Mayor Sheila Dixon: "Wars in our city"

2008-11-19T04:47:44Z

Sheila Dixon of Baltimore is the most recently elected Mayor we interviewed. But she already has her priorities straight -- tackling crime, guns and the flow of drugs into her inner city.

"I want to see one of the candidates come up with a comprehensive plan to eliminate the tide of drugs coming into our country," the Mayor told us. "I mean, we have wars here in our city. We should be making strides in that area, but its something I never hear [the presidential candidates] talk about."

She's right, of course. The '08 presidential race has distinctly eschewed issues of inner city violence and drug trade. Perhaps it's a blessing that we haven't had Willie Horton-style attack ads that demonize urban people of color; but we also haven't had any substantive talk about America's drug problem (the illegal one, not the prescription one).

Maybe not surprisingly, then, Mayor Dixon has yet to endorse a presidential candidate. "I've had a couple conversations with a couple candidates," said the Mayor, "and my first question is, What is your platform for urban issues? ... And then, what kind of commitment will they make for following up?"

For cities like Baltimore to not just get a lot more hot air, it's the latter question that matters. Good thing that Mayor Dixon is asking. Hopefully she gets a truthful answer.

(More interviews and your comments at MayorTV.com)

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Mayor Shirley Franklin: "Invest or die"

2008-11-19T04:47:45Z

"Infrastructure isn't sexy."

So says Mayor Shirley Franklin of Atlanta. In her far-ranging MayorTV interview, she was the first to admit that aquaducts, sewage facilities and desalination plants don't exactly grab headlines.

That is, until the worst drought in 100 years hit the Southeast.

With reports that Atlanta has only three months of water left, Mayor Franklin is dealing with an infrastructure problem of biblical proportions. Naturally, "It all comes back to water, water, water -- everywhere," says Mayor Franklin. "Water is my top 10 priorities. Or top 20."

Washington, meanwhile, has compounded the drought by drastically cutting their investment in water infrastructure. "In the 1970s, the federal government gave cities 75 cents of every dollar they needed to build water and sewer systems," she explained. "Today, we get pennies on the dollar." The result? Leaking pipes, failing equipment, wasteful systems -- at a time when waste means disaster.

"There was a major campaign for the last presidential election called Vote or Die," the Mayor told us. "I would modify that to say, Invest or Die. Invest, or Atlanta's economy -- and the national economy -- is going to shrivel up and die."

(More interviews and your comments at MayorTV.com)

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dixon at Brave New Films

Mayor Sheila Dixon: "Wars in our city"

Mayor Shirley Franklin: "Invest or die"