POLS 207 1st Edition Lecture 19 Outline of Last Lecture I Local Government Entities a Counties i deal with state concerns ii types Board of Commissioners Elected Executive Council Administrator b Municipalities Cities i deal with local concerns ii Charter of Incorporation iii Home Rule vs Dillion s Rule iv Mayor Council City Commission City Manager c Special Districts i deal with issues that other units of government cannot meet II Multiplicity of Local Governments Fragmented Local Government III Tiebout Model of Local Government Competition Outline of Current Lecture I Machine Politics II What led to the decline of Party Machines III The Reform Government Model IV Elitism verse Pluralism V Suburban Sprawl VI Annexation Cities Bringing In Unincorporated Areas VII Extra Territorial Jurisdiction VIII Annexing in Texas and in the Future Current Lecture Community Politics Machine Politics Machines gained power through o patronage giving out jobs based on political support to maintain party loyalties o influencing business processes that go through the machines such as government contracts building permits etc were easier if you supported the machine business favors Machines when a political party dominated power hit its height in late 1800s and early 1900s What led to the decline of Party Machines 1 Relied on distributing favors jobs and benefits to poor residents so that poor had tangible benefits they were receiving from the party machines a When federal gov expands welfare benefits the poor no longer have to rely on party machines 2 Waves of Immigration in late 1800s 1900s a Immigrants needed jobs housing schools etc so party machines helped them b If party machines assisted immigrants machines got their political loyalty c when waves of immigrants decreased party machines lost a lot of support 3 End of patronage a Federal government moved toward Merit Hiring with the Pendleton Act b move towards merit system took away one of the machine s tools to maintain loyalty 4 Reform Movement a overall reform movement in the US among intellectuals political studiers and other people who saw that government was becoming corrupt b reformers said party machines were a corrupting influence on government c created a Reform Government Model to fix things The Reform Government Model 1 You should have a Council Manager form of government o you want a trained professional making decisions in a rational less political way 2 Have Non Partisan Elections o At local level there is not a Rep Dem way to pave a road pick up trash but o Republicans might do contracts while Democrats send out workers o But reformers argued local issues weren t party issues o tough to have political machines without political parties 3 You should have At Large Elections o District Ward Elections divide city into districts or wards of even population each with a council member from each district just like set up of state legislature o At Large Elections allow everybody to vote for each council member for each member everybody in city elects them o Reformers argued if you divided the city into district whoever is elected from a district only represents that district and doesn t care about the city as a whole but at large elections make members concerned about city as a whole o District Ward versus At Large Elections effect minority representation tends to be reduced in At Large Elections 4 Merit system for all local government jobs and contracts o wanted skilled professional officials not political officials So what does an unreformed city look like o might have council mayor with partisan elections and district elections Many cities adopt the Reform Model but not all of them Most common form of government for big cities Mayor Council o several large cities violate the Reform Government Model o example It makes sense to have an elected official in charge like in NYC o if you have a lot of people it is also hard for council members to represent whole city so instead do district elections because council members can represent smaller part of city Overall important to consider big cities versus smaller cities smaller cities are more likely to have a Reform Government Model sometimes works better to have an Unreformed Gov Model in larger cties Elitism and Pluralism Who runs government Who makes the decisions Two views o Elitist View of Politics Who s in charge the top community business leaders run the city Political power flows from ECONOMIC power What role do city council leaders play follow business leaders Average citizen really does not have a large role Citizens elect Mayor but Mayor listens to business leaders o Pluralist View of Politics Who s in charge dominated by a lot of different groups business interest groups family oriented groups environmental groups different groups are competing for attention and policy the city government officials now matter the Mayor has to choose some big policy areas to focus on Mayor builds a coalition team of different groups elections now matter because different mayor candidates propose different policies and the different policies will be favored by different groups Masses matter in pluralist view Government officials are choosing between groups in what policies they support Masses matter in voting for Mayor o City Limits by Paul Peterson says it depends on types of policies on which view dominates development policies business policies tax policies zoning policies city financing for new building loan program for a new building in these cases business leaders care most about the policies o what are taxes like what are loans like what jobs is the city bringing in in these policies people listen to business leaders allocational policies delivery of basic city services police fire protection trash education parks average citizens care about these issues average citizens don t worry about new loan programs business programs if roads are terrible trash isn t picked up parks are closed security residents care the most and will want to have a say Pluralist are right if allocational policies dominate Elitist are right if development policies Suburban Sprawl metropolitan area central city of 50 000 people with surrounding areas with strong economic ties to the urban population Is Bryan College Station a metropolitan area YES according to the definition What happened since 1950s occurrence of Suburban Sprawl cities populations were expanding live in suburban even if worked in city in 1940s as
View Full Document
Unlocking...