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NEWS SECTIONS: World news | Election news | News from Europe | News from North America | News from Latin America | News from Asia and Australia | News from Africa | Urban events | NEWS SPECIALS: The 2011 London riots | The 2010 Love Parade tragedy | Latest news story |Decline of segregation has not led
to a more equal society in the US
New York City, 1 February 2012: Segregation of African Americans in US urban neighbourhoods has declined to its lowest level for more than a century, says a report published this week by the Manhattan Institute. The study’s authors wrote that the most standard segregation measure showed that American cities were now more integrated than they had been since 1910. “Segregation rose dramatically with black migration to cities in the mid-twentieth century. On average, this rise has been entirely erased by integration since the 1960s,” they explain. But the decline in physical segregation has not led to a more equal society.
The research for the report The End of the Segregated Century looked at every census since 1890 and found a range of factors - such as changes in law, better access to credit, blacks' movement into formerly white suburbs and even some gentrification of formerly all-black ghettos - that have played a role in the decline of segregation.
The reports authors found that all-white neighborhoods were effectively extinct. “A half-century ago, one-fifth of America’s urban neighborhoods had exactly zero black residents. Today, African-American residents can be found in 199 out of every 200 neighborhoods nationwide. The remaining neighborhoods are mostly in remote rural areas or in cities with very little black population.”
The end of segregation has not caused the end of racial inequality. Only a few decades ago, conventional wisdom held that segregation was the driving force behind socio-economic inequality. The persistence of inequality, even as segregation has receded, suggests that inequality is a far more complex phenomenon. According to the US Census Bureau the per capita income for the overall population in 2008 was $26,964; for non-Hispanic Whites, it was $31,313; for Blacks, it was $18,406; for Asians, it was $30,292; and for Hispanics, it was $15,674.
Best-known US mayors join
in support of gay marriage
New York City, 25 January 2012: Some 80 US mayors from the country’s largest cities have come together in support of same-sex marriage. The coalition ‘Mayors for the Freedom to Marry’ is chaired by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and includes Democrats, Republicans and Independents. Among the nationally and internationally known members are the mayors of Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Houston. In a statement the mayors write: “As mayors of America’s great cities, we understand that the strength and health of our cities are enhanced when all families are protected and supported.”
NYC Mayor Bloomberg has championed the legalisation of gay marriage for a number or years. He has pushed for it in both New York City and State. The mayor has challenged religious leaders and others who were working to defend traditional families from the onslaught of homosexual marriage, scolding them that it was not about what they wanted to believe or what they thought was right or wrong. “It is also not about what organised religion should or should not do. This is a civil rights issue,” he declared.
Bloomberg also said that the question was not if marriage equality would come to all 50 US states. “The only question is when. I believe that day will come sooner than most people think,” he added.
In an interview with the Washington Post, the mayor claimed that since same-sex marriage was legalised in New York State some 700 gay and lesbian couples were now getting married at the city clerk’s offices. “That means every month, hundreds of more parents and children are gaining the economic stability and protections that come with being a formal family unit.”
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who co-chairs ‘Mayors for the Freedom to Marry’ said if we truly believe in family values, we should value all families. “Denying gay and lesbian couples the freedom to marry weakens society by hurting our communities, neighbours, and families.”
Chicago’s new mayor Rahm Emanuel and US President Obama’s former Chief of Staff, declared that he supported legalising homosexual marriage for no other reason than it was the right thing and it was consistent with US values. “To me, marriage is a recognition of love and the state should not be in the business of discriminating against love.”
Several US states, including Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and the District of Columbia, have legalized gay marriage and several other states have passed laws legalizing same-sex civil unions. But there are also some 30 US states that have enacted constitutional amendments or legislation declaring marriage as an act between a man and a woman and prohibiting same-sex marriage.
In 2009 the US Conference of Mayors unanimously approved a resolution saying: “The US Conference of Mayors supports marriage equality for same-sex couples and the recognition and extension of full equal rights to such unions, including family and medical leave, tax equity, and insurance and retirement benefits, and opposes the enshrinement of discrimination in the federal or state constitutions.”
So far, City Mayors is not aware of any US mayor who has officially opposed the legalization of same-sex marriage. Full list of members of ‘Mayors for the Freedom to Marry’
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Muslim leaders plan to boycott
meeting with New York mayor
30 December 2011: Several prominent New York Muslim leaders have announced that they would not attend today’s annual interfaith breakfast meeting with Mayor Michael Bloomberg. In a letter, the group wrote of very disturbing revelations about the treatment of Muslim New Yorkers by the city’s police force (NYPD) that had come to light. The authors were referring to a series of articles distributed by Associated Press (AP), which claim that NYPD undercover agents had targeted mosques and Muslim community centres without any indications that crimes were planned or had been committed.
Mayor Bloomberg and New York’s Police commissioner Raymond Kelly denied the accusations, saying that the NYPD did not target Muslim or any other communities but simply followed leads. But Muslim leaders wrote that they were deeply disturbed that to date they had only heard words of strong support for these troubling policies and violations of their rights. “We are equally disturbed by Commissioner Kelly’s denials of what we know to be true as verified by the leaked documents,” the letter continues. The letter described the NYPD actions as “unjust, warrantless surveillance of the Muslim faith community.”
The action by New York’s Muslim community came one year after Mayor Bloomberg was praised for his passionate support for proposed mosque and Islamic cultural centre near Ground Zero, saying that religious tolerance was one of the cornerstones of New York’s society. "Let us not forget that Muslims were among those murdered on 9/11 and that our Muslim neighbours grieved with us as New Yorkers and as Americans. We would betray our values - and play into our enemies' hands - if we were to treat Muslims differently than anyone else. In fact, to cave to popular sentiment would be to hand a victory to the terrorists - and we should not stand for that," the mayor told a group of religious leaders.
US mayor proposes to give
illegal immigrants the vote
New Haven, 26 December 2011: Four years ago, Mayor John DeStefano led a ground-breaking initiative in the city of New Haven, Connecticut, to create a city identity card for its residents regardless of their citizenship status. In 2007, the Elm City Resident Card (Elm City being the nickname for New Haven) became a way for undocumented immigrant residents to access financial and government services, without fear of being exposed as ‘illegals’. Now the mayor wants to go a step further. A few days before Christmas he suggested to extend local voting rights to non-citizens in his city, including immigrants who entered the US illegally.
DeStefano said the resident card initiative helped undocumented immigrants to come out of the shadows. Despite crackdowns against ‘illegals’ elsewhere, the mayor is determined to go ahead with proposals that he says are designed to find common ground in a diverse city. "We're a place of differences. We're a place that sees a strength and places a value on welcoming folks from all over," the mayor told journalists.
The question of ‘sanctuary cities’ - police in sanctuary cities are effectively prohibited from asking about immigration status without criminal cause – is likely to become an issue in next year’s presidential elections. While US President Obama has resisted calls from right-wing Republicans to take action against sanctuary cities, Republican presidential hopefuls like Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry and Mitt Romney have been advocating laws forbidding cities from acting as ‘sanctuaries’ for illegal immigrants.
DeStefano described the attacks as irrelevant to his city and suggested critics are using immigrants as scapegoats amid the weak economy. "These are hard times right now in America. Part of human nature is when you're angry to look for someone else to blame for your problems. I understand that," he said.
New Haven's immigrant-friendly policies sets it apart from some other Connecticut communities, including next-door neighbour East Haven, where a US Justice Department investigation found that police had singled out Latinos for harassment.
New Haven, with a population of some 125,000 registered residents, is, according to some estimates, home to 10 to 12,000 illegal immigrants.
Last month, John DeStefano was re-elected to a 9th term as mayor.
Chicago’s planned super-park
is met with some skepticism
Chicago, 24 December 2011: Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel claimed this week that the largest urban park in the contiguous US would be coming to Chicago. The project called the Millennium Reserve aims to turn 140,000 acres of under-used and post-industrial land along the Second City's southern rim into a “public recreation hub”. Governor Quinn said he hoped that the envisaged $17 million from the state would be augmented by private funding. Mayor Emanuel pointed out that New York’s Central Park was a mere 843 acres and that Chicago’s largest existing park, Lincoln Park, was 1,200 acres large.
But the announcement from Governor Quinn and Mayor Emanuel drew derision from some urban planners, some of who were involved in earlier plans to turn brownfields into parkland. “The 140,000 acres refers to total acreage included in the entire Calumet core area. It would come as unwelcome news to the University of Chicago, Ford Motor Company, and the hundreds of thousands of other landowners within that vast swathe that they will be cleared away for an urban wilderness to equal Chugach State Park.
Of course, that won't be the case, since only 15,000 highly discontiguous acres are to be open space in Phase 1. Much of that is either already protected land (including Jackson Park, home of the 1893 World's Fair) or is low-value brownfields that were identified as open space opportunities in earlier plans. I should know, since I worked on one of those plans more than ten years ago.”
Harrisburg likely to be run
by State of Pennsylvania
Harrisburg, 25 November 2011: Harrisburg’s Mayor Linda Thompson welcomed the US Bankruptcy Court’s ruling that the city cannot file for bankruptcy under Chapter 9 of America’s bankruptcy code. "I'm elated and I have a spirit of Thanksgiving because now the cloud has been removed from around the city in terms of the uncertainty," said the mayor.
Last month Harrisburg city council filed for bankruptcy against the wishes of the mayor. The council’s decision prompted Pennsylvania’s governor to enact legislation, which would allow him eventually to take over the city. Governor Corbett was opposed to bankruptcy, saying the city would be better off if it agreed a rescue plan under state supervision.
The Bankruptcy Court ruled that city councillors failed to follow state procedures for distressed cities when they sought to protect the city from creditors through Chapter 9. "For Chapter 9 bankruptcy to work, all of the branches of a municipality must be on the same page," Judge Mary France said.
Harrisburg’s troubles result from a decision to refurbish a waste incinerator. In 2003, the council voted for a complete refurbishment of the 30-year old incinerator. The overhaul took much longer than expected and the original cost estimate proved completely inadequate. Today some $300 million of debt are tied to the waste disposal facility.
If there is no appeal against the court ruling, the State of Pennsylvania will take over the struggling city. The state is likely to do so under Act 47, a process for distressed cities once used for Philadelphia, the state's largest city.
The Wall Street Journal noted that the bankruptcy dismissal would be welcomed by municipal-bond investors, who tend to dislike the uncertainties of a Chapter 9 case. “Such bankruptcy filings by local governments are rare, and there is little case law to guide them,” the paper wrote.
Earlier this month, Jefferson County, Alabama, filed a $3 billion Chapter 9 bankruptcy petition, the largest ever US municipal bankruptcy.
Some 100 US mayors oppose
controversial tar sands pipeline
Washington DC, 20 November 2011: In the wake of the US government’s decision to conduct a new review of the controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, 103 American mayors sent a letter to President Obama expressing concerns about the pipeline's impacts to communities. The Keystone pipeline system is intended to transport synthetic crude oil and diluted bitumen from the Athabasca Oil Sands in northeastern Alberta, Canada, to multiple destinations in the United States, which include refineries in Illinois, Cushing oil distribution hub in Oklahoma, and proposed connections to refineries along the Gulf Coast of Texas.
The mayors' letter demonstrates the widespread opposition that exists in communities across the US to Keystone XL. It also underscores the importance of carrying out a new, in-depth review of the project that includes a careful look at the project's impact on the nation's climate change goals.
The letter, signed by mayors from 28 states, 10 state capitals, and serving a combined population of over nine million Americans, states: "Expansion of high carbon fuels such as tar sands undermine hard work by local communities everywhere to fight climate change, reduce dependence on oil, and create a clean energy future."
"President Obama is listening to concerns from all across America about the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, and now mayors from coast to coast are weighing in," said Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, director of the International Program for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Mayors are at the frontlines of reducing our dependence on oil and have been working to create a more efficient system because they take climate change seriously."
The letter:
• Underscores the President's recognition of important gaps and problems with the environmental review of the Keystone XL project to date.
• Asks for a comprehensive review of the greenhouse gas impacts from this high carbon project, and a general evaluation of how the project will affect local community efforts to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, ratchet down carbon emissions and fight climate change.
• Expresses deep concerns about pipeline leaks, recalling that the first Keystone pipeline experienced some 30 leaks in the United States and Canada in its first year.
• Declares that the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is not in the national interest and should therefore not be granted a Presidential permit.
• Invites the Administration to work with local communities on creating a clean energy future that will provide solid and lasting energy and economic security by lessening our dependence on oil.
Mayors signing the letter include:
Frank Cownie (Des Moines IA), John Dickert (Racine WI), Jennifer Hosterman (Pleasanton CA), Kitty Piercy (Eugene OR), Marie Gilmore (Alameda, CA), Gerald D. Jennings (Albany, NY), William Euille (Alexandria, VA), Ed Pawlowski (Allentown, PA), Susan Ornelas (Arcata, CA), William R. Stokes (Augusta, ME), Denny Doyle (Beaverton, OR), Dan Pike (Bellingham, WA), Tom Bates (Berkeley, CA), Joanne Twomey (Biddeford, ME), Mark Kruzan (Bloomington, IN), Roger C. Claar (Bolingbrook, IL), Bob Kiss (Burlington, VT), Jim Pedelty (Carroll, IA), Don Gerard (Champaign, IL), Mike Kleinschmidt (Chapel Hill, NC), Ann Schwab (Chico, CA), Julie Manning (Corvallis, OR), Bill Gluba (Davenport, IA), Roy D. Buol (Dubuque, IA), William “Bill” Bell (Durham, NC), Antonia Ricigliano (Edison, NJ), Philip Miller (Essex, CT), Ed Malloy (Fairfield, IA), Lioneld Jordan (Fayetteville, AR), Bob Wasserman (Fremont, CA), Craig Lowe (Gainesville, FL), Chase Palmer (Gallatin, TX), Laura Friedman (Glendale, CA), Jacob Smith (Golden, CO), George Heartwell (Grand Rapids, MI), David Doonan (Greenwich, NY), Joy Cooper, (Hallandale Beach, FL), Michael Sweeney (Hayward, CA), William D. McLeod (Hoffman Estates, IL), Carolyn K. Peterson (Ithaca, NY), Eugene J. Rosin (Kaukauna, WI), P. Dale Pregent (Keene, NH), Art Madrid (La Mesa, CA), Virg Bernero (Lansing, MI), Aron Cromwell (Lawrence, KS), Laurent F. Gilbert (Lewiston, ME), Paul R. Soglin (Madison, WI), Bruce Delgado (Marina, CA), Robert Harbick (Marinette, WI), Matti Bower (Miami Beach, FL), Lori Moseley (Miramar, FL), R.T. Rybak (Minneapolis, MN), Mary C. Hooper (Montpelier, VT), George D. Scherck (Neenah, WI), Scott Lang (New Bedford, MA), Jack Chiovatero (New Berlin, WI), John DeStefano, Jr. (New Haven, CT), Jason West (New Paltz, NY), Paul Dyster (Niagara Falls, NY), Chris Koos (Normal, IL), Patrick Henry Hays (North Little Rock, AR), David Pope (Oak Park, IL), Dana Williams (Park City, UT), Bill Bogaard (Pasadena, CA), Frank C. Ortis (Pembroke Pines, FL), David Glass (Petaluma, CA), David Malone (Portsmouth, OH), Gayle McLaughlin (Richmond, CA), Don Richards (River Falls, WI), Ardell F. Brede (Rochester, MN), Roland L. Michaud (Saco, ME), Kevin Johnson (Sacramento, CA), Ralph Becker (Salt Lake City, UT), Jan Marx (San Louis Obispo, CA), Helene Schneider (Santa Barbara, CA), David Coss (Santa Fe, NM), Richard Bloom (Santa Monica, CA), Ernesto Olivares (Santa Rosa, CA), Chris Doherty (Scranton, PA), Mike McGinn (Seattle, WA), Earl M. Leiken (Shaker Heights, OH), Joseph A. Curtatone (Somerville, MA), Brenda Lawrence (Southfield, MI), Elizabeth A. Goreham (State College, PA), Ann Johnston (Stockton, CA), Stephanie Miner (Syracuse, NY), John Marks III (Tallahassee, FL), Darren Cordova (Taos, NM), Jeffrey Lamarand (Taylor, MI), Tony F. Mack (Trenton, NJ), Shelley Welsch (University City, MO), Laurel Prussing (Urbana, IL), Jim Sullivan (Victory, NY), Michael J. O’Brien (Warren, OH), Buck Clark, (Waterloo, IA), William F. Peard (Waukee, IA), Jeri Muoio (West Palm Beach, FL), William Wild (Westland, MI), Christopher Cabaldon (West Sacramento, CA), Jerry Sullivan (Windsor Heights, IA), Joseph C. O’Brien (Worcester, MA), Former Mayor Heidi Davison (Athens, GA), Former Mayor Genoveva Garcia Calloway (San Pablo, CA).
Courts may have to limit Occupy
movement’s right to free speech
Washington DC, 19 November 2011: Two months after the Occupy protest movement started spreading across the United States, tensions between demonstrators and mayors are growing. The protesters cite the US Constitution’s First Amendment, which guarantees the right to free speech, to justify their occupation of parks and squares, while more and more local authorities are concerned about restricted access to public spaces and the inconvenience caused to businesses and local residents.
First Amendment expert and attorney Floyd Abrams says that the Occupy demonstrators are within their rights to protest. But he cautions that the amendment does not necessarily protect the ways they are going about it. "In a situation like this where you're talking about a mass of people taking over a large area of space and basically saying, 'this is now ours, not the rest of the city's, this is now ours to keep and to build and to live in,' I don't think the First Amendment goes there," Abrams said.
The First Amendment of the US Constitution states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." The First Amendment's protections are so strong that courts have allowed hate speech and even speech that defames people because of their race or religion.
In fact, former US Supreme Court Justice William Douglas once wrote that a function of free speech was to "invite dispute" and could best do that by "[creating] dissatisfaction" and even "[stirring] people to anger."
Abrams says protesters legally cannot try to shut down businesses, block roads or commandeer city resources to broadcast their message. He says these limits to free speech fall under time, place and manner restrictions historically used, in fact, to protect the rights of others. "There are some limits that can be placed on where you speak and how much you speak in a particular area because other people want to speak also or other people want to sleep or do other things," Abrams said.
The First Amendment may prohibit the government from making laws to limit certain freedoms, but legal expert Floyd Abrams says it cannot be considered by itself. "The First Amendment is not our only law. It is a law and it is a significant limitation, but it doesn't answer every question," he said. He says its up to the courts to define those rights and determine how to balance them. (Report by Sean Maroney, VoA)
Glimmers of hope after largest
municipal default in US history
Birmingham, Alabama, 12 November 2011: Two days after the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history, residents of Jefferson County, Alabama, want to know: What now? On 9 November, Jefferson County commissioners decided that a filing for bankruptcy under Chapter 9 could no longer be avoided. The decision came two months after it seemed the county had reached an agreement with its creditors. Talks broke down over how to pay about $140 million of the total and there was failure of legislative action by the state for approval of elements of the deal reached with creditors in September.
In addition, the terms required by the court appointed receiver were a heavy burden. The receiver asked for $75 million in cash from the county’s general funds, when it had only $152.5 million in unrestricted revenue in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30. Expressing the feelings behind the decision, Commissioner Jimmie Stephens said it had now become clear that the county and its creditors could not complete the provisional agreement reached in September. “Despite our best efforts the negotiations had not produced any decision that fairly treats the county and our citizens. And it did not appear that further negotiations would produce that,” he said.
The Chapter 9 filing gives Jefferson County, which includes the city of Birmingham, protection from its creditors while it negotiates a plan to adjust its debt of an estimated US$4.15 billion. Options include extending debt maturities, reducing the amount of principal or interest or refinancing the debt by obtaining a new loan. The county’s 658,000 residents are likely to have to pay considerably higher sewage rates as the bulk of the debt is secured against net revenues from the sewer system.
However, Chapter 9 is different than other chapters in the US bankruptcy code in that the law does not allow the court to order the municipality's assets be liquidated and distributed to creditors.
As far as investors are concerned, the Chapter 9 filing does not necessarily mean they will lose their money. In 1994, Orange County, California, filed for bankruptcy, with debts totaling $1.7 billion. In the end, all debts were fully repaid, said Larry Swedroe, director of research at Buckingham Asset Management.
Jefferson County's debt escalated in the mid-2000s when the bond issuance deal to upgrade its sewer system soured. Costs ballooned as interest rates rose, and the county had teetered on the edge of insolvency since its debt was downgraded in 2008. With more than $5 billion in total indebtedness, the Chapter 9 filing on Wednesday surpassed that filed by Orange County, California, in 1994. Larry Langford, a Democrat and former mayor of Birmingham, was sentenced to 15 years in prison last year for his role in the corrupt business deals that fuelled the rising costs of the multibillion-dollar sewer debt. Langford presided over the county commission during the height of the bond swaps that led to the run-up of the massive debt.
Jefferson’s bankruptcy is the 11th such filing this year and comes only weeks after Pennsylvania's capital city Harrisburg sought bankruptcy protection under similar circumstances as it struggled with about $300 million in debt from a trash incinerator that began operating in 1972. In August, Central Falls, Rhode Island’s smallest city, sought court protection, citing pension costs it could not afford. The municipality listed almost $21 million of outstanding general-obligation debt.
The mayor of Birmingham, Jefferson’s county capital, said the city’s finances were sound. Still, he admitted he had to pull his city out of Jefferson County’s shadow. “We are a separate entity. Birmingham's financial status is very sound. We have more than enough money to carry out our day-to- day operations,” Mayor William Bell, who took office in January 2010, told journalists.
Birmingham, with 4,160 employees and a $371 million general-fund budget for 2011, carries Moody's Investors Service's third-highest bond rating at Aa2. Jefferson County's bonds are rated 14 levels lower: Caa1, below investment grade.
Ed Lee confirmed as
San Francisco mayor
San Francisco, 10 November 2011: Ed Lee won San Francisco's mayoral race, thus becoming the city’s first elected mayor of Chinese descent in a city with a large Chinese population. Mayor Lee, who was appointed acting mayor after former Mayor Gavin Newsom won election last November as California's lieutenant governor, received 61 per cent of votes after several rounds of votes from the city’s ranked-choice election system had been computed. During the campaign Lee said that the most significant achievement during his 10 months as acting mayor was the pension agreement he reached with the city’s unions.
Elsewhere in the US, there were wins for incumbent mayors in Houston, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Baltimore, Charlotte and Columbus.
In Houston, Mayor Annise Parker avoided a run-off by winning just over 50 per cent of votes cast. The Houston Chronicle reports that most observers considered Parker a prohibitive favorite in the absence of a well-funded or well-known challenger among the five candidates who ran against her. “Parker took office two years ago at a time when the tanking economy drained millions from the city’s income stream as tax collections plunged. She tackled a $100 million budget shortfall by laying off more than 750 city workers, consolidating departments, raising fees and cutting deals to put off some of the city’s bills until better times. She did so without raising taxes or laying off any firefighters or police officers.”
Despite a low turn-out in Philadelphia’s mayoral election, incumbent Democrat Mayor Michael Nutter scored an overwhelming victory by winning more than 75 per cent of the vote. Democrat candidates also took control of Montgomery County, which takes in most of Philadelphia’s suburbs. It was the first time Democrats defeated Republicans in the county’s 140-year history.
In Indianapolis, where the Democrats won control of the city council, Republican incumbent mayor achieved a narrow victory over his Democrat challenger. Mayor Greg Ballard's re-election benefited from thousands of crossover votes, but he now will have to work together with his political opponents in the city council.
Baltimore Democrat Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake easily won in yesterday’s mayoral election nearly two years after her predecessor Sheila Dixon stepped down embroiled in scandal. With all precincts reporting, Rawlings-Blake won with 87 per cent of the vote, compared to 13 per cent for her Republican challenger Alfred Griffin.
Charlotte’s Democrat Mayor Anthony Foxx easily won a second term yesterday, with a wide margin over Republican challenger Scott Stone. Some 67 per cent of the city's voters chose Foxx, while Stone only managed to gather 32 per cent.
Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman has won a historic fourth consecutive term by winning the support of almost 70 per cent of voters. Coleman’s fellow Democrats on the city council also held on to their jobs, with all four incumbents sweeping to victory over two Republican and two Libertarian challengers. Full report
Mayor Monitor rates the performance of mayors from across the world More
Decline of segregation has not led to a more equal society in the US
Best-known US mayors join in support of gay marriage
Muslim leaders plan to boycott meeting with New York mayor
US mayor proposes to give illegal immigrants the vote
Chicago’s planned super-park is met with some skepticism
Harrisburg likely to be run
by State of Pennsylvania
Some 100 US mayors oppose controversial tar sands pipeline
Courts may have to limit Occupy movement’s right to free speech
Glimmers of hope after largest municipal default in US history
Ed Lee confirmed as San Francisco mayor