August 14, 2006

Mayor Fussbudget?

Civic Strategies, a public policy strategic planning firm for cities, identifies the five different types of mayors:
The deal-maker mayor:
This is the wheeler-dealer as mayor, the person who loves to make headline-grabbing deals, usually in development projects. Imagine Donald Trump as mayor and you have the general idea.

The ethnic-champion mayor:
This is the kind of mayor you often find in cities that have just made an ethnic transition. This kind of mayor comes to office determined to level the playing field. Alas, sometimes it blinds ethnic champions to everything else a mayor must do.

The managerial mayor:
The name describes the type. This is the mayor whose passion is making government work better, cheaper, faster.

The reform/protest mayor:
Again, the name describes the type. These are mayors elected to protest some condition or issue. But as the issue fades, these mayors exhaust all but their most ardent supporters. Unless they move toward another type, reform/protest mayors usually don't last long in office.

The urbanist/neighborhood mayor:
These are mayors who are focused on making downtowns and neighborhoods healthy. They delight in the details and can talk endlessly about neighborhood groceries and tree plantings. Result: Some think of them as small-thinking fussbudgets. Perhaps some are, but there's a reason these mayors last so long in office.

With his talk of a New Urban Agenda, Mayor Dave is clearly an "urbanist/neighborhood mayor." According to Civic Strategies this bodes well for his re-election chances:

[I]f you want to be mayor more than eight years, probably the urbanist/neighborhood mayor is the right type to be.
Civic Strategies goes on to note that long-serving mayors Richard Daley of Chicago, Thomas Menino of Boston and Joseph Riley of Charleston are urbanist/neighborhood mayors.

The real question... what is a "fussbudget?" Is it:
a) A person who fusses over spending less?
b) A person who fusses over trifles?
c) A person who fusses over truffles?
d) A person who fusses over spending more?