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Office of Communications Gwen Campbell Media, Community & Education Relations Tel. 318.673.5062 / Fax: 318.673.5087 gwen.campbell@shreveportla.gov | ||
Mayor Glover today joined fellow mayors and municipal officials from automotive communities across America in Washington, D.C. to lobby for federal funding for communities affected by the reorganization of automotive manufacturers. Mayor Glover is a founding member of the Mayors & Municipalities Automotive Coalition (MMAC) a national task force of local government officials from communities that are threatened by or struggling with the restructuring of the American automotive industry. | The group has gathered in Washington to express concern and solidarity with other automotive communities that have had automotive plants idled, closed, or scheduled to close, and will meet with Members of Congress as well as White House Administration officials to call for immediate federal aid for these communities. During the next two days, Mayor Glover and the MMAC will meet with Senators Levin and Stabenow as well as the Office of Management & Budget and the Administration’s automotive recovery czar Dr. Ed Montgomery. | “Along with my fellow mayors, I look forward to sharing first-hand these concerns with the policymakers and legislators in Washington,” said the Mayor. “I am here on behalf of the citizens of Shreveport and the workers and families of our Shreveport GM plant who have felt and are feeling the direct impact our plant’s fate. There is strength in numbers and I wholeheartedly believe that the sincere and unrelenting efforts of the MMAC will benefit not only Shreveport but the nation, and ultimately create a future of economic success.” | Specifically, the group will make the following requests: |
• The Administration should provide funding for EPA-Brownfields grants plus Economic Development Administration (EDA) planning grants for development of reuse plans & strategies for communities affected by plant shut-downs, and should also provide for flexibility in local matching requirements for such grants
| • The Administration and Congress should make the revitalization of automotive communities a priority in the FY11 budget proposal and congressional spending through dedicated federal funding devoted to redevelopment, retooling, and site cleanup
| • Congress should allocate additional funding for green manufacturing grants
| These meetings follow Mayor Glover’s last lobbying trip in late October when he met with members of Congress, Ron Bloom, Senior Counselor to the President on manufacturing, and Tim Lee, Global Vice President for Manufacturing of General Motors.
| For more information on MMAC, see www.autocommunities.us.
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