Economic Development Now

The new CitiesSpeak podcast, hosted by National League of Cities CEO and executive director Clarence Anthony, gives listeners a close look at local leadership across the United States. His guest on the first episode was Mitch Landrieu, who served as the mayor of New Orleans from 2010 to 2018 and is now a senior advisor under the Biden Administration in charge of coordinating the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The episode focused on the implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, part of the Build Back Better plan. Landrieu’s experience as mayor has assisted him in his new role. His tenure as mayor was “where the rubber meets the road” whereas federal positions often feel as if they are “40,000 feet up,” Landrieu said. His previous experience in being on the ground has helped him implement the bipartisan bill. Importantly, Landrieu stated that there needs to be common ground on how to achieve high-priority goals, especially in working across county and state lines. For example, power lines, electric vehicle charging stations, and fiber optic cables are all regional goals, not just goals confined within a county.

Progress and investments that are oriented for the future have been a top priority for the implementation of the bill. Setting the United States up for success in the face of climate change has been important, as well as considering the nation’s competitiveness in manufacturing. Most of all, the slogan of Build Back Better is not an empty one, according to Landrieu. Before becoming mayor, Landrieu served as lieutenant governor of Louisiana from 2004 to 2010, where he helped form strategic plans for rebuilding tourism after Hurricane Katrina. With Build Back Better, Landrieu and the Biden administration want to reimagine what the nation could look like after the pandemic instead of simply returning to the way things were.