Yoon Plans to Completely Remake City Government

"It comes down to the strong mayor thing," Sam Yoon told a tableful of bloggers today at Flash's, a Back Bay bar. Yoon doesn't just want to be the next mayor of Boston. He wants to completely remake the job.

Yoon started the discussion with a little history lesson. "We haven't had a real debate about [Boston's] charter since 1909," he said. That was when Boston's two legislative houses were abolished and the bulk of municipal power fell to the mayor.

He'd never put it that way, but Yoon wants to turn back the clock.

"Does this really fit the way our city is now, in the 21st century?" he asked. "No other city works like this."

And, for Yoon, the only answer is charter reform. Boston's charter is the body of law in the Massachusetts General Laws that says how the city should be governed. It covers everything from the powers of the City Council to the responsibilities of the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), and Yoon wants to change it all. His preferred method? A charter committee that would meet over the course of 12 to 18 months. It would be formed by a ballot question and filled, in part, by elections.

"Having an election [for the charter committee] would be an incredible discussion. People would learn a lot about Boston's history," he said.

At issue in the reform would be Boston's "strong mayor system" and what Yoon characterized as "the mayor's absolute control over information, legislation, and the BRA." Yoon's plan would disperse mayoral power throughout the city government and, indeed, throughout the city.

Part of Yoon's charm to his supporters is his eggheadedness, and he couldn't help from dropping a few sociological ideas—"social capital" and "the wisdom of crowds"—to buttress his vision of city government. Citing municipal programs in Portland and San Francisco as lodestars, Yoon described a Boston government that turned neighborhood associations into partners in governance rather than "something for the city to control," that collected information from citizens through a 311 calling system, and that released information to the public with the degree of transparency found in the DataSF program.

"I would love for the city to be a lab," Yoon said. "A laboratory for colleges and universities" that would allow sociologists and urban studies scholars to operate pilot programs in the city to test new ideas.

Yoon's plans also include an overhaul of the police: a "top to bottom review" of the Boston Police Department and the establishment of a robust civilian review board with the power to subpoena records and witnesses and to recommend disciplinary action. According to Yoon, Boston needs such a board to rebuild trust between police and the communities they serve. He raised the specter of diversity—which he said is sorely lacking in the upper levels of the police heirarchy—and cited circumstantial evidence of civilian distrust of the police.

If anywhere, it's here that Yoon's well-reasoned vision of city government shows its hem. Does Boston really distrust its police? Is there a social-scientific way of determining that? How shut out of municipal government can Bostonians feel when a majority of them have met "strong mayor" Thomas Menino in person? These are the questions that will only be answered at the ballot box. And the mayoral primary is September 22.

Previously: [Drinking with Michael Flaherty]

Also see: [Coverage in Universal Hub]

Disclaimer: The Yoon campaign bought us snacks, and co-editor Kerry may have had a beer on his tab. (We drank water.)