What It Takes to Lead a City in 2017

Cities are America’s best hope for policymaking that serves the people.
For evidence of this point, look no further than the response to President Trump’s reckless withdrawal from the Paris Climate agreement. As of June 1, 285 American mayors have signed a statement of support for the climate agreement, including our Mayor Mitch Landrieu. Why? Because city leaders cannot afford to deal in the abstract — we must protect our people.
In October, New Orleanians will answer an important question: who should lead our city through these momentous times? I believe our next mayor must be someone who thinks and acts simultaneously at two levels: in the community and beyond our borders.
Community leadership involves a deep understanding of people’s priorities. It requires knowing people’s concerns at a street-by-street level. Community leadership requires listening to the people, and involving them in city policy and governance. The 12-stop neighborhood listening tour I have underway is an example.
Beyond borders leadership involves acting as an ambassador for New Orleans. It requires forging productive relationships with other city leaders and working with the academic, business and nonprofit sectors to find new resources for our city.
These levels of leadership might sound detached from one another. But they’re not. They’re deeply connected. Take the Broadmoor recovery as an example.
The Broadmoor Model
The City of San Francisco, the Aspen Institute, Harvard Kennedy School, Shell, Shorenstein Company, and the nonprofit Carnegie Corporation of New York all jumped in to stand with Broadmoor citizens after Hurricane Katrina and the levee failures.
These groups delivered financial support, professional expertise and volunteer labor. They helped Broadmoor restore its housing, public school and library. It’s not a stretch to say our recovery would not have happened without them.
But here’s where the community comes in. This was a citizen-led recovery. In meetings in our doublewide trailers, you’d see long-time residents debating the neighborhood’s recovery with urban planning and design professionals.
I was president of the Broadmoor Improvement Association at the time. It was not always easy to come to consensus on community decisions. But we were practicing neighborhood democracy. We knew our policy decisions would last only if they reflected the will of the people.
And we made this point clear to our partners upfront. Their investment would have a far greater impact if it reflected the community’s will. It was not their typical way of doing business, but they saw the benefit — both to us and to them.
I have brought this approach to City Hall as Council Member for District B.
Leadership in District B
The first step, as in Broadmoor, was to understand my community’s priorities. Understand them deeply. For instance, many residents of my district had challenges finding good paying jobs and getting equal access to city services.
Understanding these challenges, I looked beyond our borders for resources. I found resources in many places, but three stand out: the Aspen Institute, the Open Society Foundations, and Local Progress.
Aspen, which is run by New Orleans’ favorite son Walter Isaacson, is a network of leaders drawn from the business and nonprofit communities — all around the world. Following my Council election, I participated in a three-year Aspen Institute fellowship program with a group of these leaders. Each Aspen fellow develops a project, enlisting the support of other fellows and the wider Aspen network.
I chose to build national support for a coalition of southern cities — “Welcoming Cities,” we call them — to broaden the economic and social support for longtime, marginalized communities, including immigrants. This is a critical need for New Orleans, and Aspen gave me a platform to advance the idea.
In parallel to the Aspen work, I joined with Birmingham Mayor William Bell to make the case for Welcoming Cities to the Open Society Foundations, an international grant-making network dedicated to social justice, education, and public health. Mayor Bell and I called for support for cities like ours, which continually face state resistance to local policies that support marginalized people.
These efforts beyond our borders paid off. Last year the City of New Orleans — Mayor Landrieu and I together — announced a series of concrete steps to make New Orleans a Welcoming City, easing access to city services for immigrants and non-English speakers.
I took a third step to find resources beyond New Orleans’ borders, joining the board of Local Progress, a network of more than 500 municipal elected officials across the country. Local Progress brings city leaders together to trade ideas and advance policy on issues like the living wage and equal pay for women.
In 2015, the New Orleans City Council passed a $10.55 wage requirement for any business that receives subsidies from city. In February, we formed a new committee to provide the Council with expertise on pay equity and wage discrimination. These are important first steps in reducing inequality in our city, where women earn 65 cents for every dollar paid to men, and African American women only 48 cents.
Looking ahead, I believe cities can — and must — spend the next four years working more closely together than ever before to advance an agenda that supports our people.
I also believe New Orleans needs a mayor who prioritizes the community but looks beyond our city to find resources for our people.
We need a mayor who is deeply rooted in the community, but also has demonstrated the ability to bring world-class resources to our city.
When I am elected Mayor, I will deliver this leadership.