It would be fair to say that Sacramento’s new city manager, John Shirey, has hit the ground running. That’s a good thing, too, because he has a lot of ground to cover if he’s going to meet his goal of making Sacramento “the best managed city in California.” His first official day with the city was Sept. 1, and he’s spent the first week on the job jumping right in to the work ahead, Shirey said in an interview Friday. “I’m in a 90-day period of goal-setting,” Shirey said, “and understanding what this organization needs and what the City Council is willing to do as a group.” Shirey said that means putting together a specific plan and sharing with city staff and council exactly how he want

I recently spent three weeks in the Rust Belt—America’s old industrial heartland—looking at the ways Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Detroit have responded to economic crises. I was seeking what lessons these cities might have for my hometown of Sacramento. This tour followed 10 days in Europe studying Mondragon, which is the world's largest and most complex system of worker-ownership. Mondragon is located in the Basque Country, in Northern Spain. This region has taken an economic trajectory opposite the Rust Belt. While Cleveland and Detroit fell apart, the Basques clawed their way back from post-war devastation and oppression to achieve an average income that is now nearly 40 perc