{PBJFlorida} Here's the resolution

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Jackie Cabasso <wslf@earthlink.net>
To: buddy.dyer@cityoforlando.net; carson.chandler@cityoforlando.net; frank.billingsley@cityoforlando.net; michele.brennan@cityoforlando.net; kathy.russell@cityoforlando.net
Sent: Thursday, June 7, 2012 9:07 PM
Subject: MAKE IT A BAKER'S DOZEN! PLEASE JOIN 12 MAYORS CO-SPONSORING THE MAYORS FOR PEACE USCM RESOLUTION

Dear Mayor Dyer,

 

I hope you will join the 12 mayors who have so far agreed to co-sponsor this year's USCM Mayors for Peace resolution, and make it a Baker's Dozen! I also think you'll be interested to know that Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, President of Mayors for Peace, has added his signature to the Rio+20 Appeal calling on governments to cut military spending in favor of sustainable development. Our article, "Rio+20: Mayors for Peace calls for redirecting military expenditures to fund sustainable development," includes a description of the two resolutions adopted by the USCM at last June's meeting calling on Congress and the President to "move the money" from military spending to human needs. This illustrates another reason why these resolutions are important. Please let me know if we can add your name to the list of co-sponsors.  My original request and the text of the resolution, with the current list of co-sponsors follows.  Many thanks for your consideration. – Jackie Cabasso Cell: (510) 306-0119

 

 

Dear Mayor Dyer,

 

I am writing to you in your capacity as host of the upcoming U.S. Conference of Mayors annual meeting and a supportive member of Mayors for Peace, to request your co-sponsorship of a resolution, Calling for U.S. Leadership in Global Elimination of Nuclear Weapons and Redirection of Nuclear Weapons Spending to Meet the Urgent Needs of Cities, to be considered by the International Affairs Committee at the USCM meeting in Orlando.

 

There are seven initial co-sponsors: Mayors Frank Cownie, Des Moines, IA; Kitty Piercy, Eugene, OR; Joy Cooper, Hallandale Beach, FL; Andre Pierre, North Miami, FL; Jennifer Hosterman, Pleasanton, CA; Gayle McLaughlin, Richmond, CA; and Stephen Cassidy, San Leandro, CA. We want to make as strong a showing as possible, by having as long a list of co-sponsors as possible.

 

While the costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are well known, at a time of continuing economic crisis for American cities and increasing global environmental and political instabilities, U.S. nuclear weapons spending has reached unprecedented levels. The resolution, below and attached, is fully consistent with previous resolutions unanimously adopted at USCM annual meetings since 2004; mostly recently in 2011.

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Please let me know right away if you will sponsor the resolution. Many thanks for your consideration. I look forward to your favorable reply and to meeting you in Orlando.

 

Best regards,

 

Jackie Cabasso

North American Coordinator, Mayors for Peace

jackie@2020visioncampaign.org

mobile: (510) 306-0119

 

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Resolution No.

 

Submitted by:

 

The Honorable Matthew T. Ryan

Mayor of Binghamton

 

The Honorable Satyendra Huja
Mayor of Charlottesville

 

The Honorable Frank Cownie

Mayor of Des Moines

 

The Honorable Kitty Piercy

Mayor of Eugene

 

The Honorable Joy Cooper

Mayor of Hallandale Beach

 

The Honorable Andre Pierre

Mayor of North Miami

 

The Honorable Jennifer Hosterman

Mayor of Pleasanton

 

The Honorable Gayle McLaughlin

Mayor of Richmond, CA

      The Honorable Ardell Brede

      Mayor of Rochester, MN

      The Honorable Stephen Cassidy

Mayor of San Leandro

 

The Honorable Jeffrey Prang

Mayor of West Hollywood

 

      The Honorable James Baker

Mayor of Wilmington, DE

 

CALLING FOR U.S. LEADERSHIP IN GLOBAL ELIMINATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND REDIRECTION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS SPENDING

TO MEET THE URGENT NEEDS OF CITIES

 

1. WHEREAS, more than two decades after the end of the Cold War, nearly 20,000 nuclear weapons, over 95% of them in the arsenals of the United States and Russia, continue to pose an intolerable threat to cities and people everywhere; and

 

2. WHEREAS, recent studies show that a nuclear war involving no more than 100 Hiroshima-sized bombs used on populated areas—less than 0.5% of the global nuclear arsenal—could have catastrophic effects on the global climate leading to a precipitous drop in average surface temperatures, reduction of the ozone layer, and a shortened agricultural growing season resulting in global famine leading to the starvation of up to one billion people; and

 

3.      WHEREAS, in an historic November 2011 resolution, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement emphasized "the incalculable human suffering that can be expected to result from any use of nuclear weapons, the lack of any adequate humanitarian response capacity and the absolute imperative to prevent such use;" found it "difficult to envisage how any use of nuclear weapons could be compatible with the rules of international humanitarian law;" and appealed to all States "to pursue in good faith and conclude with urgency and determination negotiations to prohibit the use of and completely eliminate nuclear weapons through a legallybinding international agreement;" and

 

4. WHEREAS, President Obama rightly said in Prague, "One nuclear weapon exploded in one city ... no matter where it happens, there is no end to what the consequences might be—for our global safety, our security, our society, our economy, to our ultimate survival," and the 2010 U.S. Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) affirmed, "It is in the U.S. interest and that of all other nations that the nearly 65-year record of nuclear non-use be extended forever," the NPR nonetheless retained the option to initiate nuclear warfare when under conventional attack, explicitly rejected reducing the high-alert status of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles and Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles, and retained the capability to deploy U.S. nuclear weapons on tactical fighter-bombers and heavy bombers, including at NATO bases in Europe, while proceeding with a modernization of the bombs carried on those planes; and

 

5. WHEREAS, President Obama submitted a plan to Congress in 2010 projecting  investments of well over $185 billion by 2020 to maintain and modernize U.S. nuclear weapons systems, including construction of new nuclear warhead production facilities and an array of new delivery systems, and subsequent annual budgets have provided for funding at this level; and

 

6.      WHEREAS, in 2011, the United States spent $711 billion on its military, 41% of the world total and twice as much as the next 14 countries combined, including China, Russia, six NATO allies and three major non-NATO allies; and

 

7.      WHEREAS, the continuing economic crisis is forcing mayors and cities to make ever deeper cuts in critical public services; and

 

8.      WHEREAS, cuts to federal programs such as Community Block Development Grants (CDBGs) and the Home Investment Partnership program (HOME) have forced cities, local agencies and non-profits to lay off staff, reduce or eliminate services, delay infrastructure projects and reduce program benefits to low and moderate income families; and

 

 

9. WHEREAS, the U.S. Conference of Mayors adopted resolutions in 2004, 2006 and each year since, expressing strong support for Mayors for Peace, its 2020 Vision Campaign and its Cities Are Not Targets project, and the 2010 and 2011 resolutions called for deep cuts in nuclear weapons spending and redirection of those funds to meet the needs of cities; and

 

10. WHEREAS, the U.S. Conference of Mayors adopted a second resolution at its 2011 annual meeting, "Calling on Congress to Redirect Military Spending to Domestic Needs;" and

 

11. WHEREAS, Mayors for Peace announced on September 21, 2011, the United Nations (UN) International Day of Peace, that its membership had surpassed 5000 and now has over 5250 cities in 153 countries and regions, including more than half of the world's capital cities and over 190 U.S. members; and

 

12. WHEREAS, in his address to the 2011 U.S. Conference of Mayors annual meeting, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recognized the importance of Mayors for Peace and the support of the USCM, declaring, "I welcome the resolution you will adopt at this conference, in particular its reiteration of support for my five-point [nuclear disarmament] plan," and concluding, "The road to peace and progress runs through the world's cities and towns;"

 

13.  NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors reaffirms its call on the President of the United States to work with the leaders of the other nuclear armed states to implement the UN Secretary-General's Five Point Proposal for Nuclear Disarmament forthwith, so that a Nuclear Weapons Convention or a comparable framework of mutually reinforcing legal instruments can be agreed upon and implemented by 2020, as urged by Mayors for Peace; and

 

14. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on Congress to terminate funding for modernization of nuclear warheads, delivery systems, and production facilities, to slash spending on nuclear weapons well below Cold War levels, and to redirect those funds to meet the urgent needs of cities; and

 

15. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls for the withdrawal of all tactical U.S. nuclear weapons from foreign soil and the immediate standing down of all nuclear forces on high-alert as steps to ensure that non-use of nuclear weapons is extended until global non-possession is achieved; and

 

16. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on its members to raise public awareness about the ongoing dangers and costs of nuclear weapons by organizing public displays of the "5000 Member Milestone" Hiroshima – Nagasaki poster exhibitions in their City Halls, and encourages its members to join Mayors for Peace Executive City Montreal's "Minute of Silence – Moment of Peace" global initiative by observing a minute of silence at 12 noon on September 21, 2012, the UN International Day of Peace, and posting photos and videos of events in their cities to a dedicated internet platform; and

 

17. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors expresses its continuing support for Mayors for Peace; pledges to continue assisting in the recruitment of new members; and supports USCM representation at General Conferences of Mayors for Peace in Hiroshima and Nagasaki every four years and annual Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign General Meetings; and

 

18. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors agrees to take up this matter at its 81st Annual Meeting in June 2013, and that mayors shall remain engaged in this matter until cities and citizens throughout the world are no longer under the threat of nuclear annihilation, whether by accident, design or by global famine resulting from catastrophic climate change caused by a limited nuclear exchange wherever it may occur in the world.