How are all of the roads, power grids, sewers, subways, and other parts of a city’s infrastructure maintained? If you look around, you’ll see that a lot of the people on a city’s streets are working. Road workers might be repairing a big pothole in the street or street cleaners might be cleaning the streets.
Sanitation workers are taking away everyone’s trash and recycling. Police officers are on patrol to keep the streets safe.
Other workers could be in a park, running an after-school program for kids or doing jobs such as air pollution inspectors, health department workers, secretaries, and firefighters. These are all city workers, people who work for the city’s local government. Along with workers who labor for the city, there are elected officials. These people work as a group to make the laws that govern the city.
LET’S MAKE IT OFFICIAL
In the United States, the federal government makes laws that apply to the entire country. Individual states make laws that apply to each state. Every city or town also makes its own set of laws. A city’s government is called a municipal government or local government. The elected officials who work for the municipal government serve the city’s residents. The municipal government provides the services that maintain all of the parts of the city.
Words to Know
federal: the national government of a country.
municipal: having to do with a city’s activities or management.
mayor: the elected official in charge of a city’s government.
council: a group of elected officials.
While the governor is the head of the state’s government, the mayor is the head of the city’s government. Some municipal governments are divided into councils that are in charge of specific types of issues. Others are divided into several branches that each has different divisions within it.
The local government is usually divided up in a way similar to the federal government.
• Legislative branch makes the laws in the community;
Words to Know
veto: to reject a law or policy.
• Executive branch controls the community’s money and approves or vetoes laws;
• Judicial branch handles legal issues in the community and upholds the laws;
• Administrative branch provides oversight of all city departments on behalf of a council or mayor.
In most communities, a council is in charge of the legislative branch, the mayor is in charge of the executive branch, and the city manager is in charge of the administrative branch. The city clerk often leads the judicial branch.
This is not the structure in every city around the world, though. Sometimes the structures are similar to this, but have different names for each branch and position.
For example, sometimes a city manager is in charge of everyone below him or her in the city. But in other systems, the city manager position doesn’t exist and the mayor is the city’s chief executive.
MAYORS IN DIFFERENT CITIES HAVE DIFFERENT RESPONSIBILITIES DEPENDING ON THE WAY THE GOVERNMENT IS STRUCTURED.
Below are two examples of government structures with different roles for the mayor.
Council-manager government: A city council rules over the legislative branch. The mayor’s role is equal to those of the other council members. The city manager handles the administration of the government.
Mayor-council government: The mayor’s position is separate from the city council. In this structure, the mayor is in charge of the executive branch while the council is in charge of the legislative branch.
Mayors in mayor-council governments are not all the same. They can be “strong mayors,” meaning they have a lot of executive power. They can also be “weak mayors,” meaning they can do nothing without the council’s approval.
MAKE YOUR OWN
MAYOR FOR A DAY MAZE
SUPPLIES
thin cardboard from a cereal box
scissors
shoebox lid
pencil
tape
marble
With so much involved in overseeing a city, mayors have lots of daily responsibilities. In this project, you will find your way through a day in the life of a mayor while avoiding pitfalls.
1 Cut the cardboard cereal box into long, thin strips, each 1½ inches (about 4 centimeters) wide.
2 Bend ½ inch (1¼ centimeters) of each strip lengthwise. Make the creases sharp. Each strip should now look like a bench with a very narrow seat. These will be the walls of your maze.
3 With the pencil, sketch out your maze in the shoebox lid. Make sure the spaces between the maze walls are wide enough for a marble to roll through without getting stuck. There should be a start and an end. Add two dead ends to represent pitfalls in your mayor’s day. Label what these problems might be.
4 Once your maze layout is complete, tape the short folded edges of the cardboard strips into the shoebox lid along the lines you drew. Make sure the strips stand up straight so they make walls. They should be about 1 inch (about 2.5 centimeters) high.
5 Use the scissors to cut two holes in the base at the “dead ends” of your maze paths. These should be large enough for the marble to pass through so it falls out at the dead end.
6 Put your marble at the start. Try to guide the marble through the maze by tipping and tilting the box top—but watch out for the holes leading to the dead ends! Start over if you fall through. When you make it to the end of the maze, congratulations! You’ve successfully made it through one day as a mayor.
Try This! Try completing the maze again. This time, if you fall through a hole, try to come up with a solution to the problem before you start again. How would you respond to a repair crew failing to fix a pothole? How about not getting re-elected? You can also change the labels on the pitfalls so that you can come up with solutions to many problems. You may have to redesign your maze if you get too good at it!
FAVORITE SON
Some mayors go above and beyond the normal duties of their office. Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, New Jersey, who was elected in 2006, gets a lot of attention for the things he does outside the office.
Before he was elected mayor, Booker went on a 10-day hunger strike while living in a tent to protest the problems of drug dealing and violence in the city. In 2010, Booker and other volunteers shoveled an elderly man’s driveway after the man’s daughter asked for Booker’s help on Twitter.
Continuing his streak of good deeds, Booker once saved a woman from a house fire. He suffered smoke inhalation and second-degree burns on his hands, but most likely saved the woman’s life. Mayor Booker also rescued a dog from the freezing cold. He spotted the shivering dog while driving and brought it to safety. In 2012, he chose to live on a food budget of $30 a week to call attention to the struggles of Americans who survive only on food purchased with food stamps.
Words to Know
Twitter: an online service that allows users to send and read messages called tweets. Tweets are limited to 140 characters.
food stamps: the common name for a program officially called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. This government program gives low-income people a debit card they can use in stores to buy food.
After Hurricane Sandy caused major power outages in New York and New Jersey, he opened his home to residents who were without power.
WRITE A LETTER FOR
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
SUPPLIES
paper
pencil or pen
envelope and stamp
The city government works for its people and always likes to get ideas and feedback from residents and visitors. Even if you don’t live in a city, your government needs input from you and others in your community to keep improving the place you live. When you write a letter to your city’s or town’s elected officials, you’re showing them you care about your community.
1 Is there a situation in your community you’re concerned about? Maybe you’ve heard something on the news that doesn’t sound right. Or maybe there’s an intersection that’s dangerous to cross on your bike. Think about something that you think needs to change in your community.
2 Now think about a possible solution to the problem. If it’s a busy intersection, you could suggest putting in new signs to warn drivers that kids are crossing. Maybe the intersection needs a crossing signal. Your city officials might not use your suggestions, but giving them ideas shows them that you care, and also might help them find their own solutions.
3 Working with an adult, find out to whom you should address your concern. Should you write to the mayor? If your idea is about a small change, maybe you should send your letter to the head of a department.
4 Write your letter to the person you have chosen. Start by telling him or her who you are. Then write about your concern and how the problem has affected you. Explain why correcting this problem would help the entire community. Then list your solutions to the problem. End your letter by thanking the official for his or her work in your community and signing: “Sincerely, (your name).”
5 Mail your letter! Keep in mind that while one voice can get attention, sometimes it takes a bigger effort to cause a change. Your letter is just a start. If you’re passionate about the problem, stick with it! What more can you do?
Try This! Find out when the next town or city meeting is scheduled. If you attend, you can find out more about the problems in your town and what’s being done to solve them. Maybe your concern has started a conversation about solutions in your town meeting!
TEAMWORK
Even though they’re divided up differently, all municipal governments work to take the best possible care of their cities. They’re not alone in their work. Other government agencies in a city take care of certain services.
• Fire Department: maintains fire safety in the community, putting out fires and making sure buildings are safe.
• Police Department: upholds the laws and protects citizens.
• Health Department: makes sure all businesses, hospitals, schools, and other community resources follow certain rules to keep everyone healthy and safe.
• Sanitation Department: disposes of garbage and coordinates recycling programs.
• Public Works: fixes damaged roads, puts up traffic signs, and maintains road surfaces.
