Saturday, January 19, 2008

Ace In The Bullpen

The American businessman-politician has a long and storied history which brings us to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

This forthright billionaire just may have the right combination of managerial, risk-taking, and political skills to create a new model for public service and new model – starting with restructuring his office itself.

Bloomberg’s bullpen-style office concept in city government was made famous during his 2002 State of the City address, saying that it was created to “improve efficiency” and foster creativity. The idea comes from the stock-market trading-floor layout in which everyone works together in one big room.

Today, San Francisco’s reinvigorated Mayor Gavin Newsom is developing a bullpen plan in which to arrange cubicles in Room 201 — which is currently used for occasional meetings — In addition to better exchanging of ideas through improved proximity in the bullpen, the mayor and his staff plan to actually conduct their business there.

Typically, it’s Local “Loco” Liberal and Resident Nancy Boy, Brock of SFist, whose is too blinded by his love to hate the incumbent mayor (and moderate) to embrace the very progressive (and proven) ideas, he espouses.

And now, it looks like Brock’s liberal leanings have tipped the scales at SFist such that to include fellow blogger Jon in his (left) brainwashing.

Check out Jon’s shortsighted, short-fused reaction likening Gavin’s trading spaces to a “Battlestar Galactica” shake up - it’s the journalistic equivelent to getting cut-off by a Toyota Prius with a whirled peas bumper sticker.
SFist's liberal leanings make 'Left in SF' look like the 'Right Wing News.'
Borrowing ideas from other mayors is nothing new or unusual for Newsom. In the summer of 2005, Newsom toured Chicago with Mayor Richard Daley and touted that city’s use of surveillance cameras — which has now been initiated in San Francisco — to combat crime.

Additionally, the Mayor modeled:
  • The City’s SF Stat program — which tracks and reports how well city departments are performing — on Baltimore’s CitiStat.

  • The City’s Community Courts — which will process Quality of Life crimes — on Manhattan’s Community Courts.

  • The City’s 311 24-Hour Hotline — which routes non-emergency city service calls — in the last decade the following cities have adopted a three-digit system: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Dallas and Minneapolis.

The post also criticizes Newsom for giving raises and new job titles to worthy staff members. I say you get what you pay for. If you want to turn your football team around, hire Bill Parcels.

Newsom’s Press Secretary, Nathan Ballard, says that all these people are proven professionals, possessing the necessary skill set and experience to help the city and are within budget.

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