Teleconference on Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities

Administration of William J. Clinton, 1994 / Dec. 21 2517

our history recall that you answered the call Mayor Giuliani. Yes, he is. of duty, you did your job, you advanced Representative Charles B. Rangel. America’s mission. Freedom and democracy Hello, Mr. President. are better as a result. Haiti’s long night of The President. Watch him close—— fear has given way to a new day of hope. Mayor Giuliani. Former Mayor Dinkins is here, also. NOTE: The President spoke at 2:47 p.m. in the The President. Oh, great. It’s good to Rose Garden at the White House. In his remarks, hear your voice, Mayor. he referred to Adm. William A. Owens, USN, Vice David Dinkins. Thank you. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Lt. Gen. Henry H. Shelton, USA, commander of the Haiti The President. Mayor White? operation; and General Shelton’s wife, Lee. Mayor Michael R. White. I’m right here, Mr. President. The President. Mayor Lanier? Teleconference on Empowerment Mayor Bob Lanier. Here, Mr. President. Zones and Enterprise Communities The President. Jerry Rickett from Ken- December 21, 1994 tucky? Jerry Rickett. Here, Mr. President. The President. Hello, can you all hear The President. Willis Brumfield—— me? Governor Jones? Willis Brumfield. Yes, sir, Mr. President. Gov. Brereton Jones. Yes, sir. The President. ——from Leflore Coun- The President. Mayor Harris? ty? Mayor Elihu Harris. Yes. Humberto Rodriguez? The President. Mayor Campbell? Humberto Rodriguez. Good afternoon, Mayor Bill Campbell. Yes, sir. Mr. President. Kika de la Garza’s here. The President. Mayor Daley? The President. It’s great to hear all of you. Mayor Richard M. Daley. Here. And I want to congratulate you for being se- The President. Mayor Cleveland—Cleav- lected as empowerment zones and supple- er. Mayor Cleaver? mental zones and enhanced enterprise com- Mayor Emanuel Cleaver II. Here. munities. As I’m sure you know, we had 500 The President. Mayor Steineger? applications from people all across America Mayor Joe Steineger. Here. who wanted to be a part of this program, The President. Mayor Schmoke? and yours were the best. I hope you’re all Mayor Kurt Schmoke. Yes, sir. very, very proud of what you have done. The President. Mayor Menino? I want to thank the Vice President and Mayor Thomas Menino. Here. Secretary Cisneros and the others in our ad- The President. Mayor Archer? ministration who worked on setting up the Mayor Dennis W. Archer. Here, Mr. genuinely competitive process to honestly re- President. view all of these applications. And I want to The President. Mayor Rendell? thank you for your participation, as well as Mayor Edward Rendell. Here. all the others. The President. Mayor Webster? I know the Vice President wants to say a Mayor Arnold Webster. Here, President. few words, but let me say that when I ran The President. Mayor Rendell, that’s the for President in 1992, I advocated setting up weakest ‘‘here’’ I ever heard out of you. Are these empowerment zone ideas. I advocated you sure you’re there? [Laughter] seeing if we could have a partnership be- Mayor Rendell. You don’t want us to tell tween the National Government, grassroots you what’s happening here. You don’t want communities, and the private sector to get to get into it. [Laughter] investment going in places where too many The President. Mayor Giuliani? people have been left behind. And I believe Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Hello, Mr. that we can do it. We are not only making President. this announcement today, I want you to know The President. Is Congressman Rangel we’re going to stay with you all through this there with you? process. We’re going to work hard with you.

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And we’re going to make sure that all of us the phone, I know, for showing the potential do our part to have a success. for regional cooperation across State lines. And I also want to congratulate Mayor Cleav- At this point, the Vice President congratu- [ er of Kansas City for what he did. I thank lated the winners and praised the efforts of you for what you did—— Secretary Cisneros and Secretary Espy.] The President. I wanted to say just a word [Mayor Cleaver of Kansas City, MO, indi- about a couple of things that were done. If cated that he and Mayor Steineger of Kansas I might—I wish I had time to talk about all City, KS, intended to make the program work these projects—but I wanted to say a special across State lines. Philadelphia Mayor word of appreciation for Detroit getting Rendell indicated that Philadelphia and more than $2 billion in private sector com- Camden also intended to take a regional ap- mitments to help revitalize the city, including proach. Mayor Steineger then thanked the a commitment by the auto companies to train President for his initiative. and hire residents of empowerment zones, The President. Thank you, Mayor as well as local banks investing over a billion Steineger. dollars in homeownership and small busi- I wanted to say a couple of more words. nesses in the zones. That made a big dif- Chicago had over 200 organizations partici- ference because, after all, we’ve got to know pating in the application. I’ve always thought that the private sector is going to carry the that Chicago had the advantage of still having bulk of the load. And Mayor Archer, I want an enormous strength in its grassroots com- to congratulate you on that. munities, but when I saw that 200 organiza- Mayor Archer. Thank you very much, tions had participated in the application Mr. President. process, that certainly is evidence of it. And The President. And I also wanted to say it’s a real tribute to Mayor Daley, to the lead- something about the mid-delta project in ership that you and others are providing out Mississippi. You know, that’s very near my there. home State and where I grew up. And I know Mayor Daley. Mr. President, I want to a lot about the conflicts that have existed too thank the community organizations, our fine long in the communities there. And I thought elected officials—Senator Braun is here— the spirit of cooperation that was manifested former Congressman Dan Rostenkowski, in the black and the white communities really who fought for this—elected officials provid- made a big difference to me and to all of ing not only jobs but economic opportunities us when we reviewed this application. If you for the people within the empowerment can keep that going, we’re going to change zones. a lot of people’s preconceptions about what The President. I’m glad Dan Rostenkow- it’s like in the Deep South, and we’re also ski’s there with you. And there’s no telling going to give a lot of people jobs and oppor- how many times he talked to everybody tunities who don’t have it. I want to congratu- about that application and reminded us that late you, Willis Brumfield, and all the people you had a couple hundred groups working who worked with you on this application. on it. I hear him laughing in the background. Mayor Brumfield. Thank you, Mr. Presi- I just want him to know that, even though dent, and we are committed to see this on I’m getting older, I haven’t lost my memory. through to success. [Laughter] The President. I know you’ll do it. I wanted to say, too, just a word about the [The Vice President praised Baltimore’s ef- joint projects, the one that won the em- forts to connect empowerment zone residents powerment zone and the other—that’s Phila- with major private employers, and Baltimore delphia and Camden and the other one in Mayor Schmoke thanked the Maryland con- Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas. We be- gressional delegation for its hard work. The lieve that regional cooperation is very, very Vice President then praised New York’s coop- important. And I want to congratulate the erative efforts between different levels of gov- mayors of Philadelphia and Camden, here on ernment, and Mayor Giuliani, Representative

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Rangel, and former Mayor Dinkins also com- [Atlanta Mayor Campbell thanked the Presi- mended the joint effort.] dent and Vice President and commended Governor Zell Miller on his efforts in edu- The President. Well, let me just say a cation. Philadelphia Mayor Rendell thanked word of special appreciation to Charlie Ran- Senator Bradley for encouraging the two- gel for one thing he did. When we were— State effort and thanked the Vice President. when I brought this empowerment zone idea Cleveland Mayor White then promised a co- to the Congress, Charlie strongly urged that operative effort in his area to make the pro- we not only have tax incentives but that we gram work and thanked Representatives have some Federal investment to encourage Stokes and Fingerhut.] some State and local investment and to show that the Government would be a partner with Mayor Menino. Tom Menino from Bos- the private sector. And I think he was right ton. How are you? about that. And I thank him for it. And I The President. Mayor Menino? think we’ve got a stronger program today as Mayor Menino. How are you doing? a result of it. The President. Fine. How are you? I also want to say to Mayor Schmoke, I [Mayor Menino thanked the President for his liked hearing—I could hear the smile in your commitment to the cities and Senator Ken- voice. When I saw you a couple of days ago, nedy for his efforts. Senator Kennedy you looked like an expectant father with thanked the Massachusetts congressional del- worry in your eyes, and I couldn’t say a word egation and Mayor Menino. Houston Mayor to you. So I hope you will forgive me, but— Lanier thanked the President and assured [laughter]. him that program would work in Houston.] Mayor Schmoke. I hope that I didn’t look The President. like I was pleading too much. [Laughter] Let me just say one thing. Mayor Lanier, I really think all of America The President. It’s never pleasant to see is in your debt in proving that the crime rate a grown man cry, but you did a graceful job can be reduced in a breathtaking fashion in of it. a relatively short time. And if you can do Mayor Schmoke. I really do appreciate as much with this assistance as you’ve done it. Everybody in the city does. in reducing the crime rate, then we can all The President. I want to say a special come to Houston and learn some things. word before we get off this telephone call And I want to say to Mayor Menino, I’ve about Atlanta, because—[applause]—— had the honor to be in Boston several times Mayor Steineger. [Inaudible]—could since you’ve been mayor, and it’s wonderful have had a crowd here in Kansas City. to be in a place with that kind of energy and The President. Well, I’d have done it ear- that kind of togetherness. And you deserve lier if I’d known you were all on the phone. a lot of credit for it. We’re looking forward [Laughter] to working with you. The thing I want to emphasize about At- Mayor Harris, were you on the line? lanta is the integration of the social services and the public safety and the physical devel- [Oakland Mayor Harris thanked the Presi- opment of the community to make what they dent for his initiative and expressed hope that call urban villages, and to do it in a way that the Congress would be supportive.] coordinates what’s being done with the The President. Thank you very much. I Olympic games. I think that is so important hope Congress will support us, too. We be- that a city instead of trying to just emphasize lieve in this, and we’re going to keep pushing everything that’s going well and hiding all of it. its problems is going to try to use the run- Mayor Harris. [Inaudible]—he’s been up to the Olympics to actually solve its prob- very forthright in his commitment to the ad- lems and show that effort in a positive way. ministration and certainly forthright in his And, Mayor Campbell, you deserve a lot of advocacy on behalf of our city. And we hope credit for that. That’s a very impressive thing that you’ll extend, as we will, our gratitude to do. for his help.

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The President. Let me say right before a couple of words, and we’re going to sign we sign off, I want to give our friends in Ken- off. tucky, Governor Jones and Jerry Rickett, and The Vice President. Congratulations Mr. Rodriguez and our friends in South again. Have a great holiday season, and Texas the opportunity to say anything they Happy New Year. You’ve gotten a jump on want to say before we sign off. a happy new year. Let’s make the best of it. [Mr. Rickett and Mr. Rodriguez, representa- The President. God bless you, folks. tives of rural empowerment zones, expressed their appreciation.] NOTE: The teleconference began at 1:25 p.m. The President spoke from the Oval Office at the White The President. Let me just say a brief House. word to you, sir, and to all of you in these rural districts. I also want to emphasize very strongly how hard Secretary Mike Espy Remarks on Empowerment Zones worked on these projects. He and I worked and Enterprise Communities for years before I ever dreamed of running December 21, 1994 for President on the problems of rural economic development in the Mississippi Delta, Thank you very much. I want to thank the which is still the poorest part of our country. Vice President for his strong leadership in And then when I had the chance to go to the Community Enterprise Board, Secretary south Texas and a chance to go to eastern Espy, Secretary Cisneros, Secretary Shalala, Kentucky in the campaign and to see what Attorney General Reno, the other members people were dealing with and what they were of the Cabinet and the administration who working with, it was obvious to me that we are here. And I congratulate all the commu- needed to try a different approach. And so nities who have won here today. This is an especially happy day for me be- I want to thank again Secretary Cisneros and cause this announcement completes a com- Secretary Espy for the work they did and the mitment that was rooted in the campaign I long effort that all of us have made in the waged for President but far more in my per- area of rural development, which is too often sonal history as a public servant. There are forgotten. We’re really pulling for all of you. many people here in this room to whom I And let me say to those of you in south owe a great deal of gratitude. But I want to Texas, you couldn’t be better represented say a special word of thanks to all those who than you have been by Kika de la Garza. He worked with me for years and years and talked to me so often about this project. And years, before I ever thought of even running he cared so deeply about it. And he does for President, on the complex job of develop- deserve a lot of the credit for your success ing poor and distressed areas. today. Secretary Espy and I were partners a long [Mayor Archer and a group of participants time before we ever thought he’d ever be in Detroit wished everyone a Merry Christ- the Agriculture Secretary or I would be the mas. Kentucky Governor Jones then ex- President. I thank my friend, Bob Nash, from pressed his appreciation to the President.] Arkansas for the work he’s done in rural development. Henry Cisneros and I were hav- The President. I thank you all. And I also ing the conversations that we celebrate today want to send our congratulations to Los An- for years before we were ever in the positions geles, which could not be on the telephone that we now hold. And there are others here, call today, but we’re very proud of them and too numerous to mention, who were an inspi- looking forward to working with them and ration to me because of what they did at the all the other communities. I really believe community level. But I’d like to mention in that you all are going to do something special particular the outstanding work done by An- and different and really meaningful. drew Cuomo, before he came to work at And I wish you a Merry Christmas. I want HUD, in New York and dealing with the to give the Vice President a chance to say problems of housing and homelessness.

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