Pugh to travel to U.S. Conference of Mayors
Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh plans to travel to the annual U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Florida next weekend, her first trip to the gathering since being elected last year.
The bipartisan get-together is a chance for mayors to discuss common challenges and opportunities they see for the nation’s cities. Immigration, policing, health care and climate change are all expected to be topics of discussion.
More than 250 mayors are expected to attend this year’s meeting.
The Board of Estimates this week approved $5,600 for Pugh and an aide to spend four nights in Miami for the conference.
“I’m looking forward to joining mayors from cities across the country at the U.S. Conference of Mayor’s Annual Meeting as we prepare to exchange and discuss best practices that coalesce local community building as part of a national, unified agenda,” Pugh said in a statement.
The conference condemned the recent decision of President Donald Trump to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Accord. Tom Cochran, the group’s executive director, said its focus on the environment would be an important topic at the annual meeting.
“We will continue, as we have for more than a decade, to harness the collective strength of mayors to reduce carbon emissions in U.S. cities across the country,” Cochran said in a statement.
Pugh’s predecessor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, served three years as a leader of the group, culminating in a term as president in 2015. The position burnished her national credentials, but she also faced criticism because the role took her out of town.