Madison's Mayor Dave Cieslewicz heads to Washington, D.C. this weekend to meet with other mayors from across the United States as part of the third meeting of the New Cities Project. The Daily Cardinal spoke with Cieslewicz about the weekend's events before he leaves for Washington Thursday.
The Daily Cardinal: What exactly is the New Cities Project?
Mayor Dave: The New Cities Project is an organization I started [in 2005] in order to get mayors from around the country together to talk about issues important for their cities. In conjunction with the Center for Wisconsin Strategy right here on campus, the New Cities Project addresses concerns that every city deals with, like, housing, economic development, transportation, environmental concerns and energy policy.
DC: How and when does the New Cities Project meet?
MD: The group meets twice a year, and this will be our third meeting ever. Our first meeting was in Wisconsin and this meeting will take place in Washington, D.C.
DC: What other cities are involved in the project?
MD: We have mayors coming in from cities of all sizes. Large cities like Boston and smaller college towns like Berkley [Calif.] will be in attendance, along with industrial oriented cities like Camden, NJ. The idea is to get city leaders together in an informal setting so that they can discuss and exchange new ideas.
DC: What will this particular meeting focus on?
MD: This weekend we will be discussing economic development. Our first meeting entailed the broad scope of city development and our second meeting addressed transportation.
DC: How successful has the project been in attracting more cities?
MD: Well, we started out with around 10 cities at our first meeting, but this weekend we hope to see approximately 30-plus cities represented.
