Challenges to Governing in Contemporary Cities: Urban Politics and Minority Representation, Study notes of Urban Sociology

Download Challenges to Governing in Contemporary Cities: Urban Politics and Minority Representation and more Study notes Urban Sociology in PDF only on Docsity! Challenges to Governing in Contemporary Cities Psci 4020 – Urban politics The Challenge of Governing Cities must be adequate service providers. City governments must be arbiters of conflicting interests. Contemporary cities are challenged to find peaceful ways f i i l i l d do ncorporat ng mu t p e eman s. Two movements make that challenge difficult. Demands by racial and ethnic groups for representation and incorporation into the political process. Mobilization of middle and upper-class conservative Republican groups trying to undo what they see as they excesses of previous Democratic regimes. While these two developments can be antagonistic, they are not always so PSCI 4020 - Challenges to Governing2 . Rise of Minority Politicians In 1967, Richard Hatcher and Carl Stokes became the first African Americans to be elected mayor of a major American city. By 1987, every city of more than 100,000 people that had a majority black population had elected an African- American mayor. In the 1980s and 1990s, African-Americans demonstrated their ability to get elected to cities, even when African- Americans did not constitute a majority of a cities population. In the 1980s, Latinos began to be elected mayors of large cities. PSCI 4020 - Challenges to Governing5 The Challenge of Governing for Minority Mayors Minority mayors usually must win significant numbers of nonminority votes to win. Therefore, winning election (and re-election) is a delicate balancing act. Minority mayors must try to provide benefits to minorities while avoiding alienating others. Often must form an alliance with downtown businessmen and endorse the politics of growth. C titi i l d th i k ompe on among rac a an e n c groups ma es governing difficult. PSCI 4020 - Challenges to Governing6 The Goal of Minority Politics: Incorporation Incorporation involves achieving an equal or leading role in a dominant coalition that is strongly committed to minority interests. Involves the ability to influence a city council and the bureaucracies that deliver important services. Electing a mayor is not enough to achieve incorporation, if h i d li i ill ll d b h t e serv ce e very agenc es are st contro e y t e old power structure. PSCI 4020 - Challenges to Governing7 Neighborhood Organizations Neighborhood organizations have grown up to challenge the downtown growth machine. Their leaders articulate issues of equity and social justice in the community. Federal programs in the 1960s and 1970s encouraged the development and incorporation of neighborhood groups. Some cities experimented with systems that delegated power to neighborhood groups in areas of schools, planning and zoning, . Neighborhood groups have been more successful in Frostbelt than in Sunbelt cities. PSCI 4020 - Challenges to Governing10 Community Development Corporations Community Development Corporations grew out of the Community Action Agencies that were fostered by the Economic Opportunity Act in the 1960s. They have become channels for federal money and foundation money. They often concentrate or low-income housing programs, but may administer other social service programs. The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) of 1977, which outlawed the banking practice called redlining, gave CDCs l i h l l b ksome everage w t oca an s. A Dallas example: Central Dallas Community Development Corporation http://www.centraldallascdc.org/ PSCI 4020 - Challenges to Governing11 Problems With CDCs Relationship to city government is often unclear and uneasy. Influence of CDCs is uneven—varying by state and region. Neighborhoods with highest poverty rates are the least likely to be organized. CDCs lack the capacity to address the root causes of urban poverty. CDC fi d it h d t f t th i th d d f s n ar o con ron e agenc es ey epen on or funding. They may become opportunities for corruption, because they are nongovernmental agencies operating in relative obscurity. PSCI 4020 - Challenges to Governing12 Time Magazine’s Best Big City Mayors (2005) Michael Bloomberg of New York Trimmed a $6 billion budget deficit (in part by raising property taxes) Spurred a wave of new economic development, especially in h f h b h b id M ht e our ot er oroug s es es an attan Took control of the city’s ailing schools and instituted a uniform math and reading curriculum Improved the city’s quality of life by banning smoking from all restaurants and bars C k d d irac e own on no se Created a one-stop complaint-and-question line, 311 PSCI 4020 - Challenges to Governing15 Time Magazine’s Best Big City Mayors (2005) Richard Daley- Chicago Wields near imperial power and most of Chicago would have , it no other way His annual budgets are routinely passed with only token i i oppos t on. He controls public housing, public schools and the city council. He is cozy with Big Business, is a master at the ward politics of fixing streetlights, and he speaks with a blunt, blue-collar brio that Chicagoans find endearing. PSCI 4020 - Challenges to Governing16 Time Magazine’s Best Big City Mayors (2005) Shirley Franklin- Atlanta The first black woman ever to run a big Southern city. To restore faith in the city government she shepherded through the city council a new ethics code for municipal l emp oyees. She corralled 75 private firms to conduct studies of Atlanta’s budgetary, infrastructure and homeless problems and perform a massive audit of the city government—pro bono. She was awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award by the John F Kennedy Library Foundation. . PSCI 4020 - Challenges to Governing17