The National League of Cities was founded in 1924. Originally, this was a liaison between cities and Washington. In the ensuing years, it has evolved into a much expanded role. The first 2 days of this yearly conference is designed to provide workshops on Leadership. The five areas are Cornerstone, Competence, Communicator, Collaborator, and Catalyst. These workshops are designed to stimulate personal growth of the elected municipal leader in these areas, with emphasis on taking this information back to reality in your city!

The next several days are spent with open sessions related to a variety of topics that have been deemed of most importance to cities. The culmination of these discussions is a trip to The Hill as we lobby our Senators and Representatives, on Tues morning, for their support of the major issues that impact Golden.

The two issues important to Golden are Transportation....asking for protection of existing communities' quality of life.......and Community Development Block Grants...important as a catalyst for creating affordable housing, powering the economics, and helping with public infrastructure.

Bob Nelson, Dave Ketchum, and I will be meeting with our Washington Congressional leaders on Tuesday morning to lobby for Golden.

The conference has been very stimulating, and the synergy created by nearly 2800 representatives of cities and towns all over America has been contagious!