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Fowler
Fowler and Miller enjoy mayor's conference in D.C.
By Jana Seshadri
After talking shop and comparing notes with about 300 United States mayors in Washington, D.C., including San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and recently elected New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, both Sunnyvale Mayor Fred Fowler and Vice Mayor Julia Miller said that homeland security was the major issue discussed at the mayors' conference.
"It was a marvelous conference," said Fowler. "It started with two days in Washington, D.C., when we met President Bush at the White House and then we went to New York."
Director of Homeland Security Tom Ridge talked about what the cities could do to empower and assist their public safety departments in times of crises. Out of the $38 billion that President Bush allocated for homeland security in the budget, about $3.5 billion--close to 10 percent--will be allotted to the cities across the country.
Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta spoke about his plan to hire an additional 30,000 people across the country for airport security.
"Sunnyvale Public Safety will probably lose some of its police and emergency officers to that," Miller said.
Fowler suggested to President Bush that the White House look into the difficulty cities are experiencing in recruiting police officers because the pool that they draw from is slowly starting to dry up.
Miller
"The White House wasn't aware of that," Fowler said.
According to both Fowler and Miller, visiting Ground Zero in New York was a very emotional and educational experience. Meeting with and listening to the director of emergency preparedness taught Fowler that the only way to deal with a crisis like 9-11 was practice, practice and more practice, which they have been doing ever since the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, he said.
Another issue which was discussed during the conference was how some cities, such as Sunnyvale, choose to rotate the mayor each year. Miller said the issue has been on her mind ever since their return, and she may want to address it in the future.
According to the city charter, the mayor of Sunnyvale is chosen by the Sunnyvale City Council out of the seven council members and usually runs for a one-year term. Former Vice Mayor Fowler was elected by the council by a vote of 4-0, with three councilmembers abstaining, in November 2001.
"A directly elected mayor will be a much better representation of the city of Sunnyvale," Miller said. "Both the mayor and I came away from the conference wanting to put that issue on the ballot."
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
