KTLA News: "Mayor Tom Bradley holds press conference on Washington, D.C. trip" (1974)

[Mayor Tom Bradley] Ah, [No audio] [Bradley] On specific matters that are before the Congress, are being considered by the administration. We were encouraged that the President is strongly supportive of, general revenue sharing. And an extension of that bill. We're now getting forty million dollars a year in Los Angeles. And at the end of 1976, it will run out. We need to have assurances, by next year, that it will be continued. The President will support us. We talked about, ah, transit, support. There is a bill before the Congress now. The house committee has recommended twenty billion dollars over a six year period. We think that's an adequate level. The administration, originally suggested, about nine billion dollars and, we felt that, that was inadequate. We believe that there will be some compromise reached between those  two figures. Overall I would say that we were very much encouraged with the President's, openness. With his attitude of, working with the mayors of this nation. And I think that in each case, we the mayor's came away from that meeting, a great deal more encouraged, than we have been in the last three years. [No audio] [Bradley] announced right now that I'll be going into the City Council to report to them. [Reporter, unintelligible] Sixteen mayors representing the different cities throughout the  country in the, U. S. Conference of Mayors and the National League of Cities, representing with fifteen thousand cities in this country, met at the invitation of the President. And we, I think accomplished a number of things. First of all, we were interested in access to, the highest levels in the administration. Traditionally we had, had a contact through the Vice President. And, President Ford said, for the time being, that he would be our contact. We could have, direct access to him. Beyond that we had asked that there be some opportunity for our input, in, ah, matters before final programs were, decided upon, before the budget was, ah, announced. The president, ah, agreed to provide us with that kind of access and input. We have a coalition of representatives from the, Governor's Conference, from the, county officials, and from the cities, who will be meeting in September to begin that process. We're very much encouraged by that. It means a great deal to us that, we are able to help set some priorities as to where cuts are going to be made. What programs are going to be authorized in the President's new budget. The matter of the community development bill. Our housing programs have been stymied because of lack of action on that bill. The President supports us. And, ah, indicates that he expects that it's going to be pushed through the Congress, sometime within the next few days. And that he will sign it. [?] from California, met with me yesterday morning. And they committed unanimously to, support, our efforts, in, ah, coming up with, what would be a reasonable, assurance of funds, to help us with the transit needs in Los Angeles and across the country. [Reporter] The [?] in Anaheim said that the administration wanted to pass a bill to be set at eleven billion, [Camera noise] [Bradley] We are not aware of what formula is going to finally be adopted, so we'll have to wait for that formula. Ah, we expect that Los Angeles  is going to get, ah, a significant amount of federal dollars to match our local share.  And that's what is important. Let us make a beginning. We've got to make our commitment first. And once that is made, we can then begin to worry about how much money we're going to get from Washington or Sacramento. [Reporter] One of the things that [?] said, [No audio] [Camera noise] [Bradley] in your commitment, ah, what we wanted was, access to the, [Reporter] more involved in the [?] budget, [unintelligible] [Bradley] He concedes that and I think everybody else does. That's going to be a major problem for him and for all of us. [Reporter] Who would you like to see as Vice President? [Bradley] I am not going to express any opinion about that. I'll leave that to the President to make his choice. [Reporter] Do you think there will be better opportunities for, [Bradley] federal help. [Bradley] but it should not be on an across-the-board basis. It should be on the basis of need. [Bradley] He is meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus next week. He is moving in a number of areas to, ah, be more sensitive to the needs of, [Bradley] minorities in this country. So I expect, [Camera noise] to make any specific comment about it.