Eighty years ago, Justice Louis Brandeis famously described states as laboratories of democracy -- and he was right. Many of the Progressive Era's reforms were first developed in states. But today, many of the nation's most innovative and promising policy initiatives are emerging from city halls. From sustainability and public health, to education and economic development, cities are pioneering new policies and programs that are moving the country forward.
In an era of fiscal constraints and declining federal aid, however, the lack of financing for new ideas is often an impediment to action. Just as banks can be reluctant to lend to entrepreneurs with unproven business plans, cities can be reluctant to invest in untested ideas. Philanthropy, I believe, has a vital role to play in helping to fill that void -- and in spreading the ideas that work best.
This week, Bloomberg Philanthropies is launching a new prize competition called the Mayors Challenge. It will award $9 million to five cities that come up with bold ideas for solving major problems and improving city life. But the prize seeks to incentivize not only competition among cities, but also something that could be just as powerful: collaboration.
Historically, cities have seen each other as competitors in a zero-sum game, with neighbors pitted against each other in a battle to attract residents and businesses. But more and more, a new generation of mayors is recognizing the value of working together and the necessity of borrowing ideas from one another.
Take Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky, for example -- two long-time rivals in attracting business and talent in the Bluegrass region. Today, Mayors Greg Fischer and Jim Gray have established an extraordinary partnership to develop a "build it locally, sell it globally" regional export strategy. In the same vein, the forward-looking mayors of Minneapolis (R.T. Rybak) and St. Paul (Chris Coleman) are working together to enhance entrepreneurship and innovation in their region.
Cooperation among cities is not limited solely to neighbors. In partnership with the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, Rio, Bogotá, and São Paulo are co-developing and piloting new hybrid electric bus technology. By reducing costs and the time required to test and refine this innovation, they will bring cleaner air to residents in all three cities more quickly.
Cities are also collaborating by sharing best practices. Five years ago, when New York City unveiled our comprehensive sustainability initiative to fight climate change (PlaNYC), we drew on the experiences of cities around the world: Berlin for our renewable-energy and green-roof policies; Hong Kong, Shanghai and Delhi for our innovative transit improvements; Copenhagen for our pedestrian and cycling upgrades; and Chicago and Los Angeles for our plan to plant one million more trees. Over the past few years, I've been thrilled to see other cities borrow our own approaches to sustainability -- as well as to poverty, education, and entrepreneurship.
All cities can learn from each other. Earlier this year, I hosted a gathering of about 20 mayors. Baltimore Mayor Rawlings-Blake shared insights on her innovation fund, an approach for getting city agencies to generate cost savings. Philadelphia Mayor Nutter talked about how he has borrowed Boston Mayor Menino's approach for leveraging outside institutions and entrepreneurs to deliver transformative services to residents. And Mayor Emanuel highlighted his innovative new approach to employee wellness in Chicago -- an issue that got everyone's attention, given the soaring employee health care costs in cities nationwide.
Though still nascent, the spread of municipal innovation has been a powerfully disruptive force that is shaking up the status quo and allowing mayors to create stronger, healthier cities. Ultimately, its growth depends on continued cooperation among mayors. We hope that the Mayors Challenge -- through a little healthy competition -- will help foster a culture where innovation is prized, where collaboration is common, and where success is shared nationally and internationally.
Cities are uniquely positioned to solve our country's greatest challenges. No matter how badly Washington may be beset by gridlock, America's new laboratories of democracy have never been more active or more promising. And for a former engineer like myself, the chance to spur even more breakthroughs is incredibly exciting.
Follow Michael R. Bloomberg on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MikeBloomberg
Rep. Patrick Kennedy: Health Care Reform: The Right Thing to Do
David Katz, M.D.: The Body Politic
Ben Hecht: Bloomberg's Mayors Challenge Bets on America's Petri Dishes for Innovation
Use humor and funny ads to get more people to take public transportation. The Los Angeles MTA launched humorous ads helped woo commuters from their cars and increased citywide ridership to 29%, more than twice the national average. Read more at:
http://makehoustongreat.com/2012/07/07/mayors-challenge-top-ideas/
I look GREATLY look forward to the POST-Bloomberg era in NYC.
You have been horrible! While your personal wealth went up so did the price of living in New York City. This is because you are buisy giving away our tax money to your rich connected friends. Hewlart Packard has stolen money from our city. City time was yet another scandal of you playing with our money and losing it. Start to properly fund public education. It is more important than tax breaks for your developer friends.Whomever is of the opinion that you took this job because you would do it for a dollar a year is stupid. How is it that your personal wealth has grown three times during your tenure as mayor?
the people ( liberals ) are the problem. They voted this idiot into office. It's that simple. Like California, New York is controlled by the elite liberals ( card carrying ) that experiment with the peons, their social engineering programs. All of the mandates affect the lower income peons and further increase the liberal control of society. Is it an accident that the blue states like California, New York, Massachusetts's etc. all have financial problems and the highest tax's. Government control over the people is supreme in these states. If the people vote against any of the liberal mandates, the liberal courts quickly void the results. Yes, the liberals are winning in these states and I no longer have sympathy with the people, but concern myself with the spread of these destructive experiments ( fungus ).
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One of the biggest cost items for cities is Medicaid.
According to the Dartmouth Atlas of Healthcare, third of healthcare delivered is over-utilization and waste. Eliminating this over- and inappropriate-utilization in the city's hospitals will not only help medicaid population but it will help everybody in bringing down the cost of heathcare.
A healthcare budget monitored by a local healthcare board and an executive supported by bio-statisticians would be the only necessary monitoring mechanism. The budget would be based on the city's population and demographics.
The monitoring board would be equipped with incentives and penalties for various hospitals and communities; which can set the stage to reduce the cost of healthcare.
Yeah, I don't like this approach.
Coaches would ride herd over them on a bi-monthly basis to make certain they are following their prescribed nutritional, medical and physical fitness regimens. Those who refuse to participate would see their monthly premiums rise by $50. They do not have to succeed. They simply have to try.