Nathan Mundell ’10, Mansfield Foundation Fellow in Urban Policy Development

I cannot believe that I am finished with my two months in DC!  I had a great last week here that kept the pace up even to the end.  The Conference of Mayors Winter Leadership Meeting was held on Wednesday and Thursday of this week.  There were fewer mayors present for this meeting compared to the Winter Meeting a month ago.  It is great to be able to experience both dynamics of the Conference’s meetings.  This meeting was more hands on and tight knit.  The mayors shared their stories from their cities and engaged in productive dialogue between one another and with government officials and Representatives and Senators.

The days prior to the Leadership Meeting I attended meetings at the Conference of Mayors in preparation for the two-day event.  There were many aspects of the Meeting that were still not clarified especially.  As was the case for the Winter Meeting a month before, this one was to include meetings with important people and it is a very ongoing process to sync up schedules.  All in all the days finally came and the guests were verified one way or another.

Before meeting everyday I assembled the Metro Economies Report packages to take to the meeting and disburse to the mayor’s when they met with members of Congress.  I was able to attend most of the meetings held on the Hill that had mayor’s interacting directly with Senators and Representatives about pushing for more city oriented direct help from the government.  It was great to be exposed to such high profile meetings and to see our political system at work.

The second part to the meetings was the discussion after the Hill talks were concluded.  There were reactions and conversations between all the mayors speaking on the effectiveness of the meetings and what to do now.  This dynamic opportunity to see mayors from cities as large as Los Angeles and Philadelphia was something that was truly a privilege and a priceless benefit of working for the Conference of Mayors.

I was also able to talk with some mayors individually about things they were doing on the Hill, specifics of their cities, and in the case of the Des Moines Mayor many things very close to home.  It was great to interact from these distinguished individuals.  I got to meet the current President of the US Conference of Mayors, Mayor Elizabeth Kautz of Burnsville, Minnesota.  My mother had sent me a newspaper clipping in the mail a couple weeks prior and it turns out that Mayor Kautz actually lived in my hometown of Muscatine!

I cannot believe that my time in DC is already done with.  It was a great time.  I was there during a very interesting time in our nation from the political situations to the snowstorms producing literally feet of snow!  The information and skills that I was able to obtain through my work with the Conference of Mayors and with the guidance of my boss, Cornell alumni Dave Gatton, will help me greatly in the last couple classes at Cornell and out in the world after I leave Cornell’s very own Hilltop!

Mayor Kautz and I

Nathan Mundell ’10, Mansfield Foundation Fellow in Urban Policy Development

My first week back after the massive snow storm was not even a full week because of the President’s Day holiday, but it sure did seem full in those four days!  I began by taking on the task of ghost writing an article for a mayor’s office on their upcoming release of a new program in their city to help revitalize the residential and corporate building ownership.  I was given the task of preparing an article that would give a short overview of the program to be submitted to the US Mayor newspaper.  The program stressed education for building owners in hopes that the further knowledge would make it a better experience for the renters and the owners by being more hands on and involved in the investment.  I really hope that such a project will take off in the city and become a Best Practice for others to follow!

I helped my boss research and compile data for the recent Assistance to Firefighters Grants that have begun to be allotted to fire houses around the country.  This was important so that we could notify some of our clients of the status and amount of funding awarded so far.  Along with the fire issues I found areas of a particular state that we were considering working with the Representative to have a “Home Day” and appreciation for the Representative for helping gain funding through Congress for such things as fire grants.

I was again included in a conference call amongst my coworkers and boss with additional fire industry representatives.  They discussed logistics about upcoming meetings and what the firefighters would push for in a jobs package to go through Congress.

On Friday I was able to attend the final pre-meeting leading up to the Conference’s Leadership Meeting next week.  The heads of departments of the organization were all in attendance and the CEO was there too.  It was great to hear such discussions amongst these professionals.  It seemed so much like a classroom setting at Cornell!

Speaking of Cornell, I only have one more week of work left and then back to school I come.  I will be able to showcase the additional knowledge and skills that I learned while in Washington D.C. in the upcoming classes through cooperative group work, editing, communicating and many other things that will certainly come up.

One other special thing that I did this week, something one could do nowhere else: I visited the West Wing of the White House!  One of my friends who works in the Executive Building gave her family friends and myself a tour.  I was able to see the Oval Office, press room, cabinet meeting room and well much much more!  It was a great experience and something that I never actually thought of doing, but something that through living and working in the capital exposed me to the possibility!

Nathan Mundell ’10, Mansfield Foundation Fellow in Urban Policy Development

This was an interesting week to say the least. We had a huge storm starting Friday afternoon and never really stopped too much until Wednesday. This was not just any other storm either. Washington D.C. set record numbers for snow fall in a season this winter, all while I was here. A total of 56 inches was officially recorded to date for this season for the District of Columbia. Also, D.C. being one of the most traffic ridden places in the U.S. has many people commuting from the suburbs of Virginia and Maryland. These states saw much higher snowfall numbers. This equaled four days of the federal government being closed and my work following suit. On Friday our organization had the time off too.

So…..what did I do?!?! Well I experienced walking around in the snow for hours through a couple feet of snow. Got to see the infamous DuPont Circle snowball fight that included upwards of 1,000 people! But when the days were bad outside with mighty winds, I stayed inside and continued to research the latest on foreclosures and luckily brought home the book from work and was able to finish a lot of that.

This week was a crazy mess and I am sure that at least the week following will be filled with delays and messy sidewalks and back streets. One good thing about being off and having to miss work was that it will not be too difficult to catch up since practically the whole east coast was off work for some part of the week and so things almost froze in time to some extent.

I have just around two weeks left here! I cannot believe how fast this is going. I am anxious to put some things together this coming week and hopefully get a lot of exposure to the mayors in D.C. at the upcoming meeting. More next week, I hope I can hold that promise! Stay warm.

Nathan Mundell ’10, Mansfield Foundation Fellow in Urban Policy Development

As mentioned in last week’s blog I was looking for Congressional hearings to attend. It was looking as if this week would be a week of promise for such an event for me to attend. There was a Senate committee hearing on the implementation of the newly proposed Volcker Rules that would eliminate the possibility of any financial institution being “too big, to fail”. I read about the results of this meeting online on multiple newspapers. I did not miss my chance to attend a meeting of such perfect relation to the research I have been doing on the mortgage industry and where the government and banks stand in the turn around of foreclosures and the industry as a whole.

While researching online and condensing articles and organizations for a briefing to my boss I found the follow-up meeting to what occurred on Tuesday. Thursday at ten a.m. there was to be a hearing involving five witnesses. Two professors from Harvard and MIT that were experts in academia on the subject. One executive from JP Morgan Chase, one from Goldman Sachs, and a retired executive from Citigroup. I talked with my boss and another employee at the Conference about attending and they were very enthusiastic about me attending. I would have to show up at least an hour before, most likely, in order to get a spot in the hearing room. The hearing I was attending was of the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, chaired by Senator Dodd of Connecticut.

I showed up with plenty time to spare and was able to meet some of the other attendees. Finding out that many were people in my position, interns, finding out the hottest material before it hit the press. I got a good seat right behind the witnesses and then the meeting commenced. It was filled with formalities as one can assume while at a Congressional hearing. It was very interesting to hear such high profile people in conversation and as time progressed it became more heated when talking about executive bonuses and government bail outs for the banks represented at the hearing that day.

I was able to go back to the office and type up the key findings for my boss and eventually brief him on the hearing in person. This was a great exercise for my research and also for my arm to write down notes from that day and being able to not merely recite them back to a superior, but give a concise overview of the hearing and its’ implications for our future endeavors.

The snow is coming! D.C. is on target to have one of the heaviest snowfalls ever if the amounts are coming and continue to materialize throughout the coming weeks.

Senator Dodd, Chairman of Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee

Nathan Mundell ’10, Mansfield Foundation Fellow in Urban Policy Development

I began my week with a meeting at the Conference wrapping up what had happened at the Winter Meeting. Conference employees met with city council DC representatives to go over any conversations that went on at the Winter Meeting and new developments affecting cities. This really summed up the Meeting and gave me further insight into challenges that individual cities are dealing with on an everyday basis.

I read the CQ Today publication that is published every morning when Congress meets laying out the issues specific to the House and Senate in a consolidated newspaper-like publication. Reading through this publication keeps me up to date on what is happening on The Hill, but also alerts me to upcoming events that I will be able to attend. There are briefings and committee meetings in the “Daybook” that I have selected that pertain to the housing and banking issues that I am researching. I will hopefully attend meetings in the next couple weeks.

As I have said in previous blogs, I am researching the foreclosure crisis and getting a better grasp on all of the reasons why it occurred and to what extent it is still happening and understanding government programs that seek to alleviate some of the pressure on homeowners.

I have now begun to put my thoughts and notes into consolidated paragraphs for briefing my boss and other individuals involved in this project. The many programs that the government has initiated or continued are similar but there are programs that are tailored to different ways of financing houses, both helping with existing loans and also with purchasing new homes. I am also trying to unravel the problems associated with home loans that are now “underwater”, when homeowners owe more on their loan than their house is worth. Since the housing bubble burst there have been many areas in the U.S. that have seen home prices cut drastically. There are many people simply leaving their homes and their loans behind and moving on. This leads to a downward spiral effect if more and more people choose this path.

A lot of the work I have been doing lately may seem to be outside of the majors of International Relations and German, however, I have been able to take an array of different classes while at Cornell that continue to pay off in furthering my education. The finance and economics classes have given me a great base to work from when thinking about the housing market.

Nathan Mundell ‘10, Mansfield Foundation Fellow in Urban Policy Development

Last week was the big week! The week that the whole organization had been waiting for! We did not work Monday because of the holiday, but come Tuesday we were geared up to finally wrap everything. There were only minor editing abilities on the publications that we took care of. That afternoon we went to the hotel where the Winter Meeting was to be held and set up our display stations for the Conference. I had to assemble and set up the new materials that had been purchased for this meeting. A little manual labor never hurt anyone! Plus, it is great to be able to get out of the office and do some things hands on especially at the end of the day. We put out all our fliers and trinkets for the following day and I then met my boss and coworker at a lounge across the street to meet with some clients.

Wednesday day came soon enough and bright and early Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi spoke to the attendees about our metro agenda and hopes of bringing much of it to the table in the House. Later that day Michelle Obama addressed the meeting about child obesity and healthy eating habits. I was able to learn a lot from the speakers. In addition to these two important women there were over half a dozen Cabinet Secretaries talking to the attendees throughout the three-day meeting. Along with listening to speeches I was able to hear much feedback from the mayors when they were allowed to voice concerns and ask questions to the speakers. It gave me a great insight into the different and similar problems around the U.S. Tuesday I also was given the task to distribute the finalized pamphlets and reports that we had worked on up to this meeting to the chairs in the large conference room. After the meetings I would then have to gather them up for future use. I did this several times since we always had a lot to say and get across to the mayors and their cities.

Speaker Pelosi addresses the U.S. Conference of Mayors

First Lady Michelle Obama delivers her address

Thursday the Mayors went to the White House for the majority of the day to meet with President Obama, Vice President Biden, and all the high up officials. There were videos posted on the US Conference of Mayors website that I was able to watch and see how helpful it was to be able to meet with the President to discuss the problems facing these metro centers.

Friday came so soon! The days were fully loaded and made the time speed by. The highlight of the day was being able to listen to Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack speak on the relationship that agriculture and cities have in common and really drew the two together. Vilsack, a former mayor and governor in Iowa, understands how the levels of government work and can relate to the mayors sitting in the crowd. After he finished speaking I was able to have my photograph taken with him and other Iowans.

After the show was all over, said and done. Only the clean up from the meeting remained. My coworker helped me in dismantling displays, packing boxes up for later delivery, and walking some of the materials back to the office. I was exhausted and the meeting was over. Time to start another adventure at the Conference. Time to tackle the mortgage foreclosure problem!

Dave Gatton (Cornell Alumni), Nathan Mundell, Secretary Vilsack, Mayor Cownie of Des Moines

Nathan Mundell ’10, Mansfield Foundation Fellow in Urban Policy Development

This past week things began to pick up even more for me. I became more and more involved as the days passed. This is a great thing because I get to know all the ways and things that go together that make an organization prosper. I began my week by reading more news articles, legislation, and consulting previously published documents by the Conference of Mayors to further expand my knowledge of the mortgage crisis and affordable housing/lending. I was able to attend a pre-Winter Meeting meeting that spelled out sort of how the meeting was to progress and special events that would occur during it. This was also a great chance for me to meet the other employees of the Conference.

As the days went by the Winter Meeting became closer and closer. This meant that everything would have to be finalized this weekend especially because Monday is Martin Luther King Day. I worked hard along side my boss to edit a Metro Economies report that is to be released at the Winter Meeting. This took up most of our time the last two days before the weekend. I was able to sit in on a meeting in which we discussed other possible ideas and stances for upcoming legislation.

I found that while I was proofreading and editing the report that some of my skills that I learned while correcting papers at Cornell came into play. While at Cornell I have learned to produce the best quality writing and this includes multiple drafts of papers and to do that one must develop up an eye for editing. In addition, last year I studied abroad thanks in part to Cornell and while in Vienna I had an internship where I ultimately became Editorial Assistant on a 500-page book. Between these two demanding types of work I was able to add a lot of insight and more importantly changes that would increase the flow and readability of the report.

Being able to get more and more involved asks more from me, but it is also much more rewarding for me as the days progress and when looking back at my accomplishments. I work in an environment where I can ask questions anytime and am encouraged to do so. This helps both myself and the other employees in our projects. Working a nine to five job is interesting especially coming from Cornell’s schedule, but I think that my Cornell experience has actually prepared me well. Over my four years I have had classes, homework, work, and other student organization commitments to attend to.

I am looking forward to my first Winter Meeting with the US Conference of Mayors! I will have plenty of details and photographs to help aid the readers of this blog in the understanding of what I do and what the organization that I work for does.

Nathan Mundell ’10, Mansfield Foundation Fellow in Urban Policy Development

Already finished with over a week in Washington DC! A week ago I reported for work with the U.S. Conference of Mayors and was greeted by an employee that would show me the ropes for the firs two days as my boss was away because there was the inauguration of a new president for the organization that same week. The first couple of days I read up on the recent conference on climate in Copenhagen and the organizations part they played in that. Also I read many articles and legislation that were concerning other issues at hand in the United States. Once Wednesday rolled around my boss for my time in DC and Cornell alumnus, Dave Gatton, further introduced me to the organization and some of the things that I will be doing while here.

I began researching legislation and proposals pertaining to mortgage foreclosures and tax credits to bring development, jobs, and people back into the urban areas of the U.S. I had previously taken a class taught by Cornell alumni and President Garner that dealt with politics, economics, and community development in Chicago. That class presented many things that are now very relevant to my research and my work at the Conference.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors is having their annual Winter Meeting next week. Much of the time is dedicated to this project in the office. This meeting will have a large number of mayors from around the U.S., Congressmen, and part of Obama’s cabinet in attendance. It will be a great opportunity to hear some of the most influential people in our country speak on the most pressing issues America faces today. I have been able to help in the preparation for this meeting by looking up specific statistics from previous publications and coming up with summaries to help with the final organization of the meeting. I have sat in on conversations concerning the meeting and this has allowed me to grasp how important it is to communicate in the work place.

I look forward to every new day and the new adventures they present while in our nations capital!