00:00Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
00:07Can you tell us why you came to Nancy today for those two days?
00:11Absolutely.
00:12It's a pleasure being here in Nancy, my first time here.
00:16And I'm here representing as the lead of the United States delegation
00:20here for the Urban Seven,
00:23also representing an organization called the U.S.-United States Conference of Mayors.
00:29And so it's wonderful engaging with my counterparts from around the globe,
00:35and in particular all those who are here today at this meeting,
00:40which is crucial as I look at things that are happening in the United States
00:46and how a lot of that is affecting our global partners.
00:52And so it's important to be here to kind of share a different story
00:56from cities in the United States and how important this work is to have,
01:00you know, sub-national diplomacy, city-to-city international diplomacy,
01:04looking forward in time.
01:06So it's a crucial period in time and very meaningful.
01:09What are your problematics and also the stories that we don't see from abroad?
01:14In France, maybe we don't know what's the problem of your kind of city,
01:18the city that you're a mayor of?
01:19Yeah, so Athens, Ohio is in a more rural area in the state of Ohio
01:27and in the region of the United States.
01:29And so the things that I'm seeing and learning while being here
01:35when it comes to things like climate action,
01:37recognizing that our climate is getting hotter,
01:40that things are changing,
01:42and it is leading to some pretty devastating disasters,
01:46not only in the United States, but again, here in Europe
01:51and around the globe on the African continent.
01:53And so being able to share some of the best practices from my own community,
01:59my city is home to Ohio University, which is a large university in the state.
02:04and therefore we have a lot of really interesting innovations and technologies
02:10coming out of Ohio University and my community.
02:14And to translate that to other university communities,
02:18cities that have universities that are members of the Urban Seven
02:23is really kind of refreshing and telling a little bit different story
02:27as to how we're managing things in the United States.
02:31and we are really managing things at the city level, you know,
02:35because we have our own challenges with the federal government
02:38and things constantly changing, you know, minute by minute, second by second sometimes,
02:43and being able to be on this stage and to tell a different story
02:48than I think a lot of Europe and our global partners around the globe
02:52are hearing right now coming from the White House.
02:54What do you want to push forward for the Nancy Convention and bring to the G7?
03:02You know, I think one of the things that we have been hearing all day long
03:05is social justice, climate, looking at supporting our relationships
03:12from an economic development standpoint.
03:15You know, in the city of Athens with Ohio University,
03:17I look at our university has multiple international relations
03:22and multiple faculty from around the globe.
03:25And so we're in a position to where we embrace our international partnerships.
03:30I think a lot of cities in the United States do too,
03:33because they know that they are home to international corporations,
03:37international businesses, faculty from around the globe.
03:40And so, you know, we know the value.
03:44We know that we have to continue to create these relationships
03:47and show strong partnership as opposed to, again,
03:51a lot of what I think people are hearing from the federal level
03:55that is sometimes counter to what we truly need.
03:58When I look at the faculty and the businesses that are international
04:02in the city of Athens, I also think the employees
04:05and those employees probably have children
04:08and those children will go to our schools
04:10and they will be, you know, engaging with their peers
04:13and sharing their cultural stories
04:15and then also hearing our cultural stories
04:17in Southeast Ohio and Athens, Ohio.
04:20And those things, I think, are critically important.
04:22And so with, you know, the U7, I think that these are narratives
04:26that we're hearing and starting to really kind of unpack
04:29as we look forward in time.
04:31And I'm looking so forward to being one of the signatories
04:36on the declaration because, you know, these are the values
04:40that our city lives by day in, day out.
04:43It's what the U.S. Conference of Mayors is living towards
04:46as well as the National League of Cities
04:48to which I am the immediate past president of that organization
04:51representing every city, town and village across the United States.
05:02Why did you come here for the two days in Nancy?
05:05Well, I came here to be part of the mayor's summit,
05:09the first international mayor's summit.
05:12And it is bringing sub-national governments
05:15to discuss the challenges that urban cities and towns are facing
05:21in our different countries.
05:24So I came here to learn more, to exchange experiences
05:29and learn the best practices that are being practiced across the country
05:34and across the continent.
05:38And from your local perspective, for you,
05:40what are the main priorities that you're working on every day?
05:44One is the rapid urbanization that is taking place in my county.
05:49We have a lot of people moving from the rural setup to the urban setup.
05:54And as a result, it's putting a lot of pressure on existing urban infrastructure.
06:00And the second issue is the challenge of climate change.
06:05That is becoming a very big challenge to all governments,
06:11whether national governments or sub-national governments.
06:15We have serious pressure out of climate change.
06:20So building resilient infrastructure that can withstand the climate challenges
06:26that come with climate change is a very important issue.
06:30We are also looking at the level of informal settlements
06:35that is becoming bigger and bigger in our towns and in our cities
06:41because of urbanization.
06:43And so looking at how we can create affordable housing for these towns
06:49and these cities is very, very important.
06:52and so I've come here to exchange the experiences that I'm having back in my county
06:58and hearing what other cities are doing to manage the challenge of climate change
07:04and what climate action projects that have been taken into action by other countries,
07:14by other nations, by other governments.
07:16That's why I'm here.
07:17And what do you expect from the G7? Do you expect something?
07:23Well, my expectation is that first the urban 7 will be given a platform at the G7
07:30to represent our world view.
07:33And that it goes just beyond the G7, the global 7, into the rest of the nation.
07:40We are looking at mutual partnerships between the global north and the global south
07:48and making sure that we have real benefits that accrue to both partners.
07:55And so I'm really hoping that this gives us a platform to give our views to the G7
08:02so that they can be considered when decisions are being made on the table.
08:14Why is it important for you to be present at this meeting?
08:17I think we are at the moment at the crucial point.
08:21We as cities, we are driving the process.
08:24We are standing for the SDGs.
08:26We are fighting for more climate resiliency.
08:29We are fighting against poverty.
08:32We are fighting for more affordable housing.
08:34But we need a clear message also from the national side.
08:38Therefore, the G7 process is very important for us.
08:42And we have to get louder that our voice is also acceptable
08:49and that the states are listening to us, to our problems.
08:54Because only if we are getting closer partners in this process,
08:58we can achieve the climate goals or the sustainable goals or other goals.
09:03What are the main needs and challenges currently facing your city?
09:08I think the main needs are...
09:10We noticed that the economic situation is not very easy for us.
09:15So we have less and less money.
09:16So we need to find new ways to finance climate resilient projects, for example,
09:23or affordable housing concepts.
09:25Therefore, it's absolutely needed that we need a better financial system
09:29on the international level to finance infrastructure activities.
09:36If you are thinking about long distance heating networks,
09:39solar farms, but always decentralized installed.
09:45That's our mission.
09:46What messages or priorities would you like to put forward
09:50in the joint political declaration?
09:52I think at the moment it's something very important which we think is absolutely crucial,
10:00that the democratic-based solutions, that the trust in people,
10:05that the trust in organizations also like the UN is still existing.
10:10We trust in these organizations.
10:12We trust in this belief that local and regional governments
10:16are based on decision-making processes where people are driving the process.
10:23And I think this is a main message at the moment into the global world.
10:35Why did you come here for the U7?
10:59What about Kobe, the specificities of Kobe, what are the priorities as a mayor?
11:04The issue of Kobe is our state to support the right of doing this power.
11:14We moved back to Kobe and the federal government so we can't get it to the right of time.
11:29So this is critical to this project.
11:29One of the major things we've had to make it to be open to our state,
11:31which is more challenges in our state.
11:32You can also have a public-based community and support our state resources.
11:33As a result, we've worked as a group of organizations,
11:39En ce moment, j'ai vraiment l'impression que la réagence de l'Union européenne
11:46et que la réagence de l'Union européenne a été très motivée.
11:56J'ai vu que l'on apprend, c'est que l'on apprend que l'on apprend.
11:58J'ai vu que l'on apprend.
12:00à la priorité de la NANCY-DECLARATION pour la NANCY-DECLARATION ?
12:30les collés de la NANCY-DECLARATION PRODUCE
12:36Ce qui est un objectif, c'est un objectif qui est un objectif.
13:05C'est-à-dire qu'il y a la réunion de la réunion, et c'est-à-dire qu'il
13:10y a la réunion de la réunion de G7.
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