As a follow-up to Monday's post, the two top finishers in the Chicago mayoral election were Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle. They will meet in an April runoff. During the election I was down in Miami speaking at the Knight Foundation's annual Media Forum. I was honored to be invited to participate and was on a panel devoted to smarter cities. Here's the video of our session. If the video player doesn't display for you, click over to watch on You Tube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1_tITUf9wQ … [Read more...]
Archives for February 2019
A Mad Dash for City Hall in the Windy City
If you didn't see it in the weekend paper, my latest piece is now online in the Wall Street Journal. It's about the Chicago mayoral election and the state of the city. Here's an excerpt: Visitors to Chicago’s gleaming downtown might never know that the Windy City faces a fiscal crisis driven by unfunded pension liabilities as well as major challenges with crime and corruption. But local voters should know the full story as they head to the polls Tuesday to pick a new mayor. Thirteen candidates—mostly Democrats—are vying to replace Mayor … [Read more...]
Don’t Fall in the Branding Trap
My latest piece is online in City Lab. It's another look at urban branding. Here's an excerpt. The problem with the typical approach extends beyond just marketing. It has tangible consequences. A brand is really a city’s conception of itself. By selling itself as a facsimile of something its not, a city ends up turning that into reality. Thus, so many urban places today seem vaguely the same—a blur of Edison-bulbed eateries and mid-rise “one plus five” apartment buildings (in which up to five stories of wood frame construction are built atop a … [Read more...]
President Pete?
My latest piece is online at City Journal. It's a look at the improbable presidential candidacy of South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg. Some excerpts: Buttigieg has the impressive résumé one would expect from an aspiring presidential candidate. Born in South Bend, he was valedictorian of his high school, then went to Harvard and received a Rhodes Scholarship. He became a Naval Reserve officer and served in Afghanistan as an intelligence officer. He’s worked in elite business and Democratic political circles, doing a stint at McKinsey and … [Read more...]