Are we paying our mayors enough?

The pending special mayor episode of Winnipeg Internet Pundits got me thinking about mayors. My particular train of thought revolved around mayoral performance. Why do mayors always seem to under perform? Is it just my perception, or do cities generally have a hard time attracting capable leaders?

I think most Winnipeggers can relate to this. Before our last civic election there was near-unanimous consensus that mayor Sam Katz was doing a poor job: making poor planning decisions, spending too much time in Phoenix and not enough running the city, screwing up rapid transit, screwing up active transportation, doing things that were uncomfortably close to conflict of interest, burying us in an infrastructure deficit, poisoning the relationship with the Province, etc...  Yet, he won the election easily because there was nobody else worth voting for. Why???

We're not alone here, or at least I get the impression we're not. I hear stories from time to time of wacky or incompetent mayors in other cities. Even Toronto, with a population base 8 times ours, can't find a dignified mayor. Rob Ford is a controversial guy who battles with the media and often says ill-advised things like "Roads are built for buses, cars and trucks. Not for people on bikes. And my heart bleeds for them when I hear someone gets killed, but it's their own fault at the end of the day." That's just the start of his controversies, which include reading while driving.

Before Ford, in the late 90's and early 00's, there was a guy named Mel Lastman. Lastman was a furniture salesman by trade, and he didn't change a bit as mayor. He was definitely the Kern Hill/David Keam of mayors. Business acumen is a plus for sure, but crazy TV ads impersonating a US President probably don't help. For whatever good things he did, he is probably best remembered as the mayor who installed giant coloured moose all over the city.

Now, there are certainly exceptions. One might point to Calgary's Naheed Nenshi as an example. However, I believe there is a definite trend. 

The question is: how do we reverse the trend? A while ago I suggested that we should encourage politicians to accept free Jets tickets as a perk to attract better candidates. I was only joking, but that may be on the right track. Are we paying mayors enough? Sam Katz earns $126k per year (plus perks). Rob Ford earns $168k as mayor of The Big Smoke. That seems like a lot of money to an average Fred, but in terms of experienced professionals capable of running a large organization, it's not. Winnipeg's Deputy CAO earns $313k. Even Sam's own chief of staff earns almost as much as he does. In the private sector, management jobs routinely run well into 6 figures. 

You could argue that all public leaders are underpaid, relatively speaking, but the office of Prime Minister for example has the prestige of the job to attract candidates. A mayor's job consists of making decisions about road repairs and trash collection, not globe trotting and hobnobbing with dignitaries. As a result, it tends to attract either long shots with nothing to lose, or wealthy business people who have something to gain. 

Every once in a while a capable long shot like Nenshi might get on the ballot and win, but more often then not our mayor ends up being a business man for whom the job is a hobby or a means to an end. A larger salary could be a small price to pay to improve those odds.

Toronto identity crisis?

Could it be that The Centre of the Universe has low self esteem? Maybe not quite, but they appear to feel the need to re-image themselves:

Wanted: World-class nickname for Toronto

Invest Toronto, the city's fledgling investment attraction agency, canvassed more than 100 business, academic, labour and community leaders across the city this week about how to promote jobs, investment and excitement in Toronto.

The city hired Greg Clark, a London-based economic development guru who advises cities around the globe, to run the three days of consultations last week.

The title is misleading. It's not necessarily a nickname that they're looking for, although I could probably drum up a few if they want (Gallbladder of the Continent, Former home of the world's tallest building, Almost American, Forever Yonge*, ... should I go on?)

I am sure this Greg Clark dude doesn't come cheap, but I suspect they will get more bang for their buck than Manitoba did when they spent $600,000 to come up with Spirited Energy. Their approach involves bringing community leaders together in a brainstorming session that is open to any and all ideas to promote the city. What we got with the province was an expensive nickname that didn't really mean anything, and an even more expensive ad campaign, foisted upon us by a group of the Premier's buddies.

In reality what they're doing is probably more akin to The Business Call Team Initiative, but I can't pass up an opportunity to knock Spirited Energy...

*actually, this one isn't a product of my own brain. Forever Yonge was the title of a Car & Driver article where John Phillips drives the entire length of Yonge Street, the longest road in Canada.

h/t the broom

Deja Vu

I watched -- okay, kind of payed attention to -- with mild interest, the provincial election at our big nieghbour, Ontrario. I felt a little bit of déjà vu washing over me. A party that broke it’s promises and ran on little else than false fears of their opposition, sweeping into another majority government. Hmmm .. where have we seen that before?