Challenges for Modern Cities - Part 1

At the 2008 International Achievement Summit in Hawaii, three distinguished public servants address the problems and opportunities facing the modern metropolis. Richard M. Daley is now serving his sixth term as mayor of Chicago. He has earned a national reputation for his innovative, community-based programs to address education, public safety and neighborhood development; he was one of the first mayors of a major American city to take direct control over his city's school system. Antonio R. Villaraigosa was elected Mayor of Los Angeles in a historic landslide in 2005. As leader of America's second largest city, he has taken on entrenched interest groups to promote new approaches to education and transportation. The first Latino to lead Los Angeles in over 130 years, he has quickly emerged as a dynamic national spokesman for urban America. For over 30 years, Willie L. Brown, Jr. represented San Francisco in the California State Assembly. For 15 of those years, he dominated the state's government as Speaker of the Assembly. From 1995 to 2003, he served two terms as Mayor of San Francisco. Presiding over a period of intense growth driven, he is one of the most popular mayors in the city's history. The discussion was moderated by the host of MSNBC's Hardball Chris Matthews.