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Meeting Mayor Daley
Royson James reports that Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and a coterie of staff will be visiting Toronto to swap notes with Mayor Miller. There’s plenty that Chicago’s mayor can teach us: how to develop a working, people-focused waterfront, how to get money from higher levels of government and more.
We here at Torontoist thinks Mayor Miller should also meet up with a few other mayors from around the world:
1) Bertrand Delanoe, Mayor of Paris
Delanoe has succesfully revived Paris’ riverside by creating an innovative artificial beach closed off to traffic for nearly a month. Toronto’s council can’t even get its act together to hold a decent car free day celebration. He’s also taming Paris’ notorious traffic by increasing bus lanes, widening side walks and implementing traffic free zones on some of the city’s busiest streets.
2) Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London
Livingstone, affectionally known as “Red Ken” because of his long time association with Britain’s labour party, has reinvigorated the City of London. His term will probably be known for two things: his innovative system of charging cars a fee to enter London’s busy core areas during rush hour which has raised revenues, increased public transit and alternative transportation use and actually been loved by the public and his opposition to the Iraq war which probably didn’t earn him many friends in the House of Commons but just shows us his convictions.
3) Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City
Mayor Miller should meet with Mayor Bloomberg just to learn what not to do when at the helm of a great city. Still stunned from 9/11 the people of New York City handed the reins of the city over to a mayor that is out of touch with the needs of the city and its people. An Olympic bid centred on a bone-headed, badly located stadium, a rebranding contest for the most recognizable city in the world, and a reluctance to ruffle the feathers of his fellow Republicans are just some of his missteps. Giulani’s last few months in office are a near impossible act to follow, but Bloomberg not only falls far short of the mark he isn’t even aiming in the right direction.