Berry to advise White House on infrastructure plan
Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry is in Washington, D.C., today to take part in a White House summit on President Donald Trump’s trillion dollar infrastructure package.
The summit, convened by Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and other administration officials, is part of a series of events the White House put together for what it is billing as “infrastructure week.” Berry, a Republi- can, said he was one of 10 mayors and several governors invited to participate in the meeting.
“I think America’s mayors have a lot to offer any presidency,” Berry told report-
ers on Wednesday, noting that Albuquerque has undertaken almost three quarters of a billion dollars worth of projects during his tenure as mayor.
“I spent time in the Obama White House talking about everything from mental health to workforce development,” he said. “President Trump has a tremendous opportunity on this trillion dollar infrastructure plan to create jobs across America. He’s reached out on a bipartisan basis to mayors.”
During a visit to Cincinnati, Ohio, on Wednesday, Trump promised to create a “first-class” system of roads, bridges and waterways by using $200 billion in public funds to generate $1 trillion in investment to pay for construction projects.
“America must have the best, fastest and most reliable infrastructure anywhere in the world,” the president said, declaring that the days of spending on other nations’ infrastructure are over.
But while most public officials agree that infrastructure projects are badly needed here, Democrats are criticizing Trump’s plan for using tax incentives and public-private partnerships to finance the improvements. Many argue that such a plan would result in taxpayer-funded profits for corporations with cost loaded onto consumers through such things as toll charges.
Berry said he’s hopeful that Democrats and Republicans will be able to find middle ground on the issue.
“Infrastructure is one of those things that I think we can all agree on,” Berry said. “We owe it to folks to find a way to get these projects built.”
Berry’s office said the mayors and governors attending the summit were asked to help develop policies that use federal dollars to spur state, local and private sector investments, with one of the ultimate goals being to create jobs across the country.
Berry said he and the other local and state officials will be meeting with Trump, Pence, U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and other administration officials to help them understand Main Street needs. Among the topics that Berry expects to come up are the importance of a systemwide approach in tackling a community’s infrastructure needs, how best to leverage partnerships — both public/private and intergovernmental — to get projects built, and what can be done to make processes more efficient to get resources to Main Street faster.
He said he also hoped to be able to advocate for funding going directly to metro areas instead of that funding flowing through the state. Like other mayors, Berry has spoken out about the importance of the Community Development Block Grant program that communities around the state rely on to fund infrastructure projects, and the Federal Transit Administration’s Capital Investment Program, the same Small Starts grants that provided funding for the Albuquerque Rapid Transit project. Trump has proposed eliminating CDBG grants and drastically cutting back on the Small Starts grants.
Berry said he didn’t know whether those programs would be discussed at today’s summit.
“If we can help as mayors, and if I can help from our experiences in Albuquerque, I’m just honored and humbled to be asked,” Berry said.