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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Ind. Gov't. - More on "Former two-term Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith is making a name for himself as New York's deputy mayor" [Updated]

That is the headline from a still-available Indy WRTV13 story less than two months old, which reported:

He's working to help Mayor Bloomberg reinvigorate New York City. If you are wondering what a Deputy Mayor in charge of operations is really in charge of, Goldsmith is in charge of police, fire, transportation, sanitation, buildings and environmental protection departments just to name a few. In other words, the day-to-day operation of New York City.
Including, of course, snow removal. So, how's that working out for him?

According to this story today from Newsday:

More than one longtime observer of this regime at City Hall has pointed out that things may have gone downhill since Ed Skyler left as deputy mayor. If he's had a role, like "bringing fresh insight" to city operations, new Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith, former Indiana mayor, hasn't been in the TV shots along with the fire and police commissioners and OEM director Joseph Bruno.
See also this story from the NY Daily News.

The Indy Star's Kevin Morgan had this prescient column on Dec. 15th, headed "Snow removal: Is your town up to speed?" Some quotes:

And we're now into the months when getting the job done often comes down to one thing -- getting the snow off the streets.

A Chicago mayor named Michael Bilandic learned this the hard way, losing his party's nomination in part because of the city's ineffective response to a recent snowstorm.

On the other hand, a first-term mayor, Bill Hudnut, assumed a highly visible role in Indianapolis' response to the Blizzard of 1978, and it's often credited for building the popularity that sent him to an unprecedented three more terms in office.

When I was a reporter covering city-county government during the administration of his successor, Steve Goldsmith, I recall quite a few issues that were controversial and divisive. However, few spurred the public debate as much as how his snow-removal strategies measured up to Hudnut's.

[Updated 12/30/10] For an exhaustive analysis of this blizzard's impact on NYC, and a model for looking at any similar occurance, see the FiveThirtyEight NYT blog entry by Nate Silver. ("FiveThirtyEight’s mission is to help New York Times readers cut through the clutter of this data-rich world. The blog is devoted to rigorous analysis of politics, polling, public affairs, sports, science and culture, largely through statistical means.")

Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 29, 2010 05:33 PM
Posted to Indiana Government