Urban Politics Final – Flashcards
Unlock all answers in this set
Unlock answersquestion
malapportionment
answer
representation at state level disproportionately benefited rural counties as opposed to cities (where populations were concentrated)
question
Baker v. Carr
answer
(1962) enabled courts to intervene in malapportionment cases
question
Reynolds v. Simms
answer
(1964) state legislative districts must be roughly drawn for representation/population
question
patronage
answer
material incentives to nurture loyalty (associated with machines); spoils
question
at-large elections
answer
model municipal charter #1: abolish wards (points of access)
question
non-partisan elections
answer
model municipal charter #2: prevent block voting and blind loyalty to party; cut out party influence and decreased turnout
question
civil service
answer
model municipal charter #3: break link to machine by ending patronage
question
schedule elections on off-years
answer
model municipal charter #4: ballot fatigue, low voter turnout
question
strong mayoralty
answer
model municipal charter #5: hold someone accountable; apply business model; city manager
question
home rule
answer
model municipal charter #6: broad power for city leaders to control their own affairs
question
voter registration and literacy requirements
answer
reduce repeat voting; problematic for new illiterate immigrants
question
Australian ballot
answer
secret voting
question
city manager
answer
administrative expertise and accountability (business model)
question
Emergency Quota Act
answer
(1921) excluded Asians; locked down quotas for other groups
question
National Origins Act
answer
(1924) further reduced quota set by Emergency Quota Act; greatly reduced immigration
question
eminent domain
answer
force owners of slum housing to sell; build low-income housing
question
Public Housing Act of 1937
answer
slum clearance, public housing; unpopular with banks, real estate agents, builders (compete with private market)
question
Federal Housing Administration
answer
loan guarantee opened housing market; preferred financing suburbs over improvement in situ; advised developers to draw up restrictive covenants
question
Civil Rights Act of 1968
answer
opened suburbs to blacks
question
National Highway Defense Act of 1956
answer
Eisenhower; superhighway construction; aid troop movement, evacuate cities in case of nuclear attack, stimulate economy; 43,500 miles
question
JFK
answer
campaigned on addressing urban crisis; assassinated November 22, 1963
question
LBJ
answer
exploited emotion around JFK's death to push through Great Society legislation; 219 programs including Medicare, Medicaid, and food stamps; created the Department of Housing and Urban Development
question
Richard Nixon
answer
focused on reforming Great Society rather than dismantling; shift from federal to local control
question
Community Development Block Grants
answer
enduring urban program; local officials knowledgeable about constituents' wants and needs; distribution of funds biased toward responsive constituents (richer); submit applications for funds
question
Jimmy Carter
answer
abandoned social programs to focus on economy; fiscal conservatism, energy crisis
question
Ronald Reagan
answer
actively dismantled social programs; cutting taxes and spending on military; priority: national security, combatting crime
question
George HW Bush
answer
ignored urban policy; LA riots brought attention to needs of city; vetoed urban aid bill after lost election bid
question
Bill Clinton
answer
promoted stealth urban policy; help cities by also helping the suburbs
question
Civil Rights Act of 1964
answer
law that ended Jim Crow, outlawed employment discrimination, and barred discrimination in administration of federal grants
question
Voting Rights Act of 1965
answer
law that outlawed discriminatory voting practices (literacy tests) and established federal registrars
question
Frostbelt
answer
older industrial cities in the northeast and Midwest
question
Sunbelt
answer
cities of the southwest and southeast; associated with positive images of prosperity (15 states)
question
elasticity
answer
room for city expansion; not encircled by suburbs; surrounded with new territory that can be annexed
question
right to work laws
answer
laws that don't require workers to join unions, which weakens unions; aspect of Sunbelt cities- business relocated to cut costs
question
preclearance
answer
states need approval before changing voting laws; part of Voting Rights Act
question
accelerated depreciation
answer
valuable tax incentive to buy new machinery, etc.
question
fragmented metropolis
answer
jurisdictions with overlapping political boundaries
question
cultural explanation
answer
anti-urban ideas, anti-immigrant movement (explaining suburbanization)
question
economic explanation
answer
businesses wanted to take advantage of lower taxes; control of tax and spending policies (explaining suburbanization)
question
developer explanation
answer
using exclusionary tactics as a successful marketing strategy (explaining suburbanization)
question
zoning laws
answer
designate certain regions for certain purposes; use laws to keep people of lower socioeconomic status out
question
common interest developments
answer
gated neighborhood, private government, homeowners association
question
incorporation
answer
moving away from the larger city and becoming a city in its own right; divide tax base, make exclusive areas
question
deed restrictions
answer
governed what could legally be done with land
question
Shelly v. Kraemer
answer
(1948) restrictive covenants could not be enforced by the courts
question
urban sprawl
answer
low density residential development at the periphery of the urban center; consumes large tracts of land and entails abandonment of older areas at urban core
question
boomburb
answer
growing by double digit rates every decade since 1970
question
cross-commuting
answer
traveling between suburbs instead of to the city
question
New Regionalism
answer
flight creates blight; solution: tax sharing plans; solution: land use reform and growth boundaries around metropolitan areas
question
Smart Growth
answer
planned development will control and prevent urban sprawl; focus on redevelopment; solution: curb growth or limit it to certain areas while promoting it in others
question
New Urbanism
answer
suburbs need design aesthetics; land use changes combined with design and creative architecture to restore sense of community
question
commuting
answer
expensive, gridlock, traffic, air pollution
question
Metropolitan Governance
answer
want to consolidate under a single jurisdiction
question
freeholders
answer
property owners
question
special district
answer
taxing and spending powers (run like private corporations)
question
user fees
answer
costs to use parking, museums, zoos, pools
question
sales tax
answer
regressive tax that disproportionately taxes lower income individuals
question
federal mandates
answer
state or federal laws stipulating that services must be provided to satisfy a minimum requirement; inadequate or nonexistent funding (unfunded)
question
long-term bonds
answer
others invest; interest is tax-exempt (attractive investments); used for questionable purposes; corruption
question
special authorities
answer
institutions created to accomplish a specific purpose; run like private corporations; combination of public funds and private investment; charge user fees, issue bonds, tax sources
question
circuit breaker laws
answer
tax relief for homes of poor or elderly individuals
question
revenue bonds
answer
paid off by future revenues from facilities constructed; do not require public referendum
question
gentrification
answer
affluent newcomers drive up land value, poorer individuals forced to move; dilapidated properties need to be renovated; community organizations close
question
bubble cities
answer
keep tourists isolated from remainder of city; redevelopment, revitalization
question
political incorporation
answer
traditional minority groups elected to local office
question
community development corporation
answer
nonprofit corporation, run by boards, composed of area residents, deliver services and build infrastructure, significant pull and influence, question new development; private and public funding
question
privatization
answer
contract out services to the private sector
question
blockbusting
answer
agents took advantage of economic opportunities and played on racial fears to flip an entire block from white to black; large profit margins
question
infrapolitics
answer
response of black families to take a stand and not back down in face of racial fear tactics in defense of color line
question
Kerner Commission
answer
1967: organized to investigate race riots; Otto Kerner of Illinois, LBJ; America was composed of two societies: one white, one black
question
Fair Housing Act of 1968
answer
required both private and public housing to be unprejudiced (rental and sale); stripped of enforcement provisions and doomed to fail; gave HUD a mandate for "affirmative action"
question
ghetto
answer
exclusively inhabited by members of one group; refers to racial makeup of neighborhood (not economics)
question
isolation index
answer
extent to which blacks live in neighborhoods that are primarily black
question
index of dissimilarity
answer
the degree to which blacks and whites are evenly spread among neighborhoods; gives percentage of blacks who would have to move to achieve an even residential pattern
question
redlining
answer
HOLC rating system to evaluate risks associated with loans; systematically undervalued center city homes or those associated with blacks
question
Home Owner's Loan Corporation
answer
1933: refinance urban mortgages; low-interest loans; redlining; bureaucratized standards of racial worth
question
National Housing Act
answer
1937: FHA loan program that lowered downpayment; eliminated risk to banks; recommended restrictive covenants; disinvestment in black neighborhoods
question
hypersegregation
answer
unevenness (representation geographically), isolation/exposure (likelihood of sharing neighborhood with whites), clustered (enclaves/checkerboard), concentrated (or settled sparsely?), centralized (urban core)
question
Executive Order 11063
answer
bar discrimination in federal housing; 1962 JFK; insufficient political will
question
Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988
answer
addressed flaws of Fair Housing Act of 1968; increased damages, increased timeline, Attorney General empowered to act
question
integration maintenance programs
answer
maintain racially balanced communities; restrict freedom, doesn't change larger system; quotas to keep blacks in the minority
