Baltimore, June 20th 2011 - The US Conference of Mayors today unanimously adopted a resolution calling on President Obama to work with the leaders of the other nuclear weapon states to implement the United Nations Secretary-General's 5-point plan to negotiate the elimination of nuclear weapons, by the year 2020, as urged by Mayors for Peace.
The USCM, the national US association of cities with populations over 30,000, also calls on Congress to terminate funding for modernization of the nuclear weapons complex and nuclear weapons systems, to slash spending on nuclear weapons well below Cold War Levels, and to redirect those funds to meet the urgent needs of cities.
In a historic speech to the USCM, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised Mayors for Peace and its Cities Are Not Targets campaign, with over 1 million signatures. The UN SG also thanked the USCM for its resolution supporting his 5-point plan for nuclear disarmament. The UN SG was greeted enthusiastically by the US mayors, who gave him standing ovations at the beginning and conclusion of his speech. Linking the global and the local, the SG told the USCM: "The road to peace and progress runs through the worlds cities and towns."
The resolution was introduced in the final plenary by International Affairs Committee Chair, Mayor Jean Quan of Oakland, CA. The resolution was co-sponsored by Mayors Donald L. Plusquellic (Akron), Matthew T. Ryan
(Binghamton), Susan M. Osborne (Boulder), Rodger Holm (Clinton), Franklin T. Cownie (Des Moines), Kitty Piercy (Eugene), Joy Cooper (Hallandale Beach), Paul Soglin (Madison), Andre Pierre (North Miami), Frank C. Ortis (Pembroke Pines), Jennifer Hosterman (Pleasanton), Gayle McLaughlin (Richmond), Ardell Brede (Rochester), Stephen Cassidy (San Leandro), Helene Schneider (Santa Barbara), Laurel L. Prussing (Urbana), John Duran (West Hollywood), James Baker (Wilmington) and Joseph C. O’Brien (Worcester).
Unlike the Bring Our War Dollars Home resolution adopted later, the Mayors for Peace resolution was not pulled for for discussion and a vote, and therefore was not debated.
Following his speech to the USCM on Saturday, the Mayor of Kabul Afghanistan, special guest at the Conference, reconfirmed membership of the Afghan capital with Mayors for Peace. He stated that his city had been 90% destroyed by war, like Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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