For the past six years, Bloomberg Philanthropies has held the Mayors Challenge, a competition that awards cities $1 million prizes to spur innovative solutions to ingrained urban problems.

This week's guests are Challenge leader Aparna Ramanan and Challenge grantee, Lafayette, LA Mayor Monique Blanco Boulet. Join former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and Citizen Co-Founder Larry Platt for an eye-opening conversation about what it takes to innovate in a city. (Lafayette's problem might sound familiarly stinky to Philadelphians: old, failing, sewers.)

Blanco Boulet believes true innovation must start with a change of mindset. "Critical thinking is just not natural in government. If I don't know where we're having flood issues, I could just choose anywhere [to put the money]. That happens. That's not abnormal for government in the absence of real decision-making."

Join us for an episode about cities tackling entrenched problems and the public-private partnerships like Bloomberg Philanthropies that support them.

When it comes to facing these intractable issues, as Nutter said, "You have to deal with the consequences of not."

As cities go, so goes the nation!

Kimberly McGlonn is back, this time answering a listener question about moving on. Sometimes it's a job, a city, a relationship, or a dream, but how does a person know when it's time to go?

If you have a question for Kimberly, go here to ask and we'll do our best to feature it in an upcoming episode.

On this episode of Guest Commentary, a former City Council and School Reform Commission member weighs in on what a $300 million budget deficit says about School District leadership

Right out of the pages of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, Republicans in Ohio proposed a bill that would "allow the government to track every pregnancy, beginning to end." Ali Velshi explains.

If you have unwanted rodent visitors, there are two docs from Drexel who are asking Philadelphians to put them in the freezer. For science. They even have a few pointers for catching the elusive pests.

On this episode of The Citizen Recommends, Roxanne Patel Shepelavy asks why pay Silicon Valley tech companies for your ride when locally-owned taxi cabs are faster, cost less and put money back into Philadelphia's economy?

Pups are everywhere these days, thanks to indulgent owners and business proprietors. Guess what else is everywhere -- sidewalks, street corners, soles of shoes?

In all the talk over closing and fixing up Philly schools, there is no mention of building new ones that might serve the community better. Can we look to New York City and Boston for solutions we should steal?