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Hamburg mayor elected with
support from the opposition
Hamburg, 26 August 2010: Hamburg’s senate elected Christoph Ahlhaus as the city’s new mayor and state premier. He will lead a coalition government of his own centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Greens. He fills the spot left vacant by fellow Christian Democrat Ole von Beust, who stepped down in July for personal reasons. When Hamburg's mayor quit last month, it looked bad for the city-state's coalition government of conservative Christian Democrats and Greens. But their candidate was appointed mayor with surprising support on yesterday.

The victory comes at a difficult time for the Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU, which is losing support among voters. Von Beust's resignation had been seen as another blow to the party. In Hamburg, the CDU forms a rare coalition with the Green party. Together they have 68 out of 121 seats in the state legislature.

Ahlhaus won the support of 70 senate members, meaning at least two opposition deputies voted for him. The head of the opposition Social Democrats in Hamburg, Michael Neumann, said it was "annoying" that the opposition didn't vote in unison against Ahlhaus and said he didn't know from which party the two votes came. The 40-year-old Ahlhaus, who originates from Heidelberg, was Hamburg's interior minister and has assured the Greens he will stick to environmental policies agreed to by his predecessor. (Report by Deutsche Welle and local reporters)

The French mayor and
his favourite dictators
Montpellier, 23 August 2010: The president of Greater Montpellier, George Frêche, is enjoying the controversy he has created over his plans to install statues of famous politicians of the 20th century, including dictators like Lenin, Stalin and Mao Zedong in the city’s newest square. The first five bronze sculptures, which measure more than 3.5 metres in height, were unveiled last week. They depict, uncontroversial statesmen like Roosevelt, Churchill and de Gaulle but also Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union.

The mayor is convinced the statues will become a major tourist attraction. “Visitors will have their pictures taken in front of the sculptures – Gaullists in front of de Gaulle and Communists in front of Lenin,” Frêche said. Five more statues are planned for next year, showing Mahatma Gandhi, Golda Meir, Gamal Nasser, Nelson Mandela and Mao Zedong.

Critics of the mayor said he should have consulted the people of Montpellier over which famous people they wanted in their midst. “Who will be next? Pol Pot? Hitler?” they asked. Local representatives of the French Green party accused Frêche of forcing his historical views onto the city. But the mayor replied that the politicians were chosen because they initiated major events in the last century.

George Frêche is no stranger to controversy. In 2007, the French Socialist Party expelled him over anti-Semitic and racist comments. He also accused the police of being responsible for the burning of cars in the French banlieues. The London-based newspaper The Independent described him as the “Le Pen of the left”. Still, despite all the storms he created, Frêche easily won re-election last March.

Spanish mayor refuses to
back down over Gibraltar toll
Gibraltar, 18 August 2010: The dispute between Gibraltar and its neighbouring Spanish town La Linea is intensifying after the towns mayor, Alejandro Sanchez, insisted a border road toll would be introduced in October. The mayor wants to charge every car leaving Gibraltar and passing through his town five euros. He likened the toll to congestion charges in cities like London, Stockholm and Singapore. The mayor told City Mayors that he did not understand the anger his plans caused in the British overseas territory as he did not propose to charge Gibraltar residents.

A spokesman for the Gibraltar government condemned the proposals by Mayor Sanchez as completely illegal. "The confused statements by the mayor of La Linea in respect of the proposed toll describe a litany of illegalities under EU law and probably also under Spanish law," he said. Gibraltar is convinced that the Spanish government is unlikely to allow the Sanchez’s plan to go through, although the town council has backed the mayor.

Sanches has also be criticised by the president of the Andalucia region, who said any toll between Gibraltar and Spain would be illegal. Following the regional president’s statement La Linea mayor described him as another “Gibraltarian”.

Gibraltar’s press described the proposed toll as totally unacceptable and illegal. “The toll will be a clear hindrance on freedom of movement. The Gibraltar government should protest in the strongest terms and the Spanish government should squash this proposal once and for all,” one commentator wrote. However, Gibraltar’s first minister is reluctant to become too closely involved as he believes it is mainly an issue between La Linea and Madrid.

Meanwhile one Gibraltar resident told City Mayors that he for one would stop using the La Linea market on a Wednesday, and will not bother with Carefour or any other shop in La Linea. “There is plenty to offer elsewhere and I think the man has not worked out just what it is going to cost him, especially if the dual airport comes on line. I believe if he makes exceptions to the charge on where people live and where they work he comes within the remit of the definition of racist.”

Florence mayor fights
over who owns David
Florence, 16 August 2010: Florence Mayor Matteo Renzi has come out fighting to keep Michelangelo’s David the property of his city after the Italian government of Silvio Berlusconi claimed ownership of the marble statue. A report by the country’s culture ministry asserted that David belonged to the state. “The City of Florence cannot own David because, over the centuries, the sculpture passed from sovereign state to sovereign state, starting with the Medici's rule,” government lawyers said.

Mayor Renzi, however, pointed to a decree, which apparently ceded David to Florence when Rome became the capital of modern Italy. "David is ours, that's what the document says,” the mayor told the press. The Italian heritage minister Sandro Bondi issued a statement saying, he was not prepared to hand over ownership of the statue.

The Florence mayor’s office told the press that the Italian government based it’s claim on the fact that Italy paid for David to be moved from its original spot, in central Florence's Palazzo Vecchio, to L'Accademia. “The city of Florence commissioned and paid for the statue's creation in the 14th Century. It stood at the Palazzo Vecchio for nearly four centuries, until 1873, when it was moved to L'Accademia in order to better preserve it,” the mayor’s spokesman explained.

The debate over who owns David is not new. The spokesman for the mayor said that it began in early 1990, when the then mayor asked for the profits from ticket sales to go to the city rather than the government. Last month Renzi again asked for David’s earnings to go to Florence. It is estimated that annual ticket sales bring in some eight million euros.

Moscow mayor returns
to his suffering people
Moscow, 11 August 2010: Russian news agencies have cited a "source in the Kremlin administration" as criticizing Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov for his absence from the Russian capital as fires ravaged the surrounding region and the daily mortality rate in the city nearly doubled amid record temperatures.

"The mayor's absence obviously was not helpful in taking the necessary decisions on time, without delays," the source was quoted as saying. The same source noted it was "of course good" that Luzhkov "returned from holiday and took up his responsibilities."

Luzhkov and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin held a joint news conference in Moscow yesterday in which Luzhkov promised to focus on reconstruction. "We are pledging to allocate part of our reserve fund to [rebuilding] facilities, which you have chosen, in Ryazan Oblast and Voronezh Oblast because they need our help," Luzhkov said. "We're talking primarily about social-infrastructure facilities."

Later, the Russian news agency Interfax quoted the head of the Effective Politics Foundation, Gleb Pavlovsky, as saying the obvious facts were that "Luzhkov delayed cutting short his vacation, did not properly assess the political situation, did not grasp the seriousness and danger of the situation in Moscow." (Report by Radio Free Europe)

Welsh politicians call for
directly elected mayors
Cardiff, 10 August 2010: A Welsh legislator said Cardiff needed a directly elected mayors to speak for the Welsh capital and drive it forward. Assembly Member Jonathan Morgan argued that a vote for a directly-elected mayor would give the people of Cardiff a direct say in the direction the city is taking and ensure there was a ‘Mr or Mrs Cardiff’ able to speak for the capital. Morgan explained a directly elected major for Cardiff offered such potential for the city as it would undoubtedly ensure a greater degree of strategic vision about what an expanding capital needed in the decades to come.

He cited the role city mayors played in the US and many European countries. “Local government leaders on the continent and in America are held in the highest esteem for many reasons. However, one of the most compelling for me is that a particular individual who offers them self up for such an office isn’t always a politician in the conventional sense with a long political background. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is a hugely successful business man and he brings to the office a wealth of experience beyond the political sphere. Why couldn’t this be the case here?” Morgan asked.

The current leader of Cardiff City Council, Rodney Berman, who is elected by the 75 councillors, is vehemently opposed to the idea of directly elected mayors believing it concentrated too much power in one person’s hand.

A second Welsh politician has now also called for directly elected mayors. Albert Owen, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Anglesey said his island community in North Wales would benefit from a mayor chosen by all the people. Last year the Welsh Assembly government in Cardiff took control of the Anglesey council because of its poor performance. Albert Owen now believes that a mayor voted in by the people of Anglesey is the only way to go forward with the council. "I believe an elected mayor is the best way forward for the island, bringing both stability and accountability to the people of Anglesey and motivating both councillors and our beleaguered council staff alike," he explained.

Reykjavik mayor dons
a dress for gay pride
Reykjavik, 8 August 2010: Reykjavik's mayor Jon Gnarr dressed up in drag to open the city’s annual Gay Pride weekend. Addressing the opening ceremony of the Gay Pride festival, Gnarr’s buxom alter ego said I am here in the absence of Mayor Gnarr as he is too busy to attend. Jon Gnarr, leader of the Best Party, became mayor in June. He is also a popular comedian and actor.

Iceland is probably the most gay-friendly country in the world. In 2009, it became the first country with an openly gay head of government, when Johanna Sigurdardottir became prime minister. Gay Pride is Iceland’s most popular annual event attracting up to 80,000 people, roughly one quarter of the country’s entire population.

London boroughs aim to
become more inclusive
London, 4 August 2010: Islington Council in London has established a Fairness Commission headed by a prominent writer on inequality. The Spirit Level author Professor Richard Wilkinson will head the inquiry into inequality in the borough, which is often regarded as one of the most affluent in the capital but has pronounced pockets of poverty. The inquiry, which also includes representatives of local health and police services, as well as community groups, will examine the factors affecting life chances in the borough and make recommendations to the council aimed at reducing inequalities locally.

The move follows the somewhat unexpected Labour victory in local elections in the borough, home of London mayor Boris Johnson and long associated with Tony Blair's inner circle, held this May. Professor Wilkinson, co-author of the bestselling The Spirit Level, a global study into the effects of inequality on societies, said: “More equal societies are more cohesive. They have less violence, fewer drug problems and better health.” He added “A fairer society can improve the quality of life for all of us so making Islington a nicer place to live.” Wilkinson’s work has however been attacked by several right-wing think tanks recently, such as the Taxpayers' Alliance, who allege that his central thesis is based around a simplistic and questionable use of data and advocates "unjustified" economic policies and high spending by governments.

In Lambeth, south of the river, the council has since its re-election in May pioneered the ‘co-operative council’ concept whereby local residents are given a stake in the services they receive, such as a rebate on council tax for participating in local projects and community ownership of council assets. The approach is likened by council leaders to the department store John Lewis and its partnership model of employee ownership and profit-sharing. The council hopes to become the first ‘co-operative council’ in the UK and its Labour leaders have pointed out the contrast with the so-called ‘easyCouncil’ model pioneered by Conservative-run Barnet elsewhere in London, where residents are expected to pay extra if they wish to receive better services.

London starts its own
bikes-to-go scheme
London, 1 August 2010: London's transport agency has introduced a bicycle rental system throughout central London to encourage people to ride bikes rather than drive, take taxis or use other public transport. It's an effort to alleviate congestion on London's overcrowded roads and transport system.

The $150 million system is the second largest of its kind in the world. Riders use an electronic key to unlock a bike from one of more than 300 stations. They cycle to their destination and return the bike to another station. London Mayor Boris Johnson says he has learned from mistakes made in Paris, where many of the bikes were stolen or thrown into the river. He is confident this will work here. "This is a fantastic experiment of a new type of public transport in London," he said. The bikes are heavy and robust to minimize damage and vandalism.

The mayor hopes to make London one of the greatest cycling cities in the world, even so, riding a bike through the capital has its challenges. One of the biggest challenges is traffic. In some areas there are marked bike lanes; in others there are not. And there is a long history of animosity between drivers and cyclists here.

Bright blue cycle superhighways are one solution, to clearly mark road areas designated for cyclists. So far there are only two 12-kilometer-long routes. Another 10 routes are expected to open by 2015. London's overcrowded bus and subway system might also benefit from the bikes. "If we can reduce some of the capacity on the tube network in the center of London and some of the buses, then that's a good thing," says David Brown, from Transport for London.

There will be 6,000 bikes available, and the mayor hopes once it gets rolling, this system will result in 40,000 bike trips a day. (Report by Jennifer Glasse, VoA News)

Duisburg mayor’s motives for
clinging to office questioned
Duisburg, 30 July 2010: The desperate reluctance of Duisburg’s Mayor Adolf Sauerland to take political responsibility for the tragic outcome of this year’s Love Parade is starting to overshadow the debate over why 21 young people from Germany and other countries had to die. The embattled mayor’s defence that he did not personally permit the techno music event to go ahead has caused public anger and ridicule. Even members of Sauerlands’s own conservative party (CDU) are distancing themselves from him. More

Love Parade tragedy spells
the end of a mayor’s vision
Duisburg, 27 July 2010: Following the death of 20 people at Saturday's Love Parade music festival in Duisburg, the city's mayor is coming under increasing pressure to resign. Adolf Sauerland, who defended the city’s security plan and was pelted with rubbish by angry crowds, has faced scathing criticism from several local and regional newspapers as well as from police sources. More and more details of unrealistic planning, unheeded security warnings and botched operations on the ground emerged in the media, while Rainer Wendt, head of the national police union, told the press that police warnings about the dangers of holding the festival in Duisburg were not taken seriously. "I warned the city and the organisers a year ago that Duisburg was not a suitable location for the Love Parade. It is too small and too cramped," he said. "But I was called a killjoy and a security fanatic." More

London boroughs merge
education departments
London, 20 July 2010: For the first time in London, two local authorities have agreed to combine departments. The London boroughs of Westminster and Hammersmith & Fulham, both under Conservative control, plan to merge their educations sections by April 2011. Representatives from both boroughs said running separate education departments was simply no longer affordable. “The merger is likely to produce savings of more than 20 per cent over the next three years,” they predict.

In a joint statement the leaders of both borough councils said that the move would reduce duplication, while improving school standards. “We face some difficult choices, but current levels of spending are simply unsustainable. Our proposals on sharing services may be the first of their kind, but this will soon become the norm for local authorities looking for innovative ways to keep costs down,” Colin Burrow, leader of Westminster Council, explained.

Britain’s local government minister, Eric Pickles, welcomed the boroughs’ decision, saying that there was great potential for more joint working in local government. However critics say that the merger will undermine local democracy and accountability. “Who will parents go to to complain about their childrens’ education,” asked the leader of the Labour opposition on Westminster Council.

Labour and Liberal Democrat sources also point out that, ironically, it was a Conservative government, which abolished the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA). The Authority was responsible for education in all the inner London boroughs, including Westminster, Fulham and Hammersmith, from 1965 until its demise in 1990. In Outer London education was administered by the individual boroughs.

Hamburg mayor resigns
after failed referendum
Hamburg, 19 July 2010: Hamburg Mayor Ole von Beust confirmed yesterday that he would step down on 25 August. The mayor announced his resignation on the same day as his coalition of conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and the centre-left Greens (GAL) lost a referendum over school reform. Von Beust, who has been rumoured of having become tired of politics, said he wanted to allow his successor plenty of time to establish himself before local elections in 2012.

The mayor, who has been in office since 2001, told journalists that there was a sell-by date for everything including himself. “I have led my party in four elections, a fifth time is not necessary,” he said. Von Beust’s urbane style of government made him one of Hamburg’s most popular mayors. He captured a traditionally liberal city from the Social Democrats, survived a disastrous alliance with a populist right-wing party and formed Germany’s first ‘black-green’ coalition at state level. He has been nominated for this year’s World Mayor Prize.

It remains to be seen whether the CDU-GAL administration will survive following the referendum defeat. Reforming primary schools was one of the main aims of the coalition, although lengthening the amount of time young children learn together before selective secondary schooling was a Green priority rather than a policy favoured by von Beust’s centre-right CDU.

Currently, children spend four years in universal primary schools before going on either to city district schools or grammar schools (Gymnasium). Only students attending a Gymnasium can obtain the German equivalent of the baccalaureate (Abitur). The Greens believe that, at the age of ten, children are too young to be educationally streamed. The aim of the now rejected school reform was to introduce universal teaching until sixth grade, which, its supporters believe, would also allow more children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds and those with an immigration background apply for grammar school places and progress to university.