#regional-mayors

#regional-mayors

Keep state as close as possible to where it's actually used. Lift it when multiple components need it or you need to coordinate behavior between components.

John Kaehny has written and successfully lobbied for the passage of state and New York City laws related to government transparency and accountability, including the first open data law in the world in 2012.

Brent is one of the most ethnically diverse local authorities in the UK, with a mix of urban districts in the east and suburban neighbourhoods in the west.

Every city contains two transportation systems. One is the visible network of roads, rail lines, sidewalks, and bus routes mapped in planning documents. The other is the invisible geography of privilege and exclusion embedded within it: the neighborhoods that received highways instead of parks, the communities whose bus routes were cut, the sidewalks that abruptly end at the edge of a district.

The five unitary model creates sensible geographies that will empower each new council to deliver new housing in line with local needs.

Ontario will consolidate its 36 conservation authorities into nine across the province. Environment Minister Todd McCarthy says there will be no job losses as a result. He says the province listened to feedback after several town halls and 14,000 comments on its plan, which initially proposed having seven conservation authorities.

Campaigner Aysha Hawcutt stated that residents were 'not anti-homes', but believed the Adlington plan was 'the wrong proposal in the wrong place'. She expressed pride in the community's resilience against the development threats.

My goals for 2026 are to advance affordable housing, protect public land for public good and strengthen neighborhood resiliency. I am focused on ensuring city agencies are responsive to community concerns, supporting small businesses and making Lower Manhattan more livable for working families.

When routes are well organized, there are clear directional signs, and speed limits become reasonable. The early installation of warning signs allows transport companies to plan deliveries more accurately and avoid delays. For businesses, time is money. When a truck carrying goods does not spend hours detouring due to an unclear traffic scheme or stuck in traffic where it could have been avoided thanks to competent traffic management, fuel costs, driver wages, and vehicle maintenance costs are reduced.

The retreat is an opportunity to step away from the regular meeting agenda and focus on long-term planning, priorities and the financial health of our city. These retreats are an important part of good governance, allowing the council and city staff to look ahead thoughtfully and ensure we are aligned on the challenges and opportunities before us.

Portland's transition to a new form of government last January brought new practices and procedures for the City Council. Among the largest changes, impacting both the Council and members of the public, was the introduction of eight policy committees. The committees, which considered topics including transportation, climate, finance, homelessness, and public safety, were intended to provide a focused venue for councilors to introduce legislation and hold conversations on specific topics, as well as to hear public testimony.

A vote six years in the making that would decimate the Dallas Area Rapid Transit system might soon be called off, potentially averting a major funding crisis for the agency - though advocates say there's more work to be done to make sure every DFW resident has the mass mobility options they deserve. Since the beginning of the decade, a handful of wealthy, sprawling suburban cities in the greater Dallas metro have been fighting

The understanding that we have reached when we've talked about it, to the extent we've talked about it at all, is that The Distraction should try to be a good hang even in bad times. This is dependent, of course, on the extent to which Drew and I are capable of managing that, and also relative to how bad the times in question are.

Public space is often understood as belonging to no one in particular, collectively accessible yet institutionally maintained, yet a growing number of initiatives are challenging this assumption by testing shared management and distributed ownership models. In Paris, Adoptez un banc introduces a sponsorship-based approach, allowing individuals and groups to support temporarily and symbolically claim responsibility for historic public furniture without compromising its collective use.

Across history, the relocation of capital cities has often been associated with moments of political rupture, regime change, or symbolic nation-building. From Brasília to Islamabad, new capitals were frequently conceived as instruments of centralized power, territorial control, or ideological projection. In recent decades, however, a different set of drivers has begun to shape these decisions. Rather than security or representation alone, contemporary capital relocations are increasingly tied to structural pressures such as demographic concentration, infrastructural saturation, environmental risk, and long-term resource management.

Understanding the difference in purpose Unlike private businesses, which exist to make a profit, public institutions are designed to create impact - especially social and economic outcomes that benefit everyone, not just paying customers. A public agency doesn't measure its success in revenue or margins, but in how much it improves lives, builds equity and maintains public trust. This doesn't mean budgets and spending don't matter - they absolutely do - but money is not the goal. It's the tool.

Between the lines: This isn't benevolence. It's customer acquisition. Mayors don't just buy "AI." They buy cloud, data modernization, cybersecurity, services, and long-term support - the tech stack underneath any serious deployment. In return, cities get tools that could fix long-standing challenges, Cris Turner, vice president of government affairs at Google told Axios last June when it first released its playbook.

The siege of Minneapolis represents a fitting, if foreboding, capstone to the first year of President Donald Trump's second term. Since returning to office one year ago, Trump has pursued no goal more passionately or persistently than breaking the ability of blue jurisdictions and their leaders to resist him. In the process, he is straining the nation's fundamental cohesion in ways that may escalate beyond his control.

Tower Hamlets Council said in September 2023 it wanted to take down the LTNs and was challenged by Save our Safer Streets (Soss). The court said a failure to reconsult was among the reasons for its decision. Soss said that "thousands of local residents will be extremely pleased and relieved". Tower Hamlets Council, led by mayor Lutfur Rahman, said it was "disappointed" while London's mayor called it "good news for Londoners".

These powers could cover "governance, financial management and recruitment" at the Aspirerun authority but should be used "only where necessary".

A leading think tank has recommended a number of organisational changes to local governments in order to reinvigorate democracy across the country. A report from Re:State recommends a major change to the number of London boroughs, as well as electing an official opposition mayor. The report, informed by interviews with a host of senior political figures, proposes that the existing 32 boroughs be drastically cut to between 10 to 12 local authorities.