Making Waves Newsletter February 2022

The Cities Initiative releases its newsletter, “Making Waves,” once per month. Stay up to date on current initiatives, important government programs, webinars, etc.

Mid-Year 2022 Review

Thank you all for participating in the 2022 mid-year meeting. The meeting was a tremendous success with over 100 members participating in our federal lobbying day on Wednesday, February 9. Day one of the meeting focused on organizational priorities. The board formally approved our 2022 U.S. and Canadian federal policy priorities and our three-year strategic plan. The three-year strategic plan materials are being finalized and will be shared with you soon. Read more

Annual General Meeting - Keynote Speaker and Host City Announcement

I am writing to invite you to join over 125 Great Lakes and St. Lawrence mayors at our Annual General Meeting (AGM) in St. Catharines, Ontario June 22 through June 24. The theme of this year’s AGM will be “Powering the Blue Economy–Leveraging the Potential of Our Freshwater Resources”. As mayor of the City of St. Catharines and Chair of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, I am very excited about this year’s AGM. This will be the first time we will be able to gather in person since 2019 and we have an exciting agenda of speakers and topics to cover. We are also planning a number of activities that will give you ample opportunity to collaborate and get reacquainted with your fellow mayors. Read more

Canadian Policy Initiatives The Cities Initiative Board of Directors recently adopted its 2022 Canadian federal priorities as part of its mid-year meeting. These priorities help set the agenda for outreach with the Government of Canada and federal parliamentarians for this year.  The approval of the Canadian advocacy priorities coincides with the federal government’s pre-budget consultations and were presented to the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland, along with other related Cabinet ministers. The priorities will also be shared with Members of Parliament who represent ridings along the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River basin to help build momentum for the Cities Initiative’s policy proposals. Read more

Board of Directors Approves 2022 U.S. Federal Policy Priorities During its mid-year meeting in early February, the Cities Initiative Board of Directors adopted its 2022 U.S. federal priorities, which set the agenda for our outreach to Congress and federal agencies over the course of the year. This includes a suite of specific funding and policy priorities organized in seven categories: Read more

Update on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill The U.S. EPA is moving forward with implementation of the water provisions in the bipartisan infrastructure bill, known formally as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The Act provides $55 billion for water infrastructure, including: Read more

Cities Initiative Mayors Voice Support for New Great Lakes Restoration Funding On February 17, EPA announced $1 billion from the bipartisan infrastructure act for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), including remarks from President Biden in Lorain, Ohio. The funding will enable EPA to accelerate progress in cleaning up and restoring the Great Lakes’ most environmentally degraded sites, known as Areas of Concern (AOC). EPA projects that the additional funding, combined with annual appropriations for the GLRI, will complete cleanup work in 22 of the 25 remaining U.S. AOCs by 2030. Read more

Cities Initiative Coastal Resilience Recommendations The Cities Initiative Mid-Year Meeting concluded with a compelling presentation by the Mayors Advisory Council on Coastal Resilience in which mayors presented a suite of draft recommendations that address the most pressing resiliency needs facing the basin’s shoreline communities. The recommendations respond to growing issues related to shoreline erosion, high water levels, and coastal flooding, with a focus on expanding the capacity for municipalities to plan for and respond to these challenges over time. Read more

IJC Invites Public Comment on Phase 1 of the Plan 2014 Expedited Review for Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River The International Joint Commission (IJC) released for public comment the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee’s (GLAM Committee) report Expedited Review of Plan 2014, Phase 1: Informing Plan 2014 Deviation Decisions Under Extreme Conditions. The IJC directed the GLAM Committee to conduct the Expedited Review of Plan 2014, the plan for regulating Lake Ontario outflows, in response to public concerns over Plan 2014 following the extreme wet conditions that caused record floods in 2017 and 2019. The purpose of this two-phased review is to investigate possible improvements that could be made to Lake Ontario outflow regulation activities. Comments can be submitted online until Monday, April 18, 2022.

New Team Member - Bridget Brown, Special Programs Director Message From Our Executive Director, Jonathan Altenberg I am happy to announce a new member of the Cities Initiative professional team, Bridget Brown. Bridget has accepted a two-year engagement with our organization as our Special Programs Director. Read more

New Colleague - Emilie Francoeur-Audet Emilie Francoeur-Audet will work with us part-time on different mandates revolving around communications and translation. She will also provide strategic input on engaging our members in Quebec and developing our sponsorship program. Emilie is from Montreal, Quebec. With two Masters degrees (Mannheim Universität and Queen’s University), she brings her experience in the fields of operations management (in the restaurant industry), partner relations, and change management (in the telecommunications industry) to the table. She is passionate about foreign languages, human relations and intercultural communication.

2022 Webinars

Webinar - What Environmental Justice Means for Cities - With municipalities on the frontlines of managing environmental outcomes for their residents, they are increasingly being called on to support environmental justice movements at the local level. We’ll look at how – and why – different environmental movements are approaching local councils to adopt motions in support of environmental justice. This webinar will also review what these motions mean for municipal administrations and their residents. Thursday, March 3 at 11:00am CT | 12:00pm ET. Register online.

The Cities Initiative will continue its monthly webinar series in 2022. Mark your calendars for the upcoming webinars. March 31: Cities Initiative Policy Priorities for 2022 (Canada and the U.S.) April 28: University of Michigan Graduate Students Present Research Findings on Resiliency Resources for Great Lakes Cities May 12: Canadian Federal Budget – Freshwater Investments May 26: Water Equity Calls to Action – Next Steps (U.S.) July 28: Preparing your Grant Applications for Infrastructure August 25: Innovations in Addressing Algal Blooms  September 2: Back to the Future – 50 Years of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement  October 27: The Blue Economy Series – Sustainable Waterfront Development November 17: The Blue Economy Series – Building Up Your Blue Tourism Brand December 8: The Cities Initiative Year In Review