Can Bloomberg's $9 Million Mayors Challenge Really Make a Difference?

Yesterday New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced his "Mayors Challenge": a competition for city innovation that promises $5 million to the winner and $1 million to four runners-up. "For an awful lot of cities across this country, $5 million is a lot of money, a million dollars is a lot of money," he said. "Particularly when it's not coming from the taxpayers, but the taxpayers get all the benefit of it."

Still the natural question, given the diminished state of city coffers around the country, is whether the prize money, however generous, will really be enough to fund a project that has a serious impact on urban life. Let's consider the answer using one of Bloomberg's own examples: the 311 city services number used by dozens of cities across the country to facilitate civic engagement.