Carolyn Coleman

Carolyn is the director of federal relations for the National League of Cities (located in Washington D.C.), the nation’s largest and oldest organization representing municipal governments, which includes over 19,000 cities and towns and 49 state municipal leagues.  Since 2005, Carolyn has overseen NLC’s efforts to protect local government interests in matters before the Congress, the Administration, and the courts.  Before joining NLC, Carolyn was a vice president at a federal affairs consulting firm, where her primary clients were local governments.  A native mid-westerner at heart, Carolyn was born and raised in Kansas, and a Hoosier by choice.  After graduating from the University of Kansas, Carolyn served for 11 years in the telecommunications industry.  After graduating from the Indiana University School of Law, she practiced with an Indianapolis-based firm in the areas of employment relations and state government relations.  In 2000, the then newly elected mayor of Indianapolis recruited Carolyn to join his administration where she served for six years, first as a department director and later as a deputy mayor.  Carolyn led the mayor’s initiatives in a variety of areas, including economic development, affordable housing, city services delivery, neighborhood redevelopment, and neighborhood empowerment.

Monday

February 11, 2008

The Art of the Possible

Several pictures grace my office walls in Washington.  One is a print of the Norman Rockwell painting titled, “The Problem We All Live With.”  Rockwell was inspired to paint the picture by paragraphs in John Steinbeck’s novel, Travels with Charley, about one little African-American girl’s brave decision to integrate the William Frantz Public School in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1960.  In the picture, six-year-old Ruby Bridges is being escorted into the school for the first time by four federal marshals who tower over her as they shield her from the hostile crowd of adult hecklers who lined the sidewalk leading up to the school.    

Another picture you’ll see if you visit me in Washington is a photograph of a neighborhood redevelopment project I had the privilege of overseeing while I served in local government.  The project, now known as Fall Creek Place, was conceived during the previous mayor’s administration, but still in the early planning stages when the new administration arrived in city hall.  As recently as 2000, the neighborhood was known as “Dodge City” because of its high crime rate.  While many families continued to live in the area, vast portions of the neighborhood were comprised of vacant lots and boarded-up homes—the result of decades of disinvestment.  The redevelopment plan for the project was ambitious.  It called for the construction of over 300 new homeownership units, a majority of which had to be available to low-income families, in a new urbanism environment complete with new infrastructure, recreational spaces, and commercial and retail space.  There were many challenges, not the least of which were the lack of community consensus about the future direction of the project and the lack of readily identifiable financial resources to support it, other than a $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

Nearly seven years after the project’s groundbreaking, this redevelopment project is still going strong.  Fall Creek Place has nearly 400 new homes with total home sales exceeding $60 million.  Besides adding to the local tax base, the neighborhood is much “greener” than before with four new parks, and is home to $15 million of public infrastructure improvements that bought completely new sidewalks, street and alley resurfacing, historic lighting, tree planting and buried utilities.  The collaboration among the public sector, the private sector, community-based organizations, and the residents—who joined together to make the vision a reality—was priceless!

Fall Creek Place has won four national awards for excellence in planning, design and community development, and has been featured in eight national magazines.  Here are a few before and after pictures from the Fall Creek Place project area:

Whether I’m looking at Ruby Bridges or the aerial shot of Fall Creek Place, both pictures remind me of the fact that every day in many communities across the country, the impossible is possible. 

Check back tomorrow for Carolyn’s thoughts on transportation.

You may contact Carolyn Coleman, at 202-626-3023 or e-mail Coleman@nlc.org

February 12, 2008

Transportation

As I sat in my office today reviewing the U.S. Department of Transportation's recently released National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission Report, more than a few facts caught my attention.  Here’s one:  according to the report, “[America] needs to invest at least $225 billion annually from all sources for the next 50 years to upgrade our existing surface transportation system to a state of good repair and create a more advanced surface transportation system to sustain and ensure strong economic growth for our families.”   $225 billion annually! 

Today, we are spending less than 40 percent of that amount, and it is estimated that the highway trust fund that provides the federal source of funding for highways and bridges will fall short of the revenues needed to repair and maintain them by over $4 billion in 2009.  At a time when more is needed from the federal government, less is available.

The Report goes on to discuss the consequences of inaction; here are a few of them:

1. The nation's transportation system assets will further deteriorate. 

2. Automobile casualties will increase, adding to the 3.3 million lives lost to traffic crashes in the last 100 years.  

3. Congestion will continue to affect every mode of transportation for ever-lengthening periods each day, as a result of the mismatch between demand and supply of limited capacity. 

4. America’s economic leadership in the world will be jeopardized when we cannot reliably and efficiently move our goods.

America’s cities and towns, as well as states and the federal government are truly at a crossroads in terms of the nation’s transportation infrastructure system.  Will we rise to the challenge or will we let what was once one of our country’s crown jewels, our national transportation system that includes highways, freight rail, and urban mass transit, continue to crumble and cripple our ability to compete in a global economy?    

As the country continues to debate and discuss the merits of various candidates and their qualifications to serve in Congress and the White House, there are many questions local elected officials should be asking.  When it comes to transportation infrastructure, here’s what I want to know:  If elected, what will you do to restore and sustain America’s surface transportation system to the pre-eminent system it once was? 

To view a complete copy of the Commission’s report, click here:  http://www.transportationfortomorrow.org/final_report/
 
I hope you will join me in getting answers from the candidates to this important question.

Check back tomorrow for Carolyn’s thoughts on the president’s budget.

You may contact Carolyn Coleman, at 202-626-3023 or e-mail Coleman@nlc.org

Wednesday

February 13, 2008

The President’s Budget

Last week, the President submitted to Congress a $3.1 trillion budget for fiscal year 2009 that once again erodes federal grants to states and local governments.  These cuts would come at a time when many states and local governments are struggling fiscally and already cutting or considering cutting programs and services to meet their balanced budget requirements. 

These cuts also would come at a time when local governments in Michigan and across the country are being forced to find ways to address the impact the housing market crisis is having on local budgets:  (1) declining property tax revenues due to declining assessed values, (2) increased costs to maintain and secure houses that sit empty due to foreclosures, and (3) increased borrowing costs due to the volatility in the credit markets.

In the President’s budget, programs important to cities and towns under attack include:    

• The Community Development Block Grant Program.  The President proposes a $900 million (30 percent) cut in the CDBG program, which many communities use to create jobs, spur economic development, revitalize neighborhoods, and expand homeownership.

• Public Safety Programs.  The President’s budget batters two crime fighting tools.  First, the President proposes to eliminate the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Program, which has helped communities hire police officers, enhance crime fighting technology, and support crime intervention and prevention activities.  Funded in 2008 at $587 million, this program has been an important resource at a time when many cities and towns are grappling with increases in violent crime.

Also proposed to be eliminated is the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program, which provides funding to states and local law enforcement agencies for crime prevention, law enforcement, prosecution, drug treatment and corrections. 

• Transportation Infrastructure Programs.  The President’s budget cuts federal highway aid that states and local governments use to build, rehabilitate, and improve roads and bridges that are part of the national highway system by $800 million.  (See my earlier entry regarding the nation’s transportation infrastructure needs.)

• Energy Assistance.  The President’s budget asks for a $570 million (28.5 %) decrease in funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program that helps families in need afford to cool their homes in the summer and heat their homes in the winter.

These are but a few examples of the domestic programs slated for cuts.  The bottom line is this:  the President has introduced a “more of the same budget” from the local government perspective—more cuts and more consolidations. 

Fortunately, the President’s budget is the opening volley in the annual budget process, not the end of the debate.  There’s still the Congress, and over the next several months, NLC, along with the MML and other local government allies, will be lobbying Congress to restore funding for these and other important domestic programs. 

However, in addition to our efforts, Congress needs to hear from you, too.  We hope you will join us in urging your members of Congress to reject the President’s cuts and protect funding for federal programs important to Michigan cities and towns and the families they serve every day. 

Check back tomorrow for Carolyn’s thoughts on what cities and towns want from Congress.

You may contact Carolyn Coleman, at 202-626-3023 or e-mail Coleman@nlc.org

Thursday

February 14, 2008

What Cities and Towns Want from Congress This Year

As the National League of Cities’ director of federal relations, I would be remiss if I didn’t take some time out this week to share with you what America’s cities and towns want from Congress in 2008. 

Earlier this year, our Officers, led by President Cynthia McCollum, council member, Madison, AL, announced NLC’s 2008 legislative priorities for the 2nd Session of the 110th Congress.  In a statement McCollum released announcing the priorities, she acknowledged the challenges ahead this year, as well as the need and the urgency for the federal government to be a part of the solution.  “To change America, you have to do it one community at a time.  Given what is currently happening to the economy, the significance of investing in infrastructure and resolving the housing crisis cannot be underestimated; in fact, they can be used as tools to help stimulate the economy.  As the local elected leaders of America’s hometowns, we stand ready to do our part, but these issues demand joint problem-solving and a federal partnership.  The answers to these challenges will help determine the type of country we will be living in during the next 20 years.  We cannot delay.”

Specifically, NLC’s federal legislative priorities for 2008 include urging Congress to:

• Provide full funding for federal transportation programs and collaborate with local elected officials on the reauthorization of the surface transportation infrastructure program.

• In response to the mortgage foreclosure crisis, support legislation that would strengthen and stabilize America’s housing finance system by reforming the mortgage process, curbing predatory lending, and providing foreclosure mitigation assistance. 

• Help local communities address recent violent crime trends, by supporting federal crime intervention and prevention programs, as well as law enforcement programs.

• Provide full funding ($2 billion) for the new Energy and Environment Block Grant Program. 

• Enact comprehensive immigration reform that addresses border security, as well as workforce enforcement; provides for a process by which undocumented workers currently in the U.S. may earn a legalized status; and support for services provided by cities and towns.

“Seven out of ten Americans live in a city, town or village in this country,” said McCollum.  “When our communities thrive, our country thrives.  We need to talk about what we must do as a country to remain strong.”

I hope you’ll join us in doing the talking in 2008 about what cities and towns need from the federal government! 

Check back tomorrow for some Stories that Inspire from Carolyn Coleman.

You may contact Carolyn Coleman, at 202-626-3023 or e-mail Coleman@nlc.org

Friday

February 15, 2008

Stories that Inspire

Thank you for indulging me this week.  I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to share with you what we’re working on in Washington and some of my own personal experiences in local government.  Just so you know that I’m not all work all the time, I am signing off this week with a couple of suggestions to fill your free time.

First, after years of living in Indianapolis, I became a fan of the Superbowl Champion Colts.  But, more than the Colts, I am a big fan of their head coach, Tony Dungy.  If you are looking to read a story that will surely inspire you—regardless of your football team favorites—I recommend Coach Dungy’s book, Quiet Strength.  At a time when so many of our youth are searching for role models, Tony is without a doubt one of them.   

If you enjoy movies, my recommendation is The Great Debaters.  The movie, starring Denzel Washington and based on a true story, is the tale of a professor at Wiley College in the Jim Crow South who encourages his students to have big dreams.  While there are many movies that use the backdrop of sports to inspire us to aim for victory in the face of adversity (Hoosiers, Rocky, etc.), The Great Debaters tells a similar story though the eyes of a college debate team.  It is refreshing to see educational achievement touted as a pathway to success.  I hope you enjoy the movie as much as I did!

Thanks again for letting me be your guest this week!

You may contact Carolyn Coleman, at 202-626-3023 or e-mail Coleman@nlc.org

Check back on Monday to hear from Dave Ivan, Clinton County Extension Director for Michigan State University.