Revised
March 5, 2006
PUAF 698D
SELECTED TOPICS IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS: Urban Policy
Mondays, 7:00 PM to 9:30 PM, Spring 2006
Contact Info:
Edward M. Meyers, Ph.D.,
703-533-9113 edmeyers23@aol.com Call or write anytime; extended discussions
by appointment.
Course Objectives
In this course, we will gain a
comprehensive understanding of socioeconomic conditions of our nation’s central
cities, including historical and current trends. In particular, we seek to appreciate the structural
obstacles that impede urban progress. We
will discuss the policies and societal actions that have caused these
conditions and continue to do so. We
will examine demographic changes taking place in urban America today, and how
these changes affect not only cities as an integrated whole, but the people in
poverty who may be facing displacement in an urban economic resurgence.
Moreover, we will explore policy options for
improving urban conditions at the local, regional, state and national levels,
from the perspectives of overall quality of life for all the urban residents,
and also from the vantage points of urban residents who are not well equipped
to emerge successfully from the changes taking place in urban
Books
Thomas
J Sugrue, The Origins of the Urban Crisis:
Race and Inequality in Postwar
Charles
E. Euchner and Stephen J. McGovern, Urban Policy Reconsidered: Dialogues on the Problems and Prospects of
American Cities, Routledge, 2003.
David
Rusk, Inside Game/ Outside Game: Winning
Strategies for Saving Urban America, Brookings Inst. Press, 1999.
Week 1, Jan. 30: Introduction
to Course. Some socioeconomic
data. Beginning discussion of urban issues.
Read:
http://www.nlc.org/resources_for_cities/publications/1637.cfm
and click on State of American Cities
2005: The Annual Opinion Survey of Municipal Elected Officials, Full Report
(36 pgs.), and http://www.nul.org/stateofblackamerica.html
and click Executive Summary and Abstracts from
Week
2, Feb. 6: Overview. A comprehensive review of urban issues and
status.
Week 3, Feb. 13: The Urban Context: Cities in their Regions. Affluent suburbs, sprawl and race, an
introduction to poverty issues.
Socioeconomic conditions and trends.
Read: Rusk, ch.
4;
Paul
A. Jargowsky, “Stunning Progress, Hidden Problems: The Dramatic Decline of Concentrated Poverty
in the 1990s,” May 2003; go to following and click Full Report
http://www.brookings.edu/metro/publications/jargowskypoverty.htm;
Todd
Swanstrom et al., “Economic Segregation among Suburbs and Central Cities in
Major Metropolitan Areas”; go to http://www.brookings.edu/metro/pubs/20041018_econsegregation.htm
and click Full Report.
Robert
Puentes and David Warren, “One-Fifth of
And
click Full Report
Week 4, Feb. 20: Urban Poverty. Family structures, poverty and income class;
issues and policy options.
Week 5, Feb.27: Poverty and Welfare Policy. Safety net vs. individual
responsibility. Child care
policies. Employment incentives and
disincentives.
Read: Euchner, pp. 67-91, Sugrue, ch. 3.
Class assignment and discussion for Week 5: What about the minimum wage? Bring in a two page discussion piece: (1) What is the current minimum wage and how
well has it tracked inflation over the last few decades? (2) What are “living wages” and state minimum
wages, and how do they interact with federal minimum wage laws? (See http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm;
http://www.toolkit.cch.com/text/P05_4046.asp
and http://www.dcfordemocracy.org/?page_id=17 ) (3) What are the pros and cons
of substantially increasing the minimum wage? (4) What are your views on how
this policy should be approached and decided?
Should policies primarily be set at the state or federal level?
Week 6, Mar. 6: Urban Employment Issues. Historical review and policy options.
Read: Sugrue,
ch. 4, 5, 6,
And Gregory Acs, Pamela J. Loprest, “Who are
Low-Income Working Families?” September 2005.
For this report, go to http://www.urban.org/publications/311242.html
and click on the PDF file
You may find the following useful in reading the
above Acs and Loprest report: http://www.urban.org/toolkit/fivequestions/GAcs.cfm
Class
assignment and discussion: What about
affirmative action? Bring in a brief
(one or two pages will do) discussion piece: (1) What is affirmative
action? Giving preference to minorities
and women over more qualified majority and male applicants? Or a corrective measure when a company has
demonstrated a long history of favoritism toward majority males? Or is it both
of the above? (2) What are the pros and
cons of affirmative action? (3) What are
your views?
Week 7, Mar 13: Urban Finance, Intergovernmental
Structures. Budgets, tax base and
structure; policy implications of intergovernmental structures. Downtown as an economic driver for
cities. DC’s political structure and
policy options.
Read: Rusk, ch. 7; Bruce A. Wallin, “Budgeting for
Basics: The Changing Landscape of City
Finances,” August 2005; for this paper, go to http://www.brookings.edu/metro/pubs/20050823_budgetingbasics.htm
and click on Full Report.
March 20 SPRING BREAK
Week 8, Mar.27: Economic and Community Development. Business trends, urban obstacles and
opportunities, downtown and neighborhood development, economic development
policies and tax base implications
Read:
Euchner, ch. 3, Rusk ch. 8, 9 and 10; http://www.brookings.edu/metro/publications/inclusionary.htm
The above is Karen D. Brown, “Expanding Affordable
Housing Through Inclusionary Zoning:
Lessons from the Washington Metropolitan Area,” October 2001.
Week 9, April 3: Housing and Economic Development. Federal, state and local housing
policies. Links between housing and
economic development. Public housing.
Market forces.
Read:
Euchner, ch. 4, and go to http://www.brookings.edu/metro/pubs/20051012_neworleans.htm
and click on Full Report (40 pages + notes): The Brookings Institution,
Metropolitan Studies Program, “New Orleans after the Storm: Lessons from the Past, a Plan for the Future”;
Alan Berube and Bruce Katz, “Katrina’s Window:
Confronting Concentrated Poverty Across America,” October 2005; for this
report, go to http://www.brookings.edu/metro/pubs/20051012_concentratedpoverty.htm
and click Full Report (9 pages + Appendix, notes)
Recommended:
Valerie Piper and Mindy Turbov, “Hope VI and Mixed Finance Developments:
A Catalyst for Neighborhood Renewal,” September 2005; go to http://www.brookings.edu/metro/pubs/20050913_hopevi.htm
and click on Full Report.
Week 10, April 10: Regional Policies. Regional policy options and political
restraints.
Read:
Week 11, April 17: Urban Education. Educational disparities, financing urban
education, choice and educational vouchers, concentrations of poverty and their
impact on educational attainment. Crime,
causes and levels of crime. Policy
responses.
Read: Euchner, ch. 5, 6
Week 12, April 24: Energy, Transportation, and the Environment
in Urban Centers.
Read: Sugrue, p. 179 through conclusion
Class assignment and discussion: Please bring in a one page (bulleted) discussion
piece on the relationship, if any, between a sound energy policy for
Week 13, May 1: The
Future of Cities. Putting it all
together, with an outlook toward the future.
Read: Euchner, ch.7
Go to www.nul.org
and see if State of Black America 2006
is available; if so, click Executive Summary and Abstracts. Go to http://www.nlc.org/resources_for_cities/
and see if State
of
Week 14, May 8: Class Discussion: Your Five-Point Plans for
Week
15, May 15: Final Examination
Paper:
Papers are due May 8,
2006. The paper consists of your
Five-Point Plan for
If you like you may add your
own original idea as one or more of the five points, or perhaps draw from proposals
you have seen elsewhere; for example, from a think tank or in Congress. And feel free to use ideas developed in class
discussions as well, modifying them if you like. Of course, please identify the source or sources of each proposal that you
use. Papers will likely be between
10 and 15 pages in length.
Here is the premise: You are the director of domestic policy in
the White House. The President (any
president, real or imagined) calls you into the Oval Office and says:
“I want to propose a
Five-Point Plan for cities and their people, to improve urban social and
economic conditions. Part of this plan
must help get urban people out of poverty, or at least get them pointed in the
right direction. Give me this Five-Point
Plan. Don’t worry about the politics of
this—I’ll take care of that. At the end
of this plan, if you can add a few words of wisdom that I can give U.S.
governors, mayors, and county executives, as to what they can also do to help
their cities, then that’s so much the better.
I want the ideas, the concepts. I’m not looking for great detail here. I don’t need a speech. I’ll get my speechwriters to do that from
what you give me.”
In developing your response
for the President, include:
A. A
short Problem Statement, including statistical
support. Please use trend data for
problem statement. Document your data
(via footnotes);
B. Your Five
Point Plan for Urban
C. Actions
Beyond the Federal Government: suggestions
for governors, mayors, and county executives, beyond what the
D. Approximate Cost (very rough, just the
general magnitude) of your proposals, near and long-term;
E. Political Feasibility (with reasoned
explanation);
F. Approximated
(guesstimated) Projected Outcomes of Plan
Adoption.
30% Class participation, including the brief discussion pieces and your participation in ensuing policy discussions.
35% Paper, including the May 8 discussion of your
policy proposals for urban
35% Final Exam