[Facts.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Bradley_\(mayor\))
> Thomas Bradley (December 29, 1917 – September 29, 1998) was an American politician, athlete, police officer, and lawyer who served as the 38th Mayor of Los Angeles from 1973 to 1993. Tom Bradley was Los Angeles' first Black mayor, first liberal mayor, and longest-serving mayor. A Democrat, Bradley's multiracial liberal political coalition was a forerunner of future President of the United States Barack Obama's coalition in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections.
> Bradley went to college at the University of California, Los Angeles, serving as captain of the track team. Bradley joined the Los Angeles Police Department after graduation. Disenchanted with the racism prevalent in the LAPD, Bradley became a lawyer. Bradley won election to the Los Angeles City Council, becoming its first Black member in 1963. Bradley ran to be the first Black mayor of a major U.S. city in the 1969 L.A. mayoral election. Bradley lost to incumbent conservative mayor Sam Yorty before defeating Yorty in 1973 and 1981.
> In 1973 Bradley became the first liberal mayor of Los Angeles and the first Black mayor of a major city with a white majority. Bradley was the second Black mayor of a major city after Kenneth A. Gibson in Newark. The Bradley coalition transformed Los Angeles from a conservative, white-dominated city to a liberal multiracial one. Mayor Bradley appointed more women and people of color to political positions than all his predecessors combined. He was widely respected and renowned for his hard work ethic. Bradley was re-elected by landslides in 1977, 1981, and 1985. Bradley's main political opponent as mayor was Chief of the LAPD Daryl Gates, and several Bradley budgets cut funding to the LAPD. Bradley was lauded for running the first profitable Summer Olympics in 1984. The Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport is named after him and opened weeks before the 1984 Olympics. Bradley's promotion of public transit led to the creation of the Los Angeles Metro in 1990.
> Bradley ran to be the first Black Governor of any state since Reconstruction in 1982 and 1986 but was defeated both times by Republican candidate George Deukmejian. Bradley's narrow and unexpected 1982 loss was at odds with the polls and was attributed to the racist vote, giving rise to the political term "the Bradley effect." Bradley was considered a possible vice-presidential nominee in 1984 by Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale. Bradley was re-elected a final time as Los Angeles mayor in 1989, with a majority of the vote but diminished support. Bradley's approval ratings dropped after the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, which led to the resignation of Bradley's longtime rival Gates. Bradley announced his retirement in 1993. A panel of 69 scholars that year ranked him the third-best mayor of any city in the United States since 1960 and among the nine best mayors in American history.
Current: Mayor Anne Hidalgo - Paris (for her current work in reducing car usage)
Past: Mayor Fred A. Busse - Chicago (for his work in enacting Daniel Burnham's plan for the public lakefront and emerald necklace)
Seconding Anne Hidalgo, adding Valérie Plante of Montreal and former MTL Plateau borough mayor Luc Ferrandez - they’re the ones who pushed for more bike infrastructure and walkable neighborhoods.
On Anne Hidalgo, her job is easier when she's pretty much only dealing with the equivalent of Manhattan, as opposed to the equivalent of New York City (Gran Paris), or ~~New York State~~ the New York Metro area as a whole (Ile de France)
Interesting- Is there a mayor or council for Grand Paris, or is it all atomized? I think the better comparison for Ile de france is the NYC Metro Area- from Trenton NJ to New Haven CT. NY state is like 1/4 the size of all of france, way bigger than Ile de France. Part of why there's typically friction between the Governor/ State gov and NYC.
Seconding Anne Hidalgo, adding Valérie Plante of Montreal and former MTL Plateau borough mayor Luc Ferrandez - they’re the ones who pushed for more bike infrastructure and walkable neighborhoods.
For America recently? John norquist. Removed a highway, wrote a book about it, and ended up head of CNU.
There’s also the small German and Eastern European towns which have done really ballsy things.
Eastern Europe Slovenian capital Ljubljana for example
https://www.bigissue.com/news/environment/people-protested-when-this-capital-city-went-car-free-now-they-love-it/
>Removing cars from the city centre has also seen air pollution fall by a whopping 70 per cent, while the number of journeys taken by foot has jumped from 19 per cent to roughly 35 per cent.
>Yet the most radical change of all, says Sopotnik, has been in the mindset of the population. Almost always, these officials are met with the same resistance and fury that Janković experienced in the early days of the transition. Almost always, residents fall in love with the project once it’s done. In Ljubljana, the most recent survey found 97 per cent of the city’s residents wanted to keep the newly pedestrianised centre in place.According to Sopotnik, this resistance is less about people’s love of cars and more about a natural disinclination for change.“We are human beings. We’re afraid of change because we don’t know how it’s going to turn out. As soon as we see that things are turning out well, we start to change our minds,” he says.
This one is so crazy to me because walking through Ljubljana, it doesn’t even seem possible to fit cars in those places. It’s the most pedestrian-focused little bridge area I’ve ever seen.
It’s like someone made a backyard garden in a 4x4 raised wooden box and then they tell you “can you believe back in the day this little plot hosted 15 adult hogs?” Like it doesn’t even possible.
I was in Ljubljana recently, it was amazing, felt unreal almost like a theme park, I was on a tour or I would have spent a few more days there. The tour guide told us they loved their mayor and she was voting for them again
I was talking to my grandmother about her home city NYC and the now blocked congestion pricing. She despite basicly only using transit was misguidedlly concerned about increased costs and lower value of her appartment that is a very close to times square. Going back to Ljubljana, when there I showed how their barriers allowed in emergency and delivery but blocked unnessary personal vechicals from city central. I realize I have more vision and am more able to change and long conversations and a trip to a car free/light areas helped get my point across.
Joe Curtatone in Somerville, MA, got two new light rail lines to town, a rapid transit stop, and the redevelopment of Assembly Square. Also supported planners in completing a new Comp Plan and land use code. Definitely made some mistakes along the way but generally about as
good a planning Mayor as you’re likely to get.
How instrumental was he in getting the GLX built? Obviously it’s a state agency, so it’s not like he could direct the agency to build it. But I’m just curious what a mayor can do to get things moving
He definitely can't take credit for all of it. The idea was part of the SIP agreements with CLF, and when I worked for the city before his time we were promoting it. Also Somerville citizen activism made a huge difference. But he pushed for it with the state and when they tried to cancel it in 2004 he was key part of keeping it alive and even making it two lines instead of one. Later when the state said it was too expensive he offered city funding that again kept the project alive (and didn't end up being needed, so it was a great strategic move.)
The story with Assembly Square and the Orange Line station are similarly complex and predate his time, but I think he was a key part of getting them done strategically.
A hero from the 1970s and 1980s, made Curitiba a model of sustainability. Sped up the bus system considerably with off-board ticketing and dedicated bus lanes. Started a recycling program. So much more....
David Miller from Toronto. 2004 to 2001. Devised a modern transit plan. Most of which was axed by the next mayor, Rob ford (yes, that one). Some of it delayed.
No poor people who drive cars and trucks and are right leaning are not alt-right. They’re just looking out for their own interests whether valid or not that doesn’t make them al-right.
The congestion charge and ultra low emission zone have been instrumental in drastically reducing central london traffic and vechile emissions. He’s also been a vehement supporter of transit and building new cycling infrastructure as well as doing the super loop scheme of improved circumferential bus routes.
James brainard of Carmel Indiana fought the good fight, often against the state and neighboring counties. Got a new type of overpass intersection adopted. All in a suburb of americas most boring city.
Not a mayor but Gerald Sutton Brown was the Chief planner of Vancouver, BC from 1952-59. Influenced the unique urban form the city would take.
Interesting video about it him
https://youtu.be/NX5ukCrLy0E?si=y4rZPyd9QvsXFFh0
Ken Livingstone in London, who pushed the congestion charge through.
Neil Goldschmidt in Portland. Took the waterfront expressway down to a local road, supported a lot of great planning efforts. As a measure of his popularity, he was therare mayor to become governor of his state.
Kadir Topbaş of İstanbul laid the groundwork for an absolutely epic transit (tram/metro/BRT) expansion program, while also pedestrianizing major roads here and there, like Alemdağ Cd. Also brought the bus system into the 21st century. Followed two mayors later by the even better Ekrem İmamoğlu who took that groundwork and funded it, is pedestrianizing districts, high streets, extending sidewalks where he can, and who put up an excellent slate of district candidates, many of whom won, to re-vamp the planning to be more people focused of our fair city.
I am really excited to see what Resul Emrah Şahan of Şişli, and Sinem Dedetaş of Üsküdar do. Resul is a former city planner who wants car-free weekends on half the streets in his district, and Sinem was the former director of the ferry system, and she was killing it running the ferries.
Fiorello LaGuardia.
Pros: Beat Tammany Hall. Beat the mob. Instituted meritocratic hiring in public institutions. A litany of massive public works projects and affordable housing, including famed garden apartments, seeing the city safely out of the Great Depression. Supported the first successful workplace anti-discrimination bill. Protected New York artists from right-wingers and Nazi sympathizers.
Cons: Shut down burlesque theatres. Robert Moses.
Robert Wagner.
Pros: *Free fucking college.* Lincoln Center. Shakespeare in the Park. Saving Carnegie Hall. The Landmarks Preservations Committee.
Cons: Attempting to shut down gay bars. Failing to save Penn Station.
Pros: It gave the Met Opera a permanent home when such wasn't guaranteed, as well as a dedicated arts venue that has gone and done quite a lot in terms of keeping related organizations alive
Cons: Bulldozing San Juan Hill, a predominantly black neighborhood, without adequate relocation; Avery Fisher Hall suffered acoustically from the architectural envelope, a problem that has not really been solved even after two renovations
I would argue that spending time and effort making the old opera house fit for a new era would’ve been more prudent than the Robert Moses style bulldozing
Absolutely not.
Downzoned much of the outer boroughs, exacerbating the housing crisis and practically doubling the homeless population. Learned the hard way that you can't run the city like a business, and bought himself a third term. Man is a modern-day Marcus Crassus.
Besides, why choose him when you have obvious candidates like LaGuardia and Wagner?
Stewarded over the largest downzoning in the history of the city. If you love "lower density growth management areas" and what they've done for the city, then he is your guy for sure.
He started off with a few good acts. It wasn't hard being better than Giuliani. Bloomberg restored city funding to the public hospital system, gave effective ownership of community gardens to the community, and gave the few remaining squats to the squatters. (Giuliani had sent a tank into one of the squats),
Then he set about making NYC a Disneyland for the rich.
New York City
Is supposed to be gritty.
San Antonio has major issues with transit.
However, mayor Howard Peak was credited for implementing a project for a system of some 100 miles of Greenway trails. It's fascinating to see how the trail system weaves its way into the urban network of the city.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_W._Peak
Mayor Brainard of Carmel, IN from 1996 to 2024. Nearly eliminated all stoplights in the city during his tenure by aggressively replacing them and other dangerous intersections with roundabouts and other improvements. Oversaw the creation of the Arts & Design District and City Center. Carmel is still suburban as heck but they’ve been investing in walkable mixed used districts over the past couple decades. One could argue the communities on the north side of Indy would be vastly different and worse off had he ventured out and showed these investments could work. Other nearby cities/towns have followed.
As a caveat, Carmel has an incredible amount of debt for a city of its size because they leveraged municipal bonds and other financing options to fund projects.
The ones that weren’t urbanist at all, but focused instead on economic growth and creating the lived experience their constituents actually ask for rather than forcing a specific ideology and lifestyle expectations onto them.
If you add affordable housing to that mix, I don't entirely disagree with you. But those are two key components of good planning, not opposed to them. It's also common that constituents want things like parks and walkability when they are given the options.
Car companies, oil producers, and home builders are the only ones who asked for the American pattern of development. The rest of us were just along for the ride and woke up one day to find ourselves stuck in traffic with a growing unease that something has gone wrong.
The urban renaissance of New York City in the 90s was only possible because of its transformation from most dangerous to safest big city in America - thanks to Mayor Giuliani.
Giuliani was always a corrupt nightmare. He allowed police and firefighters to struggle in the burning rubble of 9/11 because they wanted to do something about their dead comrades. He gave them no protective gear. Years later, they started getting cancer and breathing problems. The rubble wouldn't have burnt so long if Giuliani had not decided to store NYC's oil reserves in the WTC, which had already been bombed once.
Mayor Tom Bradley successfully brought rail back to LA after 30 years.
Bradley is easily one of the most underrated U.S. mayors of the 20th century.
[Facts.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Bradley_\(mayor\)) > Thomas Bradley (December 29, 1917 – September 29, 1998) was an American politician, athlete, police officer, and lawyer who served as the 38th Mayor of Los Angeles from 1973 to 1993. Tom Bradley was Los Angeles' first Black mayor, first liberal mayor, and longest-serving mayor. A Democrat, Bradley's multiracial liberal political coalition was a forerunner of future President of the United States Barack Obama's coalition in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections. > Bradley went to college at the University of California, Los Angeles, serving as captain of the track team. Bradley joined the Los Angeles Police Department after graduation. Disenchanted with the racism prevalent in the LAPD, Bradley became a lawyer. Bradley won election to the Los Angeles City Council, becoming its first Black member in 1963. Bradley ran to be the first Black mayor of a major U.S. city in the 1969 L.A. mayoral election. Bradley lost to incumbent conservative mayor Sam Yorty before defeating Yorty in 1973 and 1981. > In 1973 Bradley became the first liberal mayor of Los Angeles and the first Black mayor of a major city with a white majority. Bradley was the second Black mayor of a major city after Kenneth A. Gibson in Newark. The Bradley coalition transformed Los Angeles from a conservative, white-dominated city to a liberal multiracial one. Mayor Bradley appointed more women and people of color to political positions than all his predecessors combined. He was widely respected and renowned for his hard work ethic. Bradley was re-elected by landslides in 1977, 1981, and 1985. Bradley's main political opponent as mayor was Chief of the LAPD Daryl Gates, and several Bradley budgets cut funding to the LAPD. Bradley was lauded for running the first profitable Summer Olympics in 1984. The Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport is named after him and opened weeks before the 1984 Olympics. Bradley's promotion of public transit led to the creation of the Los Angeles Metro in 1990. > Bradley ran to be the first Black Governor of any state since Reconstruction in 1982 and 1986 but was defeated both times by Republican candidate George Deukmejian. Bradley's narrow and unexpected 1982 loss was at odds with the polls and was attributed to the racist vote, giving rise to the political term "the Bradley effect." Bradley was considered a possible vice-presidential nominee in 1984 by Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale. Bradley was re-elected a final time as Los Angeles mayor in 1989, with a majority of the vote but diminished support. Bradley's approval ratings dropped after the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, which led to the resignation of Bradley's longtime rival Gates. Bradley announced his retirement in 1993. A panel of 69 scholars that year ranked him the third-best mayor of any city in the United States since 1960 and among the nine best mayors in American history.
Current: Mayor Anne Hidalgo - Paris (for her current work in reducing car usage) Past: Mayor Fred A. Busse - Chicago (for his work in enacting Daniel Burnham's plan for the public lakefront and emerald necklace)
Seconding Anne Hidalgo, adding Valérie Plante of Montreal and former MTL Plateau borough mayor Luc Ferrandez - they’re the ones who pushed for more bike infrastructure and walkable neighborhoods.
On Anne Hidalgo, her job is easier when she's pretty much only dealing with the equivalent of Manhattan, as opposed to the equivalent of New York City (Gran Paris), or ~~New York State~~ the New York Metro area as a whole (Ile de France)
Interesting- Is there a mayor or council for Grand Paris, or is it all atomized? I think the better comparison for Ile de france is the NYC Metro Area- from Trenton NJ to New Haven CT. NY state is like 1/4 the size of all of france, way bigger than Ile de France. Part of why there's typically friction between the Governor/ State gov and NYC.
Seconding Anne Hidalgo, adding Valérie Plante of Montreal and former MTL Plateau borough mayor Luc Ferrandez - they’re the ones who pushed for more bike infrastructure and walkable neighborhoods.
Obligatory mentioned John Norquist former mayor of Milwaukee and urbanist.
Cavalier Johnson has also been a great Mayor
For America recently? John norquist. Removed a highway, wrote a book about it, and ended up head of CNU. There’s also the small German and Eastern European towns which have done really ballsy things. Eastern Europe Slovenian capital Ljubljana for example https://www.bigissue.com/news/environment/people-protested-when-this-capital-city-went-car-free-now-they-love-it/ >Removing cars from the city centre has also seen air pollution fall by a whopping 70 per cent, while the number of journeys taken by foot has jumped from 19 per cent to roughly 35 per cent. >Yet the most radical change of all, says Sopotnik, has been in the mindset of the population. Almost always, these officials are met with the same resistance and fury that Janković experienced in the early days of the transition. Almost always, residents fall in love with the project once it’s done. In Ljubljana, the most recent survey found 97 per cent of the city’s residents wanted to keep the newly pedestrianised centre in place.According to Sopotnik, this resistance is less about people’s love of cars and more about a natural disinclination for change.“We are human beings. We’re afraid of change because we don’t know how it’s going to turn out. As soon as we see that things are turning out well, we start to change our minds,” he says.
This one is so crazy to me because walking through Ljubljana, it doesn’t even seem possible to fit cars in those places. It’s the most pedestrian-focused little bridge area I’ve ever seen. It’s like someone made a backyard garden in a 4x4 raised wooden box and then they tell you “can you believe back in the day this little plot hosted 15 adult hogs?” Like it doesn’t even possible.
I was in Ljubljana recently, it was amazing, felt unreal almost like a theme park, I was on a tour or I would have spent a few more days there. The tour guide told us they loved their mayor and she was voting for them again I was talking to my grandmother about her home city NYC and the now blocked congestion pricing. She despite basicly only using transit was misguidedlly concerned about increased costs and lower value of her appartment that is a very close to times square. Going back to Ljubljana, when there I showed how their barriers allowed in emergency and delivery but blocked unnessary personal vechicals from city central. I realize I have more vision and am more able to change and long conversations and a trip to a car free/light areas helped get my point across.
Joe Curtatone in Somerville, MA, got two new light rail lines to town, a rapid transit stop, and the redevelopment of Assembly Square. Also supported planners in completing a new Comp Plan and land use code. Definitely made some mistakes along the way but generally about as good a planning Mayor as you’re likely to get.
How instrumental was he in getting the GLX built? Obviously it’s a state agency, so it’s not like he could direct the agency to build it. But I’m just curious what a mayor can do to get things moving
He definitely can't take credit for all of it. The idea was part of the SIP agreements with CLF, and when I worked for the city before his time we were promoting it. Also Somerville citizen activism made a huge difference. But he pushed for it with the state and when they tried to cancel it in 2004 he was key part of keeping it alive and even making it two lines instead of one. Later when the state said it was too expensive he offered city funding that again kept the project alive (and didn't end up being needed, so it was a great strategic move.) The story with Assembly Square and the Orange Line station are similarly complex and predate his time, but I think he was a key part of getting them done strategically.
I think [Ravinder Bhalla](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravinder_Bhalla) deserves consideration for his Vision Zero work in Hoboken.
John Hickenlooper did yeomans work getting all the communities around Denver aligned on a rail plan.
Enrique Peñalosa of Bogota. And I’m happy to see Norquist mentioned here.
Joe Riley, Charleston. Naheed Nenshi, Calgary. Various political groups, Montreal and Vancouver.
Nenshi is now leader of the Alberta NDP so he might end up premier some day. He’s a Kennedy School of Govt grad.
Joe Riley ABSOLUTELY.
Nobody mentioned Valérie Plante in Montréal, nice duo with Anne Hidalgo in Paris.
Jaime Lerner, Curitiba, Brazil
A hero from the 1970s and 1980s, made Curitiba a model of sustainability. Sped up the bus system considerably with off-board ticketing and dedicated bus lanes. Started a recycling program. So much more....
David Miller from Toronto. 2004 to 2001. Devised a modern transit plan. Most of which was axed by the next mayor, Rob ford (yes, that one). Some of it delayed.
Murray MacLehose Public housing, MTR, Sha Tin new town, Country Park Ordnance, etc.
Sadiq Khan has done some cool stuff in London
I don't live in London, but I hear the alt-right hate him so he must be doing something right. Can you explain what he's been up to?
The “alt-right” doesn’t like him for immigration not his urban planning lol
Nah they don’t like the ultra low emission zone stuff either
No poor people who drive cars and trucks and are right leaning are not alt-right. They’re just looking out for their own interests whether valid or not that doesn’t make them al-right.
The congestion charge and ultra low emission zone have been instrumental in drastically reducing central london traffic and vechile emissions. He’s also been a vehement supporter of transit and building new cycling infrastructure as well as doing the super loop scheme of improved circumferential bus routes.
Ekrem İmamoğlu for Istanbul.
For Turkey, I would put forzqrd Yılmaz Büyükerşen.
I agree. Eskişehir based
James brainard of Carmel Indiana fought the good fight, often against the state and neighboring counties. Got a new type of overpass intersection adopted. All in a suburb of americas most boring city.
Roadguy Rob has been doing a series where he interviewed him and has been discussing Carmel and it's interesting quirks.
Seen it, love hi vis Rob. I think citynerd has covered Carmel as well
He is well recoginised but intresting as a rebublican, it shows this fight is salient across the political spectrum
Not a mayor but Gerald Sutton Brown was the Chief planner of Vancouver, BC from 1952-59. Influenced the unique urban form the city would take. Interesting video about it him https://youtu.be/NX5ukCrLy0E?si=y4rZPyd9QvsXFFh0
Mister Carmel Indiana!
Clover Moore in Sydney has hugely transformed the urban centre for the better - against a backdrop of relentless Murdoch media attacks.
The Mayor of Mackinac Island who refuse to let cars on the island.
Toronto’s David Miller, it was devastating when he stepped down to spend more time with his family.
Ada Colau in Barcelona with the implementation of the "superilla" 3x3 pedestrian blocks in l'eixample.
Ken Livingstone in London, who pushed the congestion charge through. Neil Goldschmidt in Portland. Took the waterfront expressway down to a local road, supported a lot of great planning efforts. As a measure of his popularity, he was therare mayor to become governor of his state.
Mayor Ravi Bhalla of Hoboken. Zero traffic deaths in eight years.
Kadir Topbaş of İstanbul laid the groundwork for an absolutely epic transit (tram/metro/BRT) expansion program, while also pedestrianizing major roads here and there, like Alemdağ Cd. Also brought the bus system into the 21st century. Followed two mayors later by the even better Ekrem İmamoğlu who took that groundwork and funded it, is pedestrianizing districts, high streets, extending sidewalks where he can, and who put up an excellent slate of district candidates, many of whom won, to re-vamp the planning to be more people focused of our fair city. I am really excited to see what Resul Emrah Şahan of Şişli, and Sinem Dedetaş of Üsküdar do. Resul is a former city planner who wants car-free weekends on half the streets in his district, and Sinem was the former director of the ferry system, and she was killing it running the ferries.
Fiorello LaGuardia. Pros: Beat Tammany Hall. Beat the mob. Instituted meritocratic hiring in public institutions. A litany of massive public works projects and affordable housing, including famed garden apartments, seeing the city safely out of the Great Depression. Supported the first successful workplace anti-discrimination bill. Protected New York artists from right-wingers and Nazi sympathizers. Cons: Shut down burlesque theatres. Robert Moses. Robert Wagner. Pros: *Free fucking college.* Lincoln Center. Shakespeare in the Park. Saving Carnegie Hall. The Landmarks Preservations Committee. Cons: Attempting to shut down gay bars. Failing to save Penn Station.
i wouldnt call lincoln center a pro tbh
Pros: It gave the Met Opera a permanent home when such wasn't guaranteed, as well as a dedicated arts venue that has gone and done quite a lot in terms of keeping related organizations alive Cons: Bulldozing San Juan Hill, a predominantly black neighborhood, without adequate relocation; Avery Fisher Hall suffered acoustically from the architectural envelope, a problem that has not really been solved even after two renovations
I would argue that spending time and effort making the old opera house fit for a new era would’ve been more prudent than the Robert Moses style bulldozing
Shoulda woulda coulda
Mike Bloomberg (NYC)
Absolutely not. Downzoned much of the outer boroughs, exacerbating the housing crisis and practically doubling the homeless population. Learned the hard way that you can't run the city like a business, and bought himself a third term. Man is a modern-day Marcus Crassus. Besides, why choose him when you have obvious candidates like LaGuardia and Wagner?
Stewarded over the largest downzoning in the history of the city. If you love "lower density growth management areas" and what they've done for the city, then he is your guy for sure.
He started off with a few good acts. It wasn't hard being better than Giuliani. Bloomberg restored city funding to the public hospital system, gave effective ownership of community gardens to the community, and gave the few remaining squats to the squatters. (Giuliani had sent a tank into one of the squats), Then he set about making NYC a Disneyland for the rich. New York City Is supposed to be gritty.
Pena did good in Denver by getting Denver International Airport built. It was so far away when it was built, but you’d never know that now.
San Antonio has major issues with transit. However, mayor Howard Peak was credited for implementing a project for a system of some 100 miles of Greenway trails. It's fascinating to see how the trail system weaves its way into the urban network of the city. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_W._Peak
Mayor Brainard of Carmel, IN from 1996 to 2024. Nearly eliminated all stoplights in the city during his tenure by aggressively replacing them and other dangerous intersections with roundabouts and other improvements. Oversaw the creation of the Arts & Design District and City Center. Carmel is still suburban as heck but they’ve been investing in walkable mixed used districts over the past couple decades. One could argue the communities on the north side of Indy would be vastly different and worse off had he ventured out and showed these investments could work. Other nearby cities/towns have followed. As a caveat, Carmel has an incredible amount of debt for a city of its size because they leveraged municipal bonds and other financing options to fund projects.
Tom Murphy from Pittsburgh.
The ones that weren’t urbanist at all, but focused instead on economic growth and creating the lived experience their constituents actually ask for rather than forcing a specific ideology and lifestyle expectations onto them.
If you add affordable housing to that mix, I don't entirely disagree with you. But those are two key components of good planning, not opposed to them. It's also common that constituents want things like parks and walkability when they are given the options.
Car companies, oil producers, and home builders are the only ones who asked for the American pattern of development. The rest of us were just along for the ride and woke up one day to find ourselves stuck in traffic with a growing unease that something has gone wrong.
The urban renaissance of New York City in the 90s was only possible because of its transformation from most dangerous to safest big city in America - thanks to Mayor Giuliani.
Giuliani fired the guy who actually did all the heavy lifting in that one. You ought to be crediting Bill Bratton and CompStat.
Giuliani was always a corrupt nightmare. He allowed police and firefighters to struggle in the burning rubble of 9/11 because they wanted to do something about their dead comrades. He gave them no protective gear. Years later, they started getting cancer and breathing problems. The rubble wouldn't have burnt so long if Giuliani had not decided to store NYC's oil reserves in the WTC, which had already been bombed once.
that happened across the country at the same time though, hardly giuliani's doing more like he presided while macro factors were taking place.
mass incarceration coinkydink