NEW YORK, April 18 (UPI) -- Of the 29 largest U.S. cities, Chicago's Mayor Richard Daley emerged as the best municipal leader in a Time Magazine study published Monday.
The magazine consulted with urban experts to compile the list of mayors from cities with more than 500,000 people. The list included six Republicans, 22 Democrats and one unaffiliated mayor.
Following Daley was Shirley Franklin of Atlanta, the first black woman ever to run a big Southern city. Next was John Hickenlooper of Denver, who still has 75 percent job approval ratings after 19 months on the job.
Fourth was Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, who was first elected six years ago and re-elected last year with 87 percent of the vote.
New York's billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg, 63, rounded out the top five for trimming a $6 billion budget deficit in a little more than three years.
The bottom three mayors were reported as Dick Murphy of San Diego, Kwame Kilpatrick of Detroit and John Street of Philadelphia. All three are grappling with various versions of deficits and allegations of corruption in their administrations, the magazine said.
