Time magazine has named Atlanta’s Shirley Franklin, an African American, as one of the nation’s top five big-city mayors. Two other African Americans, Detroit’s Kwame Kilpatrick and Philadelphia’s John Street, were also cited by the magazine – as two of America’s three worst city chiefs. Joining Franklin on the “5 Best” list were Michael Bloomberg of New York City, Richard Daley of Chicago, Martin O'Malley of Baltimore and John Hickenlooper of Denver. Rounding out the list of the “Worst 3” mayors was Dick Murphy of San Diego. [more]
- But both Mayors Kilpatrick & Street made the Ebony Magazine "Most Influential Black Americans & Organization Leaders for 2005" Ebony, May 2005
Bush is Person of the Year = No Criteria for Time Magazine
Time says it interviewed a panel of unnamed “community leaders” and “concerned citizens” in 29 of the most “challenging” municipalities with populations of at least a half-million; it did not, however, publicize the criteria for making the lists. BW is not trying to protect these mayors but the Time Magazine folks are the same idiots that declared Bush the Man of the Year a few months ago. The following is all they had to say:
On Kwame Kilpatrick: "Equally at home in senior centers and hip-hop concerts, Kwame Kilpatrick, 34, inspired Detroit voters with his energy and determination when he rode into office three years ago. But a cherry red Lincoln Navigator has put a big dent in his reputation. After weeks of denying it, the mayor admitted in January that the city paid $ 24,995 to lease just such a car for his wife. That outlay showed what Alan Ehrenhalt, executive editor of Governing Magazine, calls "a tin ear for symbolism," given that Detroit's $ 230 million budget deficit has prompted the mayor to eliminate 3,000 city positions and end 24-hour bus service. It has not helped that Kilpatrick left undiminished his 21-person security detail (the mayor of Chicago, a city with three times the population, has 15 guards). When Gary Brown, the deputy chief of police internal affairs, opened an investigation into misconduct by the security team, Kilpatrick fired him, ostensibly because Brown did not get his chief's approval for the probe. Time Magazine, April 25, 2005
On John Street: He"came into office in 2000 with an ambitious agenda to improve Philadelphia's worst neighborhoods, and even his critics agree he has made considerable progress. But, says Otis White, of the public-policy consulting firm Civic Strategies, "whatever his grand visions have been, he will not be remembered for them. He will be remembered for the corruption [around him]." There has been no evidence that Street, 61, himself is corrupt, but federal prosecutors say the mayor's close friend and fund raiser, Ron White, partially took control of city contracting and turned the process into a naked shakedown for donations to Street's 2003 re-election campaign. White died before going to trial, but former city treasurer Cory Kemp, a member of Street's administration, and four other defendants await a jury's verdict. The scandals have turned Street into a lame duck a year early. "The city is in a kind of suspended animation as long as the trials go on," says former Philadelphia Daily News editor Zack Stalberg. -Time Magazine, April 25, 2005
- TIME To Hire a Researcher [more]
Accountable to Nobody: How About Newark Mayor Sharpe James as being one of the Nation's worst mayors? Recently he took tax payer money slated for low income housing and used it to help build an arena for the New Jersey Devils hockey team. According to the Star Ledger: "Newark Mayor Sharpe James and the owner of the New Jersey Devils yesterday said a federal audit that shows the city housing authority misused money intended for low-income housing to instead buy land for an arena project won't hurt the plan. James gave the one-word answer of "unrelated" when asked about the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ordering the housing authority to return $6.5 million, including $3.9 million used to buy 12 lots for the city's downtown core redevelopment plan. The project includes an arena for the Devils, estimated to cost $310 million, along with office space, a hotel and parking garages." [more] Newark is 53% Black and 30% Hispanic. [more] According to the Brookings Institute:
- Little more than half of working-age adults in Newark were employed or looking for work in 2000—the third-lowest percentage among the 100 largest cities in the U.S. As a result, more than one in four Newark children lives in a family with no working parents.
- Newark's low income levels make housing relatively less affordable for families there. Indeed, 42 percent of renter households pay more than 30 percent of their incomes for housing—the fifth-highest share among the 23 Living Cities. [more]
- The murder rate is a major concern [more]
- Conflict of Interests? Sharpe James has simultaneously been the Mayor of Newark (since 1986) [more] and State Senator for District Area 29 or Newark (since 1999) [more].