Seeking Effective Power

Why Mayors Need Community Organizations

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6322183
AutoresJ Phillip Thompson (0000-0002-7712-6483, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, autor de correspondencia)
Año2005
Volumen3
Número02
Fecha de publicación2005-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPerspectives on Politics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1537-5927 • E-ISSN: 1541-0986
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s153759270505022x
OpenAlexW2141686280
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas5
Referencias citadas12

To many, mayors are the most familiar elected officials. Unlike federal representatives, mayors often directly coordinate community services like trash removal, policing, and in some cases oversight of public schools. Despite the seeming transparency of mayoral duties, bottom-line judgments about mayors' performance are political, and, unlike profit margins in business, essentially aesthetic. The public does not evaluate mayoral performance in accordance with "objective" or "rational" criteria; rather, its judgment has more do with values than "facts." In addition, mayors' performances, including their credibility and ability to implement agendas, has as much (if not more) to do with local politics as with their political orientation. I will address these two points in turn.J. Phillip Thompson is associate professor in the Department of Urban Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology ([email protected]). He is author of a forthcoming book on black mayors (Oxford University Press). He was director of Mayor's Office of Housing Coordination and deputy general manager of the New York Housing Authority in the administration of Mayor David Dinkins (1990–93

Business · Political science · Power (physics · Public relations · Homelessness and Social Issues · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Public Administration · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies