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Who:Manuel A. Diaz, President of U.S. Conference of Mayors
What: Diaz talked about urban issues in American and urged the next presidential administration to invest in solutions to the growing problems that threaten America’s cities and metropolitan areas.
Where: National Press Club, Luncheon Speech in Washington, DC
Manny Diaz says violence is increasing in Cities
We see violence increase in our cities. Today there are more gang members in America than police officers. On the streets of Miami, an AK-47 is cheaper to buy than a Play Station. Youth violence accounts for 20% of all violence and it is the second leading cause of death among our youth. Children are killing children. Is crime a local problem, or is it an American problem?
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Manny Diaz on his proposals and the best economic stimulus
Crime and public safety to make our streets and neighborhoods safe for children and families. Poverty reduction and economic opportunity so that we can financially empower all Americans. Arts, culture and tourism, stimulating an industry that creates jobs that cannot be outsourced; a generator of over ten million jobs and a trillion dollars in economic impact. Infrastructure investments to repair and rebuild our nation’s resources; with every billion invested generating 47,000 jobs that cannot be outsourced. And our environment, again, generating millions of jobs that cannot be outsourced while preserving our planet and our nation for generations to come. These are investments that will add millions of jobs, trillions of dollars to the GDP, billions in personal income, and billions in energy savings. It is the best economic stimulus that our nation could ever have.
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Manny Diaz on hopes to inherit a better country
There is no reason we cannot be greater than already are. There is no reason we cannot overcome these challenges, cease this opportunity to leave cities where poverty is not a life-long sentence, but a temporary condition to be overcome. To leave cities that combine economic prosperity with environmental sustainability. To leave cities where our children can receive the best education, afford a home, hold a good paying job, have access to the arts and live in clean and safe neighborhoods. To leave cities where everyone has access to promises of the dream. This is what mayors do and this is what the next president of the United States must do so that our children and their children may inherit cities, may inherit a country better than was left to us.
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Manny Diaz on how the U.S. Needs to Get Away from the Car Mentality
We need to get away from the mentality of using the car and getting on I-95 and driving from one place to the next. We need to create the infrastructure which is not only very good for the environment, but it’s also about the very essence of who were are as Americans in terms of moving goods and commerce and in terms of moving people from one place to the next. You are very lucky up here. I love coming up here because I can get on the train and go to New York. I’ll be getting on the train and going to Philadelphia tomorrow. Those are the kinds of plans that should be developing all throughout America, and we hope to start that process, obviously working with the governors.
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Manny Diaz on how he doesn’t have a federal badge
Question: What should the city’s role be in enforcing immigration law?
Manny Diaz: Last time I checked, I don’t have a federal badge, so that’s not my job.
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Manny Diaz On Off-Shore Drilling
It is in my opinion, quite frankly, a smoke screen. It’s not going to save any money for any one of us to drive our cars now. There are leases for thousands and thousands of acres that exist today that are not being drilled. I really think this is a great election year issue because all of us in America are suffering, some a whole lot more than others, with high gas prices. If you throw the bait out there that we need to drill for more oil, obviously people are going to take that bait. But to me it’s a political issue that should never ever be discussed in isolation and not in the context of a whole lot of other investment that you’re going to make to improve our environment. Really, to bring the cost of gasoline down which I think at the end of the day the best way to do is to conserve by just not using vehicles. How about we put money into public transit?
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