Mayor Eric Garcetti is among 20 Southland mayors set to attend the three-day 84th Winter Meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which begins Wednesday in Washington, D.C.

Garcetti is scheduled to address the conference on Thursday on ending homelessness among veterans. Garcetti will speak following an address by first lady Michelle Obama.

Other Southland mayors with high-profile roles at the conference are Robert Garcia of Long Beach, the vice chair of the Ports and Exports Task Force, and Anaheim’s Tom Tait, a co-chair of the Immigration Reform Task Force. Two of the Southland mayors are from Orange County. The 18 others are from L.A. County.

The Ports and Exports Task Force will meet on Friday, with Tampa, Florida, Mayor Bob Buckhorn and Assistant Trade Representative Omar Kahn discussing the Trans Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement, and Wanda Felton, the vice chair of the Export Import Bank, speaking on expanding exports through the bank.

The Immigration Reform Task Force will also meet on Friday, focusing on how the nation’s refugee resettlement system operates and receiving an update on the Building Welcoming Communities Campaign, an initiative of the White House Task Force on New Americans encouraging local communities to engage in immigrant and refugee integration efforts.

The city of Los Angeles was among the initial 40 cities and counties to join the campaign.

The mayors Thursday will visit the White House, where they will hear a speech by President Barack Obama and receive a briefing from senior administration officials on Obama’s priorities in his final year in office.

Nearly 300 mayors of cities with populations of 30,000 or more are set to attend the conference at the Capitol Hilton Hotel to engage with administration officials and congressional and business leaders to ensure the health and economic recovery of America’s cities, according to conference officials.

Besides Garcetti, Tait and Garcia, the Southland mayors who have registered for the meeting are Gary A. Kovacic (Arcadia); Victor Manalo (Artesia); Julian Gold (Beverly Hills); Albert Robles (Carson); Carol K. Chen (Cerritos); Micheal O’Leary (Culver City); Andre Quintero (El Monte); Alex Vargas (Hawthorne); Carolyn Petty (Hermosa Beach); Jim Katapodis (Huntington Beach); Jeff Wood (Lakewood); Edwin Hernandez (Lynwood); Jason Pu (San Gabriel); Tony Vasquez (Santa Monica); Jorge Morales (South Gate); Patrick J. Furey (Torrance); and Lindsey P. Horvath (West Hollywood).

—City News Service

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