Mayors want to fight climate change, but fear losing their jobs
Many mayors want to take forceful steps to combat climate change — like banning gas stoves or leaf blowers — but fear such moves would be political poison, a new poll shows. They do favor less controversial steps, like replacing gas-guzzling city vehicles with electric alternatives and supporting solar power, according to the first findings from the 2022 Menino Survey of Mayors, a nationally representative survey of U.S. mayors.
Report: Regardless of party, mayors are united in concern about climate change — and what’s causing it
While opinions about climate change might split along party lines among the general public, mayors are universally clear about what’s driving it and are unanimous in their concern about its detrimental impact on American cities. In a new report published Wednesday by the Boston University Initiative on Cities, nearly all mayors surveyed in the 2022 Menino Survey of Mayors are worried about climate impacts on their cities—only 3% said they’re not concerned.
America’s Mayors See Regulatory Powers As Their Top Climate Action Tools, but Are Reluctant To Limit Resident Choices, According to Survey of U.S. Mayors
The Inflation Reduction Act marks a landmark investment in climate, featuring hundreds of billions of dollars in commitments toward transforming American energy use and emissions reductions. Local leaders are key allies in putting these dollars to work, as frontline communities are centered in its implementation. America’s mayors feel a sense of urgency to act, as their communities face real and immediate climate impacts, including drought, extreme heat, flooding, and air pollution. Just 3% of mayors say they are not concerned about any local effects of climate change.
Report: 2022 Menino Survey of Mayors: Mayors and the Climate Crisis
The Inflation Reduction Act features hundreds of billions of dollars in commitments to reshaping American energy use and reducing emissions. These commitments include tax credits and rebates for solar panels, electric vehicles, and heat pumps. These federal investments represent new opportunities for local governments and local elected officials who have already been addressing climate change or who wish to do so. The latest Menino Survey unpacks mayors’ current views on local climate action, their sense of the tools they have at their disposal, and their enthusiasm for using them.
5 ways local leaders can use the Racial Wealth Equity Database
The large wealth gap between Black and White families in America has persisted for generations—and mayors are determined to find ways to finally address it. In the most recent Menino Survey of Mayors, 67 percent of mayors said they are worried about the racial wealth gap in their cities. Of those mayors, overwhelming majorities support targeted programs to help Black and Latino residents build businesses and increase homeownership. When city leaders get down to designing new policies and programs, however, they quickly discover a problem. The data they need to inform their efforts—local-level data on assets, homeownership, and more—can be difficult to find broken down by race.
Thank You For Your Feedback
In 2018, Sarah Meyer, then chief customer officer with New York City Transit, was fielding questions at a public meeting in the 14th Street Y near Union Square. The topic of the meeting was moving a few bus stops a few hundred feet so they were better spaced out. While working one of the tables, a man Meyer described as about 60 or 70 years old sauntered up to her. He said he was representing “everyone from his building,” Meyer said. They were opposed to the MTA moving bus stops. Meyer tried to explain why they were doing it—there are international standards for bus stop distances, and this stop was far too close to the other stops. With fewer stops, the buses would be faster.
FY 2023 Legislative Report: Re-Entry Workforce Development Demonstration Gains
The Re-Entry Workforce Development Demonstration Grants Program is an initiative administered by
Commonwealth Corporation, on behalf of the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development with the goal of improving workforce outcomes for individuals returning to their communities after incarceration (i.e., returning citizens). Commonwealth Corporation awarded grants spanning two fiscal years, starting in August 2022 and due to end in September 2023. These resources anticipate serving at least 13 grantees as a result of intensive outreach to smaller community-based organizations.
Mayors Face a Reckoning With Racial Wealth Gaps
A national survey of 126 mayors of cities with more than 75,000 residents found that two out of three are concerned “a great deal” or “a lot” about the racial wealth gap in their communities. This concern was shared by twice as many mayors in large cities as in smaller ones; surprisingly, more mayors (52 percent) of cities where housing costs are low had stronger concerns than those in cities with high cost of living (32 percent).
Mayors concerned about racial wealth gap, but no consensus on solutions: survey
Boston University’s Menino Survey of Mayors found that 58% of mayors of larger cities expressed significant concern, compared with just 26% of mayors of smaller cities. It found 80% of Democratic mayors were concerned about the racial wealth gap in their community versus 32% of Republican mayors. Further, 22% of Republican mayors were not worried about the issue at all, with no Democratic mayors sharing that view.
Majority of mayors worried about racial wealth gap, survey finds
Based on a survey of 126 mayors of cities with more than 75,000 residents, the 2021 Menino Survey of Mayors: Closing the Racial Wealth Gap (20 pages, PDF), found that 67 percent of mayors are concerned about the racial wealth gap, with leaders of bigger cities significantly more concerned than those of smaller cities (58 percent vs. 26 percent), and those with lower housing costs more significantly concerned than those with higher costs (52 percent vs. 32 percent). The survey revealed a large partisan divide, with 80 percent of Democratic mayors versus 30 percent of Republican mayors expressing concern.