The 85th Annual U.S. Conference of Mayors in Miami Beach
A civic tech company in the belly of the beast
The Conference welcomed over 300 mayors from cities all over the country to come together, organize, and share best practices to solve common issues.
They also welcomed us.
The event was fast paced and filled with influential speakers from Bill Clinton to Frank Luntz to Michael Bloomberg. Clinton emphasized how the opioid crisis impacts us all, blue and red. Luntz spoke at length about framing local issues and the power mayors have to change people’s everyday lives. Bloomberg announced a $200 million American Cities Initiative to equip mayors and citizens with the tools to strengthen our communities.
The keynote speakers came from across the political spectrum, yet underneath the surface, they all had the same message: mayors don’t have the opportunity to be ideologues.
They simply don’t have time to be partisan zealots because there are too many practical problems to solve. No one cares if you’re a republican or a democrat when there is an infrastructure crisis in your city. As such, we saw many mayors converge on many polarizing issues and compromise (e.g. the opioid crisis, climate change, immigration).
We were invited to the U.S. Conference of Mayors to participate in the Mayors Civic Tech Pitch competition: 5 contestants, 5 minutes, 300 mayors. It was up to the mayors to vote on the idea they felt was most important to the future of cities.
We faced stiff competition, featuring some of civic tech’s finest companies: mySidewalk, Acivilate, BoodsKapper, and CityCop. We were blown away by the great ideas they presented. It was a tremendous event, and we were astounded by the enthusiasm the mayor’s showed for using technology to improve their cities.
We are happy to announce The Burg took home 1st place!
The entire conference was an eye-opening experience. Nobody knows how local politics works better than local politicians, and we were surrounded by the best of them. The conference was the ideal environment to test our idea on city leaders across the country. Thankfully, we passed with flying colors.
In addition to an awesome U.S. Conference of Mayors, we have great news! The Burg will be coming to Los Angeles by the end of summer.
We can’t wait.