Final Exam - Friday, 12/12

Please remember that your final exam is scheduled for next Friday. For the exam, you will be randomly assigned two of the following three questions:

1. Why are cities prone to periodic fiscal crises? How can cities avoid them?
2. How has federal policymaking affected American cities? Are cities hurt or helped by these policies?
3. Are regional governing bodies the answer to the problems of urban governance?

Remember also that you can bring ONE 3x5" INDEX CARD with you into the exam. (Do NOT try to take advantage of this; use the card for essay outlines.) Good luck.

Assignment for Friday, 12/5

As a reminder, there is NO CLASS on Friday, November 28, thanks to the Thanksgiving holiday.

For the following week, read "The American City in the Age of Terror," by Peter Eisinger. Feel free to summarize.

Also, please note that final papers are due on the 5th as well. Let me know by e-mail if you have questions before then.

Assignment for Friday, 11/21

Next week we will host our second and last guest speaker, Courtney Gross of the Gotham Gazette. She will discuss next year's mayoral election, as well as the recent battle over term limits in New York City.

In order to prepare for this talk, please read the article, "I, Bloomberg," from New York magazine, available here. The article is short, but a good overview of some of the issues and personalities involved. Despite its short size, you can use this article as a basis for a summary.

Also, please remember that drafts of your final paper, if you choose to submit one (it's optional), are due on Friday as well.

Assignment for Friday, 11/14

For next time, read the following two articles:

• "Urban Sacrifice," by Buzz Bissinger
• "Regionalisms Old and New," by Dreier, Mollenkopf, and Swanstrom

You can summarize one of these (and many of you really should).

Research Paper Assignment

During the semester, we have discussed a number of concepts and theories about the way cities and urban areas are governed. You will now be asked to utilize this knowledge to develop a thesis-driven research paper on a particular policy area within New York City. You are welcome to rely on information from our guest speakers and field trip, but do not feel constrained to work within these topics only.

Assignment: Using research from outside sources, as well as your knowledge of the theories of urban politics, write a short research paper that addresses a problem or question within a policy area that is currently of some concern to New Yorkers. Some examples of possible policy areas:

• The rebuilding of the World Trade Center (including memorializing 9/11 at the site), or the rebuilding of downtown more generally
• City campaigns and elections, including the current battle over term limits
• Affordable housing (ensuring that homes and apartments are available to all, regardless of economic status)
• Anti-terror policies/policing (any aspect of law enforcement in the city, possibly focusing on anti-terror efforts)

Your paper should be specific to New York City, but should also incorporate some of the concepts and theories we have discussed in class this year. For example, you might discuss how structural economic constraints limit the choices of the City Council and/or Mayor’s Office in rebuilding the World Trade Center. Or, you could examine how different levels of government in the U.S. affect the anti-terror policies pursued by the MTA Police. Feel free to be creative in identifying a research question, but make sure that there is some connection with the theories and concepts from urban politics that we have discussed in class.

Your paper should have a strong thesis: it should adopt a strong point of view (or “take a stand”); be specific and limited in scope (it can’t too big to cover in a short research paper); and should be arguably true (it shouldn’t be patently obvious, like “cities are complicated”).
Your paper should be 9-10 pages, double-spaced, and typed with 1” margins. You should state your thesis clearly in your first paragraph. Also, use the first paragraph to lay out the structure of the essay (“Below, I will do X, and then Y, and then Z”).

Research and Sources: Research papers require you to support your argument with outside sources; however, this is not an excuse to simply string together a series of quotes and pass it off as your own work. You must organize others’ ideas and arguments yourself, using your own words, while taking care to give credit to others. You should limit the number of direct quotes you use in your paper; in general, if you quote more than 20-25 lines, you’re relying too much on your sources’ writing (and you will be penalized). Please remember that all information derived from your sources must be cited, even when you restate others’ ideas in your own words.
All citations should be properly formatted. I prefer Chicago/Turabian citation style, but you may use whichever format you would like as long as you use it consistently. Internet research sources are suitable for this assignment, but be aware that many sites are sponsored by advocacy groups and their objectivity and accuracy cannot be assumed. Wikipedia can provide useful background information and links, but is often poorly sourced and should NOT be cited as an authority. Citations to the Internet should be sufficiently specific so as to allow a reader to arrive at the same web page where you found the information.

Deadlines: The essay is due in class on Friday, December 5. Late papers are subject to penalties as described below (see section on “Grading”). You also have the option of submitting a draft of the paper on Friday, November 21. This deadline is optional, but I strongly suggest you submit a draft. I will provide extensive feedback on these drafts, and can correct many minor problems with formatting that can lead to grade reductions. (Since we do not have class the following week due to Thanksgiving, you need to make arrangements with me to pick up the draft the following week.) If you do take advantage of the draft deadline, you must attach the draft, with my comments, to your final submission in December.

Just to be clear, these again are the deadlines:
Friday, November 21
First Draft Due (optional)
(Drafts with comments returned before Thanksgiving break by arrangement)

Friday, December 5
Final Draft Due (first draft attached if applicable)

Grading: Standard criteria for grading paper assignments is available here. Your paper will be assigned a letter grade largely based on these criteria. Please note that if you hand in your essay late, without a valid and documented excuse, I will immediately deduct a full letter grade from your grade for the assignment.

Assignment for Friday, 11/7

Next week we will host our first guest speaker, David Kallick of the Fiscal Policy Institute. He will talk to us about the rebuilding of the World Trade Center, and the issues surrounding redevelopment downtown in general.

In order to prepare for his talk, please read the report by the Regional Plan Association entitled, "A Civic Assessment of the Lower Manhattan Planning Process," available here. The report is a little dated (October 2004), but I think it provides a good overview of the issues involved. Feel free to summarize (and many of you are running out of opportunities to meet your summary requirement!).

Assignment for Friday, 10/31

Next week we'll be moving on to our unit on political economy. There are three readings for next week (feel free to summarize any one):

• Martin Shefter, "The Political Economy of Urban Fiscal Crises" (in the UP Reader)
• Saskia Sassen, "Overview" and "Economic Restructuring as Class and Spatial Polarization" (in the UP Reader)
• Rebecca Solnit, "Detroit Arcadia" (available online here - please note that this link only works on campus)

We also might do a bit more debriefing from our field trip; see you next week.

Field Trip - Friday, 10/24

Our field trip is scheduled for the Friday AFTER the mid-term (October 24). Instead of meeting in class, we will meet uptown at the Museum of the City of New York (5th Avenue & 103rd St). Details are as follows:

• Where: Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue (btwn 103rd & 104th )
• When: 12 noon (tour - meet 10-15 minutes earlier outside, or just inside if bad weather)
• How much: $10 per student
• How to get there: 6 train to 103rd, or M1, M3, M4, M106 to 104th (more directions at museum website)

If any last-minute emergencies come up, you can reach your instructor on his mobile phone (number given out at the midterm exam). See you then.

Mid-Term Exam - Friday, 10/17

Please remember that your mid-term exam is scheduled for next Friday. For your mid-term, you will be randomly assigned two of the following four questions:

1. How do structuralists like Peterson (and, to a lesser extent, Stone) critique the pluralist view of urban politics? Do you agree with this critique? Why or why not?
2. “Blacks have not benefited from political incorporation.” Agree or disagree with this statement.
3. What factors motivated Progressive-Era reformers to challenge political machines? What factors contributed to their success?
4. Identify the competing sides in the battles over urban renewal in the 1960s and 70s. Were those who challenged renewal correct to do so?
   

Remember also that you can bring ONE 3x5" INDEX CARD with you into the exam. (Do NOT try to take advantage of this; use the card for essay outlines.) Happy studying.

Assignment for Friday, 10/10

For next time, read the following articles in the UP Reader:

• Mollenkopf, "Postwar Politics of Urban Development"
• Dreier, "Community Empowerment Strategies"

We'll discuss next week. We'll also review for the mid-term, which is on the following Friday (10/17).

Assignment for Friday, 10/3

There are three readings for next time.

1. First, read Richard Croker's "Tammany Hall and the Democracy" in the UP Reader.

2. Then, read the following sections from Plunkitt of Tammany Hall (available here):

• Preface
• A Tribute by Murphy (one paragraph)
• Chapter 1: Honest Graft and Dishonest Graft
• Chapter 3: The Curse of Civil Service Reform

(If you end up printing this out, it's about the first 12 pages, minus chapter 2.)

3. Finally, read Bridges and Kronick, "Writing the Rules to Win the Game," in the UP reader.

Feel free to summarize any one of these, although I suggest you be wary of Croker and especially Plunkitt - as first person accounts, they are hard to summarize.

Assignment for Friday, 9/26

Next time we will watch a film, Street Fight, about the 2002 mayoral election in Newark. You should also read "Black, White and Blurred," by Rob Gurwitt, in the UP Reader. This reading will frame our discussion of the film. (Feel free to write a summary of Gurwitt. PLEASE NOTE that this is your last chance for a September summary!)

Assignment for Friday, 9/19

For next Friday, read the following articles in the UP reader:

• Clarence Stone, "Looking Back to Look Forward..."
• Browning, et al, "Can People of Color Achieve Equality..."
• Adolph Reed, "Demobilization in the New Black Political Regime"

Feel free to summarize ONE of these readings. We'll discuss them all next week.

Assignment for Friday, 9/12

Your assignment (after you familiarize yourself with this website) is to read the following articles from the Urban Politics Reader:

• Review "A Top 10 List of Things to Know about American Cities," by Wyly, et al. (We discussed this in class already.)
• Read "Who Governs," by Dahl.
• Read "The Interests of the Limited City," by Peterson.

You may, if you wish, summarize EITHER Dahl OR Peterson (but not both - remember, one summary per week).

Sample Summary

Nelson Munz                                                   PS 101 01
9/5/08                                                         Summary #2
Uneasy Alliances: Race and Party Competition in America, by Paul Frymer

Frymer seeks to explain why African-Americans are consistently marginalized by the American two-party system. This marginalization is not accidental, he argues; the American electoral system that developed in the early 19th century was designed specifically to defuse and deny issues of race. Frymer begins with an example: the contemporary revitalization of the Democratic Party, culminating in the 1992 election of President Clinton. The Democratic Party leadership pursued ideologically moderate voters by downplaying or even neglecting traditional African-American interests such as welfare, affirmative action, and racial injustice. These leaders believed that commitment to Black interests alienated key white voters; playing down these commitments would enable the party to build the broad coalition necessary to elect a Democratic President. According to Frymer, this contemporary example is part of a larger pattern. Since the creation of the two-party system, party leaders have consistently followed this pattern, which was intended to minimize racial conflict.

Frymer introduces the concept of “electoral capture,” in which minority interests are rejected by the opposing party and have no choice but to remain with their current one. In this case, the current party can take the support of the minority interest for granted, focusing on voters who may swing to either party. While African-Americans are ideologically closer to Democrats than Republicans, the primary reason they are not courted by Republicans is that Republican Party leaders are afraid of the disruptive effects African-Americans would have on their party; these leaders believe that appeals to Blacks would drive racist whites from their party, destroying their national party coalition and costing them their chance at the Presidency.

Scholars of political parties tend to view parties as empowering minorities; they provide the best means for minorities to effect political change. These scholars point to the example of the Jacksonian Democrats, who brought disenfranchised white males into the political system. However, the two best examples of parties empowering Blacks (the Reconstruction Republicans and the 1960’s civil rights Democrats) actually occurred during periods in which a single party was dominant. It is only in the absence of a strong two-party system, argues Frymer, that African-American interests are represented.

Frymer argues that the traditional party model, in which competition leads parties to make appeals to all interests in order to balance against each other, does not work. Instead, parties have limited resources, and so will concentrate their efforts on those voters who require less effort to mobilize, i.e., those who already participate. Moreover, party scholars who suggest that minority interests will eventually be represented in the majority on some issue are incorrect; there is a long-term majority white interest in the US, and Black Americans will never end up on the majority side of this issue. The overall effect of the two-party system is to minimize explosive conflict, but at the expense of African-Americans.

Summary Guidelines

One of your course requirements is to write and submit a certain number of summaries of reading assignments (see syllabus for exact number and any specific deadlines). Below are some guidelines for writing these summaries.

Purpose: Summaries have at least two purposes. First, they are part of your participation grade because they help to prevent you from falling behind in your reading assignments. When students experience time pressures, reading assignments are some of the first things to be abandoned. Yet if you write regular summaries, you are more likely to contribute to class discussion and less likely to be unprepared for exams or paper assignments. (Good summaries can be helpful study aids.)

Second, summaries help you focus on the main points of an assigned reading. You cannot write an accurate summary unless you make careful choices about what is important or central in a text. This includes filtering out material that is not essential; as noted below, summaries can be too long as well as too short.

How to Write a Successful Summary:

• A summary should be approximately one, and certainly no more than two, double-spaced, typed pages with 1” margins. (Summaries that are significantly shorter than one page, or more than two, may be returned for no credit.) If your summary is two pages, please staple in the upper left.
• Summaries must be submitted at the start of the class period in which the reading will be discussed. If multiple readings are assigned for a class period, you may choose which reading to summarize; however, only one summary may be submitted per class. If you are absent, you may arrange to have someone else deliver the summary. Summaries may not be transmitted via e-mail. No late summaries will be accepted for any reason.
• All summaries should have a heading using the same, single-spaced format. In the top left, put your name and date. In the top right, put the course number and which number summary it is, e.g., Summary #5. (This assures that your count and mine are the same.) On the third line indicate the reading you are summarizing, listing title and author. (See sample summary for a heading example.)

In the body of the summary:

• Restate the author’s main points in the order they have been presented. A summary is not simply a compilation of random notes. Your task is to present the author’s argument and key evidence. It may help to use the first sentence or two to briefly summarize the overall argument.
• Identify the author’s argument, not your view on the subject. Although you are not prohibited from including your reaction to what you read, the point of the summary is to restate the author’s key points. If you devote too much space to your view and too little to the text, you can expect me return the summary without credit.o Put the author’s main points in your own words. You may NOT quote from the reading in these summaries. Be careful: any quotations, inadvertent or otherwise, that are submitted under your name without proper sourcing is a form of plagiarism, and may bring serious punitive consequences.
• Divide your summary into paragraphs, one for each of the author’s key points. (Failure to divide a summary into paragraphs is a warning sign that you have not followed the structure of the author’s argument.) When a text contains headings, you can often use these as a guide in organizing your summary, with (generally) one summary paragraph per heading.o Summarize the entire argument, and not just the first few pages. Summaries that cover only part of the assigned reading will be returned without credit. (Again, summaries should only cover ONE text, even if more than one reading is assigned for a particular class.)
• Submit only the required number of summaries for the semester. If you accidentally submit an extra summary, you will not receive credit for it.

Grading: Summaries are not graded with letter grades. Either a summary is acceptable (marked with a check mark), or it is not. As suggested above, failure to follow the above guidelines may lead me to return a summary without credit. I will likely consider a summary unacceptable if it:

• Is too short (only half a page);
• Is too long (over two pages);
• Only covers a small part of the reading;
• Devotes a considerable amount of space to your views instead of the author's;
• Presents the author's words, not yours;
• Violates these guidelines in any other way.

If a particular summary shows considerable merit—i.e., it is organized exceedingly well, it clearly and comprehensively presents the author's argument in its entirety, and it is free of grammatical and mechanical errors—I may mark it as an "exceptional" summary (with a check-plus mark). Exceptional summaries help increase your class participation grade.

We will spend some time in class going over these guidelines. I encourage you to SUBMIT YOUR SUMMARIES EARLY; do not run out of time to complete the required number.

Syllabus

Course Description

This course will examine the policy issues and politics that face urban areas, with particular attention paid to the specific city that surrounds us: New York. We will begin by evaluating different theoretical perspectives on who holds power in cities and why. We also examine the crucial role of race and ethnicity within urban power structures. Next, we will survey some important episodes from the historical development of cities, including the rise of urban machines and the progressive reform movements that attempted to defeat them. Then we will turn to an examination of urban political economy, including fiscal crises and globalization. Finally, we will situate urban politics within broader political contexts of regional and national politics, including a look at how cities like New York confront terrorism.

You have chosen to study city politics while you are located in what is often described as the quintessential city. Therefore, throughout the course we will attempt to take advantage of our proximity and examine policy issues taken from contemporary New York City politics. Our engagement will include guest speakers and, during one class, a field trip (location to be determined).

Required Texts

Students are encouraged to purchase the following book:

The Urban Politics Reader
Elizabeth A Strom, John H Mollenkopf (eds)
Routledge Urban Reader Series (2006)
ISBN: 9780415319966

This book is available from Shakespeare and Company (939 Lexington Avenue, at 69th Street). You may be able to find a less expensive used copy online. If you purchase online or elsewhere, however, make sure that you can get the book in a timely fashion.

Additional readings may be assigned throughout the semester through the use of handouts, library access, and online links at the course website.

Course Requirements

• Come to class prepared. Complete all required readings beforehand, and bring your textbooks to class.
• Participate. Attend class regularly and on time—you cannot participate if you are not present—and join your colleagues in critical analysis of the assigned readings. In order to encourage participation, you will be asked to complete the following assignment:
• Summaries. Write six (6) one-page summaries of assigned readings throughout the course of the semester. Guidelines for summary writing will be distributed during the first class. In general, you can submit summaries whenever you would like, with the following restriction: one summary must be completed in September, with an additional one (two in total) due by the mid-term exam. Still, I encourage you to WRITE YOUR SUMMARIES EARLY – do not wait until the end of the semester, or you may run out of time to complete your required seven.
• Complete all other written assignments:
• Exams. You will be given two examinations during the course, a mid-term and a final. The final exam focuses primarily on material covered in the second half of the course, but may build upon and refer to material discussed earlier. Exams will consist of brief essay questions, with the questions distributed in advance. Questions will be based on the required readings and on classroom discussions.
• Papers. A 9-10 page research paper is required, with final draft due towards the end of class. Details for the assignment, including deadlines and instructions, will be distributed in class during the semester.

Grading

Your grade will be based on your written work and your class participation. Course requirements will be weighted as follows when calculating your grade:

• Papers: 25%. The paper will be worth one-fourth of your grade (25%). Grading criteria will be included when the paper assignments are distributed. A one letter grade penalty will be imposed upon late papers without valid documentation (e.g., medical emergency).
• Exams: 50%. Of the two exams, your lowest grade will be worth 20%, while your highest will be worth 30%. Make-up exams will be given only when proper documentation for the absence is provided.
• Participation: 25%. Submission of all required summaries establishes a base participation grade of B. Failure to submit a summary will lower this grade by one-third of a letter (e.g., B to B-). Excessive lateness or absences may lead to further reductions, while frequent and thoughtful contributions to class discussion will have the opposite effect.

Incomplete grades will be assigned only for a valid and documented cause, for a length of time specified by the instructor when the documentation is accepted.

Academic Integrity

Students should be aware of the college’s policies regarding cheating, plagiarism and any other kind of academic misconduct as outlined in the MMC Academic Honesty Policy. These policies will be discussed briefly during the first class, and are available here. Students who have questions or concerns about their written work should discuss these with the instructor before submitting any assignments.

Special Needs

Any student who is learning disabled, whose primary language is other than English, or who has other special needs and may thus require special accommodations should notify me immediately.

Course Schedule (subject to change)

Below are scheduled readings assigned for the semester. Please note that these assignments may need to be changed as the semester progresses; any changes will be announced in class and posted on the course website. All readings can be found in the Urban Politics Reader unless otherwise noted.

Friday, September 5
Introduction
Urban Politics: An Overview
-- Wyly et al., A Top 10 List of Things to Know About American Cities

POWER AND POLITICS

Friday, September 12
The Community Power Debate
-- Dahl, Who Governs?
Urban Interests
-- Peterson, The Interests of the Limited City

Friday, September 19
Urban Regimes
-- Stone, Looking Back to Look Forward: Reflections on Urban Regime Analysis
Race and Ethnicity
-- Browning, et al, Can People of Color Achieve Equality in City Government?
-- Reed, Demobilization in the New Black Political Regime: Ideological Capitulation and Radical Failure in the Post-Segregation Era

Friday, September 26
Race and Ethnicity
-- Gurwitt, Black, White, and Blurred
-- FILM: Street Fight

CITY HISTORY

Friday, October 3
Urban Machines
-- Plunkitt of Tammany Hall (available on course website)
-- Croker, Tammany Hall and the Democracy
Progressive Urban Reform
-- Bridges and Kronick, Writing the Rules to Win the Game: The Middle-Class Regimes of Municipal Reformers

Friday, October 10
Postwar Economic Development
-- Mollenkopf, The Postwar Politics of Urban Development
Community Empowerment
-- Dreier, Community Empowerment Strategies: The Limits and Potential of Organizing in Low Income Neighborhoods
Exam Review

Friday, October 17
MID-TERM EXAMINATION

Friday, October 24
Guest speaker – T.B.D.

URBAN POLITICAL ECONOMY

Friday, October 31
Fiscal Crises
-- Shefter, The Political Economy of Urban Fiscal Crises
The Global City
-- Sassen, Overview and Economic Restructuring as Class and Spatial Polarization
-- Solnit, Detroit Arcadia (available on the course website)

Friday, November 7
Guest speaker – T.B.D.

CITIES, STATES, NATIONS

Friday, November 14
National Urban Policy
-- Bissinger, Urban Sacrifice
Regionalism
-- Dreier, et al, Regionalisms Old and New

Friday, November 21
Field trip – to be determined

Friday, November 28
NO CLASS – THANKSGIVING BREAK

Friday, December 5
Cities and Terrorism
-- Eisinger, The American City in the Age of Terror
Course Review
Exam Review

Friday, December 12
FINAL EXAMINATION