Washington DC (USA), January 18-20, 2012 - Mayors for Peace North American Coordinator Jackie Cabasso represented Mayors for Peace at the January 18 – 20 annual winter meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) in Washington, DC, where she made a presentation to the International Affairs Committee, had informal conversations with Mayors for Peace members, and invited new mayors to join.  The USCM is the non-partisan national association of cities with populations over 30,000.  At the top of its agenda is the urgent financial crisis facing U.S. cities as a result of deep cuts in federal funding. Nearly one-third of the 248 mayors who pre-registered for the USCM winter meeting – 78 mayors from 31 states and Puerto Rico – are members of Mayors for Peace!

At its June 2011 meeting, the USCM unanimously adopted a resolution calling on the President to commence negotiations for the elimination of nuclear weapons by 2020 as urged by Mayors for Peace, and calling on the Congress to slash funding for nuclear weapons programs and to redirect those funds to meet the urgent needs of cities.  It also adopted a resolution calling on the President and the Congress to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and to bring the war dollars home to meet vital human needs.

In opening remarks at the 2012 winter meeting, USCM President Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, California, a member of Mayors for Peace, declared: “Imagine if Congress had taken our advice last June and invested in infrastructure instead of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan…. It’s time to put our country before the political parties and put the people first.”

Within the USCM, Mayors for Peace is “housed” in the International Affairs Committee.  In January, the Committee heard presentations from an eclectic panel including U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk (former mayor of Dallas, Texas), an environmental specialist from the U.S. State Department, and Ms. Cabasso, with a Mayors for Peace update.

After being introduced by Committee Chair, Mayor Jean Quan of Oakland California, a Mayors for Peace member, Cabasso thanked the USCM for its continuing support, conveyed greetings from Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, the new President of Mayors for Peace, and reported on recent developments and future plans.  Stressing the urgency and relevancy of the need to abolish nuclear weapons, she cited the recent decision of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists to move the hands of its “Doomsday Clock” one minute closer to midnight (to 5 minutes) due to inadequate progress on nuclear weapons reduction and proliferation and continuing inaction on climate change.

Reminding the mayors of their 2011 Resolutions, Cabasso noted that in these financially perilous times the U.S. government is projecting investments of well over $200 billion by 2020 to sustain and modernize its nuclear weapons systems and production infrastructure.  Even though the U.S. stockpile contains only one-fifth as many warheads as it used to, the proposed 2012 nuclear weapons activities budget is the largest ever.  

Ms. Cabasso closed by quoting Mayors for Peace member Mayor Frank Cownie of Des Moines, Iowa, who at a United Nations Mayors for Peace conference said, “If you don’t think nuclear weapons are a local issue, ask the Mayor of Hiroshima.”

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