INDIANAPOLIS — More than 200 mayors of the nation's largest cities, representing some 100 million Americans, are gathered in Indianapolis this weekend trying to hammer out bipartisan solutions for urban challenges.
The 84th annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors opened Friday, just two weeks after a gunman murdered 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, vice president of the mayors' conference, said without Congress stepping in to do something about it, mayors have been forced to take the lead in protecting their residents from domestic terrorism — even without sufficient resources to do so.
"National security, homeland security and public safety in the new world are actually becoming one, and it's incontrovertible that the fighting force, the force that's the tip of the spear, that's on the ground first, is local law enforcement," Landrieu said.
The mayors are backing a 16-point "Compact for a Better America" that calls for new federal resources to support cities in their first-responder roles, particularly grants to hire more police officers.
It also urges action on infrastructure improvements, education, immigration reform, clean energy, income inequality and an end to unfunded federal and state mandates, among other issues.
"It's extremely important that we as mayors use our voices, even when subjects are challenging and even though subjects may not be as popular," said Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson.
The former Indiana attorney general is leading the mayors' criminal justice committee during the four-day conference.
She is working with fellow mayors to craft resolutions encouraging the hiring of former felons, opposing discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans, and seeking to reduce gun violence through increased prevention efforts and improved mental health care.
Freeman-Wilson said mass shootings, like Orlando, tend to make headlines across the country, but individuals are shot to death in cities every day, and the cumulative body count is "massive."
"What we have to do is place as much focus and attention on those one-at-a-times as we do on the multiple instances," she said.
Besides discussing city issues with each other, the mayors also will hear from national and international thought leaders during their conference, including the Dalai Lama, Lady Gaga and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, president of the mayors' conference, said it's important for Clinton and Republican Donald Trump — who was invited but is not attending the meeting — to recognize that cities were home to 96 percent of new U.S. jobs created in 2015 and responsible for 99 percent of the growth in the nation's gross domestic product.
"The needs of cities should be front and center in the presidential campaign," she said. "If you want to grow the national economy and keep this country strong, you must work with mayors."
The mayors' meeting isn't all work, however.
On Friday, Freeman-Wilson even donned firefighting equipment to participate in a live fire drill and vehicle extraction hosted by Indianapolis Professional Firefighters Local 416 and the Professional Fire Fighters Union of Indiana.
She said the experience made clear the importance of being physically fit and having the right equipment for the job — two things she'll emphasize as Gary's next firefighter training class gets underway.
Other Region mayors attending the conference are Thomas McDermott, Jr., of Hammond; James Snyder, of Portage; Riley Rogers, of Dolton, Illinois; and Andre Ashmore, of Matteson, Illinois.