bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Neighborhood Associations
Authors: Logan John R. , Rabrenovic Gordana
Published: November 2009

We study neighborhood associations as local political actors. In our sample, most were formed around a single neighborhood issue, typically involving land-development projects. Their most common opponents include local government and business and real estate developers. The well-known growth-machine model is challenged in two ways. First, although growth issues are prominent in the establishment of neighborhood associations, in many cases they are joined or replaced by other kinds of issues (such as public services or safety). Second, local government is perceived as a political ally as often as it is seen as an opponent, and sometimes it is seen as both on the same issue.
On Confusing Caution and Greed
Authors: Fossett James W.
Published: November 2009

Several researchers who have studied the impact of unrestricted state and federal grants on local government spending have observed a "flypaper effect" in which the expenditure effect of such grants is larger than a comparable increase in community income. Conventional explanations of this effect rely heavily on assumptions of voter misperception or official manipulations of voters to induce a higher level of spending than would otherwise be approved. An alternate model is presented to argue that the flypaper effect arises from the uncertainty and instability of grant revenue and risk-averse behavior by local officials.
Making Policy Choices
Authors: Grant Jane A.
Published: November 2009

The author examines how local governments make decisions about economic development, focusing specifically on the decision to locate a General Motors truck plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in August 1984. The processes used to make that policy choice included secret negotiations between private and public elites, cost-benefit analyses, and public hearings. The advantages and disadvantages of using these three approaches to make policy choices are discussed, and how they actually operated in the case under review is evaluated. Finally, the efficacy of these approaches for effective and accountable policymaking is assessed.
The Status of the Pedestrian Mall in American Downtowns
Authors: Robertson Kent A.
Published: November 2009

During the last 30 years, pedestrian malls have been built in hundreds of American cities in an attempt to revitalize downtown retailing. The majority of the malls that were opened in the 1960s and 1970s did not fulfill original expectations. Few malls are being constructed today, and city officials nationwide are pondering the future of existing malls. Pedestrian malls in six American cities are described and evaluated in this article to clarify (1) the extent to which malls have changed in terms of priorities, design, and economic activities and (2) the key issues that downtown mall planners will be facing during the 1990s.
The Politics of Casino Gambling
Authors: Rich Wilbur C.
Published: November 2009

To recover from the effects of disinvestment in the auto industry, Detroit is being promoted as a tourist/convention center. Casinos have been suggested as revenue enhancers and as tourist magnets. Despite the poor reviews Atlantic City received from introducing casinos, three casino referenda have been attempted in Detroit. The 1988 anticasino campaign is reviewed in this article. The voters again rejected casinos in that campaign, but the important differences in the nature and character of the appeal reveal that status politics does matter when mobilizing the working class. The rejection of casinos is viewed as a setback with long-term implications.
Downtown Development and Urban Reform
Authors: Dreier Peter , Ehrlich Bruce
Published: November 2009

A widely held belief is that cities cannot implement redistributive social and development policies without harming their economic and fiscal base. A different view is taken in this article; both the constraints and the potential—the "room for maneuver"—for local government to carry out progressive economic and social policies are analyzed. Boston's innovative linkage program is used as a case study to examine the social, economic, and political forces that shaped the origins and the evolution of the city's development policies under Mayor Raymond Flynn and his predecessors.
The Art of Growth
Authors: Whitit J. Allen , Lammers John C.
Published: November 2009

The intent of this study is to show that (1) the arts have come to play an important role in urban growth, (2) this role is an important motivation for corporate giving to cultural organizations, and (3) the coalescence of interests between arts organizations and development forces is evidenced by direct ties between downtown development-oriented organizations and major arts organizations. The extent of overlapping directorships between development and arts organizations is compared with overlaps of directorships tying other types of civic organizations to the development organizations. The setting for the study is Louisville, Kentucky, a city in which economic and growth problems recently have been faced by heavily investing in an arts-based growth strategy.
A Case for a National Urban Policy
Authors: Kantor Paul
Published: November 2009

Growth of the federal urban presence has not occurred as expected: National economic development programs have increased urban and regional economic rivalry; national redistributive programs usually have failed to check the political consequences of this constraint in local welfare politics. In effect, federal urban policy has govemmentalized the pressures in the urban economy that discourage local government activism in aiding the disadvantaged. A strategy is outlined for reforming national urban policy so that this dilemma can be resolved.
The Measurement of Segregation Change through Integration and Deconcentration, 1970-1980
Authors: Smith Richard A.
Published: November 2009

Desegregation may occur through the integration of blacks into white neighborhoods or through deconcentration from ghetto areas. Using summary segregation indexes, previous researchers have been unable to show the extent to which segregation declines derive from the two change models. In this research, 1970-1980 desegregation is explored, and the extent to which two segregation indexes, the dissimilarity index and the correlation ratio, reflect changes through integration and deconcentration is tested. Results show that desegregation through ghetto deconcentration is more common; change through integration occurred mostly in turnover tracts and likely is temporary. Of the two indexes tested, the correlation ratio better reflects changes brought about through deconcentration.
Restructuring or Destructuring?
Authors: Koritz Douglas
Published: November 2009

The distinction between deindustrialization with destructuring—the disintegration of an economic structure - and deindustrialization with restructuring is missing from much of the debate over deindustrialization in metropolitan areas and the appropriate policy responses to it. Empirical research must account for different sequencing of destructuring and restructuring in different cities. Buffalo experienced destructuring with little or no restructuring, whereas Pittsburgh experienced them simultaneously. Both cities experienced deindustrialization well before the usual period of study. These issues are illustrated by a comparison of Pittsburgh and Buffalo, and some political and policy consequences are noted.
From Consumption to Production
Authors: Fitzgerald Joan , Simmons Louise
Published: November 2009

The authors examine the response of labor-community organizations in local economic development policy decisions. Case studies of labor-community organizations in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Hartford, Connecticut, are presented to support the authors' conclusion that grass-roots participation can lead to development policies that reflect working-class interests. Further, the organization in Pittsburgh has been active in creating a national-level organization to assist other places in developing similar responses. Accordingly, the authors suggest that such movements cannot be judged exclusively in terms of their immediate gains but must also be evaluated in terms of the extent to which the strategies developed promote conditions for future progressive social change.
Public Employee Unions, Reformism, and Black Employment in 1,200 American Cities
Authors: Mladenka Kenneth R.
Published: November 2009

This research was undertaken to examine the impact of political, economic, and institutional variables upon black employment outcomes in several hundred American cities. The results reveal that public employee unions exert a significant negative impact upon black job success in unreformed cities. However, public employee unions do not influence minority employment patterns in reformed communities. These findings strongly suggest that a critical reevaluation of the conventional wisdom regarding the policy effects of reformed institutions is called for.
Segmentation of the Home-Buyer Market
Authors: Varady David P.
Published: November 2009

To better understand the segmentation of the home-buyer market in American metropolitan areas, cluster analysis is applied to the results of three surveys of 6,173 recent home buyers in Hamilton County (Cincinnati), Ohio. Life-style orientation was particularly important in identifying 8 clusters, which highlights the value of using attitudinal as well as objective census-type measures. A large contiguous grouping of cosmopolitan submarkets close to downtown indicates the impact of a growing segment of the population with a taste for urban living. Methods of attracting home buyers to cosmopolitan and baseline communities—those with modestly priced homes suitable for households beginning the family mobility cycle—are discussed.
Insurance Redlining, Agency Location, and the Process of Urban Disinvestment
Authors: Squires Gregory D. , Velez William , Taeuber Karl E.
Published: November 2009

Insurance redlining exacerbates economic decline and impedes revitalization of urban neighborhoods throughout the United States. One significant barrier to the availability of insurance is the movement of sales representatives from inner-city to suburban locations. In examining the changing pattern of insurance agency locations within the Milwaukee metropolitan area, the authors find that racial composition of neighborhood is associated with agency location even after the effects of family income, condition of housing, and number of dwellings are controlled. Policy recommendations are offered to mitigate the practice and effects of insurance redlining and to stimulate reinvestment in urban communities.
Is Neighborhood Racial Succession Inevitable?
Authors: Wood Peter B. , Lee Barrett A.
Published: November 2009

Analysis of compositional changes in the racially mixed neighborhoods (tracts) of 5 large U.S. cities over a 40-year period casts doubt on a central notion of the invasion-succession model: that white-to-black change (succession) is inevitable. The findings indicate that (1) the likelihood of racial succession decreased in all 5 cities from 1970 to 1980, relative to earlier decades, (2) the likelihood of racial stability increased in 4 of the 5 cities during the 1970s, and (3) marked variation exists in patterns of racial change across the cities and decades surveyed. Regional comparisons using 1940-1980 tract data for 38 additional cities strengthen the conclusions based on the 5 case-study locations.
Black Suburbanization
Authors: Galster George C.
Published: November 2009

This note presents empirical evidence on changes in an index measuring the relative decentralization of blacks for 40 MSAs during the 1970s. The evidence demonstrates that although other, more conventional indicators of suburbanization (which denote residence inside and outside the central city) demonstrate substantial changes, this is not the case for the decentralization indicator (which is independent of political jurisdictional boundaries). The implications are that blacks will gain little from near-central-city suburbanization if job growth, high-quality education, superior environments, and the like tend to follow higher-status whites into the evermore-distant exurbs.
The Influence of Racial Transition on Incumbency Advantage in Local Elections
Authors: Vanderleeuw James M.
Published: November 2009

The author assesses the impact of incumbency on racial voting patterns and, more important, the extent to which the changing racial composition of a city's electorate conditions the relationship between voting behavior and incumbency. To address these concerns, the author examines voting behavior across a series of mayoral and city council elections held in New Orleans between 1965 and 1986, the period during which that city underwent racial transition from majority white to majority black.
The Transformation of the Pacific Electric Railway
Authors: Adler Sy
Published: November 2009

In his account of the motorization of transit in Los Angeles, Bradford Snell focused on industry-based interest group politics and on modal conflict. These obscure the politicization of transport issues at the metropolitan level. Competition between place-based coalitions to attract and retain mobile capital investment structured not only urban transport politics but also controversial efforts to create governmental transit agencies. In this article the author critiques Snell's account and provides an alternative analysis of the fate of the Pacific Electric Railway that is grounded in the political economy of the Los Angeles region in the period immediately preceding and following World War II.
Intergovernmental Service Contracts
Authors: Morgan David R. , Hirlinger Michael W.
Published: November 2009

A model of intergovernmental service contracting is tested for U.S. cities of 25,000 and over population. In this model, the decision process is assumed to be shaped by many of the same forces that affect contracting to the private sector, namely, cost considerations, fiscal pressures, and political influences. Considerable support is found for the model, although fiscal stress is not a major impetus for contracting with other jurisdictions. The presence of a city manager facilitates greater intergovernmental contracting, although restrictive state laws limit such arrangements. Above all, when local officials fear loss of service control, less intergovernmental contracting occurs.
Predicting Chronic Homelessness
Authors: Calsyn Robert J. , Morse Gary A.
Published: November 2009

Lack of human capital, social alienation, psychiatric pathology, and exposure to stressful life events have all been offered as theoretical explanations for chronic homelessness. In this study, a multiple regression equation that included variables from all four theoretical orientations did significantly predict the length of time homeless. However, only a small percentage of the total variance of chronic homelessness could be explained by these individual-difference variables. Additional research is needed to determine if societal-level variables are more powerful predictors of chronic homelessness.
Metropolitan Size and Corporate Merger Behavior
Authors: Blair John P. , Endres Carole R.
Published: November 2009

Firms' headquarters in larger urban areas are shown to be more active in the merger process and more likely to be predators than firms located in smaller places. The larger the metropolitan area, the stronger the tendencies. The findings are attributable to (1) the disproportionate presence of large corporations in large urban areas and (2) efficiency advantages of large metropolitan locations, which include face-to-face communications, establishing and maintaining business relationships, maintaining interurban linkages, and attracting top talent. The shift of corporate headquarters away from smaller places has adversely affected the economies of those regions through decreased employment, income loss, and a decline in future development prospects. The spatial asymmetries have implications for economic development policy.
Is Economic Development Decision Making Rational?
Authors: Wolkoff Michael J.
Published: November 2009

Evaluations of economic development programs have raised questions about the logic behind program design and the rationality of decision choices. In response, analysts have justified program choices and structure on the basis of a variety of organizational and political factors influencing decision makers. Although these explanations are consistent with observed outcomes, they are incomplete from a modeler's perspective. This article presents a model of the economic development process that generates seemingly irrational outcomes despite the assumption that all actors are maximizing agents. The key feature of this model is the recognition that economic development subsidy awards influence the likelihood that other firms will demand subsidies.
Responsiveness of Intergovernmental Aid to Urban Problems in New Jersey and New York, 1976-1984
Authors: Hoggart Keith
Published: November 2009

After establishing that the distribution of federal and state aid to cities in New Jersey and New York was stable between 1976 and 1984, the author examines the relationship between socioeconomic conditions and aid receipts. When single years are examined, both federal and state payments are found to be broadly redistributive, especially in New Jersey. However, when change over these years is examined, the greatest federal losses are found for cities with the highest socioeconomic needs. Changes in New Jersey were more responsive to urban distress. Discussion of these differences focuses on dissimilarities in the political compromises that are reached at the state government level.
Local Government Support for Nonprofit Housing
Authors: Goetz Edward G.
Published: November 2009

Nonprofit housing developers are taking on greater importance in U.S. housing policy. This study reports the findings of a survey of U.S. cities regarding the ways in which local governments provide support for nonprofit developers. The findings suggest that nonprofit developers are active in all larger U.S. cities and that local governments provide financial and technical resources to them. Further, the findings suggest that the political organization of the community-based housing sector is an important factor in determining the range of support provided by local government. The article provides a typology of political and programmatic arrangements reached by nonprofit housing providers and local governments.
Contracting and Franchising County Services in Florida
Authors: Benton J. Edwin , Menzel Donald C.
Published: November 2009

This study examines the privatization behavior of county governments and treats contracting and franchising as separate decision-making activities. Contracting decisions are influenced primarily by the desire to reduce production costs. Growth pressures and a political culture that favors professional administration over private-regarding politics also are determinants. Franchising decisions are influenced heavily by growth pressures, political impediments to altering the traditional public production arrangements, a political culture that insulates administration from politics, and a desire to keep tax rates down. In other words, franchising decisions are predicated extensively on efforts to limit the scope of government and operate county government according to businesslike principles.
Winning the West to Municipal Reform
Authors: Bridges Amy
Published: November 2009

In the 20 years after 1900, municipal reformers celebrated triumph after triumph as cities across the country adopted commission and city-manager charters. The cities of the Southwest were prominent in the movement for municipal reform. In this article, the author shows how the West was won to municipal reform and argues that the adoption of reform charters was not the product of conducive local political culture but, rather, the result of region understood as strategic location and of manipulations of the rules that advantaged advocates of charter revision.
The Urban Antiregime
Authors: DeLeon Richard E.
Published: November 2009

San Francisco is in transition between two urban regimes, a crumbling business-dominated progrowth regime and an emerging progressive slow-growth regime, which is best described as an antiregime because it functions mainly to obstruct the exercise of power. To convert an urban movement into a regime, the city's progressive leaders must reconcile the divergent political interests of coalition elements, renegotiate a partnership with the private sector that is consistent with slow-growth objectives, and settle disputes surrounding Mayor Agnos's tenure. The progressive coalition's exclusive reliance upon a small-business economy is not sufficient to resolve contradictions between materialist and postmaterialist goals in the progressive agenda.
City Limits and the Growth of Suburban Retail Trade, 1982-1987
Authors: Schneider Mark
Published: November 2009

The ability of cities to attract economic activity has been a core theme of urban research during the last decade. In this research note, the author examines the location of retail employment in 1972, 1982, and 1987 in a sample of approximately 1,000 suburban municipalities and explores the effects of local factors on the relative success that these communities experience in fostering growth in jobs in the retail sector. Policy effects are strongly limited by the inherent long-term stability in the distribution of economic activity and in the enduring distribution of the demographic conditions that define the quality and attractiveness of the local market for private goods.
Urban Primacy and World-System Position
Authors: Lyman Brad
Published: November 2009

Urban primacy emerged in many developing countries during the twentieth century. The author of this cross-national study applies generalized least-squares panel regressions of world-system position, level of economic development, and land area to a standardized urban primacy index. Although core nations remained stable, peripheral and semiperipheral nations became more primate from 1930 to 1970. The trend toward higher urban primacy among peripheral nations slackened dramatically in the 1970s. National city-size distributions clearly diverged in the twentieth century, and world-systems theory provides insight into the international influences that mediate internal urban processes.
Citizenship in the Empowered Locality
Authors: Lowery David , DeHoog Ruth Hoogland , Lyons William E.
Published: November 2009

Although liberal and communitarian interpretations of citizenship differ profoundly, they nevertheless offer essentially similar prescriptions in support of empowered localities. The authors argue, instead, that the rejected alternative of consolidated government better promotes both interpretations of effective citizenship. They develop this argument by more fully specifying the behavioral implications of the two views of citizenship and theoretically linking those behaviors to fragmented and consolidated urban institutions using the Exit, Voice, Loyalty, and Neglect model introduced by Lyons and Lowery in 1986. They then test the central proposition derived from that analysis using a comparison group design.
How to Get more Women in Office
Authors: MacManus Susan A.
Published: November 2009

Female officeholders greatly influence the paths taken by those considering running for office. A mail survey of female mayors and council members shows that the reticence of women to run is perceived by these officeholders as the major barrier to more women getting elected. Factors ranging from the method of electing council members to the timing of elections, length and structure of terms, council size, runoff requirements, and media coverage are not seen as major roadblocks. There also is no evidence that the prestige of the mayor's office makes it tougher for women to capture mayoral positions than council seats.
Restructuring and the Growth of Concentrated Poverty in Detroit
Authors: Wilson Carter A.
Published: November 2009

Three theses that attempt to explain the rise of concentrated poverty and the growth of racial inequality in urban areas are examined in this study: (1) education/job mismatch and social class transformation, (2) labor market segmentation, and (3) industrial decline and uneven economic development. The author tests the undergirding assumptions of these theses for the Detroit metropolitan area using 1970 and 1980 census tract data. Although data provide some support for each thesis, the industrial decline and uneven economic growth view emerges as the strongest explanation for the growth of concentrated poverty and racial inequality in the Detroit area.
Commodification of Ethnicity
Authors: Lee Dong Ok
Published: November 2009

Ethnicity is commodified in the process of economic transition involved in immigration: Immigrants sell their labor power for economic survival. While a spatially enclosed ethnic community channels the traditional kind of mutual cooperation into the growth of the "ethnic capital," a common ethnicity of the Korean community, based on shared language and other cultural background, is appropriated as a product to sell, a reliable source for workers, and an object of consumption. To examine this proposition, the author analyzes Korean small businesses in the Los Angeles area, focusing on the human capital of Korean entrepreneurs, costs of reproduction of entrepreneurial labor, and the work processes.
There's a Madness in the Method
Authors: Coulter Philip B.
Published: November 2009

Recent meta-analysis of research on citizen-initiated contacting of government officials revealed that the findings are basically an artifact of the method used. Macroanalytic studies using aggregate data find a negative or curvilinear relationship between contacting and socioeconomic status (SES), and microanalytic studies using survey data find a positive or null relationship between contacting and SES. This author argues that almost all survey researchers have used an invalid operational measure of contacting. Analysis of results from a Birmingham, Alabama, survey, which defined contacting in the conventional way and with specific, bounded-and aided-recall questions, strongly suggests that much of what researchers know or think they know about contacting is suspect.
Community Social Status, Suburban Growth, and Local Government Restrictions on Residential Development
Authors: Donovan Todd , Neiman Max
Published: November 2009

Residential development restrictions among Southern California suburban jurisdictions are examined. The purpose of the analysis is to assess the relative importance of various measures of community status, partisanship, and growth as predictors of local policy to regulate residential development. Social status and growth rates appear to account for some of the interurisdictional variation in policy, although it is clear that excluded factors are also important. Several issues regarding the study of local development policy and what might affect findings from study to study are also addressed.
Decision Rules in Local Economic Development
Authors: Reese Laura A.
Published: November 2009

This research explores the nature of local economic development decision making. A central theoretical issue common to all types of urban research is the extent of independence and rationality that public decision makers exhibit during the policymaking process. The author argues that local political decisions do matter in the economic development arena; in other words, cities are not totally constrained by external forces but make certain bounded choices. However, the data indicate that economic development policies are not likely to be the result of rational, systematic weighing of costs and benefits. Rather, economic development policy largely is driven by professional decision rules emanating from economic development professionals.
Ethnic Political Power in a Machine City
Authors: Inglot Tomasz , Pelissero John P.
Published: November 2009

Machine politics in Chicago has been described as a successful example of exchange theory in which political party members received benefits in return for loyalty to the party. In 1988, Erie rejected the rainbow theory of machine politics, arguing that the Irish received the lion's share of political benefits while other white-ethnic groups, such as Poles, were given limited and often symbolic rewards. These authors show that Chicago's Poles were not fully incorporated into the rainbow of groups that benefited from and supported the machine. This led to a pattern of independence in voting and lends considerable support to Erie's supply-side model of machine politics.
Race and Voting
Authors: Henig Jefrey R.
Published: November 2009

Racially patterned voting can be spurious (based on racially neutral criteria), racist (based solely on race), or racial (based on political, tactical, symbolic, or value-based deliberations in which race is an important consideration). In this article the author assesses the relationship between race and voting in the 140 precincts of the District of Columbia, focusing on competitive elections between 1978 and 1990. Race is an extremely potent and tenacious factor in structuring electoral patterns, but this reflects context-specific calculations mediated by strong group identity and shared assessments of the political environment.
Local Economic Development Practices Across the Northern Border
Authors: Reese Laura A.
Published: November 2009

This article provides a comparison of local economic development techniques in the province of Ontario, Canada, and the state of Michigan. Through an examination of the use of 57 different economic development practices, the author concludes that Ontario cities are more likely to practice a wider array of techniques across a variety of areas. Michigan cities are more likely to rely on financial incentives such as tax abatements, downtown development authorities, and tax increment finance authorities. Because Ontario and Michigan employ similar types of incentives, the author concludes that variation in the intensity of use of various techniques lies not in national differences but in the state/provincial enabling legislative frameworks.
Refining Estimates of Double Taxation
Authors: Davis Judy S. , Edner Sheldon M.
Published: November 2009

The fragmented decision making of multiple, overlapping governments in response to growth-induced needs for services can result in double taxation. A case study of law enforcement in a suburban county illustrates the double taxation of city residents, who pay for services from both the county and city but mainly receive them from the city. The study improves on previous studies by dividing the unincorporated area into two areas based on intensity of development. The main beneficiaries of the double-taxation subsidy are the unincorporated suburbs. The county government is struggling with the political process of finding a solution to the inequity.
Investigating the Structural Determinants of Homelessness
Authors: Ringheim Karin
Published: November 2009

Houston is selected as an extreme case to test the hypothesis that homelessness results from a mismatch between the supply of rental housing affordable to the poor and the demand for low-cost housing. In 1983, Houston had a rental vacancy rate of 18% but also had a large and growing homeless population. Annual Housing Survey data for 1976-83 show that rent increases in Houston far exceeded the rate of inflation, while renter incomes stagnated. Hardest hit were low-income blacks, who are disproportionately represented among the homeless population in Houston. Rent inflation in the face of massive vacancies is an indication that expected market forces will not meet the housing needs of the poor.
Measuring Racial Discrimination in the Housing Market
Authors: Clark William A. V.
Published: November 2009

Recently, several researchers have attempted to evaluate the extent to which housing discrimination explains the continuing levels of racial separation in U.S. metropolitan areas. They often use audit data that show that black households are likely to experience substantial discrimination in the housing market. A reevaluation of the statistical studies of segregation suggests that the effects of discrimination are smaller than has been previously postulated, and direct estimates of housing discrimination from surveys provide a rationale for such smaller effects.
Explaining African-American Political Empowerment
Authors: Keiser Richard A.
Published: November 2009

Early in the 20th century, Chicago was "the seventh heaven" of political activity for African-Americans. In no city had African-American empowerment proceeded as far. But from the 1950s to the election of Harold Washington in 1983, Chicago was considered a glaring example of African-American subordination and powerlessness. This transformation presents excellent conditions for analysis of the processes of political empowerment and the rollback of political power. The author challenges the conventional wisdom that political machines represent a "ladder" for minority empowerment. Rather, electoral competition among white factions or parties created the conditions under which African-American voters could determine electoral outcomes and African-American leaders could bargain for group empowerment.
Urban Economic Reform and Public-Housing Investment in China
Authors: Chen Xiangming , Gao Xiaoyuan
Published: November 2009

The authors examine the characteristics and determinants of urban public-housing investment in the People's Republic of China. After discussing the characteristics of the state-controlled urban housing sector through the 1970s and the market-oriented reform in the 1980s to commodity urban housing, they use regression analysis to estimate the effects of several factors on urban public-housing investment in 1984 and 1987. The role of the state in housing investment in China's cities weakened, and the effect of reform-related factors became stronger. State redistribution maintained a stronger effect on public-housing investment in inland cities than in coastal cities, where deeper market-oriented reform further dampened the state's influence on public-housing investment.
Representing Urban Decline
Authors: Beauregard Robert A.
Published: November 2009

Throughout the postwar period, urban theorists and popular commentators in the United States developed a perspective on older industrial cities that emphasized their decline. Almost any student of U.S. urbanization now can easily recount the historical events that explain why these cities became less and less desirable to households and businesses. Such explanations, though, frequently lack a consideration of the instability of the language of urban decline and the narratives through which interpretations of decline are conveyed. The purpose of this article is to illustrate the disorderly nature of the concept of urban decline through a presentation and analysis of various narrative frameworks in which it is commonly presented.
The Dependent City and Intergovernmental Aid
Authors: Morgan David R. , Hirlinger Michael W.
Published: November 2009

Beginning in the late 1970s and accelerating during the 1980s, U.S. cities lost substantial federal assistance. This research identifies those cities that were especially dependent on federal transfer payments both before and after most of the cuts had been made. The authors also analyze changes in municipal fiscal behavior between 1975 and 1987. In 1975, the most aid-dependent places were central cities suffering both socioeconomic and fiscal stress. Only central city status and socioeconomic hardship were primary predictors of aid dependency 12 years later. The second stage of the analysis shows, unexpectedly, that the loss of federal funds was not a significant influence on the fiscal decisions made in this large group of cities.
The Spatial Concentration of Affluence and Poverty during the 1970s
Authors: Massey Douglas S. , Eggers Mitchell L.
Published: November 2009

In this article, the authors use a special data set compiled for 60 U.S. metropolitan areas to examine 1970-1980 trends in the distribution of family income and shifts in the degree of segregation between income groups. They document how these changes contributed to increases in the spatial concentration of affluence and poverty during the 1970s and estimate simple descriptive models that connect these outcomes to broader socioeconomic trends in U.S. urban areas.
Patterned Inequality?
Authors: Miranda Rowan A. , Tunyavong Ittipone
Published: November 2009

Numerous scholars have concluded that bureaucratic decision rules best explain urban service distributions. These studies have led to a conventional wisdom in urban politics that professionalism dominates municipal agency routines to the extent that systematic bias is therefore unlikely to occur. In this study, the authors demonstrate that the unpatterned inequality thesis has led scholars to underestimate the importance of local politics in explaining service distribution. By examining the allocation of community development block grant and capital improvement plan funds in Chicago over nearly two decades, they conclude that electoral and regime politics also exercise a decisive impact on who gets what from city government.
Regime Maintenance, Solution Sets, and Urban Economic Development
Authors: Bachelor Lynn W.
Published: November 2009

Through a case study of economic development projects in Detroit, the author examines the influence of time and information constraints, policy entrepreneurs, and regime maintenance concerns in promoting policy replication and the development of solution sets. Detroit's experience suggests that political and symbolic benefits shape the decisions of policymakers concerned with preserving an existing governing coalition but that their reliance on past solution sets may weaken the position of this coalition.
Bank Representation in Low-Income and Minority Urban Communities
Authors: Caskey John P.
Published: November 2009

The author of this article examines the empirical support for the propositions that bank branches are significantly underrepresented in low-income and minority urban communities and that the problem has worsened in recent years. He tests these propositions with data on bank branch locations from 1970 through 1989 in five cities. The data from two of the cities are consistent with the propositions, but the patterns in the data from the other three cities are either inconsistent or mixed.
Municipal Bankruptcy and the States
Authors: Lewis Carol W.
Published: November 2009

The brush with bankruptcy of Connecticut's largest city shows chapter 9 reshaping political power within municipalities and between them and the states. The court's decisions provoke questions about intergovernmental relations in a period of fiscal stress and demonstrate the importance of the legal system for urban politics. Frugality characterizes the group of states that affirmatively authorize municipal petitions. Because federal bankruptcy courts interpret access broadly, a state's political silence on eligibility and bankruptcy's conformity with state policies is tantamount to agreeing that urban policy shall be made in federal court.
Industrial Shifts and Uneven Development
Authors: Negrey Cynthia , Zickel Mary Beth
Published: November 2009

The authors explore patterns of employment and population change in 140 U.S. metropolitan areas from the early 1970s to the late 1980s using U.S. government data. Their analysis generated a typology of six broad types of metropolitan areas suggestive of changing production functions. Regional patterns of change revealed by their typology suggested regional differences which they subjected to regression analyses to assess the relationships among change in manufacturing employment, employment more generally, and population. Their findings have implications for the theoretical understanding of the relationship between employment and population and the practical concerns of urban and economic policy.
Urban Regimes and Leadership in Detroit
Authors: Orr Marion E. , Stoker Gerry
Published: November 2009

The concept of urban regime has emerged as a widely used instrument to explore the responses of local leaders to processes of change. This study of regime building in Detroit during the long period of Coleman Young's mayoralty, contrary to some previous studies, shows how problems of cooperation between private and public leaders have been only partially overcome in Detroit. The key contribution of regime theory is its focus on the problems of collective organization and action. In Detroit, an effective public-private partnership has not emerged, and the authors examine the consequences. They conclude by examining the neglected issue of regime succession and by presenting a formal schema of the process of regime transition.
Empirical Analysis of the City Limits Typology
Authors: Longoria Thomas
Published: November 2009

Although Paul Peterson's City Limits has been influential, Peterson's assumptions about the capacity of local government actors to categorize and order policy preferences have been challenged. The author of this article tests the extent that mayors categorize and order their policy preferences using survey data from the Fiscal Austerity and Urban Innovation Project and factor analysis. This article finds that mayors in the United States categorize and order their policy preferences according to the City Limits policy typology.
School Reform in New York and Chicago
Authors: Gittell Marilyn
Published: November 2009

School reform efforts in New York City in 1967 and in Chicago in 1989 provide a laboratory for the comparative study of regime politics in education. Using Long's local game theory, this analysis reveals significant differences in the two city cultures. Differences in the outcomes of the reform efforts can be explained as a product of the ability of city stakeholders to coalesce and advance their interests at the state level.
Urban Governance in the Gilded Age
Authors: DiGaetano Alan
Published: November 2009

Scholarly interest in urban politics of the Gilded Age has been both lively and enduring. A plethora of case studies and comparative analyses have produced a large body of historical knowledge about this period in urban political development. Nonetheless, little agreement about the nature of urban governance in this period exists. Indeed, the debate over who governed cities between 1870 and 1900 has intensified over the last decade. This author evaluates the political-culture, social-control, and fiscal-ideology theories of urban governance in the Gilded Age, using census data on ethnicity, urban growth, and municipal government finances.
No Relief from Politics
Authors: Lewis Michael
Published: November 2009

This article focuses on the Last Hurrah thesis, which argues that New Deal social welfare crippled the old-time city machines. In contradiction to this thesis, the author argues that New Deal work relief actually strengthened political machines. Local political bosses were able to trade jobs with the Civil Works Administration for votes for their machines, and because of the lack of a bureaucracy, the federal government could neither keep a constant watch on the actions of local officials nor reprimand or replace them when they became recalcitrant. The findings of this study suggest that the Last Hurrah thesis needs to be revised.
An Analysis of Korean-Immigrant-Owned Small-Business Start-Ups with Comparisons to African-American- and Nonminority-Owned Firms
Authors: Bates Timothy
Published: November 2009

Social resources available from peer and community support networks may have little impact on small-business viability. In this study, the author finds that differences between Korean-immigrant-owned small businesses and African-American firms exist because Korean entrepreneurs are more apt to be highly educated and wealthy. Koreans invest heavily in small businesses, but their returns are often meager; per dollar of invested capital, the sales and profits of Korean firms lag behind those of African-Americans. Self-employment appears to be a form of underemployment for many Koreans.
Explaining the Growth of Puerto Rican Poverty, 1970-1980
Authors: Galster George , Santiago Anna M.
Published: November 2009

With data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census 1970 Public Use Samples and 1980 Public Use Microdata Sample tape files for 34 metropolitan statistical areas, the authors examine cross-metropolitan variations in Puerto Rican poverty, using an instrumental variables regression model. The analyses highlight the role of residential segregation and economic restructuring on Puerto Rican poverty in 1970 and 1980. Decomposition of changes during the 1970s revealed that the primary sources responsible for increased Puerto Rican poverty rates were structural: The effects of segregation on poverty grew stronger during the decade, and the ability of manufacturing employment and self-employment to attenuate poverty grew weaker.
The Determination of Economic Hardship Under the Provisions of the Highway Beautification Act
Authors: Kent Calvin A. , Johnson Jerry W. , Iverson Gene B.
Published: November 2009

South Dakota and three other states may lose 10% of their federal aid highway funds for 1978 and 1979 due to their noncompliance with the provisions of the 1965 Federal Highway Beautification Act. This article describes a study undertaken at the request of the South Dakota legislature to determine the economic impact on South Dakota and its regions of removal of outdoor advertising signs which are nonconforming under Federal statute. Economic regions are defined, survey methodology described, and results and limitations of the study discussed.
The Evaluation of Tourist Resources: an Applied Methodology
Authors: Ferrario Franco F.
Published: November 2009

The complex of attractions of an area forms its tourist resource base and is often neglected or taken for granted in tourist studies. A new, original methodology assesses the tourist potential of such a resource base by taking in consideration the balance between tourist demand, expressed by visitors' preferences, and tourist supply, evaluated on the basis of criteria common to any tourist attraction. The method was originally applied to the southern region of Africa and, from the resulting map of local distribution of tourist values, a set of 20 main tourist regions was identified.
International Tourism Congress: New Perspectives and Policies
Authors: Pizam Abraham , Swart W.W. , Var Turgut
Published: November 2009

The International Tourism Congress under the theme of New Perspectives and Policies was held in Marmaris, Turkey, between October 2-6, 1978. Over 200 delegates from 17 countries gathered at the Marmaris Vacation Village to discuss new developments in tourism planning and formulation. The congress was sponsored by the Turkish Ministry of Tourism and Information and organized by the Mugla School of Business Administration. The papers presented at the Congress were given to the participants in a special issue of the Journal of the School of Business Administration (Volume I, No. 3). The Turkish Television and Radio gave extensive coverage of the event. The Minister of Tourism and Information, Dr. Alev Coskun, opened the Congress with a brief speech which emphasized changing goals in tourism development. The week-long congress evolved around the following four main areas: (1) Tourism Planning, (2) Tourism Policy and Implementation, (3) Tourism and Regional Development, and (4) Information Systems for Tourism.
The Economics of a Hotel Room Tax
Authors: Mak James , Nishimura Edward
Published: November 2009

In many tourist areas special taxes are placed on hotel room rentals. Such a tax has numerous proponents in Hawaii, where the tax is viewed as a potentially significant source of revenue. This study examines both the impact of a hotel room tax on visitor behavior and the potential revenue which could be generated from such a tax.