Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
7335683
label
Press Conference of Tom Bradley, Mayor, Los Angeles, California, E. J. Garn, Mayor, Salt Lake City, Utah, Ben Boo, Mayor, Duluth, Minnesota, and Joseph Alioto, Mayor, San Francisco, California
core
doc
dtoType
document
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
7335683
sourceUrl
contentType
document
title
Press Conference of Tom Bradley, Mayor, Los Angeles, California, E. J. Garn, Mayor, Salt Lake City, Utah, Ben Boo, Mayor, Duluth, Minnesota, and Joseph Alioto, Mayor, San Francisco, California
citationUrl
collections
White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
Press Releases
largeImageUrl
imageCount
1
hasImages
yes
source
import
hasTranscription
no
Source extras
naId
7335683
levelOfDescription
item
productionDates
day
14
logicalDate
1974-08-14
month
8
year
1974
recordType
description
ocrSource
nara-archive
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
document
mediaId
d6e5170566d0caba
ocrText
Digitized from Box 1 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AUGUST 14, 1974
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
THE WHITE HOUSE
PRESS CONFERENCE
OF
TOM BRADLEY
MAYOR, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
E. J. GARN
MAYOR, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
BEN B00
MAYOR, DULUTH, MINNESOTA
AND
JOSEPH ALIOTO
MAYOR, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
THE BRIEFING ROOM
5:30 P.M. EDT
MR. ROBERTS: For purposes of identification,
these four mayors all participated in the meeting with
the President. On my far left is Mayor Garn of Salt Lake
City, Mayor Alioto of San Francisco, Mayor Bradley of
Los Angeles; and also on the far right, Mayor Boo of
Deluth
Mayor Bradley will give you a small fill in on
what happened at the meeting. Each of the mayors can
add his words, if he wishes, and then they will take your
questions.
Mayor Bradley?
MR. BRADLEY: Sixteen of us representing cities of
every size in this country were delighted with what we
thought was a very positive response from the President to
this unique opportunity for us to share our views, our
concerns about the problems of the cities.
The President expressed not only understanding of
these problems, but a desire to work with us. We had asked
for an opportunity to have input to someone high in his
Administration, and he said, "Start with me." We are
delighted with that kind of response because we think that
the problems of the cities, really, are paramount in this
country, and if we fail to solve them, it won't make much
difference what we do in Washington.
We are pleased with the President's reaction to the
community development bill. We were especially concerned
about the transit bill that is now pending in the Congress,
and we have asked for his understanding and support of a
reasonable measure of support, not only for operating expenses,
but for capital construction as well.
I think I can speak for the mayors of the cities of
this country when I say we are very much encouraged by the
reaction we got in there, and I come out of it with a strong
feeling of a great step forward for all of us.
MORE
- 2 -
MR. ALIOTO: Representing the Conference of Mayors,
we told the President we were thankful for being able to talk
to him. This was a great thing. It had been a long, long
time since we had been in the White House.
We also told him we were for him. It didn't make
any difference whether we were Republicans, Democrats, non-
partisan or otherwise. We think he has given the country a
new spirit, a new start, a new beginning, and we were all
very happy about that.
He has promised us that we are going to have
direct access to the White House, that there would be a
mechanism in the White House, that there would be a person
who spoke for the cities who would speak to him about the
cities and this is very, very important to us.
And finally, we told him that the crisis of the city
was not over. We have a long, long way to go. It is not
being expressed in forms of riots these days but the cities
are the principal victims of the inflationary forces which
Mr. Ford has correctly identified as the number one enemy.
So our claims, our needs are all there, and we
feel very, very good about the fact that there is a man
in the White House who is listening to the cities and it is
very important to us.
MR. GARN: I certainly agree with Tom and Joe. I
would just add this, that we met prior to coming to the
White House and talked about the things we wanted to present
to him. In his opening remarks he was able to answer and
respond before -- he gave most of our speeches for us -- indi-
cated his total commitment to the concept of decentralization,
that we as mayors in our individual cities with the differences
between cities all over this country, are far better qualified
to make decisions, to promulgate solutions to our individual
problems than a distant Federal bureaucracy, and reiterated
his commitment to the concept of general revenue sharing, to
the special revenue sharing block grants and returning power
and authority back to the local level.
MR. BOO: Of significance, I believe, was the
meeting before we met the President when we had to face the
fact that we were going to come to the President with a
suggestion that the inflation be kept under control and yet
that we agreed finally that the cities themselves had to make
some sacrifices and we had to stop asking for ongoing
continuing Federal money.
It was a difficult decision to make philosophically
because we in the cities are always out of money. We there-
fore told the President that if we could provide input to the
Federal budget, we would be willing to cut back on some of our
own programs that we have worked so long and hard to attain.
This was our sacrifice, we believed, so that the country could
get back on its feet and correct the inflation.
MORE
- 3 -
Q
Did you tell the President by how much
collectively the cities would cut back?
MR. BOO: No, we recognized the easy role of a cut-
back in the Department of Defense. We though we could not in
good conscience stay with that position, that we believe
that this country must have a strong defense posture, that
we would support that, and that we had to be part of the
cutback, but we did not get to actual dollars.
MORE
- 4 -
MR. ALIOTO: I think the point we made that was
important in that respect, though, is that in the last
two years, 1973 and 1974, the cities bore a disproportionate
burden of the tight budgeting. As a matter of fact, the
housing was eliminated entirely.
So, when we talk about equality of sacrifice, we
will be doing better than we have been in the last two
years, and we just think equitably the cities shouldn't
bear the major brunt of the cutbacks.
Q Did the subject of the new Vice President
come up at all in your meeting?
MR. BRADLEY: No.
Q
Were you told who your liaison would be
here? You talked about keeping up the relationship with
the White House.
MR. BRADLEY: The President said for the time
being we would be working directly through him. Our
immediate contact person would be Ken Cole.
Q Are there any plans for future meetings
established at this time?
MR. ALIOTO: I think the President said whenever
we needed access, there would be a man designated. Right
now, it is Ken Cole. Historically, it has been the Vice
President, and perhaps it will be worked out in that
fashion.
Q
Did you recommend that?
MR. ALIOTO: We stated that historically it had
been the Vice President and that if it isn't the Vice
President, it ought to be somebody designated high in the
White House who would have immediate access to the
President, and I think he agreed generally with that
philosophy. Whether it is the Vice President or not is
for his determination.
Q
Would you want that person to be a
former mayor?
MR. ALIOTO: No, the Vice President should be
whomever Mr. Ford wants.
Q
I mean, the person high up in the White
House, if it isn't the Vice President?
MR. ALIOTO: Not necessarily. Just somebody who
has a sensitivity about the problems of the cities and
can get to the President.
MORE
- 5 -
MR. GARN: I think the thing we were most pleased
with was when we asked him this question, he first of all
said that for the time being your access is me. When we
asked for the high level, and you can't get any higher than
that, but I am sure we all gained the impression that
regardless of who the Vice President may become, regardless
of who is our contact man, this President is going to stay
very close to the cities and we will have access to him
through whoever he appoints.
Q
Can we get a little more specific? Where
would you gentlemen commence to start shoving back or
refusing to accept Federal funds to help the Nation's
inflation battle?
MR. BRADLEY: We made no such decision. As a
matter of fact, we said we would like to be involved in the
preparation of the budget so that as cuts are dictated, we
have a chance to determine where we ought to make the cuts,
because we are the ones who are directly affected in the
end, and that in essence is the way we approached it.
Q
How is the budget access open to you?
MR. BRADLEY: We have developed a new coalition
of the Governors, the county officials and the representatives
of the cities, who will in fact .~be working with
the Administration in the budgetary preparation.
MORE
- 6 -
Q
Did he give you new commitments that the mayors
would have new input into the budget process?
MR. ALIOTO: He certainly did. Yes, this was one of
the things we complained about. We pointed out after general
revenue sharing in 1972, in 1973 we got a budget presented
to us which cuts the heart out of the social programs in
the cities and we are confronted with a fait accompli.
Now he promised that we would have the opportunity
to make contributions to the budget before it is actually
thrust upon us some time next February and we are very, very
grateful for that promise.
MR. GARN: One further comment. This new coalition
committee does have a meeting scheduled on the tenth of
September to discuss this very situation.
Q
What are your priorities, Mayor Alioto?
MR. ALIOTO: The things we discussed. The President
himself discussed the fact he had a community development bill
before him on urban renewal and housing and all of those things.
The second thing prominent in our discussion was
mass transit, funding for mass transit. They are very prominently
on the minds of big city mayors and little city mayors.
Q
How much do you think it would cost in your
particular city?
MR. ALIOTO: There is a pending bill for $20 billion
over a period of years and some suggestion that $9.8 billion
might be more acceptable and maybe somewhere in between we
will be able to work out a legislative compromise, but that is
where it is right now on mass transit.
Q
Do all four of you accept the thesis that the
Defense budget is absolutely uncuttable down to the mess boys
over here, down to the guys who drive cars? I got that notion
earlier.
MR. ALIOTO: You certainly ought not to get that
notion. As a matter of fact, you remember last February, the
Secretary of Defense in a colloquy on the Hill, said that his
budget had $6.3 billion more in it because it was put there
to stimulate economic activity. And one of the points we made to
the President today was that while we all wanted a strong defense,
that we took umbrage at the notion that you should use the
Defense budget for the purpose of stimulating the economic
activity.
What is wrong about that is it doesn't target in where
the need is. It is better if you are going to use money to
stimulate economic activity to put it in the cities. That is
where the need is, that is where you get down to the point.
MORE
- 7 -
Q
What did the President say then?
MR. ALIOTO: The President simply took the sugges-
tions and said, as I said earlier, that we are going to be
able to have an opportunity to talk on the budget before it
is actually formulated.
MR. BRADLEY: I can tell you that his response to our
suggestion about public service employment as a help toward
stimulating the economy and providing jobs, he said we need to
take a new look at it; we shouldn't just across the board
establish an unemployment figure and say that when it reaches
six percent everybody in the country is going to get some
public service employment jobs.
He said that the jobs should go where the needs
are and I think that is a new direction, a new thrust and we
are pleased to hear it.
Q Mayor Alioto, to assure equality of sacrifice,
will the mayors have to request supplemental budgeting for
community development by the end of the year?
MR. ALIOTO: On that equality of sacrifice, the
main thing we indicated to him, Grace, was when there was a
question of cutting out certain city programs, we wanted
to know about the fact that they were going to cut out some-
thing and be given an opportunity to say what ought to be cut
out.
If it is done in that fashion, I see no reason why
we should be asking for supplemental budgets.
Q
Did the President say there wouldn't be such
action in the future, such as putting an extra $6.3 billion
into the Defense budget to stimulate the economy?
MR. ALIOTO: I don't recall the President responded
directly to that discussion. I happened to have made the
discussion to him and pointed out the admission made by the
Secretary of Defense before the Congress, made in committee in
February. I simply pointed out we didn't think that was
the way to do it.
The President didn't respond to that directly but
indicated as I said, that we could get that idea, we could make
that contribution at the time they are talking about the budget
and we will certainly press hard for it at that moment.
Q
You are talking about the budget now. Is the
coalition contributing?
MR. GARN: The coalition is meeting on the 10th or
11th on the 1976 budget. The coalition is going to meet very
briefly. Governor Calvin Rampton of Utah, from my State, is the
new Chairman of Governors' Conference.
MORE
- 8 -
- ( -
May I respond just briefly to this whole budget
situation. We talked about equity of financing. We are
talking about we don't want the cities just wholesale cuts.
We would like to examine those budget cuts and have our
input. The same thing with the military.
I personally am opposed to those who advocate
blind $8 or $10 billion cuts without examining individual
programs for their waste and efficiency too. We think the
entire Federal budget cut should be approached in that way
on the programs that are effective and those that are not
prioritized so that we get the best good out of them.
MORE
- 9 -
Q
Did you get into the concept of expanding
advance funding on existing categorical grants so that
you, as a mayor, know when you plan ahead that you will
actually be getting funding?
MR. ALIOTO: We didn't at this conference, but
we are pushing for that through our legislative repre-
sentatives to accelerate the receivance from the Federal
Government.
Q
Was there an agreement for another earlier
meeting or any date set for another conference?
MR. ALIOTO: There was no date set. We were
simply told that there would be a system set up within
the White House itself that would give us access at such
time. as we requested it, and we expect to request it
from time to time.
We hope to see the President at least a couple
of times every year, and we really haven't had a meeting
in the White House you know since March of 1971.
Q
Earlier today, President Ford relayed word
that he was supporting the Harsha amendments to the urban
transit bill, which I think cuts the $20 billion in about
half. Is that acceptable to the mayors? Do you think
that is showing interest to the problems in the cities?
MR. ALIOTO: The President indicated today that
he thought $20 billion was too much money for the mass
transit bill. He mentioned the fact that somebody had
proposed a $9.8 billion figure, which was approximately
half, but he didn't indicate that he was frozen on that.
He Mistened to Mayor Beam of New York who made an impassioned
plea of the necessity of adequate funding.
He listened to Mayor Bradley, he listened to me
and other mayors, the mayors from smaller cities, and we
didn't get the impression that the President's
feet were set in cement on the question of $9.8 billion as
against any figure that might be a little higher than that.
Q
Could you explain a paradox? You have said
that you last met with an Administration, the past one, in
March of 1971, which collectively you seem to regard as
a penny pinching-Administration. You come in and sit down
with a man who is reputed to be a conservative and come
out here and sound very optimistic. How do you explain
that?
MR. ALIOTO: We don't think that is much of a
paradox. It has happened before in the history of this
country, and I suspect it will happen again, with
somebody who represents a narrow constituency as a Congress-
man, as a Representative or Senator, may vote one way
with respect to certain bills, with respect to certain,
even, philosophical movements involved in the bills,
MORE
- 10 -
and when he becomes a President of the United States,
he takes a broader view of the picture than that view
which is limited by his former constituency.
It has happened before in the history of the
United States, and we think it is happening right now
so far as the problems of the cities are concerned. I
think that President Ford acting as the President is going
to have a different view from Congressman Ford or from
Representative Ford.
MR. GARN: As a matter of fact, that was his
own comment. He said that as a Congressman you did
represent a constituency, and when you became President,
you were President of all the people and there were many
issues on which he would have to take a broader national
view.
Q
Has the coalition developed a methodology
to trade off, let's say, a tank for a subway car?
MR. GARN: The reason I respond to that, I am
one of the charter members of the new coalition and Joe
will be attending his first meeting.
No, as a matter of fact, our initial meetings
were just getting -- the budget for 1975 was already set
before the new coalition really got underway. So, we are
in the process of working on the 1976 proposed budget and
the purpose of this first meeting on the 10th and 11th
of September is to meet with the budget officials so
when it is in the formative stage we can start
looking at it. So, we have not yet figured out that
methodology.
MR. ALIOTO: You know in the 1973 and 1974 budget
as a result of the mayors lobby, we made substantial changes
in those budgets when they were presented to us after
having been worked out by the Administration. Now we are
going to have a voice in them before they are actually
thrust upon us in January or February, and we are going
to continue to assert the claims of the cities, hoping
to get a change in outlook with respect to certain programs
and then continue that in the Congress, if we aren't wholly
successful.
The important thing is that we are being
promised that we are going to have a voice in the budget
before it is formally printed and sent out to everybody.
THE PRESS: Thank you, gentlemen.
(END at 5:46 P.M. EDT)