I'm actively working on that! The reason I tend to write older historical deep dives (as opposed to, say, looking at the Bloomberg admin), is that there isn't as much emotional polarization. Many people will take operational advice from Waring or Roosevelt, but not from, say, Bill Bratton.
Reader feedback I get from NYC's administrative departments is good--staff can often easily analogize the principles of historical examples to their current context. Implementing them is another question of will and politics, but the writing can help there too on the margin.
The first Progressive Era had people committed to actual solutions to hard, tangible problems. And they believed it was possible, and they were willing to experiment and step on toes, and use executive authority sometimes roughly. People came to believe in the efficacy of government intervention because it was seen to work. It is funny that people on the left seem unaware of this history. Government bodies serving as do-nothing or counter-productive job farms are what we often see now. I live in Illinois near Chicago, where this is in a seemingly cancerous stage. It is no surprise that the citizenry don't trust of believe political promises to actually do anything. Other somewhat later examples of effective government interventions include the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Interstate Highway System. We need the public sector and the private sector to work, meaning cost-effectively benefitting the large majority of the citizens. And it is not happening. Your historical research may be helpful, and I look forward to looking at more of your posts.
Great post! I especially like the point about mechanized street sweepers. Here in the US we often think we can use technology to solve all our problems, when really it is usually personnel or procedure that need improvement.
The NYC Juvenile Street-Cleaning Leagues may be no more, but this winter, I am starting an Adult Street-Cleaning League. The first installment will be a clean of the Lower East Side of Manhattan sometime between Thanksgiving and mid-December. Gloves and other implements will be provided. Photo from when I went to our allies at Greenpoint Trash Group: https://i.imgur.com/FWWvU4I.jpeg
Great post. Interesting question of how to apply these methods and principles to contemporary problems.
I'm actively working on that! The reason I tend to write older historical deep dives (as opposed to, say, looking at the Bloomberg admin), is that there isn't as much emotional polarization. Many people will take operational advice from Waring or Roosevelt, but not from, say, Bill Bratton.
Reader feedback I get from NYC's administrative departments is good--staff can often easily analogize the principles of historical examples to their current context. Implementing them is another question of will and politics, but the writing can help there too on the margin.
The first Progressive Era had people committed to actual solutions to hard, tangible problems. And they believed it was possible, and they were willing to experiment and step on toes, and use executive authority sometimes roughly. People came to believe in the efficacy of government intervention because it was seen to work. It is funny that people on the left seem unaware of this history. Government bodies serving as do-nothing or counter-productive job farms are what we often see now. I live in Illinois near Chicago, where this is in a seemingly cancerous stage. It is no surprise that the citizenry don't trust of believe political promises to actually do anything. Other somewhat later examples of effective government interventions include the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Interstate Highway System. We need the public sector and the private sector to work, meaning cost-effectively benefitting the large majority of the citizens. And it is not happening. Your historical research may be helpful, and I look forward to looking at more of your posts.
Great post! I especially like the point about mechanized street sweepers. Here in the US we often think we can use technology to solve all our problems, when really it is usually personnel or procedure that need improvement.
The NYC Juvenile Street-Cleaning Leagues may be no more, but this winter, I am starting an Adult Street-Cleaning League. The first installment will be a clean of the Lower East Side of Manhattan sometime between Thanksgiving and mid-December. Gloves and other implements will be provided. Photo from when I went to our allies at Greenpoint Trash Group: https://i.imgur.com/FWWvU4I.jpeg
Get in contact if you'd like to stay in the loop: liamrosen@gmail.com