Three things for London's Mayor

The Mayor of London has a number of responsibilities, as described on the official website:

The Mayor has a duty to set out plans and policies for London covering transport, planning and development, housing, economic development and regeneration, culture, health inequalities, and a range of environmental issues including climate change, biodiversity, ambient noise, waste disposal and air quality. The Mayor has a number of other duties relating to culture and tourism, including managing Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square.

Source: http://www.london.gov.uk/who-runs-london/mayor/role

There are three areas within the Mayor's remit that would benefit from immediate attention:

Firstly, traffic. There is absolutely no way that London's roads can be made to carry, at a reasonable average speed, the number of private cars that try to enter the city each day. The only option, if we are to travel around the city at anything more than a brisk jog, is to provide alternatives to driving, which means investing in both public transport and cycling infrastructure. Of the two, cycling infrastructure is by far the cheaper solution. There are lots of problems to be solved, of course, especially on London's narrower roads, but the Dutch and Danish have already solved them all - we just need to apply their lessons.

Secondly, and related to the first problem, Boris needs to tackle air pollution. London has no heavy industry to speak of and coal is now rarely used as a domestic heat source so most of the air pollution comes from motor vehicle exhausts. Air pollution in general kills around 13,000 people in the UK each year (source) so reducing the amount of rubbish we push into the atmosphere would have a significant positive impact on society. Trimming motor traffic, particularly in areas frequented by large numbers of people (like Oxford Street and Regent Street) would be the obvious first step and would have the additional benefit of making our city a more pleasant place to walk, shop, visit and live.

Finally, and completely unrelated to traffic or pollution, I'd like to see Boris reduce dramatically the number of underused properties, both commercial and domestic, which plague London in disturbingly large numbers. It seems strange that buildings are allowed to fall into disrepair in a city where property is so expensive but it isn't at all uncommon. Offices, shops, warehouses, houses and power stations (Battersea, for example) are abandoned and allowed to decay until they cease to be habitable and become a drain on society. Disused buildings reduce both the appeal of an area and its economic health so clearing (to create urban woodland, maybe) or re-occupying empty buildings could make quite a difference to the feel of the city.

This list is short and it disguises or ignores many obvious challenges involved in addressing these problems but Boris could make a real difference to our lives, and his chances or re-election, by taking decisive and effective action. Go on, Boris, you know you want to.