Brooklyn Park Mayor, City Manager Visit White House
Brooklyn Park Mayor Hollies Winston and City Manager Jay Stroebel visited the White House in December.
The two were invited to the White House with staff and elected officials from 12 other cities from across the nation. They met with senior administration officials as well as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge.
“It was a wonderful opportunity,” said Stroebel in a city council meeting on Tuesday night. “The day was very valuable. It was a wonderful opportunity for Brooklyn Park to be represented.”
Stroebel says he’s taking the information and doing an analysis in the area of operations and maintenance to determine how the city can potentially take advantage of programs and federal level funding. He says he learned about some programs for the first time.
“It was an honor to attend, but more importantly we’re beginning to better understand those federal level resources,” said Winston during the meeting. “We are uniquely located. So we are on the federal radar not only because of size but also because of specific demographics we are dealing with and some of the challenges that we are dealing with.”
Winston also said there are expectations that diverse cities Brooklyn Park can lead the way in tackling these challenges.
Winston also said the attendees were bipartisan and not affiliated with any one political party. The mayors and mayors-elect came from cities like Anaheim, Calif.; Gainesville, Fla; Providence, R.I.; and Newport News, Va.
