IOC Releases 2015 Menino Survey of Mayors

The Boston University Initiative on Cities today released the 2015 Menino Survey of Mayors. The Survey, now in its second year, delves into mayoral needs and priorities, policy views and relationships with their key partners, including other levels of government. Based on interviews with 89 sitting American mayors from cities of all sizes, affluence and political affiliation, it is the only nationally representative survey of this critically important population of elected leaders. The 2015 Survey is authored by Boston University political science professors, Katherine Levine Einstein and David Glick, who served as co-authors of the Survey in its inaugural year.

Initiated in 2014, under the direction of IOC co-founder former Boston Mayor Tom Menino, the first year of the Survey sought to identify core mayoral needs, priorities and planned political capital expenditures. [View 2014 Survey] Building on these findings, the 2015 Survey delved deeper into key priorities mayors identified as their areas of focus: infrastructure, municipal fiscal health, poverty and inequality and quality of life concerns like housing and public safety.

“Mayors are innovators, collaborators, and problem solvers by nature, often taking action when other levels of government cannot. The BU Initiative on Cities was co-founded by one of America’s greatest mayors, Tom Menino, and we have a profound respect for the job mayors do every day,” said Graham Wilson, Director of the Initiative on Cities. “We hope that the Menino Survey shines a light on their leadership and helps mayors communicate the needs, challenges, and achievements of cities today.”

Click here to view the full 2015 Menino Survey of Mayors Final Report.

You can also find the Key Findings document here.

The 2015 Menino Survey was conducted in partnership with the US Conference of Mayors and with the support of Citi. The Final Report and Key Findings were officially released on Wednesday January 20th, 2016, at the US Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting in Washington, DC.

You can learn more about the 2015 Menino Survey of Mayors by visiting www.surveyofmayors.com.