Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott To Speak at White House Thursday
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WHEELING -- It's not uncommon for Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott to be invited to speak at various local events, but this coming Thursday, the mayor will have the unique opportunity to step up to the podium at a very special venue -- the White House.
Elliott told members of Wheeling City Council this past week that the opportunity recently presented itself, and he had no intention of declining.
"I just wanted to let folks know that I did get an invitation a couple of days ago to attend an event at the White House next week to talk about some of the infrastructure investments in this community, some of the federal infrastructure investments, including the Streetscape project," he said. "I accepted that, so it will be next Thursday (Feb. 29) at 1 p.m."
Elliott said he received the invitation from the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. "It's the same office that I have worked with during both the Trump and Biden Administrations," he said, noting that during his tenure as Wheeling's mayor over the past seven-plus years, he has been invited to attend events at the White House on a handful of occasions.
During the upcoming visit, Elliott will get a chance to speak about the major investments taking place in Wheeling.
"The event is called 'Communities in Action: Building a Better Tennessee, West Virginia and Kentucky' and will feature 30-40 elected officials and community leaders from these three states," Elliott said. "As I understand it, it will be a forum where we hear from various senior Administration officials - and possibly the president and/or vice president - and then we are given an opportunity to discuss specific federal initiatives and projects in our respective communities."
More than $32 million in state, federal and local money has been put into the West Virginia Division of Highway's Wheeling Downtown Streetscape project, which is transforming the main traffic arteries in the city's Central Business District.
"I will be talking about the Downtown Streetscape Project, roughly half of which is directly funded by a Department of Transportation grant," Elliott said.
Last summer, the mayor played host to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg during a visit to Wheeling, when the secretary got a first-hand look at the flurry of investments taking place in the city's downtown area.
Elliott said that in his experience, it is not always announced in advance whether the president or vice president will attend events such as the one planned for Thursday because their schedules are typically very fluid.
"But I would expect to see at least one of them, as well as Secretary Buttigieg," Elliott said. "We'll get some more information out about that visit. It's a great opportunity to talk about what's happening in Wheeling on a national stage. Fellow mayors and council members from three states - West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky - will all be there on Thursday, Feb. 29."