Featured Event
Downtown Artists: Neighborhood Tour
11/16/2024
11AM
Conversations
Svante Myrick, Kurt Andersen, and others: Mayoral Panel: Finding The Invisible City
Part of the IDEAS CITY Conference Pass
Watch the event on the New Museum’s Livestream.
Can policymaking be a form of design? The mayors of Houston, Ithaca, and San Juan (Puerto Rico) will debate the challenges and unprecedented opportunities facing the urban realm today.
Annise Parker; Houston, Texas
Annise Parker has been elected Houston Mayor three times, serving since 2010, and is one of only two women to hold the city’s highest elected office. She has been named by Time magazine as one of the hundred most influential people in the world. In addition to her duties as Mayor, Parker is a member of President Obama’s Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience and chairs the US Conference of Mayors Criminal and Social Justice Committee.
Carmen Yulín Cruz; San Juan, Puerto Rico
Carmen Yulín Cruz, Mayor of San Juan since 2013, has been involved in the city’s politics since 1992, when she served as an advisor to the then-mayor. She is a longstanding member of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) and is a leading figure in the Party’s soberanista wing, which supports Puerto Rican sovereignty while keeping such US ties as currency, common defense, and American citizenship. The Mayor is a champion of women’s rights and has, since 2005, served as President of the Popular Women Organization; she has also served as the PPD Speaker for the Commission of Women’s Affairs. One of her prime initiatives has been to incentivize the municipal economy, with the revitalization of the Rio Piedras neighborhood serving as a paradigm.
Svante Myrick; Ithaca, New York
Svante L. Myrick is twenty-eight years old and became the City of Ithaca’s youngest Mayor and first Mayor of color on January 1, 2012. Mayor Myrick is a passionate advocate for youth in the community and chaired the committee that created the Ithaca Youth Council. He also chaired the Collegetown Vision Implementation Committee, which led to the creation and endorsement of a master plan for promoting development while still preserving neighborhoods in Collegetown. His vision is to develop Ithaca and build a thriving urban center through rezoning and job creation.
Kurt Andersen (moderator)
Host of the Peabody Award–winning Studio 360, a coproduction of Public Radio International and WNYC, Kurt Andersen is also Cofounder and Editor of Spy magazine. He is also the author of two novels, Heyday and Turn of the Century.
