Big-City Mayors Think They Can Mandate Their Way to Affordable Housing
21st January 2016
As if this were something pertaining to the duty a mayor, rather than managing the public services (police, fire, garbage collection) that are actually a part of his job.
f ever you were wondering why big American cities are governed so badly, take a gander at Boston University’s Menino Survey of 89 U.S. mayors, including 63 from the 275 cities with populations of at least 100,000 (key findings here; full report here).
There are many depressing results to contemplate. For instance, mayors rightly see “infrastructure” as their most pressing priority, and also rightly (at least in my experience from living the last 18 years in Los Angeles, the District of Columbia, and New York), put “roads” at the top of that infrastructure list, and yet when asked to name one project they would build with one big unrestricted grant, “mass transit” went to Number One; and when asked to name one small infrastructure item, bike/pedestrian improvements shot to the top. In fact, when asked a tradeoff question, about whether “Cities should make their roads more accessible to bicycles even if it means sacrificing driving lanes and/or parking,” a whopping 70 percent either agreed or strongly agreed.
With results as you see them: Bad traffic is made worse in favor of Crustian fads that few people use. And don’t get me started on HOV lanes….