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Hello, and welcome to the City Club of Cleveland, where we are devoted to creating conversations of consequence that help democracy thrive.

It's Friday, July 25th, and I'm Mark Ross, retired managing partner of quake and president of the City Club Board of directors.

I am pleased to introduce our forum today, which we are presenting live from the annual summit of the Democratic Mayors Association.

As we begin, I want to offer a special welcome to our out-of-town guest.

We are thrilled to have you here in the land and the City Club is proud to partner with the Democratic Mayors Association today for this forum, as part of your annual summit.

As a political junkie, I subscribe to tip O'Neill's Maxim that all politics is local, which truly underscores the important work mayors do.

My my first real introduction to politics was, believe it or not, about 50 years ago, when a friend randomly arrived at my house on his bicycle and told me that some guy was running for president and was going to be about to speak at the James Garfield home in manor, a block from our own street.

So the two of us headed over there on our bicycles and worked our way through the crowd to the front and listened to a man named Morris Udall share his vision for America.

His passion, optimism, and candidly, humor ignited my interest in the political process and gave me hope that we would move past the seemingly never ending saga of Watergate, which seemed to consume everybody's attention even for an 11 year old.

Fast forward to present time, and I think we would all agree that the need for leadership and optimism has never been more important, and I think we will hear a lot about both today.

Cleveland's mayor, Justin Bibb, took office in January 2022, and in January of this year, he was appointed president of the Democratic Mayors Association.

The DMA is comprised of mayors of cities of 30,000 or more from across the country.

They work together, along with leaders in the private sector and labor, to find solutions to shared problems, and often advocate for progressive policies.

Mayor Bibb is going to moderate our forum today.

He has put together a panel of a few of his counterparts from across the country, and they are going to discuss what leadership looks like at this moment.

Donna Deegan is the 45th mayor of Jacksonville, Florida, and the first woman to serve in that role.

She's a former local television news anchor and a cancer survivor.

Her leadership is focused on infrastructure, economic development and public health.

Todd Gloria has been San Diego, California's 35th mayor since 2020, the first person of color and the first member of the LGBT community to serve in that role.

Mayor Gloria has been in elected office since winning a city council election in 2008, and he also served in California's State Assembly.

Quinton Lucas leads the city of Kansas City, Missouri, the urban center of a complex metropolitan area spanning the border between Kansas and Missouri.

Mayor Q, as he is known, is Kansas City's youngest mayor since 1855.

As I noted, Mayor Bibb is going to moderate our forum today.

Two final notes.

Our forum today is part of the City Club in the community, which we present in partnership with Bank of America.

And if you are listening to us live online or on KSU, you can text questions to (330)541-5794.

Mayor Bibb, I hand it over to you.

Thank you.

Mark.

How are you guys doing?

You know, it's been a great couple days in Cleveland.

And for, the local folks in the room, can we give another big round of applause to all the mayors who came to our city?

They bought a lot of hotel rooms and spent a lot of money in our city over the last couple of days, and I'm really honored to have this conversation, because over the last six months, many of us in this room have been fighting the good fight, keeping our cities moving forward in an effective way despite all the confusion, chaos and cruelty coming out of Washington, D.C. and in January, when we were all together at the U.S. Conference of Mayors, probably none of us expected this level of volatility that we're seeing in our country right now.

And so we wanted to have a conversation about what does leadership look like as mayors in this moment, and what does it mean for the country in this moment?

And I want to just start, with you, Donna.

You were recently elected, and you converted, Republican seat to a Democratic seat in a tough red state right now in Florida.

What is leadership look like for you over the last several months?

Well, over the last several months specifically, obviously, it's been a huge shift.

One of the first things that happened in January is we heard three of our big government offices.

We're going to close.

We're going to lose our IRS employees.

We were going to lose our HUD office.

We were going to lose, an Army Corps of engineers.

So we scrambled, but we we we were trying to wait for the dust to settle, and we were able to work behind the scenes to get those positions back.

But but it's one thing one day and it's another thing another day, as you all know.

So for us, leadership in Jacksonville looks like making sure that we're continuing to move our city forward regardless of the uncertainty.

Because because uncertainty is obviously the enemy of progress.

You really want people to feel good about where things are.

And we had a pretty stable situation under the Biden administration.

We also, one of our largest projects that we have in Jacksonville, we lost $147 million grant that we were given by the Biden administration to complete a transfer project in our downtown.

So we began putting together a process to make sure we could get those dollars back in another way, with this administration.

But these are all the challenges that also present opportunities to lead.

And I think that in our city, we've been able to, try to make sure that we're I don't want to say I don't want to say counterprogramming, because that's not exactly what I mean.

I want people to know that we are the government closest to you, and we are going to make sure that we are still looking out for your needs, regardless of whatever is happening up in DC.

And I think we've been able to successfully do that.

Great.

Todd just got reelected to another four year term.

You've been fighting the good fight on a number of issues.

What is leadership look like for you right now and this moment in San Diego?

Well, I echo, what Donna was saying.

Last six months, maybe the worst amusement park roller coaster ride ever.

Is that maybe.

Way to describe it.

And leadership looks counterprogramming or just the opposite meaning to say, I think mayors have a responsibility to be a steady hand during this time, in a moment of great uncertainty and chaos.

We are the folks that I think are out there trying to calm, trying to stay focused and trying to deliver results.

I think a part of why the president's poll numbers are collapsing is the fact that everything he ran on, he's not actually delivering upon.

And mayors don't have that luxury.

And so in the midst of all the crisis, when your funding's cut, when your jobs are reduced, you figure out another way and so in the city of San Diego, you know, we're putting up, double the number of, homeless shelter beds that are out there, increasing new home production by 100%, cutting homicides by 40% over the last four years, putting up numbers that show people that things can, in fact, get done.

And I would just conclude with saying that I think really right now, what leadership also looks like is reminding people that democracy will die if good people recede, right.

What I hear from everyone is like, I this is terrible.

I want off this roller coaster, right?

You don't get that luxury of democracy, because if you do, we lose our government.

And when good people recede, bad people filling the void.

So we as mayors have to fill in that void, encourage folks to follow us and try and maintain that normalcy.

What I've tried to tell everyone who doesn't want to see anything at the national level look local.

Look local.

Where the roads are getting paved, where the crimes are getting solved, and where the housing is getting built, and allow that to be what carries us over the next 2 to 4 years to remind us why we are part of this collective effort of the United States of America.

Thanks, Scott.

Q you've been on this roller coaster for the second time now, and, you were mayor and your first term under the first Trump presidency.

You saw the great work you did with, former President Joe Biden.

Now you're back on the roller coaster again.

Talk about that for you emotionally as a leader and and how you're providing kind of calm and stability right now to folks in Kansas City.

Well, to take us back to a story from long, long ago during the first Trump administration.

And Todd joined me for the tail end as well.

We would occasionally have to watch presidential press conferences to know what they were going to do.

During the Covid era, during all of the issues, then you had no real prediction.

The difference, however, and I say this and I'm somewhat interesting way, is that you still had somewhat credible actors at the head of some of the agencies.

You had folks that had spent a career at least trying to have some reputation, trying to be professional at this point that is almost completely junked.

And so what you are dealing with are agency directors, secretaries who do not believe in the mission of the agency at all.

You have discussions on education that are about how do we abolish the education department.

You have this other issue, which many of us in red states face, and O'Donnell does as well as I do, which is in your governor's comparatively wonderful on some of these issues, which is that they are complete copycats and if not copycats, they're actually more aggressive.

So the president talks about I'm going to issue an executive order that does this down to your governors, much better at this than even mine.

And they say, we'll do two times better.

We will build alligator Alcatraz.

We will do all these sorts of things.

And so in Missouri, we ran into an issue where they said, all right, they're getting rid of DEA there.

We'll do it even worse and will investigate you more.

And so in some ways, I think there are two things that I think about a lot right now, very different than what we had to before.

The first one is you still don't compromise your values.

You do not abandon the people of your community that you are there for and who you are there to serve.

Fundamentally, that is something that we will never do and that is something that is vital for us.

The other thing that is incredibly important, and my friends, it is tough in the era of doomscrolling, no matter whatever your platform is, you cannot take the bait every time.

You know my mother yesterday, God lover was telling me, oh, I didn't know you were on Fox News yesterday.

And she thought it was flattering.

She's like, yeah, you're on the Jesse Waters show.

And I said, well, you know, it wasn't really me wanting to be.

And she notes, well is it is it challenging?

Is it difficult?

No, I'm not playing with them.

What we're going to do, just as my colleagues have said, we're going to run a city.

We're going to be responsive to the issues there.

We're not going to be scared to talk about things like affordability.

We're not going to be scared to talk about how we can provide health care for more.

And I will say this, which is a very cool position sometimes if you're in a red state, we don't get to brag about it.

But just in, Donna and I get this chance to also say to people around our state that we're standing up for you too.

So when we're talking about delivering great health care opportunity, affordable health care opportunity in Missouri and Kansas, it's not just for the people of Kansas City.

It's people all around us.

So that's that's how we're handling it.

So feel good I did yeah.

Yeah a little bit because because you brought up obviously what has been a pretty sore subject around our state and this, this alligator Alcatraz situation.

But we have just I want you all to have sincere pity for me when I tell you this.

Okay.

So.

So I am a I have, first of all, the largest city by landmass in the country.

We have a little over a million people in Jacksonville, very spread out, 900, almost 900mi of city, right?

I have 19 city council members.

We're a strong mayor form of government.

I have 19 city.

I see.

I told you, you're going to feel sorry for me.

That's hard.

19th.

Wait.

Supermajority Republicans.

Wow.

Okay.

And the Democratic mayor, we've been able to pass 95% of our agenda.

Yeah.

By by working with those folks who very often feel like.

And I feel bad for them sometimes because they really do feel like they have to be performative for, for, for this government.

They feel like they have to be and they're almost apologetic about it.

Sometimes we have to say these things.

We have to, to do these things.

But when when the subject of immigration came up the other day, there was a bill that was passed by this super majority Republican city council that we knew was clearly unconstitutional.

We knew they didn't even really like it.

But what we did is we, we we stated our values as we as we normally do.

I vetoed the bill, fully, you know, expecting it would probably be overridden, veto the bill, but then very methodically pointed out, in addition to our values, all of the reasons it was going to hurt our local economy.

The reason it was, was going to hurt our, our public safety, the reason it was going to hurt our health care community, all the things that it was going to do purely for performance as opposed to any sort of real substance, any sort of common good.

Yeah.

And and that veto was upheld.

Now, that doesn't happen.

All the time.

But, but I do think I do think it, it says to you that, that even in these scenarios where things seem.

So dire sometimes I think if you continue to build those relationships with those people across the aisle, and we do a lot of that because we have to wear a 5050 city purple as can be.

You know, if you continue to build those relationships and give people the arguments that take the, a lot of that emotion and, and you called it reaction out of the argument instead of just that knee jerk of, you know, I think that we have an opportunity to really, move our city forward.

I want to drill down on this topic a bit more.

Preemption.

And Q you've really been a leader for many of US mayors tackling this issue of preemption in Kansas City.

On a very important issue as a Democratic mayor in a red state on public safety, because there's this, false narrative out there.

And I wanted to shout out the very institute for their great work where, Democratic mayors can't run cities effectively, especially on the issue of public safety, where across the country, even in Cleveland, for example, since we took office, homicides declined by nearly 46%, 46%.

You look at Brandon Scott in Baltimore, homicides down at a historic, rate.

Same for Jacksonville.

Jacksonville as well.

How do you tackle the issue of preemption in Kansas City?

And what kind of lesson does that give us as Democrats to keep working across the aisle as well to get stuff done?

You always tie things back to just core common sense, and it sounds easier, to say than to deliver.

But but it's basically this I would occasionally go to the state legislature.

I go to my state legislature once a year because it's otherwise a laboratory of bad ideas.

But what I initially tell them in all situations is I don't want my sons getting shot at a school on the streets of Kansas City any more than you want harm in your community.

So let's think of ways that we can work together with it, and it's more challenging now.

But there are still the foundations.

Do we support law enforcement?

If we support law enforcement, we give them the tools to arrest people.

A lot of those people who are doing bad things are trafficking illegal firearms, for example.

And you just make it very clear in saying, look, I'm not taking anybody's firearm or trying to other than this person that is selling firearms unlawfully.

So lots of people who are committing crimes on the streets of our city, you go to the in some way dispassionate, objective approach of we are looking to save lives.

That's step one.

Step two is that you have to show them competent.

That's one of the reasons I like this set of mayors.

And don't get me wrong, there are some mayors in this country are who are incredibly entertaining people.

Todd and I, over the years have served with some of the several of them aren't mayors anymore.

Several may not be mayors in the future.

We don't want to be that crazy, folks.

So you may say, I've never heard of Todd, Gloria, Donna David or Quinton Lucas.

That's okay.

That's okay.

Because what we are trying to do and deliver to everyone around us is to say, look, our city is doing the basics of picking up trash, solving crime, addressing the issues we need to.

And so really, where you often see that preemption kind of goal arise is one if it's coming down from on high.

And for them that on high as the president or certain governors or second, where there is total chaos because every day I wake up in a state and I think Donna and Justin do too, where it's very easy to attack the mayor of a large city.

You will.

You have a gubernatorial race coming up.

Both of you do.

And I'm sure all of them can just say, well, I could run against Cleveland or I can run against Jacksonville because I got to win a primary.

What we try to do is say we've got our stuff together, right?

We are solving real issues, as we said in the last battle.

We are bragging about our successes.

And more than anything, we're actually inviting others to come be a part of it too.

I invite state legislators, very conservative ones, to come visit with me, and it's one of my favorite things when they say, you know what?

Cuz we don't agree on anything.

But, you know, I just love being around and Kansas City has got to go on, on.

And then I'm like, so can you let us keep like tens of millions of dollars?

Please.

Just leave us alone.

Yeah, just just leave me alone.

But I think that is largely what you lay out.

You keep doing that.

I'll make one plug for those who are really bored.

I wrote a piece on this and the University of Chicago Law Review on preemption issues for cities, so that we have other tactical ways to address.

He's a super geek, by the way.

Todd, you're in a city that is really dealing with, three of the biggest issues facing our country right now.

The rising cost of living, the housing affordability crisis, and immigration.

Talk about how you've navigated that given this political environment.

Vodka.

Straight back, you know, day where we had changes in the last.

Now we're just straight ahead.

Or for me, not so straight.

The, So in.

Yeah.

Some of you got it.

Okay.

The radio listeners got it.

I appreciate you knowing that we're having to work on those issues.

And that's the thing is, you know, with the job of mayor, I got to pick up the garbage every week.

I got to get water to your house.

I gotta get the other stuff out of your house when you flush.

Right.

So you have all this stuff, but then all the things get piled on, and you're right.

Cost of living.

I hear it everywhere.

It's not just a California thing.

I'm sure you all think that housing costs are too much here.

I'm not sure the rents too high here already.

Right.

And.

But in my town, what that looks like is a one bedroom apartment that goes for an average about $42,500 a month.

Single family homes.

You can't find anything more.

Less than $1 million anymore.

How do you tell a working and middle class family in the city of San Diego that we want you to be here?

Well, you generally involve some pretty tough policy choices.

We have dramatically changed our permitting, our zoning.

It's not to.

Everyone's like.

But what is happening in my in my lifetime, the city of San Diego went from about 700,000 people to over 1.4 million.

Today, we have doubled our population in not quite 50 years.

I know, don't be surprised.

In that same period of time, we've cut our housing production, by two thirds.

So when you do that, that's how you get unaffordable housing, how you make homeownership impossible.

What are we doing?

Those zoning and permitting reforms.

We went from about 4300 housing permits per year to about 10,002 years ago, over 8800 last year, despite high inflation, high interest rates.

We are advancing policies at the local level that are improving life.

What's happening?

Rents are flattening and in some cases where the development is most focused, the rents are going down.

I'm not representing the mission accomplished in San Diego, but my point is that these problems are solvable and it requires to have people that actually care about the issue.

I would just switch to the when you have more affordable housing, you have less homeless.

Yeah.

Period.

Point blank.

65% reduction in homelessness in downtown San Diego, 14% in the city.

And our most recent point in time count.

That's in California, where they tell you that it's an urban hellscape.

But then the vice president comes in, vacations in your town last week make you make it makes sense.

Let me just make our last point on immigration.

You know, San Diego is the largest border city in the United States.

You heard me say only a moment ago.

Homicide down 40% over the last four years.

If you're to watch C-Span or National Cable news, you have the belief that everything at the border is completely insane, dysfunctional, chaotic, criminal.

That is not the case.

San Diego is one of the safest big cities in the United States, and we are one of the greatest cities in this country because we have a diverse population made up of a many, many immigrants who choose to come to our city.

And we appreciate them.

Now that has put us in the focus.

And, we had a group of federal agents, storm an Italian restaurant on a Friday night dinner service, fire off some flashbangs and take off for, dishwashers out, none of whom had a criminal record.

That is where we're at.

But I want you to know when that was going on.

That operation took an hour.

200 San Diegans unorganized came out of their homes in that neighborhood to surround those agents, to say this is not who we are.

We do not want this here.

I appreciate the fact that our folks are speaking up, but I understand the fear that is going on in this community.

So while I have the ability to operate freely, as a, as a blue state, I will tell you there are real challenges.

And trying to walk that line of saying, you know, we will welcome people, but hopefully not invite greater scrutiny.

And therefore more, actions are enabled.

Neighbor is a difficult line to walk.

And I think a lot of mayors right now are doing that.

You know, how do I stay true to my values, but not invite the scorn of an administration that seems extremely petty, and very much willing, to, to to do really terrible things that are counter to who we are.

So it is a difficult time.

But on the issue of housing, homelessness, we are showing of results and we're continuing to, endeavor on this issue of immigration.

Before coming here, I issued an executive order reaffirming our commitment to follow state law where we don't, perform federal immigration enforcement at the local level, directing our city staff to make sure that they're completely trained when it comes to how you do immigration enforcement and to galvanize our business and our philanthropic community.

Because I absolutely agree with you on this, makes us less safe when you have a group of 200 people in the middle of the street, during a busy Friday night with flash bangs and police responses.

That is not making us safer.

That was what we were told this was going to do.

It is not is making us less safe.

And so we have to speak out.

But at the end of the day, I recognize federal supremacy and I can only say so much, and I do not ever want to give a constituent of mine the false impression that somehow I can keep the immigration officers out.

What I can simply do is do my very level best to make sure that everyone is informed of their rights, that we try and arm them with due process, and that we are not complicit in these actions that we find to be so un-American.

Thank you for your leadership, sir.

Thanks, doc.

Q and I will say actually, to the preemption question, Todd addresses what the biggest challenge and change is in the 20 teens.

We were dealing with a situation where you often have that state local conflict and that continues.

But now in so many words, no one is safe.

President Trump, who at his core is a man of an American city, is someone who is incredibly interested in cities.

And so his administration is to.

So no one from the bluest city, whether large or small, to someone who is a red city somewhere, is really immune to the amount of attention we're seeing.

So where the usual federal and local interplay often for mayors has been either resources, are they coming or are they not?

You are seeing really true punitive steps being taken against certain communities.

Louisville the other day right.

Got a sanctuary city threat Louisville, Kentucky.

Why are they on the radar?

Why all those sorts of issues?

It's just something the administration is doing now.

And I think that's where you see the really smart mayors like Todd recognizing how can we support our citizens while having, you know, making sure that we're not becoming even more of a target along the way?

Yeah.

So part of the summit's goal over the last couple of days has been to really think about how we as Democrats can win more damn elections.

Yeah.

And be successful to keep delivering for the people that we serve every day.

And, Donna, I want to start with you.

I mean, you won a competitive seat.

You made history and your point of view.

How do we win more and be better as a party?

Well, I think we have to be real with people.

First of all, you know, one of the things I'm going to say, I think I had an advantage and that I was in people's homes for 25 years as a news anchor, so people knew me.

So that was helpful.

But at the same time, because I have so loved my community, I was not willing to tear it apart in order to win a race.

And so I made a pledge that I wasn't going to run any negative ads.

I didn't run one.

I was in every community on my feet, knocking on doors, sharing with people a positive vision and my love for the city.

We have a city that has been in neutral at the very best for decades.

And I said, you know, we've got to believe in ourselves, and I know we can do this.

I'm a fifth generation native.

I mean, I truly am in love with my city.

And when I was an anchor, I was in every neighborhood.

So I just I went into those neighborhoods and I said, we can together do this.

And, and nobody thought we would win that race because, well, hey, I'm a Democrat, but B because I didn't run a negative campaign, but I but I hope that is in some ways I want to tell you, Justin, one of the reasons that I really wanted to come do this panel with you was because I hear so many people from our party talking about how we've got to match their outrage with outrage, we've got to match their ugliness with ugliness.

And I know some of you probably feel that way.

I do not feel that way.

I think if we don't share hope and positive positivity and vision and belief with our people in our cities, that we're not ever going to win anybody back, and nor should we.

I don't want to become that which I don't believe in, and it's not worth it to me to win a race to do it.

Which is why I didn't run any negative, negative, ads.

But we won that race, I believe, on hope and love, and I believe in leading with love over fear.

And I and I would just I would implore my fellow mayors, don't talk about taking the bait.

Don't take the bait of being that which we don't believe in.

Love, love, love, love.

Our fear.

Todd how do we win more?

How do you win more?

You fix the damn roads, right?

That's right.

You get the homeless people off the streets and into care, right?

You.

You put up results.

That's, how I was the first Democratic mayor reelected in the city of San Diego in almost 40 years.

Wow.

It is, yeah.

This is not your not your mama's, San Diego.

But I so agree with Donna in terms of the positivity.

I mean, there is we need to draw folks in in what I hear from folks.

And it is amazing.

San Diego is the eighth largest city in this country.

I told you, 1.4 million people, very wealthy communities, very impoverished communities.

We span a very large area.

It doesn't matter where I go.

I just did the 4th of July parades in the north of the south of the city.

It is the same.

Fix the roads, house the homeless people, make things more affordable.

Now, these are not easy tasks, but you can.

Like I was sharing with you a moment ago on Housing show, put up some results.

And I think that particularly on the issue of housing, I pray that we can talk more about this and we as mayors, because we have the controls around land use and whatnot, we can put up wins for that.

We need partners at the federal level.

It's ironic.

As Q as mentioned a moment ago, we have a president who was a developer, but I have not nearly seen the interest in reducing the cost of housing from a first developer turned president.

Ever.

We need to own this issue, and we can have help at the national level by doing things like saving Cdbg.

We're authorizing the home, you know, reinvigorating the housing Urban Development Department, but it's also on us locally.

I think we can put these things together.

And you start showing people know if you work hard enough and play by the rules, we will make a place for you in San Diego, in Kansas City.

And this is how we'll do it.

I just results are so critical.

My reelection was during a very difficult time.

We had about 125,000 Joe Biden voters did not show up in our county to vote in 2024 for Kamala Harris, our own, former US senator.

The way we did it was simply say, I haven't solved the whole homeless problem, but we have fewer folks than there were before.

And you give me four more years, I'll get more of that done.

I paved I think it was like 20% of the road network.

That was more than the last.

I didn't eight years.

I did it in four.

Let me give me give me four more years.

They gave me that opportunity in an election year.

That was very, very tough.

I just have to say that the results speak for themselves.

We got to put up results.

The good news is, as Democrats, we actually believe in the power of government.

We want to do government well, and generally speaking, we will have the power.

We do it.

So get out there and put them results, pay those roads, house those homeless people, reduce the cost of living.

We will win elections.

Put points on the board.

Amen.

Q Amen.

I mean, I think you start with competence and good governance.

Todd just hit the nail on the head.

Your foundation, it's almost like getting a job, right.

If you start in a new career, you want to prove to everyone, I'm an attorney by training that you're really good, that you're diligent.

You can do the work right before you're doing the marketing, before you're doing some of the other steps and so good governance is the foundation.

But the next step is listening to mayors.

It's why the work, Justin, that you're doing in Virginia that you're doing is so important.

The future of the Democratic Party is from getting more voters who are turning out in Jacksonville and in Kansas City and in San Diego, even when I was a kid, and I'm not quite his age.

Right.

San Diego was the home of Pete Wilson, right?

The last great Republican governor, the last great Republican governor of California.

Now, you had one sense, but nonetheless, right.

So push really conservative things and right, we see these wins in these places.

What we need to do in more of the national discussion is center these voices, because these are voices of success, of accomplishment.

And I will say this with the greatest respect to my sisters and brothers who serve in Washington.

We are tested each and every day.

We are tested and progressive and conservative and straightforward media.

We have folks coming up to us in neighborhood meetings.

The cliche is the grocery store.

It is true.

I have learned it is also when I drop off my one year old at daycare.

Nobody leave me alone.

My child is screaming, I don't like to.

Yeah man, something's going on.

What are you going to do?

But we need to make sure that we have messengers like these out there.

And I think that's the way that you start to make a difference.

I was interviewed and actually wanted to be one on Fox News, interviewed by Dana Perino, and she said, your party, this, your party that.

And I said, look, Dana, I'm a dude from Kansas City.

And what we are doing in Kansas City is this, this and this.

I'm not answering for everything else under the sun.

What we're talking about is the success we have and what Democrats fundamentally believe in, which is, back to Todd's point, competent government, good governance and results on the board.

That's what it's all about.

And I think that's what makes a difference.

A lot of that of that great answers.

So before we go to our Q&A session, and I'll do reverse order and let you kick it off.

Q despite all the craziness that we've seen and experienced over the last six months, what's giving you just a little bit more hope for America's future?

Right now?

Our message is cut through so when I was a little kid, I lived in a small town in Kansas, and a hospital where I was treated for pneumonia for a week is likely going to shut down due to the latest bill.

I shared that story, and that story wasn't just resonating with like, super progressives in my city.

It was resonating with people around the state of Kansas, which I don't live throughout the state of Missouri.

My senior senator is even doing this weird, inconsistent.

I want to save rural health care now.

I think messages do cut through.

People do.

Listen, don't give up on what that core message is.

And really, in sharing our humanity, fundamentally, it still exists.

And I think we can still find a way to make those messages resonate that I appreciate the question because just like all of you mayors also have days, we just wanna stay in the covers and sort of hold my dog close and just pray.

This goes quickly and but when you, when I don't have it work, you gotta get out of bed because someone's gotta pick up the garbage.

I find hope in every mile that's paved.

We're driving around.

Yesterday, I was like, oh, here, here, here.

You know, and that's against all the challenges, right?

Have you tried to buy asphalt recently?

Not cheap.

Right.

So the fact that we can put up those wins is good.

And I was driving to an ice cream shop in one of the more challenging parts of San Diego.

And they knew I was gonna be scooping some ice cream.

Good retail politics.

And, this one, 12 year old kid came up to.

He knew the mayor was coming, and he was talking about how excited he was about politics and government.

And I saw in this kid me, 30 years ago.

Right.

And it just reminded me we're only here for a period of time, right?

Right.

My responsibility gets paid.

Those roads pick up those homeless folks.

But I'm gonna pass that baton to this young man who is in a challenging neighborhood.

If he goes to college, he's gonna be the first in his family to do it.

And he knew the mayor was going to be there, and he came.

He had some great questions.

There are countless examples of that, young man, and that's why we do this work, right, to give him that opportunity.

Let's not get confused by the headlines.

Let's understand who we're here to serve as people like, that boy in his family, that gave me.

I went out of there just up and down the street.

That wasn't the sugar from the ice cream.

It was that interaction that reminded me why I do this work and why I feel fortunate to be able to this work.

Amen.

That's great.

Donna, it's gonna sound so trite, but it's just true for me.

I had breast cancer three times.

I thought I was going to die.

And I just am so incredibly, enormously grateful for every day that I get to get out of bed and serve my community.

And so to see all the progress that we've made, all the cranes in the air in downtown where it's been just a dead zone for for decades to see that we, for the first time in our history, invested millions of dollars in making homes more affordable for our citizens.

We've never done that on a local level before.

You know, to see the progress that we're making in terms of just the unity of our community and the people who are getting involved in, in government.

I mean, I know it makes me sound like a geek, but that stuff just makes me want to get out of bed in the morning.

And because I just I truly believe just to get back to a theme that that if we're listening, if we're truly taking in and listening and acting on, on the needs of our community, and they see that people see authenticity all day long, people will get involved and they'll and they'll do it with you.

And that's what we're seeing in Jacksonville.

And that gives me tremendous hope every single day.

That's great.

Well, let's give these mayors a round of applause before we go to the Q and A.

So we're about to begin the audience Q&A for our live stream audience.

I'm Justin Bibb, mayor of Cleveland, here with me today, our mayor, Donna Deegan of Jacksonville, Todd Gloria, mayor of San Diego and Kansas City, Missouri Mayor Quinton Lucas.

And our forum is coming to you live from the Democratic Mayors Association annual summit this year at the Hilton Cleveland downtown.

We welcome questions from everyone city club members, fellow mayors, other guests, as well as those joining us via at City club.org and on Wksu.

If you'd like to ask a question, please text it to (330)541-5794 and City Club staff will try to work it into the program.

May we have the first question, please, Merle.

Good afternoon.

This is this is wonderful.

I'm so glad.

Welcome to Cleveland.

My name is Merle Johnson, and I taught in Cleveland schools for 40 years.

And one of the things I've noticed, and which is true now, that people really don't pay a lot of attention to students.

So my question to you is, how do each of you use high school students in decision making for your city?

I'll, I'll go ahead and start.

I mean, I think the first thing is you have to be present and visit.

And so I try to get to high schools, particularly regularly.

People really like kids when they're young and cute, but sometimes by the time they're teenagers, it's harder for some to engage.

So I try to be there in in schools where sometimes I'm welcome and sometimes where it's a tougher conversation.

Another thing we did in Kansas City was we created a youth commission.

We had one before, but we tried to reinvigorate it just with high schoolers letting them talk to us about what summer activities do you want?

I feel young, but, getting older every day, like all of us.

So what worked for me in the 1990s?

Mayor's night.

Whoops may need to change in some sorts of ways, so we try to be with them in that.

But another thing that I do on all of those visits is make sure you're actually breaking out.

Time to truly listen.

The other day, if you hop on my social media, I was like, dancing with some cheerleaders.

They're much better than me.

But it wasn't just the superficial stop.

It was listening to 16 year old girls, 16 year old black girls in our city.

A whole bunch of people have ideas of what they want.

Not enough of us listen.

And so I try to make sure I build in my schedule ways to truly hear from them.

In that regard, Miss Johnson, if I may just add one thing, everything you said we're doing to Youth Commission, you know, they directly have input.

But I'd say the best thing I've done, with the help of our governor in California, Gavin Newsom, we've converted all of our internships at City Hall into paid internships.

And you wouldn't believe how that has changed the diversity.

The reach of this program.

And so you see these faces that are much more reflective of our city, and they're in picking up those phone calls, writing those letters, but they're also helping to staff our committees and provide support in our office.

We are building the next generation of public servants, through this program.

We call it employee and empower.

And I encourage any mayor to take a look at it and try and replicate in your city.

It has done wonders not just for our city.

We're benefiting from these young people talent.

But we are absolutely opening up this opportunity to more young people in our city.

It is the coolest thing that we've done in our administration.

We're doing some of the same things as well.

And a lot of interns that we bring in to City Hall and some of them paid.

But but the other thing that we're doing that I'm really excited about is we started a literacy program in our city because we only had 22% of our kids that were reading at third grade level.

And part of that literacy program is having mentors who are teenagers, who are spending time with those kids and helping them learn to rate our literacy rate.

This year went from 22% last year to 51% this year.

All great.

And I think a lot of that is because kids look up to those older kids and it's sort of this is sort of this double feedback.

You know, it gives it gives the teenager something really exciting to be a part of and lets them be, you know, that star in the eyes of those young people.

But it also creates the next generation of successful citizens.

That's great.

Mayor Bibb, thank you for hosting us here in in the land.

You brought the lights on and, Mayor Sawyer, it's Conway from Madison, Wisconsin.

And mayors, thank you for your insights.

And one of the things that we are seeing in Madison, is in the public discourse, an increase in anger and fear, often driven by myths or disinformation.

And, you know, we've talked a little bit about how do you break through with the positive message, but I'm curious for each of you, how are you dealing with I feels like the the fear and the anger that is been, frankly, in the the national level for a long time is trickling down into the local level and impacting the trust that our residents have in local government.

So I'm curious how you all are experiencing that, dealing with it.

Any advice you have for the mayors in the room for things that we can be doing to rebuild trust, reassure our community and and fight back against some of that myths and disinformation I can tell you for for me, I spend a great deal of time in the community.

I go through it and again, remember 900mi we have in Jacksonville, just about so so it takes a while to make the way around the community.

But we basically scheduled town hall meetings in every corner of the city.

And then when we're done, we basically start over.

And sometimes those consist of an agenda on my part and then listening to what folks think about that agenda.

And then other times it consists of, okay, go.

And people have the opportunity to vent all those things.

And and you know, it's amazing.

You don't even have to have the answers to the questions.

Sometimes people, if they can just feel heard a little bit, feel like, at least somebody is listening to them.

So there's that.

And, and I and I heard a mayor say it earlier and I, and I think this is also very important.

And this may be easier for me just because I come from this world.

But we have very constant and open press.

Gaggles about every other week where we have the media come in and just and just ask whatever, questions that, that and I also do a monthly radio show where people can call in and just vent at me if they want to.

It's no, it's it's so valuable.

It's so valuable.

I would just say, in addition to those things, yeah, I do group therapy all the time with our folks.

You know, you're like dad to a lot of people, right?

And they kind of want to holler at you.

And I've learned not to take it personally.

I get it.

But it's actually one thing that I've done.

To your point about disinformation, I don't know if this is caused by it or it's a byproduct of it, but with the kind of collapse of journalism, you know, fewer and fewer outlets, fewer and fewer people actually utilizing them, what we found valuable is to create our own outlet.

Inside San diego.org, you can see that.

So rather than relying upon what we put out as public information, actually get picked up by news services that may not even exist in longer or may prefer to lead with some infotainment story, as opposed to something that's actually happening in someone's neighborhood.

We have the ability to have direct communication.

We're building that, base of followers, through text, through social media and through all the others.

What it allows us to do is to be able to communicate the actual facts, because I think what you're alluding to is what I find.

So often I'll be in conversations with constituents who vehemently disagree with what I'm doing as mayor, which is their right.

But when you start talking to them, they don't have the facts, like straight up, like, you know, black, white today is Friday.

Friday.

Yeah.

Yeah.

They we wouldn't agree on that.

And it's really shocking.

And I wonder how far that goes out.

So by having a trusted news source that we can directly get our information out to folks, it's been pretty impactful.

I look forward to growing that and be able to communicate in all manners and formats directly with constituents, rather than having to rely upon whoever shows up at the press conference actually clip it.

Make the news story.

That evening on television, I started intentionally on this panel talking about how you don't abandon or compromise your beliefs for the entirety of my life as a consumer of political discourse, I have been a black Kansas City, and and I have been exceedingly disappointed when I have had Democratic governors who decided it wasn't important to talk to black people in Saint Louis.

In Kansas City, it might have made political sense in 2004 or 2008, but it undermined our communities fundamentally.

So I will say this clearly and unambiguously.

I do not think it is a strong future of the Democratic Party at all to try to tell people, humans, that you should either try not to exist, you should try to go underground, that you should be quiet for some amount of time.

And I share that argument, that discourse consistently in Kansas City.

How have we done that If there was one thing that you would suggest residents or people that work in policy to be paying attention to and to be reaching out to their state and federal legislators about what would that be?

I mean, I may not nail the question, but if you could actually just know what's happening in your state legislature, I mean, that is a key step.

One, the problem in many ways that I see with America right now is that a lot of our state legislators and there's a chart on gerrymandering right now and all those sorts of issues, they're acting with impunity.

People largely don't know what's happening and they're seeing no consequences.

So even in suburban communities and urban communities that we need to win communities that border mine, some communities within my own city, I have a state senator who does not care because they are not worried about accountability in any real way.

So I think attention to the core of what's happening is going to be key, because those state senators, it happened for us.

A guy from suburban Saint Louis was a crazy state senator.

Now he's in Congress, and he's the one who proposed renaming the Kennedy Center for Melania Trump.

Right?

I mean, they just continued to crescendo on those ideas.

So I think to the extent that you can both share what's happening, you can be engaged in what's happening, frankly, that is something that becomes a difference maker in our communities.

Yes.

I read a little bit about each of you prior to the forum.

Whether it be safe to say you're all very supportive of immigrant rights and what we need most of all is positive action from the feds to enact comprehensive immigration reform and have a set of rules we can go by.

Oh, man, I may not you know, I that is for me.

And I got to say, you know, it's probably the most frustrating thing for me about all this is that this could have been solved years ago and should have been solved years ago with comprehensive immigration reform.

Absolutely.

But you know what?

Nobody wants to do that because it takes away a political cut.

And I think that's a real drag.

But I do think if we could continue to educate people about if you look at the recent polls, there was a new Gallup poll that came out last week that said 85% of the population wants a path to citizenship.

They don't want what's happening right now.

And so I think that absolutely, we absolutely need comprehensive immigration reform and a path to citizenship for people that are here now.

And, you know, I think perhaps because sometimes things have to be the most awful they can possibly be before something pendulum swings back the other way.

You know, that number was 70% a few months ago.

Now it's 85%.

The American people are mostly good people.

I really believe that democracy, freedom loving people, and they don't want to believe what they're seeing right now is them, right?

They don't want to they don't want to take responsibility for that.

So this might actually be the thing that gets us to comprehensive immigration reform.

That's great.

Yeah.

Good afternoon.

First of all, young lady, I want to give you a great big hug after you come off that stage because you touched my spirit.

And I also feel your spirit think God kept you here for a reason, even though you battled disease three times, he keeps bringing you back.

Thank you, thank you.

My next thing is to say to you guys leadership is a big word to much is give, much is required.

So my question for all three of you is if you could pick one word to describe your leadership, what would that word be and why?

That's too easy for me to go.

Yeah.

There is I'm going to fail miserably.

What I, what I after like one word.

The word of this came what?

I think you might have.

I might not so much a word, but an action which I don't think is often said.

I think the most important part of leadership is listening.

And here's a part of why we're so frustrated.

What's going on in Washington is I don't know that they're listening to to Q's point.

Maybe a moment ago, I worked, as a congressional aide to a woman who was a former social worker who went to Congress.

She brought a skill or skill set to Congress and taught me that when you're with constituents, it's not about telling them, everything that you're doing.

It's to listen to what their problems are.

And so I brought that work, that, that approach to this work.

And I just, you know, recognize that you wouldn't expect a lot of politicians to to listen, wouldn't they talk?

But maybe we should.

So I don't know.

That's not one word, but that is one action that I think is informs my leadership style is to listen more than I talk.

Q yeah, to make me sound like I'm running for president, but, courageous.

Not that I'm always courageous, but I hope that we have the courage of not just our convictions, but the courage to to advocate, to fight, to struggle for and with our people and our neighborhoods.

And so, courage is my driving force each day, because even for those of us in office, it is very easy to be complacent.

You can you can go on autopilot and survive, okay, in some of these positions.

But I hope I'm courageous in everything that I'm trying to do.

Right?

For me, that word would be love.

It would be love.

Yeah.

Mayors, thank you so much for everything and for organizing this and to secure it with values and action and Highland.

And we do the movement of kindness, compassion, respect in our schools and also throughout our communities in Cleveland and around the nation.

Thank you all for your your feedback that you share with regards to, Donna saying about leading with love and hope and doing that and not being a mud slinger.

Todd looking local when things are getting crazy nationally and Quentin being able to ultimately, lead with governance with respect and show competence, this is a challenge as a constituent when and a United States citizen, when we got the news of who was elected, it was heartbreaking for for many of my friends and family and myself.

What is most frustrating is not knowing how we as an individual can make a difference.

People say, make phone calls to your leaders.

You guys are so darn busy, just like we are.

Who really hears all these calls?

What can we do to turn it local to make a significant difference so we can change things?

And so the Democratic Party can have a chance in this next election.

And thank you.

Oh, somebody said it earlier.

On one of the panels I was listening to one neighborhood at a time.

I think we need to locally.

We need to reach across and help our neighbors.

We need to create the results for our neighbors and get people engaged again.

I think that that that is if we can get our communities engaged in just making our communities better than that, that's contagious.

That's what I think.

I would just say it's sort of a repetitive to what I said maybe a moment ago, but I want to I think it bears repeating.

I understand the frustration, the fear, the just exhaustion with all of it.

But that's what they want.

And so it's often described as make a phone call or write a letter.

But what it is, is about staying engaged.

It is human nature to withdraw from drama.

When you see chaos and run in the opposite direction again, that's what they want us to do.

So don't don't do it right and stay engaged.

It may be at a local level.

Maybe your passion is at the national level and that may be a bit hard, but I would say stay engaged wherever it is that you believe, your passion will keep you engaged and sustain it.

But this is not the time for good people to go into the darkness.

This is the time for us to engage.

Otherwise, our seats, our voices, that speaker slip at that city Council meeting, that email in the box of that congressperson will come from someone that does not share your values or our commitment to our democracy or to equality under the law.

So we have to stay engaged.

Resist that urge again, I have to do it myself.

I'd rather be under the blankets, my dog, but I got to get up every day to deliver for my people in the way that I need you to continue to deliver for this democracy.

Your success here in Ohio is critical to my success and and Californians.

We are all in this together.

But please do not untangle.

And if the way you engage is by writing or calling, that's fantastic.

But any kind of engagement that gets you out into the community and does not turn over all that we have built over the centuries to a group of folks who don't simply care about our Constitution or our democracy, that's what we have to do.

Be engaged.

I'll say very quickly, because we're at the top of the hour for the radio.

Think of your why and share it.

Think of your why.

Why do you care?

Why do you engage?

Share it with people, share that message and then drive to the nearest swing district, state, legislative, congressional, what have you and knock on doors and share and right good stuff one more time.

You okay?

Thank you very much.

Donald Egan of Jacksonville, Mayor Todd Gloria of San Diego and Mayor Quinton Lucas of Kansas City, and of course, our moderator, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb.

Mayor.

Hey, forums like this one are made possible thanks to generous support from individuals like you.

You can learn more about how to become a guardian of free speech at City club.org.

This afternoon's conversation was made possible thanks to the support of Bank of America, as well as our partners at Hilton Cleveland Downtown.

Next Friday, we will hear from Janice Contreras, executive director of the Northeast Ohio Hispanic Center for Economic Development and Building an economy that truly works for all.

Tickets for this and all our forms are available at City club.org.

And that brings us to the end of today's forum.

Thank you once again to our guests, to our members and our friends at the City Club.

I'm Mark Ross and this forum is now adjourned.

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