Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 9, 1991                   TAG: 9102090101
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

MAYORS ASSAIL GRANT-SHIFT PLAN

"We the mayors of America, Republicans and Democrats, are united that this simply won't work and isn't a good idea," said Bill Althaus, the Republican mayor of York, Pa.

The mayors are particularly opposed to the Bush administration's proposal to include the $3.2 billion Community Development Block Grant program among a list of federal projects that would be turned over to the states.

Boston Mayor Ray Flynn, a Democrat and vice president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, also assailed "this bogus White House proposal" at a news conference with other mayors.

The Conference of Mayors' trustees approved an "emergency resolution" lodging their opposition to the proposed swaps. A group of big-city mayors will meet with Budget Director Richard Darman and other White House officials Thursday to argue against the plan.

Governors were briefed on the plan by Bush and White House officials on Monday, and many came away voicing enthusiasm.

But the reaction has been cool in Congress, where members would lose the ability to appropriate money for projects that are paid for with federal tax dollars.

House Speaker Thomas Foley said the White House had failed to explain the plan in any detail, noting that it occupied a single page in a budget document weighing several pounds.

"If it's just a way to terminate federal programs, I don't think it's a good idea," Foley, D-Wash., said in an interview with The Associated Press.

The administration offered the governors a list involving $21 billion worth of federal programs in five areas: education, water treatment construction, health and human services, housing, and law enforcement. It invited them to select $15 billion worth, or more, to be consolidated in a block grant. If approved by Congress, the administration would send the money directly to the states and let them spend the money as they wish.

The mayors say the community development grants, used by some cities for housing and downtown development projects, are the sole remaining packages of federal aid that flow directly to cities.

They argue that giving that money to the states would add a new layer of bureaucracy, which would divert money to projects unlikely to ease urban problems.

The mayors said their objections extend beyond the community development grants, however. They said the states have already shown an unwillingness to cooperate on urban problems by denying many big cities a fair share of federal drug-enforcement grants, which the states administer.

Flynn said mayors also oppose the administration's proposals to shift $57 billion from three federal health programs to a fourth, designed to combat infant mortality. That program would be increased at a cost to community and migrant health centers and maternal and child health programs.