Throughout his time as Athens mayor, Steve Patterson has tried to bring national and state recognition to Athens while also advocating for local issues at the same levels.
Patterson is a member of the board of directors for the National League of Cities or NLC. He visited Washington D.C. the week of Sept. 17 as a representative for the organization to speak with congressional representatives and U.S. senators on a broad range of topics including gun violence, flood insurance, infrastructure and the national budget.
The NLC is an organization representing over 19,000 cities, villages and communities in the country. It is nonpartisan and tries to focus on issues that matter the most to member cities.
“We got assurity from most of who we talked to when it came to keeping the government running beyond September 30,” Patterson said. “The other thing we got a level of assurity on was the National Flood Insurance Program; reauthorization of that program.”
Patterson said he met briefly with Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) during a “Coffee with Constituents” event, but he had more in-depth conversations with the staff of other representatives and senators.
He also met directly with Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Upper Arlington), Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-Virginia) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). Patterson also met with the staff of Senators Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) and Cory Booker (D-New Jersey).
“It was great to meet with Mayor Patterson and discuss all of the groundbreaking projects happening in Athens, and at Ohio University in particular,” Stivers said in an email. “Efforts on everything from digital engineering to responses to the drug epidemic in rural communities have the potential to improve life, not just for folks in Southeast Ohio, but across the country. I’m proud to serve as a resource in any way possible to help Athens continue to lead in innovation.”
Yucel Ors, the federal advocacy program director for NLC, said the organization tries to promote policies that were made by getting a consensus from their members on certain issues. Ors said a goal is to depoliticize gun control by making a commission on gun violence similar to what was created in congress after 9/11.
“Our policies are always well received on the Hill regardless of party,” Ors said.
On gun control, Patterson said there wasn’t a consensus among the representatives and staff he talked to on whether action will be taken at the federal level. Patterson pointed to Mike DeWine’s 17-point plan as a blueprint for what types of policies should be enacted. This includes red flag laws, expanded background checks and regulations on high capacity magazines.
“I have more hope for the state of Ohio coming forward with something… as long as the federal government doesn’t enact a preemption for having any level of gun protections stronger than what the fed put out,” Patterson said.
The other issues that they discussed, including preventing a government shutdown and passing legislation on the National Flood Insurance Program with FEMA, received a better sense of assurance from the senators and congressmen.
Damon Krane, the Independent running against Patterson in the upcoming election, said he sees the benefit of advocating for issues with the NLC but believes that as the mayor needs to refocus on issues more directly related to the college students he represents.
Krane proposed talking about issues like sexual assault on campus, students rights and addressing rental housing reform. Many of these ideas are also key platform issues for his campaign for mayor.
“When it comes to just the league in general, then yes, it is a pretty positive thing for folks in Washington to hear from the mayor in Athens, what he is dealing with and why it is important to have more support,” Krane said. “If I was in Steve’s position, I would be using it to talk about how we would plan to address (the rental housing) problem in Athens.”
This particular “Fly-In” for the NLC was focused only on the issues of gun violence, government shutdowns, infrastructure and flood insurance because these are the issues currently being addressed by Congress.
Ors said Patterson’s trip to D.C. was generally well received and the mayor did a good job of representing himself and the NLC.
“We want to make sure his experience is something we can replicate with all mayors and council members across the country,” Ors said.
The NLC holds multiple events like this throughout the year but they also put together a conference for the whole league around March of every year.
