F*** the Chief Executive: We Need A Mayor
Face it: The Chief Executive is never going to get anything done. Unelected, unsupported and unloved, it’s a job no sane person would want. But what if Hong Kong had someone in charge, elected by the people, who could make our lives better, day-to-day? Would that be enough for our city? Will Hong Kong ever join the mayoral revolution? We’ve compared the leaders of three of the world’s great cities—and put together a mayoral proposal of our very own.
What’s So Special About Mayors?
In his 2013 book “If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities,” American political theorist Benjamin Barber argues that nations are failing to achieve their goals. Increasingly, he says, it’s city mayors who are becoming the ideal political unit to improve people’s lives and combat global issues.
Mayors across cities in the US, UK, Europe and Korea are changing urban citizens’ lives on a daily basis in ways that the state government cannot, by improving practical issues such as transport, housing and urban planning. Mayors, “whether elected or appointed,” says Barber, are the opposite of presidents and politicians at the state level: they are effective because their job requires them to be pragmatic problem-solvers. “Presidents pontificate principle; mayors pick up the trash.” While countries are stuck in a deadlock over climate change, the World Mayors Council on Climate Change has come up with community-level solutions to lower emissions. While the Chief Executive of Hong Kong struggles to keep Beijing and the world happy, a mayor could work on solving the city’s daily problems.
“Cities have little choice: to survive and flourish they must remain hospitable to pragmatism and problem solving, to cooperation and networking, to creativity and innovation,” writes Barber, citing the development of public bike sharing systems which started in Europe, then spread to the UK and the US in the quest for energy-efficient cities. Practical changes to our everyday lives are the types of changes that mayors can create and implement: Hong Kong needs one.
Read our proposal "Creating a Mayor Within One Country, Two Systems" here.
Comparing the Cities
In 2008, Time Magazine coined the term “Nylonkong”—New York, London and Hong Kong—in a story describing the three cities as exemplary models of globalization. When it comes to governance, both London’s mayor Boris Johnson and New York City’s former mayor Michael Bloomberg have made a name for themselves. Can CY Leung measure up?
