From: Jennifer Landesmann
To: Council, City
Subject: a perspective on Mayor selection
Date: Sunday, January 7, 2024 9:38:27 AM
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Dear Council,
Happy New Year! Thank you to Mayor Kou and each of you for your work for the City this year and best wishes for the year ahead.
The Weekly reported that you are possibly considering a new system for choosing a Mayor. I appreciated Council member Vicki Venkeer's comment that "...the role of cities is rising" (because of dysfunctions in Congress) and about regional representation issues. In fact, some of the city's biggest challenges involve broader interactions.
As you consider the Mayor's role, I offer a perspective about why getting things done with Congress is torture. In my observation, Congress is heavy on politics but way too casual with basic oversight responsibilities. Spending decisions are made with zero performance metrics or regular accountability to the public. Members of Congress and the people leading the agencies themselves often do not know who is in charge of what. It's rare for a citizen to be able to match the way a policy is implemented to the law or policy that generated the practice.
Congress is long on hearings, meetings and press articles, suggesting transparency but you would have to be a magician to trace something from A to B.
It's time to admit that dysfunction does not get solved by how the people on top get rearranged but rather with how the systems are improved..to make the next and the next steps to be as informed and transparent as possible. Innovation and investments rely on the power of a well informed public. Regional committees are especially vague and opaque. I would worry about having less transparency by extending the Mayoral terms.. unless there are
periodic and standardized public check-ins including written reports (to residents and public) that explain what goals were achieved for xyz regional effort; how "smart" - specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound, and how the representation squares with Community and Council engagement.
Problems are not solved by any one person, idea, new fact, or elected officials alone. It's a marathon involving everyone. We will do much if we can keep improving the rules of engagement, and doing the basics of oversight, documenting, tracking, communicating, and checking in with the public. We are lucky to have the shared system of government in Palo Alto, it's a model that demands interactions that ultimately are the most needed to address challenges.
Best,
Jennifer