municipal government

Sly James was Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, from 2011 to 2019. There are not many books on municipal government, so this was an interesting read. Sly was mayor in a strong-mayor system. His position was full-time, meaning that he was the leader of the Executive branch of government, while the City Council, which would have a President, ran the Legislative branch. Sly has an every-other-chapter strategy, with one chapter being his personal story, and the next being about politics. Personally, I felt like his take on municipal government was quite refreshing, but had a cynical view on partisan politics. He had a plan he called the Four E Agenda: Education, Employment, Efficiency, and Enforcement. He was a lawyer before becoming Mayor, and a Marine during the Vietnam Era prior to that. He's a passionate individual, and the residents of Kansas City were lucky to have him as the City's leader for eight years.

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