We’ve already discussed the worst cities in the US, now let’s discuss the people that make them that way!
Some rules:
Only mayors of a city with 75,000 or more people are eligible.
They must have served after 1920, but they must have been out of office since before May 9, 1993 (it would possibly devolve into partisan bickering if I didn’t include this), and
As before, given reasons why this mayor was the worst. Shouting out “Frank Rizzo!” “John V. Lindsay!” “Dennis Kucinich!” is not only of no use, but also gets annoying.
Wilson Goode, Philadelphia mayor 1984-1992, just gets in under the 10 year rule.
Remember the Move bombing in 1985? Confronting a group of back-to-nature thugs holed up in a house with children they refused to sent to school, his solution was to have a police helicopter drop sachel charges, resulting in destruction of the outlaw house as well as sixty others.
While there are many other excellent candidates for the distinction of being America’s worst mayor, I do think that having bombed your own city has to put you right near the top.
Coleman Young, mayor of Detroit from 1974 to 1993. He took a bad situation in Detroit, and made it worse. But, since he framed what was happening in ‘White vs. Black’ terms, he remained very popular with the black majority in Detroit.
From what I know, he seems to have been an OK fellah back in the day. Tuskeegee airman, civil rights activist, etc. But as mayor of Detroit? Total failure.
Jerry Springer comes to mind (Cincinnati). Can’t really give a good reason why. I just think Mayors should be smart enough not to right a check to a hooker.
This may seem like blasphemy to many, but my current mayor, Richard M. Daley, holds nearly absolute power in Chicago, and uses that power to enrich his connected friends. And the worst thing is, nobody in the city has the balls to stand up to him. In the recent aldermanic elections, EVERY campaign sign I saw from an aldermanic candidate had Daley’s name on it as well, even if Daley wasn’t supporting that particular candidate. That is how powerful and feared he is.
I can’t wait until we get rid of Brown next year! I don’t live in the city proper, but I consider myself a Houstonian. He is not who I like associated with my home town. ESPECIALLY the cheesy sign at the airport!
All she did is bring him to a place where he was being taped. She never forced him to do the things he did.
So I don’t see what defense can be made from that?. Oh wait. Yes i do, it was the “hey, I do this stuff all the time but it’s not my fault the bitch set me up to get taped” defense. You see that one often with politicians.
If you’ll recall the tape, the woman twisted Barry’s arm to get him to smoke crack. She offered the drugs, he refused, and then she let him know that there would be no sex that night unless he hit the pipe. It was entrapment, plain and simple. And the woman wasn’t a hooker. She was one of Barry’s ex-mistresses.
Still, it was common knowledge that Barry had used coke on a regular basis in the past. Barry was too shrewd for the Feds to catch, so they forced the issue.
But, hey, don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.
Why not current mayors? Because they may end up being great and wonderful? Hardly likely. I second Lee Brown of Houston (current mayor) as worst ever. Every street is torn up, and that’s just the beginning. Anyone remember the simpson’s episode with the Monorail? Well, houston got suckered into that one via lee brown (and it’s not even elevated).
