Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Hattiesburg, MS Mayor Johnny DuPree have been awarded first place honors in the 2017 City Livability Awards Program during The U.S. Conference of Mayors’ 85 th Annual Meeting in Miami Beach.
The award recognizes mayoral leadership in developing and implementing programs that improve the quality of life in America’s cities, focusing on the leadership, creativity, and innovation demonstrated by the mayors. This year’s winning cities were selected by former mayors from a pool of over 150 applicants.
"Our City Livability Awards Program gives us the chance to express our pride in cities’ mayoral leadership in making urban areas cleaner, safer, and more livable,” said Tom Cochran, CEO and Executive Director of the Conference of Mayors. “We are grateful to Waste Management for its many years of support for the City Livability Awards Program, and for the opportunity to showcase the innovation and commitment of mayors and city governments across the country."
This is the 38 TH year in which cities have competed for the award, which is sponsored by the Conference of Mayors and Waste Management, Inc., the nation’s largest environmental solutions provider.
Alex Gonzalez, Waste Management’s Florida Area Public Affairs Director, presented the City Livability awards during today’s annual luncheon in Miami Beach “Through the City Livability Awards, Waste Management is immensely proud to honor US Mayors who are committed to strengthening our communities and enhancing the lives of their residents across the nation,” said Susan Moulton, Waste Management’s Senior Corporate Director of Public Sector Solutions. ‘For more than 28 years, Waste Management has sponsored the Awards, because the work these Mayors do to keep our communities safe, healthy, and vibrant aligns directly with our commitment to community vitality by providing innovative, safe and sustainable recycling and waste services.”
See first place program descriptions below:
Los Angeles’ CleanStat Program (large city) –
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s CleanStat Program, modeled after CompStat, is a cleanliness assessment tool, which provides data on the cleanliness of Los Angeles city streets and alleys. Clean Stat employs quarterly, block-by-block cleanliness assessments of the entire city to build data and identify trends for "where the trash is" – and staff is able to learn over time what factors may be contributing in particularly impacted areas. CleanStat data helps make decisions about what resources to deploy, and helps provide a rationale for the most strategic deployment of resources to ensure equity in the Mayor's priority outcomes of cleanliness and livability.
"Clean neighborhoods say a lot about the health of a community and the livability of a city,” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. “I developed CleanStat for L.A. because open data helps us better understand how well we’re cleaning up our streets, and Angelenos deserve a tool to track the progress and hold us accountable for results. I am honored to see this program recognized with a City Livability Award.”
Hattiesburg Reads (small city) -
The Hattiesburg Reads Initiative is a restaurant based literacy program where young people can enjoy their favorite meals at local restaurants while reading their favorite books within installed Library Lounges. The Hattiesburg Reads Initiative was inspired by Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree ‘s 2015 debut of the City of Hattiesburg's exciting Take a look/Take a Book Little Free Libraries Initiative, which involved outdoor bookshelves resembling bird houses to promote literacy and the arts. The reaction of children and adults alike encouraged leaders to pursue more unique and practical opportunities to foster literacy, and Hattiesburg Reads was officially revealed on February 19, 2016, within a local Burger King Restaurant followed by the two remaining Burger King restaurants in the area. The mission to open the gateway to literacy and the opportunities that come along with it prompted O’Charley's Restaurant & Bar and McAlister's Deli franchises to partner with the City of Hattiesburg Mayoral Office and Construction Department to build and install Library Lounges. Hattiesburg Mayor, Johnny DuPree, purchased the first set of books for each restaurant and the city has funded Hattiesburg Reads puzzles, pens, pencils and fans. Children are not only able to read the books at the restaurants, they are encouraged to take them home along with other Hattiesburg Reads-related items. Local restaurants reward children with ice cream or a snack of their choice upon completing a book.
“It is a tremendous honor to be recognized again for our community’s efforts to increase literacy among our children and those across the nation,” said Mayor DuPree. “I am also grateful to be a part of a community that works diligently to create unique, innovative programs to enhance our youth. I pray that other leaders across the country would implement the Hattiesburg Reads initiative in their cities and towns. For example, if adopted by the Mayor of Los Angeles, the program could be called Los Angeles Reads —a different name but same goal, which is to promote early childhood education. Early childhood education is truly the key to ensuring our children are groomed into successful adults, economically and socially.”
In addition to the two top awards, Outstanding Achievement Awards were given to five cities with populations of 100,000 or more:
Irvine (CA), Gresham (OR), Phoenix (AZ), Pembroke Pines (FL), Port St. Lucie (FL) -- and five cities with populations of less than 100,000 — Aguadilla (PR), Doral (FL), Dubuque (IA), East Orange (NJ) and Greenville (MS).
Honorable Mention citations for cities with populations of 100,000 or more went to: Allentown (PA), Bridgeport (CT), Las Vegas (NV), and Plano (TX). Citations for cities with populations of less than 100,000 went to Bethlehem (PA), Carmel (IN), Johns Creek (GA), and Orland Park (IL).
Program descriptions for the Outstanding Achievement and Honorable Mention award programs please go to: https://www.usmayors.org/city-livability/
About The United States Conference of Mayors -- The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are nearly 1,400 such cities in the country today, and each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor. Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/usmayors , or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/usmayors .
Attachments:
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/Attachm...8fc627fad1
Elena Temple-Webb The U.S. Conference of Mayors 202-286-1100 etemple@usmayors.org Sara Durr Durr Communications 202-215-1811 sara@durrcommunications.com
