Crains New York - July 29, 2013 - (Page 11)

LIANA DOWNEY AND MEGAN GOLDEN Next mayor must be an adept manager H ave you ever seen garbage bags left behind on your curb and called 311? Did someone answer promptly and help fix the problem? Are the parks in your neighborhood clean? Are city employment programs reducing poverty in your neighborhood? While the answers to such questions have much to do with funding decisions, the management of city services plays an im- portant, often unrecognized role. Mayoral candidates can make lofty promises, but unless they have a well-thought-out management plan, tools to make sure city workers are efficient and a deep understanding of how to use data, their rhetoric is moot. We live in amazing times. The amount of information we have on social-service programs, employee efficiency and specific populations in our city is unprecedented. The next mayor must understand how to use it, continuing Michael Bloomberg’s legacy of data-driven government. Mr. Bloomberg hung a big screen above his top aides’ heads, displaying performance measures. He also gets a biweekly report with green, yellow and red flags rating the efficiency of every sector of his administration. And these information-management tools aren’t only used internally. The city’s “geek squad” has analyzed data to target poverty hot spots for social services, used complex maps to speed up tree removal after Superstorm Sandy and even caught restaurants illegally dumping grease into sewers by looking at how much grease companies were carting away in each neighborhood. But the city needs to go even further. The next mayor will have to tackle some management issues that this one ignored. Most important, the city must fo- Detroit’s lessons for New York City D etroit’s bankruptcy filing calls to mind New York’s narrow brush with insolvency in the mid1970s.Can Detroit learn from our history? And what’s the takeaway for today’s New York? Big job losses in both cities set the stage for budgetary and social problems. Despite the stresses, New York did not suffer the catastrophic population losses that Detroit has—losses so extensive that people are actually farming depop- ulated areas of the city. There are many reasons for the differential impact, but one was the recognition by city leaders here that public safety is a foundation to everything else. Crime rates rose for a time, but never to Detroit’s levels. I doubt our leaders would have tolerated the agonizingly long waits for police and ambulances to respond to emergency calls. Once this vital area of public service breaks down,the public loses faith in its government. Fixing it must be a priority. New York has had its share of corruption, but in modern times never as deeply rooted as in Detroit. Its local government has been overrun by grafters—from the former mayor who is now in federal prison to many others inside and outside government who stole whatever they could. Who knows how much money is wasted through kickbacks, no-bid contracts, contracts for work never done, no-show jobs and the ALAIR TOWNSEND like? But it’s probably a lot. As Detroit tries to right itself, one of the best investments it could make would be to hire or get on loan a small army of auditors and inspectors general to assure the public that precious dollars aren’t being looted. Like Detroit, New York tried to paper over its problems for years, cus even more on outcomes. It is not particularly useful to know,for example, that the city spent $80 million on literacy efforts, that a family experiencing domestic violence was visited 10 times in a year or that 70% of women 50 and older had a mammogram if we don’t know whether those efforts improved literacy, changed family behavior or increased the survival rate of women.Mr.Bloomberg’s successor should report outcomes by neighborhood in such areas as poverty, employment and health. The next mayor must also have personnel and policies that encourage the use of data and hold commissioners accountable if they miss goals. He or she must know what’s happening in our neighborhoods so that local problems aren’t hidden by a good citywide average, and ensure that agencies collaborate and share information and results, both good and bad. When we choose our next mayor, we are choosing the manager of a $70 billion organization. It will take superior management skills to get the most from that money. We must make sure the candidates are up to the task. Liana Downey is executive director of Liana Downey & Associates, a strategic advisory firm for governments and nonprofits. Megan Golden is a fellow at the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. borrowing fruitlessly against the future. Detroit waited so long that its infrastructure is crumbling, and there are few services it can cut to economize. Bankruptcy seemed to be the best option, since a large bailout from the state or federal government wasn’t going to happen. New York’s municipal labor unions worked to stave off bankruptcy because they didn’t want their contracts nullified. At the time, some argued that bankruptcy would give New York a fresh start on pension and health insurance provisions for its workers and contracts that ensured a full day’s work for a full day’s pay. Contractual provisions that constrain productivity and benefits that are too generous still characterize New York today. Detroit can wipe the slate clean with its filing. Like New York at the time, Detroit needs decisive leadership. Decisions are now being made unilaterally by an emergency manager appointed by the state. While many howl at the loss of democracy, politics as usual has failed. Until the corner is turned, people shouldn’t waste energy objecting. New Yorkers shouldn’t take our recovery for granted. We need to be concerned about measures that would hamstring the police. We need to worry about a culture of corruption that still infects too many elected officials. And we must continue to push for enhanced productivity from our city workers and reform of benefits that outstrip what the paying customers—taxpayers— get from their own employers. July 29, 2013 | Crain’s New York Business | 11 http://www.crainsnewyork.com/events-MTAchairman http://www.mogil.com http://www.mogil.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - July 29, 2013

IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
THE INSIDER
BUSINESS PEOPLE
OPINION
ALAIR TOWNSEND
GREG DAVID
REPORT: FOOD BUSINESS
FOR THE RECORD
REAL ESTATE DEALS
CLASSIFIEDS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SOURCE BREAKFAST
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS

Crains New York - July 29, 2013