With the federal debt at $16 trillion, the fate of the nation's cities stands at a crossroads. While cities like New York appear to be doing better than ever, a rising tide of poverty and inequality threatens to undermine their progress. Meanwhile, a large group of second-tier cities, from Detroit and St. Louis to Stockton and San Bernardino, are besieged as never before. How will the mushrooming national debt and looming federal austerity regime affect these trends? Will austerity exacerbate the division between successful and struggling cities?

Remarks from: Gavin Newsom, lieutenant govenor of California; former mayor of San Francisco

Followed by a conversation with: Robert Doar, commissioner, New York City Human Resources Administration Daniel Lurie, CEO and founder of Tipping Point Community Catherine Rampell, founder and editor, Economix blog, The New York Times

Moderated by: Jeff Smith, assistant professor of politics and advocacy, Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy, The New School

[youtube width="640" height="360"]http://youtu.be/VqOeFcxDshk[/youtube]

The Robert J. Milano Lecture and Scholarship Fund commemorate the late Robert J. Milano (1912-2000), founder and longtime president and chairman of Millmaster Onyx, a public firm that was sold in the 1980s to Gulf Oil Company. Mr. Milano also served as a New York City deputy mayor during the Koch Administration and was a longstanding trustee and former vice chairman of The New School. In 1996, the trustees of the university named Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy in his honor.

The Robert J. Milano Lecture and Scholarship are supported by the Milano Foundation.