Paul Giorgio: Should Worcester Look at Electing a Strong Mayor?

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Paul Giorgio, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER

Worcester is poised to make great strides in the next few years, but we need the leadership and political will to do so, believes Paul Giorgio.

Worcester City Manager Mike O’Brien’s recent announcement that he was leaving for the private sector caught many in the city by surprise. But it was really not that surprising. O’Brien is leaving after ten grueling years of turning our city around. The long hours and low pay have taken their toll. He has two teenage daughters who will be going to college soon and he and they deserve more time together.

But knowing Mike O’Brien as I do, I know he will throw himself into his new job with all the zeal that he has shown in leading Worcester.

What's next for Worcester?

But what about Worcester? Where does the city go from here? This may be the perfect time to talk about charter change. Mike O’Brien was the closest thing to a strong mayor we have had. In fact, there is no question, that if Mike O’Brien wanted to be strong mayor, he could have been elected.

Worcester is poised to make great strides in the next few years, but we need the leadership and political will to do so. Is a strong mayor the answer?

Before Mike O’Brien was city manager, we had plodding managers. No one would ever call Jeff Mulford or Tom Hoover leaders. They were managers and maybe that is why it is called City Manager form of government and not City Leader form of government.

We need a real leader now. Someone who can move our agenda forward and get the attention of the leadership on Beacon Hill and the rest of the state.

Worcester charter

In 1947, at the urging of the Newspaper and local industrialists, Worcester changed its charter from a Strong Mayor to a City Manager. That is almost 70 years ago. Is Worcester a better place because of it?

The Charter change coincidentally occurred at the same time as Ethnic & Catholic Democrats were wresting control of cities across America from WASP Republicans.

How did they get charter change in Worcester? They claimed that there was corruption in government, and the then Telegram and the Evening Gazette hammered that point home. Maybe there was corruption back 70 years ago, but we now live in different times with more media and a 24 hour news cycle. And for the record, Plan E Government has had corruption too. Mike O’Brien had to get rid of a few people who weren’t looking out for the best interest of the city.

Time for a change

In the past 70 years, we have seen the number of people who vote in city elections decline dramatically. We have seen stagnation. Without real political leadership, no one else takes us seriously. So let’s explore Charter change.

We can do a home rule petition to the State Legislature. This means the City Council would hold a hearing where people could testify, a petition would be drafted and a hearing held at the State House any bill passed would then come back before the voters of Worcester for approval or disapproval.

If the charter is approved by the people, we would then have an election for Mayor.

If we had a real Mayor (apologies to my friend Joe Petty) maybe we would have more people engaged in government. If we went to a strong mayor form of government, maybe we would take the minority community in our city more seriously. If we had a strong mayor form of government, maybe more people would run for the council.

Seventy years is a long time, when our charter was changed America and Worcester were different places. Harry Truman was President, World War II had just ended and we had a vibrant city of almost 250,000 people.

That can’t be said today. Let us all take a stand for democracy. Isn’t electing our own leader something the people can be trusted with?

Paul Giorgio is a longtime Democratic Party Activist who has worked on numerous campaigns. He was a Lead Advance Person for President Clinton & Vice President Gore. He was Deputy Director of Special Events for President Clinton’s first Inauguration. He has been elected a delegate to numerous Democratic National Conventions and recently served as one of President Obama’s representatives on the Platform Committee. In 2013 he was chosen as a Presidential Elector. He is the President of Pagio, Inc., publishers of Pulse Magazine, Vitality Magazine and Worcester Medicine.

Related Slideshow: 7 Questions Worcester Mayor Petty Will Need To Answer

The following are seven big questions facing Worcester Mayor Petty in his secon term in office.

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1) City Manager's Position May Be Vacant

Michael O'Brien may leave to take a position in the private sector. O'Brien has been the proverbial glue that has held City Hall together. O'Brien is a competent fiscal manager and keeps the peace among the City Council.

Top-level government pros are NOT likely to line up for the Worcester job. Petty will be on the hot seat to find talent in the post-O'Brien era.

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2) Economic Development Mixed Reviews

The recent series in the Boston Globe and the overview in GoLocal outlined the lack of success Worcester has had in creating a comprehensive economic development plan. The results of the new construction has created some hope, but there lacks a comprehensive vision and the building seems to be developed in a vacuum. Mayor Petty seems to be extraneous except for the ribbon cutting ceremonies.

The biggest embarrassment was his lack of input into the casino process. Petty had no public opinion on the projects proposed in Worcester or the projects in adjacent towns.

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3) New Council

The new City Council will have its own personality, while the old council failed to debate or discuss - and too often voted in block.

A number of the council members just elected have promised to be more proactive. This could be a challenge for Petty -- or an opportunity to drive proactive change leveraging new ideas and new energy.

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4) Telegram Closing?

Since John Henry purchased both the Boston Globe and the Worcester Telegram, there have been a series of indications that Henry has a strong desire to invest in the Globe and has not said a public word or even visited the Telegram. Media experts have prophesied that the Telegram could be rolled into the Globe - a Globe West edition.

This would leave New England's second largest city without a daily newspaper. What has been deafening is Petty's lack of leadership on this issue. Can you imagine Tom Menino or Buddy Cianci waiting for a decision to be made on Morrissey Boulevard?

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5) Lack of Diversity in Worcester's Government

As GoLocal previously reported, more than 40 percent of Worcester's population is a minority, but you would not know it by who gets the city jobs. Worcester has more than 1,600 full- and part-time city employees and well over 80 percent of them are white.

In almost every department, the number of white workers far outnumbers minorities; some departments are as much as 98 percent white. It is a startling disparity in a city known for its diversity. There has been no concerted public effort to change this by Petty.

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6) Republican Governor Factor

Worcester may not be as wired to the Patrick Administration since Lt. Governor Murray resigned and returned to Worcester, but the Democratic Mayor can get his phone calls answered in the State House.

The next Governor of the Commonwealth could be Charlie Baker. The Democrats are looking at a bruising primary between AG Martha Coakley and Treasurer Steve Grossman, while Charlie Baker is looking like he may get a free ride through the GOP primary. Baker may not be so quick to be concerned about Joe Petty's phone calls.

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7) Legacy

Every Mayor wants to leave his or her city better than they found it -- and wanst to put a mark on the history of the City. Some Mayors focus on schools and others on major developments.

Mayor Petty has yet to define his priorities and the second term is the time to unveil a game plan on why he was the man for the job.