Urban Archipelago (Page 3)

Predictably, the corporate and conservative forces that have solidified their hold on so much of government are trying to prevent city officials from setting a progressive course. In the most high-profile instance of top-down interference, when San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and New Paltz, New York, Mayor Jason West started issuing marriage licenses for lesbian and gay couples, state officials shut them down--and the President endorsed a constitutional ban on same-sex marriages. "The conservatives and the corporate lobbyists all like to say they're for local control, but the truth is that genuine local control terrifies them," says Madison's Cieslewicz. "At the municipal level we can break new ground, show what can be done, start trends that bubble upward." Cieslewicz uses the example of Madison's decision to set a local minimum wage that will rise to $7.75 an hour by 2008. Other Wisconsin cities followed suit, putting pressure on the state to increase its minimum wage. "So the cities started it, the state picked up on it and when enough states pass minimum-wage increases, the pressure is going to be on the federal government," says Cieslewicz.

Leaders of the Cities for Progress movement want to institutionalize that pressure by getting cities to pass resolutions calling for an end to the war and development of a universal healthcare program. By providing organizing assistance to progressive local officials and then linking these projects to one another, Cities for Progress hopes to create a resurgence of urban activism. "We want people to get rid of this idea that working on the local level and working on the national level are somehow different," says Malia Lazu, its national field director.

Leveraging change is not just a matter of policy-making; it can also involve changing the face of political power. "The best way for the Democratic Party to renew itself is to recognize that the next Great Society vision will come from the cities, and so will the next generation of Great Society leaders," says New York City Councilman Bill Perkins. The national group Progressive Majority is helping to elect local officials who will eventually climb the political ladder. "It's a way to build the bench," says Progressive Majority's Colorado coordinator, Joe Miklosi, who has worked with local candidates in communities statewide. "Once you win office in your town, people know you, they trust you. When you run for the legislature or Congress, they're more likely to vote for you."

The concept of building a bench was not lost on supporters of Los Angeles's new mayor. Villaraigosa's May 17 win made him the fastest rising Latino star in American politics and spurred discussion that, by 2008, his name will show up on Democratic vice-presidential shortlists. For Americans who still dream of taking progressive politics to a higher level, it makes sense to begin looking for candidates where progressives are already governing. "When you think about it, the argument for governors as presidential candidates is that they have served as executives," says Irvine's Larry Agran. "Well, a lot of mayors govern cities with bigger populations than states. So why shouldn't we look to cities for progressive candidates and progressive ideas?" Agran argues, "You don't look to Washington to find examples of progressives accomplishing things these days. But when you look to the cities, it's a different story."

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