Local Residents Mobilize Against Mayors Conference

From June 20-24, 2008 community activists from around the country will be joining hundreds of local Miami residents to call attention to affordable housing, public space, gentrification, privatization, neoliberal policies, ecological destruction and other issues effecting urban communities in Miami and around the country. Local Residents Mobilize Against Mayors Conference

Contact: 700 Mayors Welcoming Committee, 954.592.6330

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 5, 2008

MIAMI, FL - Local Residents Mobilize Against Mayors Conference

Hundreds Will Rally For Community Control of Resources

From June 20-24, 2008 community activists from around the country will be joining hundreds of local Miami residents to call attention to affordable housing, public space, gentrification, privatization, neoliberal policies, ecological destruction and other issues effecting urban communities in Miami and around the country.

Grassroots activists from local groups including Everglades Earth First!, Food Not Bombs, 700 Mayors Welcoming Committee, Miami Workers Center, Power U Center for Social Change and Take Back the Land will be coordinating days of marches, rallies, bike rides, and a community festival, protesting what local 700 Mayors Welcoming Committee organizer Richard Magon describes as the "irresponsible and destructive policies of local governments; cutting deals with luxury developers and multinational corporations at the expense of the needs of local residents, communities and the Earth."

700 mayors from around the country will gather in Miami from June 20-24 at the Intercontinental Hotel for the 76th Annual Meeting of The United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) to debate national policy impacting America's cities and metropolitan areas. The USCM, founded in 1932 during the Great Depression, is an organization of cities with populations exceeding 30,000. Mayor of Miami Manny Diaz, who was credited with eliminating poverty in the city, is the current vice president of the USCM. Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain are also slated for an appearance.

"The 700 Mayors Welcoming Committee" says local organizer Voltairine DeCleyre, "is calling for an urban social policy built upon participatory democracy, community control of resources and for a move towards ecological sustainability." The coalition of groups is calling for "development strategies that value historic communities over the interests of luxury condominium developers."

Decleyre further states "vacant and unused properties should fall under the control of the community. We see community control of land and resources as essential in combating the housing crisis." The group's environmental agenda focuses on shifts to clean, renewable energy and for a move from automobile centered cities to cities that are geared to meet the needs of cyclists and those who rely on public transit.


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