Morton, Morton–you, of all people, a Pollyanna? It’s still possible, you say, for Indiana mayors to mount a coordinated legislative campaign to achieve local control? Indiana cities have been trying to get home rule for as long as I can remember, with very limited success.
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Author Archives: Sheila
LETTERS TO THE NEXT MAYOR 8
Morton makes a critical distinction between true privatization and contracting; between "bailing out" and "contracting out." Contracting can certainly be a cost-effective way to provide public services, but it reduces neither the size nor scope of government. It simply substitutes consultants and independent contractors for municipal…
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Remember the Bill of rights?
There I was, in a rocking chair at the nursing home, where one of my grandsons had come to visit me. The discussion turned nostalgic, as we discussed those years, long past, when I had taught college students about the Bill of Rights.
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LETTERS TO THE NEXT MAYOR 4
Mayors these days do more than fill chuckholes and provide police and fire protection. They direct highly sophisticated economic development efforts, based on the recognition that a healthy economy is critically important to a healthy and successful city.
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LETTERS TO THE NEXT MAYOR 5
How does a candidate for Mayor respond to environmental issues? By promising to erect an air filter at the city limits? By forbidding pollution of White River by Hamilton county residents? Most environmental problems just don’t lend themselves to local solutions. To make matters worse, scientific debate rages over the causes…
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