Mayoral Influence in Urban Policy Making

Abstract

Political behavior of big-city mayors in community policy making was examined to explore its impact on decision making. The argument that mayors are weak and act only as brokers among local interests was tested with data collected from 93 northern American cities. A comparison of community programs that were adopted with those that were rejected revealed that the probability of adoption was directly related to how actively the mayor campaigned on behalf of the program. The city government in general plays an important role in initiating community programs, particularly when the city provides a strong organization for the mayor. Consequently, the result is interpreted as not supporting the weak-mayor hypothesis.