Democratic Municipal Officials Digest
Week of 3/15/2021

DMO Update

• Need to speak with the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs? Email Nils.Robbins@NationalDMO.org for a connection.

• How DMOs can Celebrate the American Rescue Plan. Publish an op-ed in your local paper informing constituents on how Democrats have helped them.

• Missed the DMO National Briefing yesterday? Watch now to view updatesfrom Governor Phil Murphy, Congressman Richard Neal, Ironworkers President Eric Dean, and ASDC President Ken Martin.

Quick Links

• A Fight Over Inclusionary Zoning Foreshadows Booming Bozeman’s Troubles

• What It Will Take to Close the Race Gap in Home Appraisals

• Help Is Here: The American Rescue Plan Guide

Ideas for Cities

• Celebrating Women in Local Government During Women’s History Month and Beyond

• Road Salt is Imperiling Aquatic Ecosystems. It Doesn’t Have to.

• Share Your Story – Elected officials and constituents alike should share their story on the impact of the American Rescue Plan

News for Democrats 

• Kamala Harris Pushes Plan to Strengthen City Infrastructure

• Fact Sheet: President Biden to Announce All Americans to be Eligible for Vaccinations by May 1, Puts the Nation on a Path to Get Closer to Normal by July 4th

• Some Americans have already received the third stimulus payment

Video of the Week

President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan. Let Americans know that Help Is Here.

Democratic Municipal Officials Digest
Week of 3/8/2021

DMO Update

• Congratulations to Detroit Councilman Scott Benson, this spring’s Susan Burgess President’s Award recipient.

• Help the Biden Administration pass the American Rescue Plan to bring financial assistance to local government. View the Progressive Fact Sheet on the American Rescue Plan.

• DMO welcomes Columbia, South Carolina Council Member Tameika Isaac Devine to our Board of Directors.

Quick Links

• Austin Council Calls for More Aid as Food and Water Is Still Lacking

• Ithaca mayor unveils proposal to replace city’s police department

• The Biggest Payoff From Stockton’s Basic Income Program: Jobs – More information on Mayors for a Guaranteed Income

Ideas for Cities

• How Cities Can Help Small Businesses Hire and Train Locally

• Baltimore’s powerful new tool to fight illegal guns

• How NYC Is Stopping Textile Waste With Low-Tech Donation Bins

Advisory Board Updates

• Honeywell – A Leader’s Guide to Safer Faster and More Equitable Community Vaccination Events

• SEIU – Respect Us, Protect Us, Pay Us: Voices From The Frontline – State and Local Elected Toolkit

• OpenGov – Savannah Brings The Data To Show Real Impact (Featuring DMO Treasurer, Mayor Van Johnson)

News for Democrats 

• New DNC chair promises greater midterm election involvement — to Democrats’ relief

• Democrats decry “new Jim Crow” as Georgia GOP passes drastic new voting restrictions

• Biden shifts his operation to DNC ahead of 2022 midterm elections

Democratic Municipal Officials Digest
Week of 3/1/2021

DMO Update

• One Week Left – Join DMO on March 8th at 6:30pm ET for our Spring “Oh So Blue” Celebration, featuring DNC Chair Jaime Harrison.

• Help the Biden Administration pass the American Rescue Plan to bring financial assistance to local government. View the Progressive Fact Sheet on the American Rescue Plan.

• Watch our Municipal Monday on the 2021 Preemption Landscape, featuring Mark Pertschuk.

Quick Links

• How Black Cartographers Put Racism on the Map

• Cities Are Sinking Under the Weight of Urban Development

• Public Employees’ Use of Personal Phones, Tablets Puts Local Governments at Risk

Ideas for Cities

• Cyber Risk: The Time Is Now To Understand Insurance and Risk

• Innovative Water Infrastructure Workforce Development Program

• Reform/Transform: A Policing Policy Toolkit – From our friends at Local Progress

Advisory Board Updates

• Comcast – Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: Our Impact

• Verra Mobility acquires Redflex for US $112 million

• Ironworkers – Legislation to strengthen representation on the Apprenticeship and Training Council.

News for Democrats 

• Bill requiring ID for absentee voting passes Georgia Senate

• Progressives push to squash Senate filibuster after minimum wage defeat

• Statement by President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. on Introduction of the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 – What’s in the act.

Democratic Municipal Officials Digest
Week of 2/22/2021

DMO Update

• Early registration now open – Join DMO on March 8th at 6:30pm ET for our Spring “Oh So Blue” Celebration, featuring DNC Chair Jaime Harrison.

• Help the Biden Administration pass the American Rescue Plan to bring financial assistance to local government.

• Watch our Municipal Monday on the 2021 Preemption Landscape, featuring Mark Pertschuk.

Quick Links

• Gun violence crisis in America’s cities: Opinion by Greg Fischer, Eric Garcetti, Lori Lightfoot and Brandon Scott

• Bipartisan group of mayors, governors meet with Biden over COVID stimulus

• Local Governments Are the Answer

Ideas for Cities

• To Create More Affordable Housing, Make Zoning Hyperlocal

• What Role Can Cities Play in Reparations? Some Aim to Find Out

• How Newark Water Coalition Is Bringing the City Clean Water Without Plastic Waste

News for Democrats 

• U.S. Bans Housing Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity

• Here’s What’s In House Democrats’ $1.9 Trillion COVID-19 Relief Plan

• Biden Administration takes steps to promote equitable access to SBA relief

Democratic Municipal Officials Digest
Week of 2/15/2021

DMO Update

• Early registration now open – Join DMO on March 8th at 6:30pm ET for our Spring “Oh So Blue” Celebration, featuring DNC Chair Jaime Harrison.

• Help the Biden Administration pass the American Rescue Plan to bring financial assistance to local government.

• Do renters and leasers in your city need financial support? Pass this sample resolution and call on the federal government to support the rental housing market.

Quick Links

• Biden Administration to Ship Covid Vaccine to Community Health Centers

• There Could Be an Energy Bill Debt Tsunami, Too – Towns and cities can help residents by passing local water security ordinances.

• Biden’s special Obamacare enrollment period opens Monday. Here’s what you need to know.

Ideas for Cities

• Establish March 1st as a COVID-19 Memorial Day

• Follow @StaySafeOnline for tips on how to protect your city government, businesses, and residents from cyber attacks. View their full resource suite online.

• Have your campaign staff register for the Emily’s List Finance Training

Advisory Board Updates

• American Water Resources – Councilman Derek Green Talks About the Water Sewer Line Protection Program

• Comcast RISE to Award $5 Million in Grants to Small Businesses

• NEA Statement on CDC School Reopening Guidelines

News for Democrats 

• DNC Announces “Chair Chats Tour” with Chair Harrison

• FACT SHEET: President Biden Reestablishes the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

• Biden extends foreclosure moratorium and mortgage forbearance through June

Democratic Municipal Officials Digest
Week of 2/8/2021

DMO Update

• Early registration now open – Join DMO on March 8th at 6:30pm ET for our Spring “Oh So Blue” Celebration, featuring DNC Chair Jaime Harrison.

• Help the Biden Administration pass the American Rescue Plan to bring financial assistance to local government.

• Do renters and leasers in your city need financial support? Pass this sample resolution and call on the federal government to support the rental housing market.

Quick Links

• Someone tried to poison Oldsmar’s water supply during hack, sheriff says

• When QAnon Stormed City Hall – Local elected officials must stay vigilant to keep QAnon adherents from building a base in municipal government, or risk them becoming the next Tea Party.

• DMO President Derek Green Joins Philadelphia Teachers in response to city’s plan to return to classrooms later this month.

Ideas for Cities

• Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair – Pass a natural hair ordinance like this one from Kansas City, MO.

• Review Rochester, NY’s Person in Crisis Pilot Executive Summary

• An Atlanta Neighborhood Will Finally Own Property as a Community

News for Democrats 

• Anyone involved with Democratic campaigns should register for the DNC’s upcoming Best Practices Institute Train the Trainer series.

• How Democrats Found Thousands Of New Voters And Flipped Georgia’s Senate Seats

• Tracking Executive Orders Critical to Cities, Towns and Villages

Democratic Municipal Officials Digest
Week of 2/1/2021

DMO Update

• Mark Your Calendars – Join DMO on March 8th at 6:30pm ET for our Spring “Oh So Blue” Celebration, featuring DNC Chair Jaime Harrison.

• Join DMO on February 8th for a Municipal Monday looking at how state preemption will impact cities in 2021. Register now to submit your question.

• Read DMO’s statement welcoming Jamie Harrison and the incoming DNC officers.

Quick Links

• City of Rochester launches 24/7 Person In Crisis team for mental health assistance

• Louisville’s Mayor on What President Biden Means For Cities

• Austin Will Use Money Cut From Police Budgets To Buy Supportive Housing

Ideas for Cities

• Futuristic sleeping pods for homeless people installed in German city

• How Five Cities Tackled Eviction Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

• How Cities Are Reimagining Our Local Economies

Advisory Board Updates

• Comcast Provides Update on Decade-Long Commitment to Digital Equity; Announces Plans to Accelerate Efforts in 2021 – View the social media toolkit.

• Honor National Gun Violence Survivors Week by amplifying on social media, sharing stories through Moments That Survive, or passing a resolution in your city.

• Westfield is offering their shopping centers to host COVID-19 vaccine distribution.

News for Democrats 

• Biden Revokes Trump Abortion Policy, Takes Steps To Shore Up Affordable Care Act

• Biden’s “all of government” plan for climate, explained

• Biden Lays Out His Blueprint for Fair Housing

Pic of the Week

“My job as his chairman of the Democratic Party is to make sure we take his successes, the promises he has made, that we make sure the folks down in small towns, in the cities, on dirt roads understand those are promises that are kept. It is also my mission to make sure that Democrats build back better, and we have a strengthened party in all 50 states and our territories, and that we can give him more help in terms of the House, the Senate, in governors’ mansions and state legislatures across the country. So I’m looking forward to doing that. And we’re already getting to work.”

Quick Links

• Florida judge says cities can’t be punished for passing their own gun laws

• Is Your Tap Water Safe to Drink?

• Why Washington Should Invest in Community Development Block Grants

Ideas for Cities

• When Street Lights Do More Than Illuminate a City

• Living Near Trees, Not Just Green Space, Improves Wellbeing

• Stripping Away Concrete Builds Community – and Better Health – in Milwaukee

News for Democrats

• Trump’s cuts to food stamps are indefensible, economically and morally – Every $1 invested in SNAP creates $1.7 of economic activity.

• EPA to allow use of pesticide considered ‘very highly toxic’ to bees

• Mayors Against Illegal Guns letter calling for federal background checks and red flag laws

DMO Update

Quick Links

• Here’s What the Heat Island Looks Like in East Coast Cities

• A City Seeks to Create a Unique Asset in a 32-Mile River Bike Path

• It’s Getting Too Damn Hot to Have Fun in the Summer

Ideas for Cities

• How to Fight Discrimination Against Housing Voucher Holders

• 6 Rules for Unlocking the Potential of Mid-Size Cities

• Absenteeism Costs Schools Money. A Simple Change Can Reduce It.

News for Democrats

• Julián Castro Introduces Major Platform For Indigenous Peoples

• Planned Parenthood isn’t Political. It’s been Politicized.

• 15,000 Americans Died So Republican Governors Could Stick It to Obama

DMO Update