The April edition of Metropolis magazine features an article by Karrie Jacobs about how cities are taking the lead on issues of national importance (like California did on CAFE standards and curbing auto emissions), while the feds are slowly having to catch up. She writes:
"I’ve noticed that America’s big-city mayors have emerged as a sort of government in exile, putting forth a remarkably progressive, and occasionally visionary, domestic agenda while the federal government has been AWOL."
Jacobs started thinking about this role reversal during a talk by then-Mayor O'Malley. He was frustrated by the lack of help and information he wasn't getting out of Washington in the wake of 9/11. Instead of waiting for DC to get its act together, Jacobs writes that O'Malley, "organized with his fellow mayors in Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia—a sort of mini-NATO pact for the Delmarva region."
Jacobs continues:
"What struck me while listening to O’Malley was the extent to which America’s cities are on their own, taking a leadership role on issues that used to be the job of the federal government. New York City, for example, now has a crack antiterrorism agency within the police department, one that I instinctively trust more than the FBI. And it’s not just in preparation for cataclysmic events like 9/11 or Katrina; cities have stepped up to address issues such as global warming and the decay of our infrastructure."
Unfortunately, there are limits to this bottom-up approach. The feds are fighting tooth and nail to keep states like Maryland from adopting their own regulations on things like auto emissions. And earlier this week, Mayor Dixon testified to Congress that, despite stepped-up local efforts to curb gun crimes, meaningful improvements to gun control laws are needed at the federal level if we hope to slow the rate of gun violence. According to today's article in the Baltimore Sun, Mayor Dixon testified that, "If we could solve the problem of illegal guns without coming to Washington, we would. But we need help from the federal government."
-m.e.
