National League of Cities Past Presidents meet in Austin, Texas

The National League of Cities celebrated its 90th Anniversary at the 2014 NLC Congress of Cities Conference in Austin, Texas.  Each year, the National League of Cities elects a President at its regular business meeting.  The Past Presidents gathered to share comments on the state of municipal government.  Former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer, Former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros, Former Avondale, AZ Mayor Marie Lopez-Rogers and Former Clarksburg, WV Mayor Jim Hunt spoke on preparedness and the steps that cities need to take in order to handle the variety of issues that face America's cities.

Jim Hunt prepares to end tenure on Clarksburg City Council - The Exponent Telegram : Local News

Jim Hunt prepares to end tenure on Clarksburg City Council - The Exponent Telegram : Local News: CLARKSBURG — Longtime Clarksburg Councilman Jim Hunt has represented the citizens through good times and bad — from devastating floodwaters an…

How about a "Cities" Jobs Plan?

With every politician talking about jobs, I thought that maybe it would be a good idea to propose the "Cities Jobs Plan".  In traveling throughout the United States, I have a good opportunity to see a lot of places where cities can use an investment of new jobs that will have a lasting impact on the lives of most Americans.

I think the failure of the original Stimulus Bill was that the money was too light on infrastructure.  Another problem was that very little was done to address the huge housing bubble that caused much of the financial decline.  Its not to late, but we can't let another opportunity pass us by.

How about a revitalization of our cities.  Rebuilding streets, sidewalks, retaining walls, bridges and the like will put millions of people back on the employment rolls and provide our children with a legacy for decades to come.  On the housing front, lets assess housing in our cities and demolish dilapidated structures.  This would remove dangerous structures and make way for a rebound in the housing market.

With these two simple ideas, we can put millions of people to back to work and provide a ready market for new and improved housing.  This really isn't that hard.  We can put this together and start on the road to economic recovery immediately.

Jim Hunt

The Changing Face of Journalism

I had the opportunity to guest lecture at a journalism class today.  It was an interesting experience and one that I will not soon forget.  I asked the class of twenty or so students how many had read the morning paper.  Guess how many?  One.  I then asked how many had watched the evening news last night.  Guess how many?  Again, one.

This is the new face of journalism.  Social Media, Twitter, Four Square and You Tube are replacing the traditional ways that we get information.  Does this shock you?  Will this lead to a generation gap between the 'new' media and the 'old' media?  And what about the people stuck in the middle.

I don't know where this is heading and I am not sure that anyone else does either.  So in the meantime, I'm blogging, reading the morning paper, spending too much time on FaceBook and generally feeling like I'm more disconnected than ever.