Ohio mayors: Smaller cities also need help

Why does Congress discriminate against us?

A plague, like nothing else, puts our common humanity on display — and COVID- 19 has shown us that whether you’re black or white, rich or poor, urban or rural, we’re all vulnerable to this disease.

We see clearly that our own health depends on the health of the person next to us, and the person next to them.

Yet it also reminds us of our stark divisions. African Americans are dying at much higher rates of COVID- 19, largely because of long- standing health disparities. While many white- collar employees are able to work from home, blue- collar workers and folks in the service industry must choose between their health and a paycheck. Kids with access to technology at home can keep learning while schools are shut down; those without broadband access fall further behind.

Unfortunately, Congress’ response to this crisis has also furthered geographic disparities.

In the emergency package signed into law last month, only cities with 500,000 people or more were eligible for direct assistance. That’s not even 40 cities across the country.

Cities with fewer than 500,000

Thousands of smaller cities face the same challenges as their larger neighbors — maintaining vital services like public safety and trash collection while struggling with huge declines in revenue. Smaller cities nationwide, but particularly in the Midwest, have watched for decades as people and resources become more and more concentrated in a handful of places. That trend makes us more economically vulnerable in good times, to say nothing of times of crisis.

As the Democratic mayor of Dayton, Ohio, and the Republican mayor of Kettering, Dayton’s largest suburb, we are joining together to call on Congress and President Donald Trump to prioritize aid for cities large and small in the next emergency funding package.

This is not our first time coming together in a crisis. Last May, we joined with other leaders from our region to respond to a devastating series of tornadoes. When a mass shooting took the lives of nine people in Dayton in August, we built a bipartisan coalition of mayors to demand commonsense gun reform. We may not agree on every political issue, but we do agree that a crisis should transcend partisanship. When our paramedics respond to another COVID- 19 call, they don’t care whom you voted for.

As Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has said, we are all in this together. But being in this together and recognizing our dependence on one another also means investing in the people and services that keep our communities safe and functioning during a pandemic.

That work happens at the local level, by committed public servants in cities big and small. But the social distancing and “stay at home” orders that will defeat this disease mean rapidly declining revenue for cities across America.

This is particularly acute in Ohio, where cities are primarily funded by municipal income taxes. Already in Dayton, we’ve had to make the tough decision to furlough hundreds of city employees. Without assistance from Washington, we will struggle to maintain the critical services that keep our communities safe and healthy.

This crisis has upended our politics and shown how important government is to protecting the common good. Already, Congress has made the smart decision to invest in protecting workers, businesses and vital social safety net programs. Congress must also do its part to see that every community prevails through this crisis.

Front line against COVID- 19

Cities — large and small — are on the front lines of this fight. We cannot force our communities to choose between paramedics and picking up trash, or between our police officers and our water systems. An investment in local government is an investment in all of us. By investing now and investing immediately, Congress can give mayors like us the tools we need to keep our cities running and play our part in fighting the coronavirus.

Crises of this scale can either deepen our divisions or begin to heal them. We can choose to invest only in our largest cities and worsen the already growing geographic and regional inequality in this country.

Or we can come together and use this as an opportunity to reset this polarization — investing in large and small cities around America to ensure that when this pandemic passes, all communities have the chance to thrive.