WASHINGTON, D.C. — Listen and learn has been the motto this week for Charleston Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin.
She wraps up her time at the U.S Conference of Mayors 88th Annual Winter Meeting on Friday in Washington D.C.
Goodwin, who just surpassed one year in office, told MetroNews the conference that is geared around discussion of struggles, ideas, and formulas for success in cities, has been a great opportunity for her.
“This is to listen and learn from each other, to share best practices, to find solutions to our common challenges,” she said.
Those common challenges discussed include energy, environment, substance use disorder, the housing crisis, tourism, ending gun violence, homelessness, housing veterans, economic development, and opportunity zones.
Goodwin said there has been the sharing of information about what state and federal resources can be used to solve such challenges such as grants and initiatives.
There has also been interest and sharing of information on Charleston’s programs such as the Homeless Outreach Coordinator and Land Reuse Agency and Vacant Structure Registry, according to Goodwin.
“Sometimes when you are home in our state, you think that these challenges are something that we and we alone face,” Goodwin said. “It’s understanding that every single mayor, in every single city deals with the exact same issues.”
“In one way, it’s made me learn that there is more we could be doing. It also made me understand that it doesn’t matter the size of your city. If you have 30,000, 10,000 or a million, these are the same issues that you hear and the exact comments in Charleston as in Youngstown, Ohio or York, Pennsylvania.”
Goodwin said the Mayor of York, Michael Helfrich, has been helpful in discussions at the conference in sharing city similarities. Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley has also shared information with Goodwin at the conference.
Listening to @MayorJenny during #MayorsDC20 about how cities are working together to solve some of our greatest challenges. @usmayors pic.twitter.com/Fx6il5S4sj
— Amy Shuler Goodwin (@AmySGoodwin) January 22, 2020
Breakout sessions have occurred during the three-day conference where participants have heard from former New York City Mayor and Presidential Candidate Michael Bloomberg, former South Bend Mayor and Presidential Candidate Pete Buttigieg, and current New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio.
As a former mayor, @PeteButtigieg knows what he’s talking about when he says Washington should look to our best-run cities for ideas. It was an honor to have him speak at #MayorsDC20. pic.twitter.com/cNqdlSwDB0
— U.S. Mayors (@usmayors) January 23, 2020
The conference, featuring 1,400 mayors, started on Wednesday and ends on Friday. It’s the first one attended by Goodwin. The last winter meeting was held just one week after Goodwin took office and she declined an invite to the summer meeting in Hawaii.
She plans to attend the summer meeting in 2020 in Texas and more down the road.
Huntington Mayor Steve Williams is also in attendance.
https://twitter.com/HuntingtonMayor/status/1220680060996399105?s=20