Mayor under siege

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and

December 16, 2011

With the presidential election fast approaching, both major parties are doing all they can to cast themselves as fiscally responsible. Keeping a lid on spending is a common refrain these days both in Washington and in state capitals across America. That’s not necessarily good news for the nation’s mayors, who have to make do with less and still provide essential services.

This fall, Need to Know spent three days with one mayor whose struggles are all too typical. Rawan Jabaji reports.

Watch the rest of the segments from this episode.

Last modified: December 16, 2011 at 2:56 pm
 

Comments

  • http://profiles.google.com/dippersdad Dipper Well

    Just watched Maria Hinajosa get rolled by the guest propagandist from the Manhattan Institute. He pontificated on all the ways cities can cut costs by freezing wages, etc. She didn’t ask even a single question about raising revenues. What an embarrassing interview.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_JO2XLWCYVOJ7NZQWU37GYZKTME etch a sketch

    Very slanted report.  While the reporter is wailing about all the cuts to the city budget and lamenting this poor mayor’s financial problems, nothing is mentioned of the boondoogle trolley he wants to build.  How does this help trolley help poor Cudahy?  Also the fire victims (RIP) called relatives before they called the fire department.  Terrible lapse in judgment during a frightening time but don’t blame fire dept cuts for these deaths or even insinuate it as cause-effect.

  • Some Guy

    @yahoo-JO2XLWCYVOJ7NZQWU37GYZKTME:disqus

    Why would a transportation project funded by a federal grant, which was awarded to the City of Milwaukee in the 1990′s, be used to benefit a suburb that isn’t contributing anything monetarily toward the project.  If “poor Cudahy” wants to set up a rapid transportation system between them and the City of Milwaukee, they would be expected to contribute financially toward the project.  

    Also, other cities are installing similar sized streetcar lines as a mass transportation option.  The only way a streetcar line is a “boondoogle” is if you think Milwaukee should not update its transportation system for the 21st century, and should always be content with stagnation as oppose to growth. 

  • https://plus.google.com/116112779841434715000 drew

    In the report they make the statement that people at the local government level had nothing to do with the housing crisis,that’s just a flat out lie.In Nevada people wrote op-ed after op-ed and attended city council meeting after city council meeting trying to stop local governments from approving new housing developments.Even after it was obvious that there were more houses than people to live in them they kept approving them.Even as the market crashed and homeowners complained that the market was flooded and they couldn’t sell the houses available,local governments still kept approving more houses.    

  • Jeff

    Here Need to Know goes again, only providing an “expert” from the conservative bent speak. Where are the progressive viewpoints? Where are the folks who can really solve the problem without devastating the employees? The progressives have great workable solutions, but for whatever reason they don’t get to present them to the public, only the “conservatives” get to do this. Balance is needed in the discussion, not a one-sided diatribe. I am really tired of only hearing from those who caused the problem as if they could actually solve it! Conservatives caused the problem and are not capable of solving it.

  • Jeff

    Here Need to Know goes again, only providing an “expert” from the conservative bent speak. Where are the progressive viewpoints? Where are the folks who can really solve the problem without devastating the employees? The progressives have great workable solutions, but for whatever reason they don’t get to present them to the public, only the “conservatives” get to do this. Balance is needed in the discussion, not a one-sided diatribe. I am really tired of only hearing from those who caused the problem as if they could actually solve it! Conservatives caused the problem and are not capable of solving it.