As a HUD Assistant Secretary during President Clinton's first term, I was fortunate enough to meet Tom Bradley during his final months in office. The man I met that day was every bit the fighter that my generation looked up to from the day he was elected as Los Angeles' first African American mayor in 1973.

Tom Bradley had all the qualities that one looks for in a leader - he was a visionary who never forgot his roots as the son of a sharecropper. Mayor Bradley helped make Los Angeles what it is today - one of the world's leading metropolitan areas, characterized by the diversity which brings it strength and the economic vitality from which everyone benefits.

When Mayors across the country look for leadership examples that can take us into the 21st Century, I say to look no further than Tom Bradley and his 20 year tenure in Los Angeles.