Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti rallied other “Climate Mayors” to the cause of upholding the goals of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement Saturday at the 85th annual United States Conference of Mayors in Miami Beach, Florida.
Garcetti is the chairman and co-founder of the Climate Mayors, a bipartisan group formed in 2014. The group has taken on added members and an added sense of urgency since President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris agreement earlier this month.
“Since the president withdrew the U.S. from the Paris agreement, mayors in cities across America have come together to say `enough’ — we will not let the future of our planet be jeopardized by inaction at the top,” Garcetti said Saturday, according to a statement provided by the mayor’s office. “We are committed to carrying the fight against climate change forward in our cities.”
Garcetti also named three new co-chairs to the Climate Mayors group: Marty Walsh of Boston, Sylvester Turner of Houston and Madeline Rogero of Knoxville.
Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia was set to speak at Saturday’s meeting of the Ports and Exports Task Force. Garcia is task force’s vice chair.
Two cabinet members are scheduled to address the conference — Labor Secretary R. Alexander Acosta and Veterans Affairs Secretary David J. Shulkin.
The conference at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach has drawn 258 mayors, according to organizers. Immigration, health care, the federal budget and national economy, climate protection, homeland security and community block grants top the agenda.
In addition to Garcetti, Tait, Bosse and Garcia, the mayors from Los Angeles and Orange counties registered for the conference are David Mejia (Alhambra); Fidencio Joel Gallardo (Bell); Jeffrey Cooper (Culver City); Vivian Romero (Montebello); Teresa Real Sebastian (Monterey Park); Kevin Muldoon (Newport Beach); Cameron Smyth (Santa Clarita); Patrick J. Furey (Torrance); and Eric Ching (Walnut).
—City News Service