摘要:

Virtually all of the literature on contracting government services to private providers argues that increased efficiency and cost‐savings will result. What little attention is given to the relationship between contracting and equity generally assumes that equity will decrease as contracting increases. This article suggests that there are no empirical data to support the presumption of a negative relationship between contracting and equity. We go one step further and suggest that if the literature on the difficulty of controlling the behavior of street‐level bureaucrats is correct, then the goal of equity in the delivery of local government services might be better realized by contracting than by direct governmental provision of servi

ISSN:0735-2166    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9906.1985.tb00079.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

There have been important continuities in the political character of American cities over the course of the twentieth century. Cities have also varied in the manner in which their politics have been organized. A useful vehicle for understanding both continuities and variations in city politics is the concept of an urban regime. A variety of regimes can be distinguished which enable us to interpret the course of urban politics in the twentieth century and to connect its essential features to the larger political economy.

ISSN:0735-2166    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9906.1985.tb00080.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

An urban identification approach suggests that urban research and downtown revitalization efforts may benefit by considering cognitive and affective responses to place. Data collected from 735 metropolitan residents are used to explore responses to downtown Atlanta. Findings include: (1) social background, lifestyle, and familiarity variables exert modest influences on images of downtown Atlanta as a place, its people, and typical interactions; (2) downtown images and understanding the role of stranger directly and powerfully influence a sense of belonging and fear of downtown crime; and (3) a sense of belonging to downtown and fear of crime are among the strongest factors which influence evaluations of the downtown area. The findings are interpreted as strongly supporting an urban identification approach.

ISSN:0735-2166    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9906.1985.tb00081.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Recent changes in federal housing rehabilitation policy have shifted the emphasis from single‐family to multi‐family units and from direct federal delivery of housing services to state and local administration. To discover the implications of this shift, this study compares the implementation of a state home improvement loan program with the financing and administration approach adopted by the federal Section 312 and Community Development Block Grant loan programs prior to 1983. A survey of borrowers who participated in the state and federal rehabilitation loan programs reveals that both types of programs assist the “incumbent up grader,” both increased the value of property, both achieved high levels of borrower satisfaction, and both concentrated on the single‐family unit. Differences, however, did arise between the federal and state programs in that the state program borrowers were encouraged to conduct preventive maintenance, while the federal programs advanced social goals of serving a greater number of low‐income homeowners with larger loan amounts at lower interest rates. This comparison study does not support the federal withdrawal from providing direct single‐family rehabilitation loans because it can supplement the bond‐market orientation of the state approach with a social tar

ISSN:0735-2166    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9906.1985.tb00082.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

In this article we examine the impact of a local government reform or innovation that is being widely adopted in American cities—television coverage of city council meetings. Television coverage of meetings may be viewed as one of a series of innovations directed at increasing citizen awareness of the governing process by increasing the visibility and public scrutiny of formal decision making processes. It is often viewed as a public service, is certainly not controversial, and is often adopted without due consideration of potential consequences. But like so many well‐intended reforms, television coverage of governmental deliberations does alter the context of politics and has a potential impact far broader than originally intended. A variety of such potential impacts with respect to the quality of policy discussion, accountability, and political recruitment are explo

ISSN:0735-2166    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9906.1985.tb00083.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This research examines a number of hypotheses expressed by civil rights leaders in the Southwestern states regarding the predicted effects of slate implementation of the nine block grants authorized by the Omnibus Budget and Reconciliation Act of 1981. It is based on the testimony of 121 speakers at two successive public block grant hearings conducted by the State of Texas in Houston in 1982 and 1983. The speakers are classified by race, affiliation, and programmatic preferences. The research is also based on financial and regulatory data tracking shifts in state spending and distributional rules between Fy 82 and Fy 84.The results show that most of the fears of the civil rights leaders were not realized. Minority participation at public hearings increased, rather than decreased. State funding priorities did not change significantly, nor did allocation decision rules shift in emphasis from redistribution to equalization. “Brutal political struggles” between groups competing for funds (especially blacks and Hispanics) did not materialize. However, the potential for such struggles remains strong. The findings reveal significant black‐Hispanic differences with regard to programmatic priorities and perceptions of the “fairness” of the current distributional system.The paper concludes with a call for new stale‐based theories of block grant agenda setting and government responsiveness in centralized versus decentralized systems. It predicts that such reexaminations will yield new theories regarding the formation and stability of racial and ethnic coalitions in sta

ISSN:0735-2166    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9906.1985.tb00084.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY