Whaley said she looks forward to showcasing some of the many things the Gem City has to offer, such as the Dayton Arcade, the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and Out on 5th — the pedestrian promenade in the Oregon District on the weekend.
America’s mayors share and borrow promising and innovative ideas from one another, Whaley said, and visiting other cities can be eye-opening and informative.
“I think we have a really good story to tell and we’re going to share that with them,” she said.
The multi-day fall meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors will take place at the Dayton Arcade later this week.
Whaley, who has been part of the organization’s leadership for about six years, has attended earlier meetings in a variety of other cities, including Baltimore, Maryland; Oklahoma City; New Orleans; and Rochester Hills, Michigan.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors is a bipartisan group that represents the more than 1,400 U.S. cities that have a population of at least 30,000 residents.
The organization has not met in person in more than 20 months, Whaley said, but it has held virtual meetings and press conferences, including one earlier this month where its leaders called on Congress to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
Mayors play special roles in government and must solve problems on the ground while also being visionaries, Whaley said.
Each urban community is different, but they face some of the same challenges and have some of the same needs, and Dayton has a lot to be proud of, Whaley said.
Credit: Tom Gilliam
Credit: Tom Gilliam
During her travels with the conference, Whaley said she saw first-hand how other communities were dealing with addiction and activating their waterfronts.
“You learn different things that may not be exactly the same as your community, but it gives you an idea of like, ‘Oh, OK, this can work’ and here’s how they put it together,” she said.
When Whaley was elected president of the conference in June, Tom Cochran, the organization’s CEO and executive director, said she became “America’s Mayor” at a critical juncture when the nation’s cities are working to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We welcome her bold leadership at this pivotal, and defining, moment in American cities and our nation’s history,” he said.
Before Whaley, the last Ohio mayor to serve as the conference’s president was Akron Mayor Donald Plusquellic.
He was the 62nd president and served in the role between 2004 to 2005.
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