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Mayors fear long-lasting effects of COVID-19

03 December 2020
Dan Ackermann
Data: Menino Survey of Mayors; Chart: Axios Visuals

U.S. mayors tend to be an optimistic bunch, but a poll released Thursday finds them unusually pessimistic about prospects for post-pandemic recovery.

Why it matters: In a survey of mayors of 130 U.S. cities with more than 75,000 residents, 80% expect racial health disparities to widen, and an alarming number predict that schools, transit systems and small businesses will continue to suffer through 2021 and beyond.

Details: The Menino Survey of Mayors, conducted annually by Boston University's Initiative on Cities (and named for former Boston mayor Thomas Menino), normally finds respondents upbeat about the future.

  • This year, 45% of mayors foresee "dramatic" cuts to school budgets, while 38% expect big cuts to parks and recreation and 35% to mass transit.
  • "Only around one-third expect small businesses that closed due to the COVID-19 economy will be quickly replaced by new ones," according to a news release.
  • The mayors paint a bleak outlook for city centers, with 60% anticipating a permanent reduction in in-person retail shopping and the same percent saying that downtown office buildings will become "less desirable."

The bottom line: " A lot of mayors think that it’s going to be a long time before they see a return to normal," Graham Wilson, director of B.U.'s Initiative on Cities, tells Axios.

  • "The mayors believe that they really need more fiscal help — that the CARES Act was not enough for cities, it was not enough for small businesses."

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.