California, Here I come!!!

Left on Monday evening for San Diego, CA to attend the California League of Cities Annual Conference. San Diego is a beautiful city and has some of the nicest weather in the entire country. I stayed at the Manchester Grand Hyatt which is downtown and within walking distance of the Convention Center. I spent Tuesday exploring the harbor area and toured the aircraft carrier USS Midway which is now a museum of military planes and other aircraft. You also get to see the way that sailors lived while on the aircraft carrier. At 6'4", I would never have been able to sleep in the tiny bunks on board the carrier. It is amazing how much happens on one of these big carriers. Over 3,5o0 sailors lived aboard and it is like a little city.

It was very relaxing to walk along the harbor and see the sail boats and other ships that were moored along the pier. A large cruise ship was also in town.

The conference started on Wednesday and my presentation was during the opening general session. Alex Padilla, President of the Los Angeles City Council introduced me. Alex is going to be the next State Senator from his district in California. He is unopposed in the General Election. I have known Alex for several years and he is someone to watch. I predict that he will be governor or United States Senator in the near future. Chris McKensie is the Executive Director of the California League and I have known Chris since we served on the Board of Directors of NLC. Chris was the director of the Kansas League at that time and I always admired how he seemed so capable and in charge. It was a big step to go from Kansas to California, but Chris has really adapted to being a "California Guy". The league has probably grown more in the past several years than in its entire history.

My presentation went well and I was able to premiere the new Public Service Announcements. They are so powerful and well done. Several friends were in the front row and it always makes it easier to speak when you can see a few friendly faces in the crowd. Ron Loveridge of Riverside, California was there and he is one of the leaders in the Inclusive Communities Program.

I caught the "red eye" from San Diego to Indianapolis to attend a workshop at Purdue University. I had never flown all night and then had to present a speech. It is somewhat hard to sleep on the plane and I had a layover in Atlanta which made it even harder. I felt a little out of sorts when I arrived in Indianapolis, but I don't think anyone noticed. Once I got to the hotel I felt pretty good and the session went really well. I was on a panel with a fellow West Virginian, Randy Jackson from WVU. I had never met him, but he is a very nice fellow.

Colleen Lankhammer, the President of the National Association of Counties was also in attendance and I enjoyed spending some time with her. Colleen is a great person and we have a great relationship which I think helps both of our organizations. We spent some time last year in Brussells, Belgium and it really allowed us to get to know each other. I think that she is going to really be an asset to the Inclusive Communities Program.

Got to meet the President of Purdue University and he is a very thoughtful guy. I never get over meeting these important people and realizing that they are really just regular people. I think the one thing that I find in common with these people is that they are all very goal oriented. I don't think that they are all super intelligent, just that they have a vision and a direction that they are determined to follow.

Well, so much for a quick week in California and Indiana. I am looking to do some thinking in the next few weeks to reenergize for the last few months of my presidency of NLC. I want to make the next few months very meaningful and I have been giving some thought to doing some unusual things. Stay tuned. It should be exciting.