Special Briefing | Mayors under Stress: Financing Local Development around the World

Cities around the world are facing a host of challenges. As the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development observed recently, "places are rethinking how to stay competitive on the global stage. Technological change, the green transition and shifting global value chains are reshaping local economies."

Join Eugenie Birch, Co-Director of Penn IUR, and William Glasgall, Penn IUR Fellow and Volcker Alliance Public Finance Advisor, as our panel of current and former global mayors examine what cities should do now to set their future agendas for growth and shared prosperity. Speakers include Steve Adler, former mayor, Austin, Texas; and Stephanie Miner, former mayor, Syracuse, New York.

This briefing is the fifty-ninth in a series of sixty-minute online conversations featuring experts from the national research networks of the Volcker Alliance and Penn IUR, along with other leading academics, economists, and federal, state, and local leaders.

Special Briefings are made possible by funding from The Travelers Institute, the Volcker Alliance, and members of the Penn IUR Advisory Board. Recordings of the entire Special Briefings series are available on the Volcker Alliance or Penn IUR websites.

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Steve Adler most recently served as Austin’s 52nd Mayor, term limited after completing his second term at the start of 2023. During his tenure as Mayor of Austin, TX, his top priorities included mobility, affordability, climate change mitigation, and equity for all Austinites. Mr. Adler served as a Trustee of the United States Conference of Mayors, Chair of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) policy board, Executive Board of Climate Mayors, and Vice President of the National Council of Democratic Mayors. During his time in office, the City of Austin passed the largest mobility and affordable housing bonds in its history. He shepherded Austin through COVID with one of the lowest mortality rates in the country, less than half that nationally and in Texas.  The has city centered equity, raised its minimum city wage to $20 per hour, passed city-wide sick leave, and second chance hiring protections. Mr. Adler helped launch and raise $500 Million to fund FindingHomeATX with a goal to reaching net zero homelessness in Austin after having achieved that status for veterans. The city continued as a world leader on climate change action. Mr. Adler received broad recognition for innovative leadership. Foreign Policy named him a Global reThinker and Living Cities included Mr. Adler on its list of 25 Disruptive Leaders (along with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and author Ta-Nehisi Coates) to mark that organization’s 25th anniversary. 

Stephanie A. Miner served as the mayor of Syracuse from 2010 to 2018 and became known as one of America’s most innovative mayors. She worked to transform Syracuse into a 21st century city. While in office, she turned around a nearly decade-long stalled school reconstruction project, streamlined the planning and permitting process, and witnessed more than $1.5 billion in new development across the city. She made fiscal reform and infrastructure signature issues and launched the Office of Innovation, working to implement novel solutions to historic challenges.

As a former labor lawyer, she understands the intricacies of public union contracts and employee benefits. She has worked with leaders from across New York State to address the growing pension and health care crisis facing cities and how those decisions impact the ability of communities to invest in modern infrastructure, building cities of the future.

In 2018, Ms. Miner ran as an independent candidate for governor of New York State. She received her bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University and her juris doctorate from the State University of New York at Buffalo.