Whether
it's the stimulus bill, or the plan to flush "toxic" assets from the
financial system, or health care reform, or a sustainable approach to
transportation, or the adoption of better environmental policy, all
eyes are on Washington these days – including the eyes of municipal
officials across the country. After all, all of these issues, and a lot
more, are of immediate and compelling interest to local governments and
the residents they serve.

I have the privilege of serving on the
Board of Directors of the National League of Cities (NLC), the
Washington-based non-profit organization that provides advocacy and
policy analysis for America's urban communities. From Saturday March
14th through Wednesday the 18th, the NLC held its Congressional Cities
Conference, which is an annual event designed to highlight urban issues
and concerns for Congressional leaders and staff as well as for the
White House and Cabinet officials. I attended the conference in the
company of Alderman at Large Jack Connolly and Ward 2 Alderman Maryann
Heuston, who both serve on key NLC policy committees. (Maryann serves
on the Community and Economic Development steering committee and Jack
is on the steering committee for Transportation Infrastructure and
Services).

It was an extremely useful trip. We heard from the
Obama Administration about its plans to distribute $1 billion in new
Community Oriented Policing (COPS) Program funding – and you can bet
that we'll be pursuing a share of that money for Somerville, where we
have rolled out a comprehensive community policing strategy over the
past year. We heard from Dept. of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood,
who briefed us on DOT's efforts to pump transportation stimulus dollars
into local economies – which is especially gratifying for Somerville
when you consider how much transit development is occurring within our
borders (and how important transit improvements will be to our future
economic development and quality of life). We heard from Environmental
Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson and Energy Secretary
Steven Chu about the commitment made by the Obama Administration to
support green jobs and clean tech with incentives and economic
development dollars.

If you live or work in Somerville, all of
these news items should be music to your ears: After years of neglect,
mistrust, and even open conflict, the federal government's agenda is at
last starting to align with the strategies and policies we've been
pursuing here in Somerville. Especially at a time of constrained
resources and economic uncertainty, it makes a huge difference to have
strong executive branch allies at the federal level to match the
support and leadership we've been getting from Governor Patrick and his
team.

We don't know yet how much stimulus funding and other
federal grant money we'll see here in Somerville over the next couple
of years, but at least we can expect a fair shake. What we are trying
to do here – build a sustainable future based on transit-oriented,
mixed use development; green- and clean-tech industrial activity and
constantly improving public education – is precisely the type of local
agenda that the federal government is trying to support.

But
perhaps the single most encouraging trend we noticed in Washington is
the reemergence of the Massachusetts congressional delegation as major
powerbrokers in all aspects of federal policy. I saw Senator John Kerry
only briefly, but you may recall that he visited Somerville at the
beginning of the month to voice his strong commitment to Assembly
Square. Anybody who saw the media coverage of that event will tell you
that Senator Kerry has a deep and detailed understanding of Assembly
Square's potential, the size of the positive economic impact it brings
to the city and the region, and the importance of federal support for
the transportation and utility infrastructure needed to make the
project work.

On this Washington trip, I had a much longer visit
with Mike Capuano, and it bodes very well for Somerville's future that
our Congressman has risen so high in the House Democratic leadership –
and become such a strong and effective advocate not just for Somerville
but for cities across the nation. Congressman Capuano is not only a
senior member of the House Financial Services Committee and the
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, but – maybe more important
-a senior and trusted member of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Democratic
leadership team.

In these days of fiscal and economic
uncertainty for our city, state and nation, nobody should pretend that
our short-term future is looking very bright – but thanks to the
effective representation Somerville enjoys in Washington, we can be
confident of getting the attention and support we deserve.