew that only
opportunity could realize the Promise of America. He expressed
that often -- and moved a Nation. Listen, even now: His words
-- they move us still. "I have a dream that one day sons of
former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to
sit down together at the table of brotherhood." //
The table of brotherhood knows neither bank account nor
bigotry. So let us sit down together -- the White House and the
Mayors; Democrats and Republicans -- and do what needs to be done
to make this a land of which each of us is proud. Thank you for
this occasion. God bless you. And God bless the United States
of America.
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