Organizing for the city we want

This morning, I was going for a walk in Paris—a wonderful place to spend the summer—and I came across the neighborhood "org chart":

First, a little background: Paris is similar in size and population to Manhattan. Its inner suburbs correspond roughly to New York's outer boroughs. However, its inner suburbs are governed separately, unlike New York City, which has a single mayor for all five boroughs.

Paris is organized into twenty "arrondissements" or districts. Paris's arrondissements are about the size of an NYC community board or city council district. Unlike our districts, each arrondissement in Paris has an elected "district mayor" with real executive authority.

The district mayor is a member of the Paris city council—similar to New York city council representative—but also has some executive authority over what is happening within their area, particularly as it relates to maintenance and programming of public space, cultural centers and libraries, small-scale street maintenance, sports facilities, local events, and some school maintenance.

If you've spent much time in an organization, you know that the structure says a lot about the organization's priorities. I was intrigued by how the district mayor's staff was organized:

• First Deputy in charge of veterans affairs, history, finances, health and disability
• Deputy in charge of housing and accommodation
• Deputy in charge of culture and tourism
• Deputy in charge of green spaces, biodiversity and vegetation
• Deputy in charge of European and international issues and the reception of migrants
• Deputy in charge of school affairs and crafts
• Deputy for Trade, Economic Development and Employment
• Deputy in charge of public spaces and sports
• Deputy in charge of early childhood
• Deputy in charge of sustainable food, animal welfare and cleanliness
• Deputy in charge of youth
• Deputy in charge of democracy, civic participation and strategic planning

Basically, this adds up to a district mayor who is focused entirely on the quality of life for the residents of their district.

What if our city council members were also mayors of their districts? What if they had the staff, resources and authority to deliver for the people that live there? What if, instead of solely wearing a legislative hat, they had executive authority too?

This model is not unique to Paris: London, Berlin, Vienna, and Madrid all share "district mayor" models, and they all rank as world cities that are considered good places to both live and visit.

New York's current model—one massive, centralized government with local influence from city council members, community boards, public consultations, lobbies and advocacy groups—is both slow and ineffective. Something as simple as a playground renovation can take years.

A reorganization is not a panacea. It would require careful planning to delineate which decisions were made at the city level versus the district level, and which structures would be needed to make sure that the best decisions overall were being made. Done well, however, it could help us shift our priorities to where they need to be—making New York a world-class city in which to live, work and visit.