Story By Canan Tasci | Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Fontana Mayor Acquanetta Warren is very proud of the fact she stood out during the U.S. Conference of Mayors last week in Washington, D.C.
The three-day conference that started Wednesday invited the nations mayors to attend a number of workshops on health, education, community development, economics, water, trading and more.
While at the 82nd winter conference at the Capital Hilton, Warren was invited to the White House on Thursday.
“I got pictures all over the place, in the red room, the green room, the gold room, even the bathroom,” said Warren, by phone from Washington. “I was a kid in a candy store. I went crazy.”
Although meeting a number of the president’s secretaries was great and discussing programs with other mayors was important, the highlight came when Warren was right outside the gold room, with a bunch of mayors, and Vice President Joe Biden walked in and introduced President Barack Obama.
“He said, ‘I brought a friend, guys,’ ” Warren said, recollecting the afternoon. “And sure enough the president got out there and said, ‘All I know is I’ve been trying to work with Congress to help you guys. And I’m trying to work with the Senate to help you guys, so let me tell you where we’re at — I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone and I’ve got this tool called ‘executive orders.’ ”
From there the president talked about regulations, and how projects are being choked by them, and how it’s probably time he reviewed some of them because they’ve been on the books for a long time, Warren said.
“And I’m just in amazement,” she said. “Then he said he had to get going because he had to take Michelle out for dinner.”
Warren said she immediately tried to get a photo with the president but a guard told her to sit down, which she did.
After she left the room, Warren went back only to find Biden there.
“I stood there yelling, ‘No way,’” she said. “So I jumped right in. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do and be Fontana all the way.”
About 15 others were crowded around Biden. Warren called the experience amazing.
“That shows the commitment that the administration has to the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the administration part to work with the mayors,” she said. “Even the people who have been mayors longer than me were in shock. They had never, ever seen that type of involvement with the White House during the mayors conference.”
This was Warren’s fourth conference, and she said every year it’s better, but she said this year’s was the most informative.
“I love the fact that Obama stressed that mayors are nonpartisans and that’s why it works. And that’s what’s wrong with our other levels, they’re not nonpartisans and they’re fighting like cats and dogs,” she said. “And we, (mayors) get things done, so why not work with us closely?”
Although Warren wasn’t able to shake the president’s hand, she was able to give him a wave on the way out.
“I know he looked my way, I stood up when he came in and I knew he looked right at me,” she said.
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Photo Credit: Fontana Mayor Acquanetta Warren meets Vice President Joe Biden at the White House during the U.S. Conference of Mayors on Thursday. Courtesy
