Power Of Mayors

“It was time, I thought, for someone to stand up for what’s right; and it might as well be me.” Ivan Allen Jr. wrote these words in a journal just days after the Atlanta mayoral election of 1961. Allen Jr. made the decision early on in his political career to base his choice-making not on the polls, but on his own moral values. He possessed a certain quiet strength that made him an admirable character in the political scene. His fortitude of character and bravery enabled him to become one of the most impactful mayors in our nation’s history.

On Monday, April 13th, 2009, I visited the Culver City city council meeting, and found that they operate using a council-manager form of government. For a city with a population of about 38,000, this type of governmental structure is fairly common, and I was not surprised to see it in action in a community where the median household income is around $56,000 a year. Culver City is also a culturally rich community with a 60 percent Caucasian population, and a quarter of the residents are either of African American or Asian decent. The mayor, D. Scott Malsin, is one of five members on the council, and his term as mayor is on a rotating basis. Having been to a Hermosa Beach city council meeting with a similar council-manager structure, I knew

This article focuses on the rise and fall of the “black-white coalition” of populist advocates in Grimes County, TX. The period of Reconstruction gave black people opportunities and power. For instance, during this time, blacks in Grimes County successfully formed a Republican organization. Despite white-supremacists of the Democratic party seeking to end the group, black Republicans managed to retain local power and send legislators to Austin, even after the period of Reconstruction ended. A few years later, a meeting was held in Grimes County in which candidates from black and “lily-white” Republican groups, and Independent Greenbackers were nominated for county offices. Among the candidates was Independent Greenbacker Garrett Scott. Unlike other candidates, Scott had a willingness to publicly associate with blacks. In fact, the article mentions that Scott undermined the idea of white solidarity. After winning the election for county sheriff, Scott became political allies with black district clerk, Jim Kennard. The two worked together to create the black-white coalition that became the People’s Party. The People’s party did well up until 1898. However, the coalition did not sit well with the men of the democratic party. The Democrats, led by J.G. McDonald, came together and held a covert meeting in which they planned to take back county offices that populists filled. This was the first of many meetings of the White Man’s Union. The union made their debut once the spark of

The City of Bend, Oregon Government consists of approximately 500 employees across thirteen different divisions. These divisions are Police, Fire, Community Development, Public Works, etc and are all coordinated under the City Manager’s office. Bend’s government style is called a “weak mayor” form of city government, in that the citizens elect a city council, which then elects a mayor from among the council members. The city council and mayor, then hire a City Manager to run the day to day operations of the city. In doing this form of government, the City Manager is not directly accountable to the citizens and can focus on the needs of the city and its employees. At the same time, the City Council can only provide direction to the city manager and is accountable to the citizens. The city employees in this case are led by the city manager as directed by city council. The community leadership environment in this case is established by council to provide direction to the city manager.

Failed policies enacted by previous mayors such as Mr. Donald Schaefer resulted in various downtown development projects; part of an economic stimulus plan funded by federal grants and city bonds (Perazzo,2013). Schaefer's administration is singled out since this, according to Perazzo (2013) may have been the focal point of corruption in Baltimore city mayor’s office during the city’s economic decline. Henceforth,

Without a certain degree of control over the governmental levels of power, blacks end up disproportionately dependent on white-created legislation and white administration of those laws (Pohlmann, 219). The potential dangers of gerrymandering involves the distribution of blacks into districts where they are diluted into a minority or the creation of districts where blacks are an excessive majority so that an overall district majority white can be achieved (Thornburgh v. Gingles, 31). These redistricting plans severely hindered blacks ability to vote for a representative of their choice (1). However, in order to stem the progress of racially discriminating gerrymandering, these districts are examined based on the impact and district composition

Alexander summarizes her interpretation of the period when a number of black individuals were elected into government offices with the phrase “black faces in high places.” By this she means that although black individuals were elected, this development actually obscured the problem rather than remedied it. Alexander writes that in 1974, 64 percent of new federal employees came from minority backgrounds. These changes helped a relatively small group of African American households, and left the rest behind. On account of these changes, the idea that hard work was the way blacks could overcome institutional challenges was born. By masking the government’s responsibility to help all African American households, colorblindness led the public to believe the country

In the empirical article, “Black Philly after the Philadelphia Negro,” Marcus Anthony Hunter examines the once populated Seventh Ward and the effects that political neglect and racial barriers had on this primarily black area, which ultimately led to its urban decay. Similarly, in recent years, we see this occurring in Vesterbro, Copenhagen. However, we notice how the neglect towards Vesterbro stems from other factors such as immigration, crime, and a poor economy. Hunter examined the archives of the Seventh Ward, specifically after W.E.B. Du Bois’ initial study of the Seventh Ward. From the 1920s through the 1940s, Hunter found that the poor living conditions did not improve. Instead, they were constant, suggesting that Republican politicians neglected this black area. “This period also offers a historical window into the shifting allegiances of black Americans, and their retreat from the Republican Party and embrace of the Democratic Party” (Hunter). Hunter claimed that the shift in

Although tensions existed between both blocs, Harold Washington was able to prove that African American, like whites, could effectively run politics. The Mayor was able to renew the face of Chicago politics through a “rainbow coalition” that entailed the inclusion to high positions in the city government of “minorities, women, progressive whites and gays”. City agencies were more accountable, funds for social services were now given “to churches, social service organizations, and community organizations” so in this way there was not a patronage system been execute. He provided to many different communities the power needed to progress, a vision never seen before in Chicago. However, the City Council Wars saw an increased in the number committees going from 29 to 37 benefiting the “majority bloc supporters with chairmanships” and the budget for more council staff also grew. The end of Council Wars occurred when elections for aldermen took place in seven wards where racial inequality existed in Byrne’s remapping (CH7).

When driving through any state in America, it is hard not to notice the segregation that often establishes itself throughout the neighborhoods; there exists a clear distinction what streets are predominantly populated by White, Black, Hispanic, Arab, or other racial groups. According to recent analysis of the U.S. Census Data, “Chicago is the most diverse city, as well as the most segregated” (chicago.cbslocal.com). This raises the question of whether or not Chicago has also joined the bandwagon of so many cities across the United States where it has become an accepted social circumstance that every ethnic, racial, political, or religious group in a community must stand alone to overcome their own struggles and “fight their own battles”. Chicago is a city that defies the pattern of separation in activism. Chicago has become the symbol not

The purpose of this paper is to comprehensively compare and contrast the implementation of two types of mayor-council government systems which are that of the weak-mayor type of the mayor council system and the strong-mayor type of the mayor council system. The premise of the analysis which has been conducted in this paper is based upon assessing the local governments of two cities within the United States – Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Minneapolis, Minnesota which follow the adoption of a strong-mayor system and weak-mayor system respectively.

There are numerous techniques the mayor can use to create effective teamwork among city employees one of which is an atmosphere of accountability and trust as a common goal. The American Management Association (2014) stated, “When people work together in a climate of trust and responsibility toward a common goal, they put aside turf issues and politics and focus on the tasks to be done. This

The election of President Obama marks the most noteworthy political accomplishment for African Americans in the United States during the post-civil rights revolution, thus bringing about a change in the country’s social and political landscape that was steeped in racial discrimination since the founding of this great nation. Because social and political conditions are subject to constant change, President Obama’s

Prior to the 1960s, rarely was there black representation in Congress. Putting aside for a moment the irony of this in a country that declared its independence under the banner of “no taxation with representation,” this posed a serious issue for the black community.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s failed housing campaign and the Bronzeville Project exhibit this disjointedness through black middle class Chicagoans ignoring the socioeconomic class divisions within Bronzeville by using institutionalized racial barriers as a conduit to produce a narrative of collective discriminatory practices faced by all blacks preventing social and financial equity for the race. However, these