How to Really Run a City powered by Accelerator for America

Matt Mahan, the wildly popular mayor of San Jose, California, was recently reelected with a whopping 87 percent of the vote. How do you get to what Citizen Co-founder Larry Platt  jokingly called (echoing The Daily Show host Jon Stewart) "Vladimir Putin numbers?" As Mahan laid out on the latest episode of our podcast hosted by former Mayors Michael Nutter of Philadelphia and Kasim Reed of Atlanta, a major part of his success has been zeroing in on five main policy goals: "Until we become the safest big city in the country, end unsheltered homelessness, clean up our neighborhoods, and make it easier to start a business and build housing in our city," Mahan said, "the rest of it is kind of a moot point." Before running for office, Mahan built and ran startups. "Tell us," Reed prompted, "how close running a city is to the startups you built." "I would say they're very, very similar," Mahan replied. "After a decade of building two startups, that was really what I knew — put together a small, smart team that's intensely mission driven." Under Mahan, San Jose has seen a 100 percent solve rate for murders — compared to the national average of 66 percent — and has become one of the 15 cities participating in a new housing initiative from Bloomberg Philanthropies and Accelerator For America, a partner on the podcast. "I'm really excited about this," Mahan told the hosts. "Bloomberg Philanthropies does amazing things for mayors. They don't just bury you in papers and tell you what to do, they actually sit down with you, fund some additional staff capacity and help you overhaul the permitting process." Mahan has shared his success in narrowing priorities and using technology to make city government more efficient for constituents in the nonprofit Results for America's new book Do What Works: Smarter Government, Better Results.  Join us for an in-depth discussion with one of the most effective and popular mayors in the country right now.  Remember to subscribe to the podcast to keep up on all the latest episodes. And watch for new episodes on YouTube and Piksel+ as they become available. As cities go, so goes the nation!

What does it take to be a full participant in your city's civic life? To bring the full weight of your work and personal experience to city planning or policy? To lead a city, as its mayor? This is what former Mayor Michael Nutter hopes to answer in The University of Pennsylvania's new Impact Scholars Program, which he launched last month along with the School of Social Policy. Under Nutter's guidance, Impact Scholars enlists former city leaders to mentor the next generation of civic talent. This first year, Nutter has recruited his How To Really Run A City co-host, former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, and former Tulsa Mayor GT Bynum, as the inaugural scholars. "I'm a public servant still, whether appointed or in my own head," Nutter told the room with a smile. "The idea is to match young people who want to go into public service with those who have served but are not yet finished. We should not leave that knowledge and expertise on the bench." They kicked off their work last week with a live taping of the podcast, a rousing introduction to the ideas they hope will shape the future of urban leadership in the U.S. "Cities are where hope meets the street," Reed said. "They're places where you can take serious problems and actually do something about them." In other words, a mayor's job, said Bynum, is "making sure clean water comes out of the tap, or making sure the police show up at the right time. Or if your father is having a heart attack, the ambulance gets there in time to save his life. There's an expectation of service delivery [at the local level]." "There's nothing like running a city," Reed said. "The joy that you get from running a city — the power of reshaping a city where everywhere you go, there's something you directly contributed to — don't let anyone fool you, there's nothing like it." Join us (and Penn Impact Scholars students) for a driving discussion about the power of today's leaders to lift the innovators of tomorrow. Remember to subscribe to the podcast to keep up on all the latest episodes. You can even watch on YouTube and Piksel+. As cities go, so goes the nation!

"The problems we have as a country don't go away because the federal government leaves the stage," says Mary Ellen Wiederwohl, CEO of Accelerator for America, on the latest episode of How To Really Run A City. "All this stuff lands on the front steps of City Hall." And then what? That's what hosts Kasim Reed (former mayor of Atlanta) and Michael Nutter (former mayor of Philadelphia), along with Citizen Co-founder Larry Platt, explore with Brown University Professor Marc Dunkelman, author of the new book, Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress — and How to Bring It Back. "We need to rethink the balance between our impulse to empower central authority and the attempts to ensure that power doesn't do damage," says Dunkelman. Dunkelman highlights the push and pull of centralized power in U.S. politics, tracing a line from the Progressive Era of the late 19th century to the destructive anger of modern MAGAism. Reed weighed in with his experience. "Fair is harder," he says. "I believe in action-oriented leadership. Move faster. Be decisive. Be more inclusive, yes, but by god, do something." Join us for an unvarnished discussion about why trust in both politics and infrastructure continues to be broken in this country, along with steps we can take to actually make things work. As Dunkelman says, "There's a fantasy that if you just get everyone around a table, they will eventually come to an agreement. The truth is, we need deciders. That's why we have elections." Remember to subscribe to the podcast to keep up on all the latest episodes. And watch for new episodes on YouTube and Piksel+ as they become available. As cities go, so goes the nation!

In a very special episode of the podcast, our hosts soak up the wisdom of renowned 92-year-old former California Speaker of the House and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, a player still at the top of his political game. From jelly bean power plays in front of Ronald Reagan to pressure campaigns to free Nelson Mandela to candid thoughts on how to navigate the Trumpian circus in Washington, D.C., Brown is a well of bipartisan optimism and moral clarity. "I was the guy," Brown told former Atlanta mayor and mentee Kasim Reed, "who could tell you what your bill would do if enacted. And I would support it because it was the right thing to do. And in government, you must always do what is right." "You've laid out so many different examples of doing the right thing," said former Philly Mayor Michael Nutter. "We seem to be somewhat, nationally, dysfunctional these days." "But when you think about Willie Brown," said Citizen Co-Founder Larry Platt, "you think of a happy warrior … someone who fights with a smile on their face. That's what people want." "There's no question, that is my approach," Brown said with a smile. "And besides that, I like to party. No matter where I am, if a party can happen, I'm a participant in that effort." Join us for one of the most memorable and smile-inducing episodes of the podcast, a true masterclass in the art of politics. Remember to subscribe to the podcast to keep up on all the latest episodes. And watch for new episodes on YouTube and Piksel+ as they become available. As cities go, so goes the nation!

A recent report by Harvard University's Opportunity Insights revealed a sorry statistic for Philadelphia: We are last in the nation for economic mobility. In other words, we have a lot to learn from other American cities. On this  special episode of How To Really Run A City, Citizen Co-Founder Larry Platt and former Philly Mayor Michael Nutter and former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed pull out their favorite moments from the last year of the podcast that take on just this issue. From housing availability in Detroit to help for small business owners in Scranton, PA to 15-minute cities and unexpected employment programs in Cleveland, the mayors and changemakers from this episode are demonstrating how cities can unlock their immense power, and how city leaders can become facilitators while spreading goodwill along the way. Remember to subscribe to the podcast to keep up on all the latest episodes. And watch for new episodes on YouTube and Piksel+ as they become available. As cities go, so goes the nation!

Milwaukee, WI Mayor Cavalier Johnson won reelection in 2024 with 80 percent of the vote. "Those are Vladimir Putin levels," joked Citizen Co-Founder Larry Platt. "The difference is, Putin's still looking for the other 20 percent!" said host and former Philly Mayor Michael Nutter. Asked why he decided to devote his life to public service, Johnson said, "I fell in love with helping people in my community. I mean, the key word in 'progressive' is progress. And mayors get stuff done. It's truly where the rubber meets the road in cities." From youth workforce development programs ("Ten-year-olds were being recruited to steal cars, here") to rejecting partisanship for the good of the city ("Bringing the RNC to Milwaukee in 2024 was a purely business decision") to his efforts to grow the population of Milwaukee to a million people, Johnson is out earning that 80 percent each day. "We have an awful lot of people who listen to this podcast that we hope will one day run for office," said host and former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed. "Right, I think it's important for the people to see their reflection in this office," said Johnson. "It's a powerful thing. It's all about service." Remember to subscribe to the podcast to keep up on all the latest episodes. And watch for new episodes on YouTube and Piksel+ as they become available. As cities go, so goes the nation!

Nashville, TN Mayor Freddie O'Connell was compelled to run for office on a simple principle. For too long, transit and infrastructure had been neglected by city officials. Upon winning his race in 2023, O'Connell's north star has been making it easier for Nashvillians to get around their city. "I don't know of a greater transit evangelist among the mayor fraternity than Mayor O'Connell," said Citizen Co-Founder Larry Platt on this week's episode. "My mom remembers a Nashville that still had streetcar lines," O'Connell told our podcast hosts, former Mayors Kasim Reed of Atlanta and Michael Nutter of Philly. "And then we ripped that all out. If you look at our old streetcar maps, we had a good transit system. I ran [for mayor] because I felt like we had priorities as a city that simply were not going to get addressed unless I forced the issue." Join us for a discussion during this year's Infrastructure Week centered on a blue city in a red state pulling every lever to reestablish customer-focused government and "trying every day to showcase that we've made the right choices" in infrastructure investment. But Mayor O'Connell isn't all work and no play down there in Nashville. He also moonlights as DJ Stay (he chose this nom de vinyl because "I want you to stay" in Nashville). "Our man says he's on the ones and twos," laughed Nutter, who knows a few things himself about spinning records. "I didn't have this on the bingo card for today," Reed said with a grin.  Remember to subscribe to the podcast to keep up on all the latest episodes. And watch for new episodes on YouTube and Piksel+ as they become available. As cities go, so goes the nation!

When Republican Stephen Goldsmith was Mayor of Indianapolis, IN, he ran his city by "devolving" decisions down to the grassroots level. He created partnerships with the movers and shakers of local areas – community-based organizations, small businesses, faith leaders — to decide together how best to spend money in their neighborhoods. "Government had neglected those neighborhoods," he told our podcast hosts, former Mayors Kasim Reed of Atlanta and Michael Nutter of Philly. "And no amount of expenditures would have been sufficient if we couldn't lift up the civic infrastructure of the neighborhoods themselves." This, said Goldsmith, who was a deputy mayor under Mike Bloomberg in New York and is now a professor of urban policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School, is the true power of mayors: the ability to convene and inspire a city to greatness. Despite the circus coming from Washington, D.C., Goldsmith told our hosts that he has great hope for cities. "This is the time to be mayor, because if you want to lead, you can really make a difference." Goldsmith also garnered some unexpected praise from our hosts. "I was struck by your book, Putting Faith in Neighborhoods: Making Cities Work through Grassroots Citizenship," Citizen Co-Founder Larry Platt told him. "I remember thinking it was a model for cities to follow." "This is exciting," Goldsmith replied, "You're one of five people who read that book. What sort of life do you live?" "We're working on it, Mayor Goldsmith," laughed Nutter and Reed. "We're trying to help him!" Remember to subscribe to the podcast to keep up on all the latest episodes. And watch for new episodes on YouTube and Piksel+ as they become available. As cities go, so goes the nation!

One of our favorite sayings here at How to Really Run a City is that there are really three political parties in the U.S.: Democrats, Republicans and Mayors — and only one of them have no choice but to be practical problem solvers. We believe if more politicians acted like mayors, there'd be much less bickering in D.C. Turns out, Bloomberg Philanthropies agrees. For the past six years, the civic-minded global organization has held the  Mayors Challenge, a competition that awards cities $1 million prizes to spur innovative solutions to ingrained urban problems. This week, Challenge leader Aparna Ramanan and Challenge grantee, Lafayette, LA Mayor Monique Blanco Boulet, join former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and Citizen Co-Founder Larry Platt for an eye-opening conversation about what it takes to innovate in a city. (Lafayette's problem might sound familiarly stinky to Philadelphians: old, failing, sewers.) Blanco Boulet believes true innovation must start with a change of mindset. "Critical thinking is just not natural in government. If I don't know where we're having flood issues, I could just choose anywhere [to put the money]. That happens. That's not abnormal for government in the absence of real decision-making." Join us for an episode about cities tackling entrenched problems and the public-private partnerships like Bloomberg Philanthropies that support them.  When it comes to facing these intractable issues, as Nutter said, "You have to deal with the consequences of not." Remember to subscribe to the podcast to keep up on all the latest episodes. You can even watch new episodes on YouTube. As cities go, so goes the nation!

Michael Smerconish is a Sirius XM and CNN host, a prolific political commentator, a nationally recognized author — and leader of the fight for a political center in the U.S., which means having a robust media. "I think the press is being hollowed out," said former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed. Local outlets are disappearing, the press is "functionally gutted; there's no longer a paper on your porch … and there's been a conservative effort to buy up local media because [it] still has credibility with folks." Smerconish is also an activist for voters who refuse to align with either of the two major parties. "I became so disenchanted with the Bush administration (W.) for their inability to go kill bin Laden," he said. He then swam against the tide of his own listener base by announcing his support for Barack Obama's presidential run in 2008. "How do you feel about that vote today?" asked former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter. "Oh my god, I feel great about it," Smerconish said. "[My listeners] went crazy, but it was a breaking point and a wake-up call for me." Join us for a thoroughly entertaining and important conversation about what local leaders and citizens alike can do to break through the partisanship of the moment and start meeting each other on neutral ground. "Use the remote, mix it up," Smerconish said. "Don't rely on [others] to do it — do it yourself." Remember to subscribe to the podcast to keep up on all the latest episodes and watch the video on YouTube. As cities go, so goes the nation!