August 30, 2004

The Republican National Convention is coming to New York this week, from August 30 to September 2. Once again, New York City will be in the nation's spotlight and the person directing behind the scenes will be Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

In a cover-page profile in Governing magazine's August issue, an article describes Mayor Bloomberg as an unorthodox mayor since taking office in 2001. He is described in the article as a successful businessman trying to adapt to a public atmosphere in which he has had no experience. The magazine recognizes that although Bloomberg has always advertised his private'sector ingenuity in pursuit of public-sector success, he has made many of the decisions with his business mind that have resulted in him suffering painful political consequences.

Governing magazine gives credit to Bloomberg's ability by recognizing Bloomberg's recent turnarounds. Although receiving his share of political blows, the magazine believes Bloomberg is learning from his mistakes and changing to become a more effective, political leader. Rather than spending money at the problem as before, the article reveals how he is spending more time trying to listening and using the resources around him. A recent example of Bloomberg's change of approach is how he has demanded downsizing of certain neighborhoods in response to resident demands. Although this is contrary to Bloomberg's goal of increased housing, he has advocated downsizing because it is what those particular neighborhoods want.

The article reveals how although Bloomberg has made his share of amateur mistakes, he seems to be learning and more and more he is showing signs of being a capable leader in a city that is constantly in the spotlight.

A USA Today August 10 article, says that Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson is revolutionizing emergency medical services (EMS) in his city by placing a physician in charge of the system. This move has caught attention because the fire department usually has the authority in EMS.

The article says that Neal Richmond, deputy medical director for the New York City Fire Department, has been chosen by Abramson to be the new Louisville Metro Emergency Medical Service chief executive officer. Richmond will have authority over other emergency officials, including the fire chief.

According to the newspaper article, under the old EMS system a firefighter could have had more of a say than a medical physician as to how a paramedic treated a patient. This imbalance of authority has been frequently causing problems for EMS. A USA TODAY investigation revealed that due to this conflict between ambulance medics and firefighters, many of the emergency services in the nation's 50 largest cities were inefficient and slow.

The paper quotes Abramson as saying, "We want our system to be driven by medical focus, and driven by an emergency medical physician."

The article also reports that Abramson is making some changes concerning emergency dispatch service. Currently every emergency service has its own dispatch office and it takes up valuable time for emergency calls to be transferred to the appropriate service. This creates costly delays. Louisville is currently constructing a single communications center for all emergency crews to combat this problem.