Bridging the gap
Over the past 30 years, Charlie Lyons has made history and has set at least one record. Being elected to the Arlington, Mass., School Committee in 1972, Lyons became the first 18-year-old in the nation to win a citywide post. More than 30 years later, he holds the record for serving the longest as an Arlington selectman. In December, Lyons will add another star to his distinguished public service career as he moves into the presidency of the Washington, D.C.-based National League of Cities (NLC).
Working diligently at the local level while holding leadership positions in several state organizations, Lyons comes well prepared for his new role. In addition to being an Arlington selectman for 23 years, he has served as president of the Massachusetts Selectmen’s Association and is a member of the board of directors of the Massachusetts Municipal Association and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. Lyons is the superintendent director of the Shawsheen Valley Regional Technical High School District, a position he has held since 1987.
In this exclusive interview, Lyons discusses what he would like to accomplish during his term as NLC president.
What are your priorities as the incoming president of the NLC?
I want to raise the level of discussion about lessening the divides between and among our communities, and specifying areas where we can make a difference. Local officials, through the NLC, need to be part of the national debate and to get our message out for an appropriate federal role in solving domestic problems. There are three areas where our voices and actions can make a difference.
First, we need to support an initiative that provides wealth for all Americans through homeownership. All children deserve to grow up in a home that is owned by parents. Family homeownership rates by race are currently 75 percent white, 47 percent black and 41 percent Hispanic. Owning a home creates wealth. Equity gained from homeownership allows funds to send children to college, to borrow for business or to sustain quality-of-life during periods of unemployment.
There are major disparities in wealth in America, and homeownership can lessen that divide. For every dollar a white family has in wealth, blacks have 12 cents and Hispanics have only 4 cents. We need to create opportunities for homeownership. We also need to work with other organizations to make this a national priority.
Second, we should invest in education and job creation for young people. The unemployment of young people ages 16 to 24 is deplorable. There are currently 5.5 million out of work — a 15.5 percent unemployment rate; 43 percent don’t make enough money to survive independently. Two-thirds of all new jobs are in the suburbs, but three-fourths of welfare recipients live in urban and rural areas. We need to connect living quarters with training and jobs. We can do this through the federal government summer jobs programs, full funding of federally mandated educational programs and investment in infrastructure-related programs to get residents to and from work.
Third, we need to invest in our infrastructure. The Clean Water Act was passed in 1972 at a beginning federal commitment of $6 billion per year, but the federal mandate continues without adequate federal resources. The Bush administration recommended less than $1 billion in its budget submission for FY 04 for Clean Water, despite the fact that the more than 15,000 wastewater treatment facilities subject to federal mandates have aged and are in need of significant capital improvements — with some estimates exceeding $500 billion.
Many of these facilities were modernized 30 years ago when the law was passed, and the federal funding provided now covers only 3 percent of the cost needed to comply with the federal mandate. It is appropriate for the federal government to both initiate Clean Water and Clean Air standards and then use its treasury to assist communities in meeting those standards.
The reauthorization of ISTEA is a very important issue. This $50 billion per year federal commitment to transportation connects us together and creates 43,000 jobs for every $1 billion in spending. Investing in mass transit to connect residents with housing, training and jobs is vital to a strong economy, since only 5 percent of welfare families own a car, three-fourths of all welfare recipients live in either central cities or rural areas and two-thirds of all new jobs are being created in suburbs.
We need to make sure all citizens prosper by starting at the local level. Cities and their suburbs need to work on issues together. We need to train local officials to solve problems by cooperating with neighboring communities, to understand the importance of regional economies and to consider tax sharing programs like the one in place in the Minneapolis/St. Paul region, where revenues raised from increases in commercial property taxes are used for collective purposes, such as affordable housing.
How is the 2004 presidential election affecting those priorities?
We have an enormous opportunity to be part of the national debate next year and to make our advocacy agenda part of that discussion. [Every candidate running for office] will need to illustrate their commitment toward a domestic agenda that includes investment in children, our infrastructure and our future. We hope to provide both focus and information on why [NLC’s] issues are of utmost national importance.
What has been accomplished in your community that you would like to see duplicated elsewhere?
Arlington is a bedroom suburb located seven miles from Boston. Although our housing costs are very high, we are committed to expanding affordable housing in our community. We recently enacted an inclusionary zoning bylaw requiring a 15 percent set-aside reserved for affordable housing for rehabilitation or new construction exceeding six units.
More than duplicating programs only in Arlington, I see the NLC as a national clearinghouse that shares good ideas and best practices from a number of communities and [distributes] those ideas and practices through its weekly newspaper.
In what ways are the inequalities and gaps among Americans growing, and what can be done at the local level to reverse the trends?
The two fastest growing types of communities are gated communities and communities of concentrated poverty. Eight million residents live in each type. Walls, private security forces and resegregation are replacing our concept of the melting pot.
If each of our 20,000 communities built only five affordable homes each year, and you combine that with appropriate re-investment in distressed areas and a federal commitment to transportation programs that get people to training and jobs, we could eliminate centralized poverty within a decade. [It is] time to take down the walls and invest in the melting pot. [Our children] deserve not only a clean environment and safer world, but also a level playing field ensuring every resident reaches his or her full potential. Only then will America become a country other nations will both embrace and emulate.
Are our children’s educational needs being left behind, and, if so, what is NLC’s goal in that area?
There are vast differences between school systems and among communities. Children cannot be mandated to greatness. The federal economy forced many states to cut their funding to schools last year and this year. In Massachusetts, most school systems experienced state funding reductions equal to 20 percent.
We need to have a discussion between federal, state and local leaders on which level of government should be primarily responsible for service provided to the public and how those services should be funded.
There are 13,726 school committees elected at the local level to ensure the very best public educational experiences are provided to children. Do we really need more federal unfunded mandates, or does it make more sense for the federal government to use its taxing powers to provide equity and equality between states? When New Jersey spends $11,000 per pupil and Mississippi spends $5,000 per pupil, simply requiring children to be subjected to more and more testing by the federal government without providing adequate federal resources will not solve these types of inequalities.
We can’t [have] higher expectations in children while providing inadequate resources. The No Child Left Behind Law is not only an unfunded mandate, it is a major intrusion by the federal government into responsibilities historically well provided by local governments. Since the federal government is only providing 5 percent of the funding for K-12 education, its policy intrusions should be reflective of its fiscal commitments. Federal law should not be used to either voucher or privatize K-12 public education. The federal government should fund its old mandates, for example, IDEA and Title 1, as well as new ones, most notably, No Child Left Behind, and limit its intrusion into local government responsibilities and home rule.
How would you rate the federal government’s homeland security efforts?
It is the responsibility of the federal government to provide for a common defense. It needs to use its treasury to pay for the programs that accomplish this goal. Homeland security should not come at the expense of hometown security. We must find new ways to partner with the federal government to assure that our citizens receive the services we were elected to provide them. Although we applaud the $1.9 billion in new homeland security funds, cutting programs like COPS, Local Law Enforcement Block Grants, and Byrne Law Grants don’t make any sense.
How do you see the role of local government changing in the next five to 10 years?
My major concern is that the federal beast will be so starved that limited funds will be available to meet pressing domestic needs. Today, almost 10 million children are without health insurance, and almost 40 percent of all children born today in the United States are born into poverty. Local jurisdictions with economic means will meet their obligations but may force out neighbors whose incomes can’t support regressive taxation at the local level. Impoverished communities will grow more impoverished, becoming less stable. Our differences will widen until the time when we recognize that united we stand and divided we fall.
Will cities and towns be facing a leadership crisis in the coming years as the baby boomers retire, and, if so, how is this problem being addressed?
One of NLC’s recent surveys shows that about 90 percent of city council members are over 40, which suggests that as people get older and put down roots, they have more at stake in a community and are more willing to devote time to local public office. As the current generation of older Americans are doing, baby boomers will continue to redefine “retirement years” by not retiring in the traditional sense. Many of them will continue to work, and we expect they will stay involved in local government.
The ongoing challenge is getting more young citizens engaged in civic life. That’s one of the reasons why [NLC has] youth delegates to our national conferences. These kids are bright and informed and passionate about their communities. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Americans are living longer and healthier, so they may serve in public offices well into their older years. So that gives us plenty of hope about the future leadership of cities and towns.