Mayoral Survey Reveals Deep Anxiety Over Infrastructure

The headline from Politico's recent survey of mayors says it all: mayors fear that there will be more public health disasters like Flint to come if the nation doesn't coordinate to prioritize infrastructure.

1 minute read

May 2, 2016, 1:00 PM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Drinking Water

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Ben Wofford shares insights into the findings of Politico Magazine's fifth national Mayors Survey. "The survey of 55 mayors—from Los Angeles to Minneapolis, Honolulu to Philadelphia, San Antonio to Tampa—is not scientific and four-fifths of respondents identify as Democratic, reflecting the left-leaning realities of city politics," explains Wofford.

That left-leaning quality of cities revealed some very consistent concerns with regard to infrastructure. According to Wofford, the survey "found nearly half of America’s mayors believe their roads, bridges and water pipes have deteriorated critically over the past 10 years."

The article surveys some of the most egregious failures of infrastructure in recent years, while explaining the funding realities of infrastructure programs at the federal state and local level. Wofford also shares quotes from mayors who took the survey, most of which express some manner of dismay with the state of infrastructure in cities.

Monday, April 25, 2016 in Politico Magazine

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