So we agree that what the Kroll report called a “culture of corruption” is at the root of the city’s problems. A real reform should have targeted this head on, to clean the system from the bottom all the way to the top. I would recommend you look at the new rules against conflicts in place in Hawaii, Los Angeles and San Francisco. 
What we disagree on, is the impetus for change. You are claiming that it is not the investigations by the FBI, SEC, Kroll and the District Attorney, but the threat of a ballot initiative that is the impetus for change. Lessons from Management 101 are that fear is the worst form of employee coercion, and harms productivity. Worst still, coercing somebody for no fault of theirs, but management misdeeds, has already led to a mass departure of skilled civil servants and police officers.