New to my book bag

Engineers that work with cites understand how wrong President Lyndon Johnson was when he said, "Things could be worse.  I could be mayor."  Mayor Bloomberg is probably thinking just the opposite.  Mayors matter in a time when cites are uniquely positioned to save the planet and their cities. 

I added this over the weekend - If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities by Benjamin Barber.  The country is in search of pragmatism instead of politics.  It will be interesting to see if cities truly offer a model for nation-state governance.  Washington can bicker, debate, and pontificate - but the great cites of the world have learned to innovative, embrace diversity, become incubators of problem-solving - and pick up the garbage twice a week.

Mayors that understand "glocality" - mayors that define cites in ways that our national and state leaders never will - mayors that understand their (our) fiscal realities - these types of mayors represent our political future.