CityLab Daily: The Art of Cleaning Up City Hall

A clean break: Racketeering. Graft. Embezzlement. Bribes. Perhaps one of the most colorful qualities of city politics is the notorious and chronic issue of civic corruption. It’s a story that has defined eras of cities like Baltimore, New Orleans, Chicago, and Providence, and it can leave locals weary from national embarrassment and seeing history repeat itself.

Leading a wave of reform can be a tall order. First come the attempts to oust politicians and root out the sources of controversy in the first place. Then there’s the murky work of overhauling city charters, rewriting ethics laws, launching probes, and challenging entrenched political traditions. “As long as you have human beings in government, you’re not going to be able to root [corruption] out entirely,” one political scientist tells CityLab. But voters and officials have certainly tried, and some have even gotten good results. Today on CityLab: The Art of Cleaning Up City Hall