If I were to run a major this fall (I’m not), I’d change that way politics are done. We like to think politics are run bottom up, but it’s really top down. I’ve been very keen to city level politics lately as my curiosity and passion has developed. I’ve lived in Toledo, OH, on and off, for the past four years. Toledo, like many other U.S. cities, is a dying city that’s is still run top down, rather than bottom up. In addition to “regular” politics, this post covers what I’d do / change if I were to be mayor of a city. It’s not a complete list, but will hopefully inspire other city-level politicians.
Commitments
Most companies have their employees establish clear and measurable commitments. This should be no different for politicians, since the people are the boss of politicians. If I were to be mayor, I’d set and publish a list of yearly and term commitments so at the end of my term I could either say I completed them, or didn’t. No more spinning what was done over the past years for my benefit. Talk about transparency.
Moving to a bottoms up structure
A mayor should take a salary equal to the media salary of those residing in his or her constituency. Six figure salaries, especially in cities that are dying, places a major out of scope with the current situation and the difficulties some are facing.
Additional pay should be based off performance against commitments. Most CEOs have performance-based pay, so why not politicians? This will make them (me, if I were one) more accountable and more committed.
Surveys and feedback
I’m sure it varies greatly across the country as to what and how feedback is gathered, but the most often reported numbers are “approval rating,” which hoestly paints a crummy picture. Approval ratings are a one-way street and provide almost zero constructive criticism to the elected official. To be a truly great mayor, I would:
- Conduct monthly townhalls in various parts of the city, where I answer a few pre-screened questions to get the crowd warmed up, then open it for a real question and answers session.
- Collect feedback through a digg.com/uservoice.com style site, where people can submit feedback on what could make the city better and others can vote on specific feedback. Then, if I implemented the feedback, I’d invite he submitter to conduct the unveiling of the project.
- Conduct yearly surveys on city happiness, general welfare and condition, and performance against accountabilities.
- Actually check my own email and make my personal cell phone number public. Anyone can call or email anytime. I might not answer every time, but I WILL get back in one-way or another.
- Start a yearly “mayor summit” with me and other mayors coming together to discuss issues, challenges, and possible resolutions to those challenges. I’ve never heard of this happening and it’s ridiculous.
Entrepreneurship
I studied entrepreneurship at The University of Toledo and one of the biggest eye-openers was how big of an economic driver small / family-owned businesses are. I don’t have the exact statistics, but know that over 80% of the jobs in the USA are provided by these two sources. If I were mayor of a city, I’d provide major incentives for businesses, especially startups.
