I want to register a dissenting opinion to that expressed by Jay York in Saturday’s Another View editorial (“Portland’s mayor would be more successful with more power”).

The “yes” vote to have an elected mayor was in response to the recommendation of the Charter Commission’s excellent work. I was opposed to having an elected mayor, but after reading about the limited power given to the elected mayor, I changed my mind. I did read the fine print and believed that it was totally appropriate for this city.

I particularly object to Mr. York’s last paragraph, which is just plain wrong.

He said, “I, for one, believe that Brennan could be doing an even better job as this city’s mayor if he were allowed the same powers that most mayors in America have.”

If York were to look at the contentious relationship between most city’s mayors and their city councils and/or city managers, he might change his mind. New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland and a host of smaller cities have long histories of ongoing political battles between their elected mayors and their city councils because of hassles over power.

Portland is fortunate to have a history of good city managers who have done a good job managing the city with much less bureaucratic red tape than most other cities.

Mayor Brennan’s performance so far has been excellent and there is no indication that he needs any additional executive authority to be effective.