- Apologize.
- Fix the problem.
- Share your lesson - Make it a teaching moment.
- Stay the course.
- Fight back only if you have something to fight for
- Make good.
- Stop the rants.
- This is not about you anymore, it is about Toronto.
- Move on.
- Work on re-building your reputation.
The first 100 days for Detroit's New Mayor
With just a few hours before the polls open for voters in Detroit to elect its 75th mayor, the next 100 days will be crucial and will set the tone for Detroit to re-emerge from its current state of chaos.
In 100 days, winter will have set on the city of Detroit and the the 2014 Winter Olympics will be well under way in Sochi. In addition, the new Mayor will have already survived his first snow fall and The North American International Auto Show. However, beginning the night of the election, the Mayor-elect should be able to set the tone for his administration and layout his vision for strengthening the city.
From the very beginning Detroit's new mayor must lay out a clear vision for the city. The people of Detroit and the region need to be able to join the new mayor to reaffirm Detroit's strength and to enlist our support in moving it forward -- together.
At first their vision can be broad, but then in the weeks between the election and the day they take office, the Mayor-elect should hold a series of facilitated meetings with key stakeholders to share their vision, solicit feedback and advise and enlist their support in implementing their vision.
This should include a series of facilitated discussions where problems are presented and communities are engaged in solving those problems together. The new mayor should begin to set the stage for open dialogue in Detroit to re-frame the issues facing our city and reset the way we approach problem solving.
Through this visioning process, the Mayor-elect can then begin to build his team to wrap-around that vision. A core of advisors should emerge from their campaign and transition to the 11th floor of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, but the new mayor should seek professional support, not only from within the city, but outside the city, even outside the state, to join his administration to help implement the plan.
Every week should be choreographed and mapped out, between now and the mayor's official start date. For example, meetings with Mayor Dave Bing to discuss the transition, meetings and aggressive outreach to Detroit's City Council where we will see so many new faces around the table, meetings with labor, the business community, faith based community, regional and state leaders and the Mayor of Windsor.
The new Mayor should immediately begin to bring people together to solve problems. There is a strong role for the new mayor, even with an Emergency Manager in place. The new Mayor can create the plans for re-emerging from bankruptcy and get everything ready. The new mayor can get out in the community every day and showcase everything the city has to offer -- both good and bad. They must travel to Lansing and meet with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. And they should travel to Washington and meet with officials who can bring additional resources to the city They should also seek immediate opportunities to immerse themselves in the U.S. Conference of Mayors and utilize the resources this organization has for cities like ours.
However, the most important thing for the new mayor to do is to be visible. Eat in our local restaurants, shop in Detroit's shops. Take the bus to work every now and then and get out and never stop talking to people.
Regardless of who wins on Election Night, the new mayor must usher in a new generation of Detroit politics. One in which barriers are shed and the wall between the Mayor and Council is torn down. This city can no longer waste time mirrored in politics and now we must all work together, with the Mayor as the leader with the Mayor as the one with the vision to see it through.
Lessons San Diego can learn from Detroit
While Detroit may have its' list of issues, the one thing San Diego can learn from Detroit is what to do when a mayor mirrored in controversy refuses to step down and allow the city they are supposed to serve wallow in his controversy. To help the city move forward the Mayor needs to resign and leaders in the community, including business leaders, the faith-based community and others must increase their calls for action. Government leaders must do the same. This is not politics and should not be a partisan issue. More specifically, members of the San Diego City Council should take collective action to remove the Mayor.
The President of the San Diego City Council, or whoever is next in-line to become Mayor, must also begin immediate steps in creating a transition plan, ensuring the public that they are on the job and taking back control. Over the next 90 days the new Mayor needs to create a strategy where they remain very visible in the community and in the media. Every day the new Mayor should be talking to people in the community, showing up at places throughout the city, in local restaurants at lunch and away from the city center and in the neighborhoods. This includes meeting with key leaders, including business, faith-based, labor and regional leaders to talk about solutions for moving the city forward. At that time, the new Mayor can start communicating their vision for the city and help shift the focus back to the important issues the city faces.
The new mayor should also meet with the media on a regular basis. Host briefings in their office and otherwise make their schedule public. This also includes the national media as the rest of the country is watching. With each interview, the new mayor must reinforce that they are on the job, have taken control and putting this controversy behind to reinforce what makes San Diego a great city, focus on the vital issues that need attention and offer their vision for moving forward.
But before you have a new mayor, current Mayor Bob Filner has to step aside for the sake of the city's future. It is time to let go of an ego that got the former Mayor of Detroit in jail, not once, not twice but several times. The mayor needs to stop avoiding the media and start talking. Either set the record straight or face up to the mistakes you made. We all have issues, some worse than others and some more public than others. There will be some people that will be forgiving and others will not. However, elected officials have a responsibility to be accountable to the people who elected them and seeking therapy is not the answer.
Rather than seek shelter in therapy, get in front of the issue. The more you let it linger the more you let others talk about you and your city and the more difficult it will be to rebuild your reputation or the city's. Finally, apologize and work hard on finding positive solutions that will help everyone heal and move on to more important issues.
Former South Carolina Governor tried to do it and now he is serving in Congress. Former New York Governor Elliott Spitzer is trying to do it as is former Congressman Anthony Weiner. My mayor, former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick did not do it and now sits in prison. However, former Portland Mayor Sam Adams served out his term despite admitting to inappropriate relationships. You can look to other countries as well, including Toronto, Montreal, Italy, Mexico and the Czech Republic for other examples or Mayors and other elected officials go wild.
Unfortunately, in politics and in government, scandals happen. People love power and sometimes the perks of elected offices gets to them. It is no excuse and unfortunately, it is not uncommon, but as Mayor, Bob can take the steps to help everyone move forward and Detroit offers the perfect guide to stepping in that direction.
Daniel Cherrin is the founder of North Coast Strategies and served as the Communications Director for the City of Detroit and Press Secretary to former Detroit Mayor Kenneth V. Cockrel, Jr., following one of the most tumultuous times in Detroit's history, following the resignation of Kwame Kilpatrick.
Cutting through the clutter
This week marked the official kickoff of the 2012 Presidential Election. From now until August 2012, we will be bombarded with candidates announcing their candidacy, being critical of each others policies and otherwise complicating the issues that are now before Congress. This already in an age where we are bombarded with information. So much information that we just don't know what to believe. WorldPublicOpinion.org, a project based at the University of Maryland, conducted a study that found "strong evidence that voters were substanitally misinformed on many of the issues prominent in the (2010) election campaign."
Congressional Quarterly featured this issue in this week's edition of CQ Weekly. Despite having access to a lot of information, what this study and a recent CNN-Opinion Research survey found was that there is still a knowledge gap of how much we know what goes on in government and how it impacts our lives. In fact, according to the survey, we do not have a clue about which level of government (local, state or federal) does what and for whom. In fact, according to the CQ article, "President's get blamed for local problems, mayors for national problems." In fact, I would get calls almost every week from Detroitiers when I was the Communications Director for the City of Detroit and Press Secretary to former Mayor Kenneth Cockrel, Jr. about issues out of the realm of local government. Also, as a intern for William D. Ford (Ann Arbor) in the 1990's, I would get calls from constituents wanting their street lights fixed.
So as we being a new election cycle, it is important to know what issues are important to you and who is responsible for those issues at either a local, state or federal level. It also is important to reach out to those people and offer your opinion and solution.
In addition, it will benefit you to have a relationship with those individuals so that you can help shape public policy. Retaining a lobbyist or someone who has the connections can prove to be beneficial to you as an individual or as a business. Lobbyists not only know the people involved, they know their personalities and politics surrounding issues. They not only know the policies, they also know the process and can help you navigate above and beyond the rhetoric, to help you achieve your business objectives.
For more information, please contact Daniel Cherrin at dcherrin@fraserlawfirm.comor visit www.fraserlawfirm.com.
The Red Wings new arena can be built through a land swap
There is a city, with a Mayor, who used to be a professional basketball player. This Mayor wants to build a new arena for their basketball team....DETROIT Mayor Dave Bing, you say? NOPE! Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson was a point guard for the Phoenix Suns n the 1990s. He was elected Mayor in 2008 and is focused on building a new basketball arena for the Kings. According to Governing Magazine, their current arena (Arco) is the oldest and smallest arena in the NBA. Its' location is far from the city centre and its has no luxury boxes. The voters do not want to raise their tax to support a new arena, and the city, like Detroit and others, faces a large budget shortfall, with the State not in any position to help. So the Mayor thought out of the box. With the support of City Council, he negotiated a three-way land swap with a developer to help fund the arena. The city will offer land near the current arena as a new location for the state fairgrounds. The fair's current location would be sold to a developer, with the proceeds used to fund a new arena. It it all goes well, the new arena would anchor a new development in Sacramento's downtown on a brownfield site where the railyards used to be. The new arena will be part of a mixed development that will include an intermodal transportation hub with shopping, restaurants, offices and new residential units (12,000 of them). Unfortunately, the deal is still a deal and no contracts have been signed. The fair's governing board and the legislature would both have to agree to the plan. Hmmmm....it does sound familiar. The Detroit Red Wings want to play in a new arena and the Detroit Pistons are for sale. Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, like Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, not only played in the NBA but he also is in the Hall of Fame. Michigan's State Fair Grounds are in the city of Detroit (be it on the edge of the city, but we do have a train station that sits vacant, near a proposed intermodal facility that is connected to two strong neighborhoods of the City (Greektown and Southwest Detroit). While I am sure the Detroit City Council, State Fairground folks and Michigan Legislature would all have to agree, I think what they are doing in Sacramento, is a slam dunk for Detroit.