POL 327 Exam 1 Review

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Class: POL 327

Lecture/Exam: Exam 1

School: SBU

Semester: Spring 2014Professor: Harold Withers


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Jan 27

Downtown areas near harborsbrings jobs

Hunters and gatherers in the beginning, then ideas to farm and raise animals

We were healthier as a species when we were hunter gatherers. Hunting and eating healthy.

Jan 29

For the reasons of trade, early cities developed.

Functions of Cities, REASONS why cities developed over the years. Agriculture allowed them

to grow

1Trade

2Fortification For protection, defense

3Administrations

Usually princes to collect taxes4Religion

Central place of worshipWhere did cities develop?Where trade was accessible

By trade routes, harbor and rivers. NY city harbors are perfect examples Waterways to a location is very important

Breakpoint (of Transportation)changing the mode of transportation, best exampleNYC

during 1800s

Choke pointnarrow area where you control a narrow land, you control all the area around it.

Example: Canada and Quebec. Control a small passage way, access had to go passed that.

Break point and Choke pointimportant terms to remember.

1800sIndustrial revolutionchanged a lot of the ways we do business. IT helped create a

huge growth of cities. More specialization in jobs.

Demographic transitiontheory of how the world grows, how the population grows. Can be

explained in 3 stages


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1) Stage 1: Population very stable, high death and high birth ratestable birth. No nation instage 1 but did stay I the world for a while

2) Stage 2: Societys food production goes up and get better public health. Infant mortalityimproves, includes better housing and drinking water, better swage and public treatment.

People are living longer, so mortality rate goes down but birth rate doesnt go down.Population explosion. Older days, had to have a lot of kids because so many died.

3) Population either goes down or becomes very stable. 1. Continued prosperity, highestlevel of public health and mental care. Less children, population stays the same, same a

stage 1 but for different reasons.

a. Population is stable in many parts of the worldb. Large family is expensive, no economic benefitc. Children are no longer an asset, an economic asset. If you ran a farm or store or

had your own business, the children would do and take over, help bring income to

the family, labor intensive. Large family was a positive but now it is a negative.

d. The role of women has changed. 30s (before WWII) some occupations mainly bywomen (nurses and teachers) but when women got married, they ended their

carriers. This was considered normal. WWII changed this. Ladies liked being in

the work force. Now more women working than men.

e. Stability on less children and living longer.f. 3rdworld countries and a bit in the second phase

Most population growth was rural to Urban.

During Washingtons time, 90% of people were farmers.

5 million

60k ppl in 1800 in Nyc

Large metropolitan area

Other runner ups have 30k and less

19thcenturygreat growth in the US.

Brooklyn was the 4thlargest city in the US and annexed into the NYC, used to be home of upper

middle class people. Needed your own boat or pay someone to row you over so an average

person cannot live there. Brooklyn was a thriving center.


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Manufacturing also made NYC grow. NYC used to have many factories.

From production point of view, it is done in other areas of the world but used to be done in

Manhattan a long time ago. Now it is the center for business and where it is controlled from.

Hudson River, Eerie canal, all this lead to jobs being created in the NYC area.

Middle of 19thcentury, during of Civil war, LIRR.

Subway cars are smaller than regular trains.

Development of steel frames, they could go higher. But the elevator was already there and

allowed us to build higher.

Feb 10

Break pointschange the mode of transportation. Sailing ship creates jobs

Choke pointnarrow area if a city controls it then it can control the whole interior. Ex: control

Quebec, control Canada.

Birth rates

Stage 3most industrial world is in now. Much slower growth (or none at all) because we do

have inc. advances in med but less children being born. America = 2.04, barely for replacement

in population if not for immigrants.

Multistory building: came because of steel and no wood and elevators. Not mass transit, so most people lived walking distance from their work There were tenements to bring about all those who lived in the factories. Not a pleasant

place to live. 1880-1900s

It was dark, no electricity, only wealthy had electricity this era, no indoor bathroom,disease was rampant (such as typhoid), and living conditions in these tenements [no mass

transit]

o This started a reform movement to get a reform in this area to improve conditions.They formed a group of reforms who passed Tenement House Act of 1901. This

changed life a little bit better for those who lived in these areas.

o First mandate = indoor bathroom (115 years ago)


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o Water in NY city was polluted by the 1830s, could not drink NY water in 1830s,it was that bad, they had to get aqueducts, NY was importing its water, in this act

they also mandated an airshaftsin this apartments

1870s/80s subways. 1880s Brooklyn Bridge. Machine Politicsthe only organization, they gave out all the contracts, they had all the

money to campaigns, main source of power of machines was immigrants(Ireland, Italy,

Germany, eastern Europe) The Machines preyed on the people, as soon as they came.

They would help them find the apt there, how to become citizen, best they can to take

care of them until they became a citizen and give you a job (firemen, clerk, policeman,

best job lamplighter), and no social services this era, everyone was on their own,

machines took care of immigrants. Now citizen with city job, where is your loyalty? If

someone against their party in elections, have to go against it. 85% of people came out to

vote. They had army of workers and all the money they needed. If you had a business in

NYC, you would donate, if you didnt give, you would get a lot of inspectors, a lot of

trouble.

Machines eventually died out because of corruptions and no challenges in the party. BossTweed (build a fort house which collapsed)

Late 1920s and 30s. Jimmy Walkerroaring 20s. Loved parades and leading them forany purpose. People loved him. But the Depression changed him. Corruption changed.

They demanded more of their govts now. People told FDR to get rid of that mayor; he

admitted to some degree that he was a crook but if he let him go then the machines would

leave support of FDR. Like any good politician, he gave the assignment to someone else.

o It was called Seedberry Commission. [you love me in December and you did inMaysong by him]

They had all his major dept. and took them all. He went to Paris, France until 1940 whenthe Nazi came there. He went back to NYC, everything was gone and SOL was over and

was given a basic job.

Nailed the Machines was the civil service; not a new concept [Bismarck and England hadit].

President Grant graduated from West Point. Saw the evils. President Garfield was waitingon a station in Washington to go to a meeting up north and was shot.

1883Pendleton Civil Service Actat first for national service members but not for all.o Lets say a mayor came in and wanted to help supporters could make anyone a

police officer or change the whole thing. There was no job that was secure and

can change the entire city. Teddy Roosevelt was the commissioner for police saw

this.


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The new system: took appointment of major jobs from elected officials. The bigger theoffice the bigger the staff. The govt has 100 something appts. Exempt from civil service.

Most jobs require to take a test. Unlike England, the test had to be practical. In England

theyll ask you about anything no matter what youre applying for.

Test is graded and ranked. If youre hiring, youd choose from top 3 positions. As long asthere are 3 viable candidates. After interviewing, the hiring agent would hire someone.

Now it is based on merit system. This is the one thing that crushed the Machine more

than anything else.

Machine would call and say give this person a promotion, it wouldnt work that waybecause there would be a promotional exam with the same ranking system.

Now the political process cannot get you hired or promoted. Firingwould get rid of someone if they wanted but to fire there had to be a due process,

be represented by a union or attorney. Can be fired but rare. Now the Machine cant rid

of you. Cant get you hired, promoted or fired. We still have that same system (137 yearsago) with minor changes. Very difficult to fire you.

o Another example: Rubber Room. They take teachers who are under performing,cant fire them, getting paid but they go to a room and solve puzzles, read, meant

for them to go crazy.

Every govt job is classified. Open BiddingIf you have a major project (or buying), you have to let everyone have

the same chance to buy or bid it. You submit a bid and everyone else puts in their bid and

the lower qualified bid wins the job. You get checked out before anything. Then its amatter of cost, who can do it the cheapest. They cant give jobs or contracts out, they

were lost, that among anything, endedthe machine politics.

bidding system helped improve the govt systems itself. Everyone is in diff world withdifferent classifications (more efficient) but someone cannot call and say someone to do

something because it is not part of that.

Tenement act, Machine politics


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Feb 12

Eliminating Machine strategy #1 = civil service exam

#2 ability to promoteneed a test

Each job had its own description so Machine couldnt punish anyone Not everyone has civil service protection System evolved around bars and taverns Most party leaders owned side barswhat to do when arriving back home Every cornerat least 2 bars Research showed half the population would go to bars

Machine died primarily because of the Pendleton Service Act, first on the federal level and then

state level

Short ballot, people said a ballot was too long Position that were not policy making would be elect, ex: town clerk Ability to use 1 click to vote all democratic Helped immigrants get settled and no other group did that Only males vote Wyoming elected women to congress in the 19 thcentury! Mayor in most cities now appointed dept. heads, they report to the mayor Mayor also have a veto power over acts of the city council Mayor now presents the budget Dont confuse machines with dominant parties

Emergence of a metropolitan area

Includes Long Island, Westchester, southern CT, northern NJ (20mil ppl) City has no political power over us (in LI) Over 3 million ppl living in Long Island Usually downtown city area is where most ppl live


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Ppl left the inner city and out to the suburbsfairly recent in history After WWI 18-19 Changed so we can create a metropolitan area 7 factors that led to a metropolitan area

o 1) Incomeit went up after WW. People now had money to buy car and affordtransport. Very important factor

o 2) Work Weedavg. amount was reduced to 40 hours a week, before was 5.5 - 6days. More leisure time to enjoy being further away from city.

o 3) AutoHenry Ford who perfected the assembly line, more cars cheaper. Youcan buy any color from me as long as its black his motto. Very important

factor of having people leave the borders.

o 4) Trucksallowed retain developers away from city; didnt have to go to city forshopping because it will come to you.o 5) Telephones1920s lucky if 1 phone per building! Made in 19thcentury. 20s

phone to keep contact with family and work, allowed people to move away and

keep in contact. Only the wealthy had their own phone.

o 6) Expansion of entertainmentcity had entertainment, moved to suburbs. Moviehousessilent movies, had someone accompanying playing music. Then came

radios. Movies had one thing that no one else had = air conditioning. Radio gave a

connection with all other citizens who werent close to them. Soon became a

political vehicleFDR, great natural voice, relieve people of anxiety during thedepression.

o 7) Highwaysvery intricate highway system around the city of NY. It wasdevised by 1 man (Robert Moses) man who was head of the state art commission

and many other jobs. Given job by parks commissioner. [1928].

He didnt go to college, worked at the fish market. He was a self-mademan. Many state parks were built by Robert Moses throughout Long

Island and Westchester.

He built them but how would people get to them? He built a highwaysystem connecting them to go to the parkex: Northern State PARKway.

Underpasses were really important, including the sizes and the bricksaround it.

He wanted to make them beautiful, put special bricks (Belgian blocks) infront so the architecture of these were more pleasing to the eye going to

park


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First he built was Bronx river parkwayhe knew state legislaturewouldnt give him the money to build it. They gave him $10 mil (not

200mil that hed need), he built half mile then another half mile building

segments, went back to govt for $50 to connect them because there were

only segments so they had to give him money. But he put them into a

corner and put more segments and to connect them, he wanted the rest ofthe money

Shining achievementJones Beach. Long Island to Connecticut. Oyster Bay would have been to CT, it would

add to jobs and commercial vitality btwn New England to LI, wouldnt

have to go to the other boroughs but the neighbors and ppl who lived there

didnt want it and fought it in the mid 50s. He had money because he

controlled toll money but not enough

Rockefeller got rid of Moses.

Feb 17

Avg. $9k a year in long islandavg. person every year paying that much for property taxes

Every month added to mortgage payment. The interest in the early years can be difficult, it can

easily be $11,000

Rentyou get nothing back. If you own and pay taxes and have mortgage, youd gain back

around $4k, it is a bonus to buy than rent. This was public policy by economic and social

concerns. It was an effort for people to buy and pay taxes. Money actually going back to you

depending on tax break.

Legislative representatives changed. Things changed economically too. Corporate HQsmoved to suburbs, moved from city, tax money toward suburbsmore money for

programs, middle class left the city to follow them.

Up until 1950s shopping was done in the downtown areas, right where the railwaystations are. This means that Suburbs are gaining tax money. If you buy something in

long island, it goes to state and fed (not city)city lost income tax, tax money gives a

city power, thats why always debate btwn how much goes to city and how much to

suburbs. Every school district sends their reps and principals up. City also needs

subsidies for mass transit, it has changed. Suburbs changed balance of power. Suburban

economic growth changed if you lived in the inner city.


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In 1956National Highway Defense Act, President Eisenhower at the time. For manyyears, congress always wanted highway act but it was always voted down. Now they can

because famous and successful Eisenhower as president. Wanted to move military

convoys across the road. Also so the road in Germany that connected the country.

Wanted to build or an excuse to build a national highway system. If you said it was for

national defense, then ppl would support it. But for national defense, we did not needhighways anymore, we dont move troops from west to east coast but if you say national

defense, still get support.

They almost got unanimous support for this, moving goods around country in a rapidrate. How to pay for it? 40,000 miles of road! Easy = those who use it, pay it, through gas

tax. Every gallon of gasoline you buy, a part of it goes there. We still pay for it today.

System calledBelt-Way, it became traveling around the state rather than through it. Ex:Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, had a beltway around it because it is more expensive

through the city. This also created jobs and helped political campaigns. Its what Robert

Moses did in NY.

Assembly LineLevitt Homes. Rather than weeks to make a home, I took days. Severalhomes overnight. Very successful investment and venture. By using assembly line for

ordinary homes, others around the country adopted that.

In the USo East of US: grew by 12%o Mid-west: grew by 17%o

South: grew by 50%o West: grew by 92%

Can see where population growth was taking place, with this was business growth. NY has same number of electoral votes as Florida. NY for a long time was #1. California

is clearly #1, TX is #2, and NY and Florida are #3. South and Westgrowth area.

Changed politics and representatives. Its where the money and business went. Changed,

America became more dispersed. Reasons?

o 1) Climate Why to put up with winters when able to move down south

o 2) Possessed Mailbox income Mostly older people Majority of seniors do quite wellpension benefit, own stocks with

dividend and interest, have property and property with rent, they dont get


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their income and money through jobs. Living off of investments and

pensions

o 3) Communications (same things city and suburbs). Can live elsewhere and stillknow whats going on in your businesses.

o South has changed. When they had the legal segregation in the 1960s, it wasdifficult for major companies to move there. It was not only morally wrong, but

business wise too.

o Business climate changed. Public policy that helps bring businesses to your area.Low taxes and unions are very weak in the area. Wages are lower. Each state is

competing against other state.

o Property and state tax lower makes businesses move

Feb 19

97% of people or more came from the civil service Difficult to get fired, need due process, cant say not producing enough or efficient, need due

process. Rare to find govt position being fired

Pay gradessame job classification gets same pay. Best example = School, whether studentspass or fail the regent

NY state another law with workers = Tailor Law prohibits govt workers going on strike get payoff per day (blue Flu where all cops call in sick)

Also in NY State, theresa retirement system thats been beneficial. Retire system is based on asystem of how many years youve worked.

o Ex: 20 yearsretired at 20 years pay 20 / 50 whatever your last 3 years salary, you getthat. If you had $50,000 you get $20,000 dollars a year. Key is 20 years, because you get

that extra percent after 20 years.

o If you start at 25, 45 got the time and can officially retire at 55 and no state income taxor SS taken out, except Fed income tax

o Generous pension system How long will the state have money? In NY, spring 2009, retirement system has doubled in

value. Retirement system is allowed to and invest in stocks and bonds and has trillions of $. 08 -

09 bad stock market. Investment is never smooth on the way up.

Actual structure of Govt

Nassau/Suffolk County since 17thcentury. That county has 10 towns. (ex: Hempstead,Brookhaven, Islip, Shelter Island,

County has legislature18 legislatures that make lawscounty: sheriff [takes care of the jails,gives out warrants, more paper than enforcement], DA, treasurer, and controllerall elected

officials.


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Always have a clerk, sometimes highway superintendent, supervisoradding to all the countyjobs. Same counties but fragmented. Departments are the same way, like Recreation.

Snow ploughs passed few weeks, cannot plough town roads even though drives through themand easy but town taxes pay for their own roads and county pays its own. Same thing for pot

holes, their own agency is in charge of that road. Town of Islip, town golf and county golf

courses. No lack of elected officials. 120 villages in the counties who have their own mayors, parks and

highways.

School districts are govt wardens, chief executives, legislative bodies (school board), power totax [can tax anyone within that school district], different policies, hire hundreds of people,

hundreds of millions of dollars, similar to city

UFSDUnion Free School Districtthey are independent and cannot be forced to join a schooldistrict. Have never been merged recently.

School selects textbooks and hours. Local school districtsare part of govt. Unlike the city wherethere is only one school district. Govt is involved in appointing a chancellor and funds it. But L.I.

is totally different. The fragmentation continues beyond school.

Fire Districts

Legislative bodies and elections Mostly younger teams volunteer

Sewer District

Library

Decentralized, fragmentized, overlapping in Long Island

Suffolk county has 2 jails and only for offenders for less than a year. Major prison is upstate, no place to

put them, neighbors would complain, did have one for a while people didnt like the Governor [first

one].

Zoning decisions, decisions based on the whole city, very powerful power, all towns and villages, each

has the power to zone, most important powerb/c village of 5-10k people can structure its land

however they want.

Through zoning can control how town looks like

Same type of frame and architecture as everyone else, how big font and backyard have to be

Political Parties

Who is being talked about when it is said conservative party, liberal partiesthey are usuallytalking about county committees.

o 5 bodies of the NY state (need 50k votes for governor and then automatic party for thenext 4 years)

Dem, Rep, Ind, Cons, ___


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o Each party has a county committee Election district, Suffolk has over a thousand, a neighborhood where you vote Election District. Make all committee decisions, elect town chair, committee

chair, and most importantly, make all party nominations. [Who?]

This committee nominates each of those positions [who?] Can run primaries but disadvantageous. Party can spend money on the

candidate. As a challenger need petition signed and need to match. Getting on

the ballot is tough and winning is difficult too.

County subdivided by downs and sub districts, town committees, anyone can be part of towncommittee.

Feb 24

Theoretical Approaches

5 approaches1) Pluralism a.k.a. group theorypluralism = groups competing

a. Any issue, you can find groups that support and are against it. Every group can bebroken down to groups that can support it. It doesnt have to be formal. Ex: Local

politics, no one group that represents that. If something happens that disturbs the

equilibriumputting McDonalds on a corner and discussion about it. Turns out the

people do want one but not in that community, it arouses the local population, now

they have something that brings them together: anti McDonald stance

b. Studentssomething that brings you together. When do students act like a politicalaction group - changing rules.

c.

Farmers: less than 10% of US is made up of agricultural businesses, yet they controlmost votes that affect them in congress.

d. Trucking industrylobby for higher speed limitse. All domestic legislation can be broken down into groups. In a local level: groups that

form quickly disappear.

2) Elite Theorythose who think everything is run by elitesa. We all belong to some kind of groups. Does everyone have the same say, probably not.b. There are always elites. Ex: head of a corporation that pays 10% of taxes in the city.c. Head of a union who can cause havoc at any time.

3) Growth Machinea. It is important for a city to grow. Ex: Detroit.

4) City Limitationsa. We have federalism, state and cities have different laws. Federal taxes are the same

across every state.

b. States are very powerful entity to itself. States have own state bird, flower, flag.c. Criminal laws very different, different system for incarceration.d. City compete for Olympicsmoney

5) Economic Political Economy Approach


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a. Moving from city to suburbsb. Buying cars, not for travelling but for luxury

5 points how economists look at the outputs of a city

Feb 26

1. IncomeFed2. Pay rollstate3. Propertycity4. Sales

Income tax and how it is imposed, both state and income level

Graduatethe more you make the higher it goes. Tax is either regressive or progressive

Regressiveeveryone pays the same amount, whether you are a rich or poor, same tax (like burger)

Progressiveability to pay, as you move up the ladder you pay more

Income tax53% pay income tax, but there are other ones besides income tax such as the payroll taxes

Medicare and social security. At the end of the year, you get back income tax but not social security or

Medicare.

Top 25% of all wage earners paid 83.6% of all income tax. So when there is an income tax reduction,politicians say it only helps those who are well off, so you cant benefit.

Median income is $90k with 2 spouses of family work, over half the people in L.I. pay well over 90k

Form of income tax = capital gains

Capital gains taxtax on income, in investment income

Ex: bought stock for $100, if you held it 1 year, and you sell for $120, you made $20; some would make

their gains all through capital gains and dividends

The income tax is based on your annual salary, but other ways of making money.

Top rate 8%, avg. rate 6%

Cuomo doesnt want KG tax but DeBlasio wants

3 levels of income tax + capital gains


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Payroll tax

This is taken out of your income automatically, you do not get it back, even if you make a lot of money,

even if you give social security, 7-8% of salary, it stops at $120K, everyone pays it and no one gets them

back.

Someone with a house and farm, double their neighbors house, should pay double tax.

How do you impose a property tax, there will be a property tax put on it, has nothing to do with how

much you make because it taxes the property

Assessed valuation

Suppose you want to add a garage, second floor, etc., you have improved your home, you pay more, it

looks better, but you now pay more taxesit is controversial that people think twice before adding size

to their home. A good example is a pool, but there are 2 types: above and in ground, above ground can

be moved while the in ground cant.

If the bank has to pay more money for property taxes, they add it to their monthly billProperty taxeshot issue and school makes up a big part of it. It has nothing to do with wealth of owner

but just with the property

You want a full commercial are that is helping to pay the tax. Ex: mall in areamore tax. If Levittown,

few enterprises, no office buildings, that means the burden falls on the individual home owners.

Sales tax started in the 1960s

Now 8.66% on most things that you buy

Recessionbought less

Politicians over estimate on sales taxes, right now it is going up from the past 3-4 years, more modest

increase b/c it depends on consumer confidence

1/10 of 1cent

Tourist industry have to have sales tax to promote

Progressive, regressive and graduated nature of income taxwill be on test

Typical family of long island


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Altogether 50% of tax of your money

Family income is inflated on long island, everything costs so much in L.I.why, high taxes and high

wages so need to pass it down to consumer.

Money goes 2/3 to education and the rest to govt

Federal level

Social security, Medicare, Medicaid (both in Obama care), and welfare payments = 74% of the budget.

No one is talking about major cuts out of these 4 programs.

If you tamper with it, by politician, it will be very dangerous for them. Called the third rail

Anyone who changes it, even for the better, will be shot down by the seniors.

Medicare same deal, those who get social security get Medicare

Whatever happens, it isnt going down

94% of the budget, so whats left now?

There is no room to grow the budget

All forms of taxation

Mar 3

Different Taxes

Progressive and Regressive

Different Tax brackets and higher bracketshigher pay

Other ways that cities bring in money = borrowing

Any citys budget, 2 distinct budgets:

1st Budget: Operating Budgeto Day to day operations, running the city in a fiscal year, paying for things on an everyday

level, all the salaries are in this dept. (for parks and highway depts.), materials for roads

(sand & salt)

o Funded through Taxes 2ndBudget: Capital Budget

o Borrowing for something that will last a long timeo Ex: Buying car and get a loan out, long term investment. Vs getting money for lunch

very small and happens every day.

o Funded through bondsmoney that ppl loan govts and expect to get paid back withinterest a.k.a. municipal bonds


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Ex: bond with IBMbuy and get back at 2% more, then taxes on that 2. Samething with city govt. The money you make on that bond is tax free.

o 1) G.O. Bond (general obligation bond) City guarantees full faith in credit. You are first on the list of creditors if they

owe you the money.

o 2) Revenue Bond: backed by a stream of revenue of some activity. Ex: City prepares and buys out a revenue bond to buy out a stadium. The bond

will be paid off from the revenues paid for that stadium, and tax free

Ex: Dormitory Authority

Suppose city govt cant make salaries and cant pay the roles; by law they cant use the capital budget.

But sometimes, it is a gray area. NY State paid capital money for day to day operation. Debates in

Washington about NYC going bankrupts, and within days it went out of that phase. (1970s).

Over a number of different mayors (Wagner, Lindsey) the city floated bonds on Wall Street. Banks were

happy to give money to fix railroads, etc., and gave hundreds of millions of dollars to get the work done

and they did get some work done but some were put into the operating budgetand the banks neverchecked closely and neither did they want to and the city was happy as well.

Someday all of it had to be paid. All of a sudden word started to spread. The long term money was being

used for day-to-day activities and banks were getting nervous and stopped lending. City was days in

reserve. Governor Kerry and Mayor Dean went to Washington, before congress, told them if they dont

get bailed out, the largest city in the US will go bankrupt. Daily News had a headline, President Ford

told NYC to go to hell. Had to be tough, what if other cities did the same and congress had to bail other

cities?

Congress gave money to NYC to get out of crisis but NYC will not make any financial decisions and will be

overlooked, overlooking everything until they get paid off. 8 years to pay off everything as soon as Ed

Koch came, then stopped overlooking. Main reason: Wall Street and all the banking centers inManhattan. Every stock sold in stock exchange, NYC gets a cut from each stock (basically over the

world): best stream. NYC lived beyond their means.

50sNever said no to Unions. MTAstrikes. Subway strike after the eve of New Years. Commuters

walked over the bridge and NYC was in chaos. Union went out to strike (against the law because worked

for govt).

City was losing revenue and lower income people moved in who needed more services. City being

generous with their unions. Losing revenue and gaining responsibilities (mid 1970s).

City of Detroit, half of what it used to be.

Municipal Bonds (Muni Bond)giving ratings. Rated by Moodys and Standard % Poor. Higher the

ratings, less interest. Lower the rating, higher the interest.

Every city has a budget process

Mayor or county executive puts together the budget. Mayor and other officials, present a budget,

usually same as before but just minor changes.


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Mandating Expenses

Usually federal govt, says what to do but doesnt fund. Ex: Medicaidfederal program to thosewho cant afford medical care, have it since 60s. Federal, state and local govt pay for it.

Medicaid is the largest, next to schools Medicaid is a mandated expense Fed govt doesnt even administer the program Fed govt sets standard, can be changed by state and regions

What makes a city financially successful or a failure?

Ratio between imports and exports. Exports should be higher obviously. We dont makefurniture in NYC, all imported. Clothing is also imported. Garment district but

they dont make clothes there anymore, it is entirely outsource; along with cars

What do we export in NYC?o Stock Marketsomeone in Kansas buys/sells stocks, goes through Wall Street, govt

gets part too.

o Banking Industrywant to build a shopping center in TX (hundreds of millions of $),most of leading banks in NYC, it will finance the mall in south west, interest made on

that loan, workers there, all goes back to NYC.

o Advertisementagencies everywhere, the big ones are all on Madison Avenue.Advertising program anywhere in country, going through Madison Ave.

o How many people across the world visit NYC on a regular basis? Summarize: imports are many, exports are services with big money, lots of salaries and lots of

taxes.

Postindustrial economy: more labor works are gone and more educational and white collar jobs.

Health of that city, overall, important

Mar 5

Very systematic structure of houses, school, buildings, etc.

Tip of ManhattanManhattan Island was first developed, Dutch first developed

New city would grow, put a grid and avenue system and future growth of Manhattan Island (wilderness)

would take place. Alexander Hamilton built his home in Harlemthe wilderness that time.


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Eminent domainany govt can take your property for the public good and pays you. If you dont like

the price, it would go to court. First reason to take your house should be justified, if so, it should be the

right price. Only time govt can invade your private property.

Health, safety, and welfare of citizens and control property in order to have those protections. Right of

local govts to zone property within its borders. Supreme Court said it was appropriate use of police

powers.

NY state, and most states, this was the 1920s, NY State said the lowest level of govt will control the

zoning. City and fed govt has no role.

Most incorporated after 1926 in long island to allow what to build [Fuclid Ambler]

How planners can change and impact the govt

1) The health of the govt [Health]a.

Protecting the health of an area: today and 19

th

centurytoday people live longer, mostimportant reason is public health. NYC had out houses until the turn of the century, 19 th

centuryno sewers or bathrooms.

b. Planner: water system works and is cleanc. 1830: NYC had to go out for its water supply. Water below Manhattan Island was so

dirty that people didnt drink it, people rather drank light beer.

d. Upstate NY, NYC bought the property of water and piping it down to Manhattan2) Where to put stop signs and roads [Safety]

a. Big puddle on the roadbad jobb. A road should be designed so it curves to the curves so water through gravity and flow

to the catch basin

3) Location of Servicesa. Ex, called for jury duty and down town area, if you have time, shop there.

4) Economic Goalsa. First thing planners do, on their master plan, is if they have enough room to bring in

major company. Cant be all houses, telling businesses that we have land for you, all you

need to do is move in and build it.

b. Salesman ship gamesome local govts areaggressive.

5) Housinga.

Part of zoning

b. Many different types and prereqs of building a house.c. Will they allow trailer parks?d. Apartments? Garden or high rise? Family homes?

6) Downtown Renewala. Before L.I. grew to its size, traditional shopping was done in villagesb. Then development of malls, first one was Valley Stream, Green Acre Mall then Roosevelt

Field mall then Melville then Smith Haven, etc.


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c. Unintended consequencesgreater variety of types of stores, parkingd. Party atmospheredowntown area of a villagee. Biggest renewal in northeast (?)Times Square. Old time wasnt good adult movie

theater, bums, and prostitutesterrible area. Starting with Koch and Giuliani, they got

rid of most objectionable types of operations.

7) Environmental Qualitya. Which part of land to protect and keep it forever wildb. Which part in Long Island?

Suffolk country gives a test for planners, other counties do so as well, private companies that hires

planners

Back to Zoning

Grid planning

Residential areas arent all equal

Local zoning units determine how many acres

Bad dwellings

Violations, noise

More with retired people, cant afford to live in Florida, big houses, rent out rooms

Potential of action is always there by the local govt

Review the residential zoning A (1 acre), B (15,000), or C (10,000)

Mar 10

34 short questions

After spring break

Everything we talked about

Find from notes or text itself

First 7 chapters

M/C, T/F, few fill-ins (highest possible is 102)

Monday after spring break = review, next class = midterm 50%

Extra credit option in syllabus, it is due last class


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Lowest levels of govts do zoning. Zoning and planning have different categories Residential zonesbuilding homes. Eminent Domain Master Plancolor coded to show various zones in the municipality.

o 1st: residential A: most landmost expensive B: second most landmedium expensive C: least amount of landleast expensive D: various multiple dwellingsapartments and 2 family (legal and illegal)

Legal Illegal: family has extra room, whole part of home they convert to 2

family even though it wasnt zoned that way, relatively cheaper, helps

the lender and the landlord. Local govts usually dont go after this

unless there is a complaint (noise, parking)o 2nd: Multiple dwellings:

Big apartment houses, usually 2 stories with lots of grass and parking lots,sometimes tennis/gold courts, they control the size by the area, 10-25 acres

If 25 units an acre, less; 10 units an acre, more High rise apartments in L.I.

o 3rd: Commercial Office buildings, usually main roads, anything commercial in nature, b/c they

want visibility on main roads

Mainly for offices for work, like bankso

4

th

: Retails Ultimate retail, like Smith Haven Mall, parking and big stores Strip malls Map would show where everything would go

o 5th: Heavy Industry Away from where people live b/c no one wants to live near it, trucks, smell Nuisance to live next to. Try to isolate the site

Walk into any town planning office, go to plan or building dept. and they will show you

Airportzone it and Fed govt gives aid and Airlines gives $ to local govt

Price of lands goes up, somebody gives a lot of money to get zone changed Sign on property on hearing and on what its being zoned Legal notices (most ppl dont read them) in local newspaper Everyone who lives near the site gets a letter of where the hearing will be for the change of

zones (pure democracy)

More taxes People dont want apartments next to single family homes


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Sometimes school districts get involved saying not enough tax money to support When enough people angry over the change, politicians will not vote for it If not petitions and letters, itll pass One type of multiple dwellingscan change to senior citizens. Sup. Court zones to senior

citizens. Lots of ads to apt only for senior citizens Once you get the zoning then building requirements and restrictions Certificate of Occupancywhen people can move in ZBAZoning Board of Appealsmost areas they met once a week, very busy schedules in most

municipalities, and take up small matters that technically breaks the law but not completely.

Like moving fences, etc. they advertise to newsletters and public; usually passes

Who can go? Anyone One recurring theme: Nimbyism

o If youre a Nimby, you dont mind anything being build but not in my backyardo

Provoked by Nimbys. Youll hear in every meetingo It is a powerful force in hearings and which neighborhoods are excited about new

proposals to change master plans

Long Island is a dead end, stop at Montauk, Greenport, cant go further, we live on island. At one time

Robert Moses wanted to bridge Nassau Country and CT, how much time it would safe, more commerce

and tourist, more food products and wouldnt haveto go all the way to city, to Throgsneck Bridge and to

CT. Oyster Bay highway was going to have something similar but it stopped because of Nimbyism,

people didnt want noise. Oyster Bay highway and expressway are different.

L.I. is geographically dead end. Everything that we eat and wear comes from trucks and then goes, nocircular motion.

Other ways that lands are controlled: Zoning, Subdivisions and Site Plans

Subdivisions

Suppose 100 acres of properties undeveloped. There are, some are farms 100 acres will have to be developed. 10/house, doesnt work. Govt will have to divide it

They take the 100 acres and divide it and decide where to put sewer lines and naturally cuts theareas. Each block in a grid, you can build one house

By subdivision you get to impact the local population in the future Subdivision: 1) used for utilities 2) sewage 3) max size of that area Subdividing property, it will divide it forever

3rd= Cite Plans

Right zones and now site plans; blue prints


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Board to approve What the front, side looks like

o Blueprint looking don: enough parking spaces and number of officeso everything has to be in cite plans

All these 3 controlled by city/towns

Some people didnt like how suburbs were developed

Smart Growth: changeo Want more apartments in downtown area where you can take a bus to worko Suburbs are keep growing

2 ways for open spaceo Farms: Suffolk County is the #1 agricultural stateo Semi-rural makes it attractive

You can keep the farm and well give you $halfof it.

Keep farmers here, semirural, visitors

Farmers line up to sell the developmental rights of farm to developers. It is w/in the deed itselfof what the limitation state

Biggest open space (not farms): Pine Barrens

Huge piece of land, couple thousand acres Called because old and pine trees there Decision made a few years ago that all this land should be maintained and not developed. BUT it

was owned by people, so govt put restrictions. Keep the middle of L.I. open space which will be

good for environment

If you donate to county, then you can use as tax reduction; can deduct from income tax Never see anything new built on pine barrens b/c now the county owns most of it

Last program of county involvement: old downtown

Used to be the hub of economy But now all shopping is done at malls but at one time it was there. Starting pulling out in the 50s Now they want to renovate and counties are putting money

HOUSING next, then review 2 weeks from today


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Mar 12

--missed 40 mins of class

Market homes and stores see people moving in and now see vibrancy in the neighborhood increasing

demand

Gentrification: higher income people coming in and making place look better but poor people being

kicked out

Housing will not be on the midterm

Mar 24

Break Point

Choke pointimportant because of its geographic location. Entrance way into the interior such as

Qubec to Canada. Many cities grew because they were choke points.

Demographic Transition and Fertility rates (all 3 levels)o 1) Where there is a high incidence of death and that of new bornstagnant rate

Fertility ratesavg. birth rates

Growth of Cities

Ex in New York: Erie Canalto Rochester, Syracuse, Albany to the river. It opened up all thattrade to northwest, quicker than horses and carriageslumber, livestock. From Great Lakes

area to down south.

Housing

Reform act in the 1890sTenements House Acto Mandates certain basicsbathrooms, air shafts, livable conditions

Cities branching out and becoming suburbandecentralizedsubways and trollies, masstransit startedthis allowed workers to live further than from where they were. This

decentralized the cities and opened up the boroughs. Major Mile Stone

Metropolitization where Westchester and long island, southern CT and northern NJ developed.Shorter work week and increased pay and highway system, mostly designed by Robert Moses.

Early 20thcentury, stopped in 1930s (Great Dep.), stopped btwn 41-45, then expanded greatly after

WWIIassembly line of building homes.


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Interest on Mortgage rating and property taxby Fed govt

Incentivesgetting money back from taxes

1950sTo further expand the suburbs.

1956National highway defense act

Suburbs were created indirectly (?)

Finances

Operating and Capital Budgets

Operatingday-by-day, week-by-week Capitalborrowed for long term projects

o Schools, Bridges, Garbage trucks Municipal Bond is for a specific reason

Where to get the borrowed money from?From municipal bonds, if you buy a municipal bond then it

is tax-free, if it wasnt tax free, people would never loan to govt and if they did they would also be

competition with companies. You are paid off no matter what

Revenue Bondsbacked by the revenue created by that venue. Govt not paying for sports stadium, the

people are paid back by the revenue received from the project.

Decentralization of the entire countryNortheast, south, Midwestall are not growing at the same

rate.

Difficult to move a country down south

#1 budget for cities is Education.

Theories of Urban Politics

Pluralist, Elitist, restrictions, political economy approachread all of it over

Restrictions on citys action, people will leave and move companies

Pluralismgroups interact with that govtand outcomes are decided

Exports and importswant more exports

Ex of NYCno cars, clothes, food, so we import a lot. Money from the rest of the world comes into US

such as from Wall Street, entertainment, tourism, gives NYC the money to buy.


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Planning of citiesZoning, crucial power of local govt, takes any jurisdiction and divide into different

zones and each zone tells what you cant do for commercial, factories, residential.

By zoning, it is decided where jurisdiction and housing will be, apartmentsthey can actually set the

parameters for the growth of the stateenormous power.

Power of Site Planninghas to be submitted to know what it will look like.

Subdivisionselling farm to builderbuilder will subdivide it to make it smaller parts to sell, 10k square

feet for ex

Eminent Domainpower of govt taking property, expansion of highway, school building, if it is

worthwhile for the population then they will take and give it for the right price.

Exclusionary Zoning (?)

Taxationcan be aggressive or regressive

Progressivethe more you make the more you pay

Regressiveeveryone makes the same percentage

Different income bracketsthe percentage you pay is higher in different brackets

Regressiveex: sales tax, millionaire and avg. person pays same at a diner

Short answer, True/False

Short answer: whats a municipal bond?

T/F: A municipal bond is tax-free

Zoning: who can control zoning, not county, towns can zone, villages can zone, city can, if lowest level of

govt, can zone

POL 327 Exam 1 Review

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