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December 27, 2004
Don't mime me...
A top educator at the Colombian National University, Antanas Mockus found a new job as mayor of Bogota and learned it was little more than a 6.5 million person classroom. Some of the things that he did to gain control of a city that was full of violence, lawless traffic and on the verge of chaos were not only a bit unconventional, some were outright odd - though many were effective.
- Traffic Mimes
- 420 mimes were hired to control traffic. Pedestrians who didn't follow crossing rules would be tracked by a mime who mocked his every move.
- Night Out for Women
- Men were asked to stay home and care for the children. The first Woman's night had a turn out of 700,000 women
- Ratings Cards
- Handed out 350,000 thumbs up and thumbs down cards that were meant to approve or disapprove of other citizens' behavior - they were actually actively and peacefully used.
- Voluntary Taxes
- They were in a crunch so he asked for people to voluntarily pay an extra 10% in taxes. 63,000 did just that.
Link to Harvard Gazette article.
Posted by Jesse at December 27, 2004 12:47 AM