Syllabus for PPA/GOVT284 Urban Politics Seminar - Spring 2002
California State University, Sacramento - Professor Robert Waste
Office Location, Phone: 3036 Tahoe Hall - 916/278-4944
Email address: wasterj@csus.edu
Office Hours: Wednesdays 4-6 pm and by appointment
Class Location & Time: Alpine 205, Wednesdays 6-8:50 PM

Course Description:

The purpose of this course is to study politics and policy formation in urban and metropolitan settings. This is a graduate level seminar offered jointly by the Departments of Public Policy and Administration, and Government. The course concentrates on the ecology of urban politics, the types of policies found in the urban political arena, the strategies used by urban politics actors, and the possibility of reforming the California urban and regional public sector policymaking process. Increasingly, "urban politics" in the California context has come to mean "regional politics." Eight out of ten Californians live in one of five metropolitan regions (Sacramento, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Riverside/Irvine/Ontario, or the San Diego Border Region). For these citizens, "urban" also means "regional" in some very important respects. In addition to these primary Californian urban regions, there is still strong growth - and a strong component of urban/regional politics - up the great Central Valley spine of California, from Modesto and Stockton to Fresno and Bakersfield. We will examine both "urban politics" in specific cities such as Sacramento, and the larger regional dynamics of these six key urbanized regions of California.

Specifically, we will learn about the following topics in detail:

• the "ecology" of city politics, including the impact of structure, age, the political skill and psychology of political figures, and the rise of incremental and decremental policymaking & budgeting in urban politics;

• the "life cycle" of urban politics and policymaking, including a consideration of policy entrepreneurs, and strategies & styles frequently used by policy actors;

• about the different types of policies in urban politics;

• about the possibility of reforming urban and metro regional politics, including a discussion of campaign finance reform, "living wage" proposals, the "Bowling Alone" problem of low public interest in urban civic life; "Green Energy" and sustainable growth proposals; and

• we will examine possibilities to fight sprawl and "Exit the Freeway to Nowhere" via the potential to adopt regional tax-base sharing, Collaborative Community Regional Initiatives (CCRI’s), and state-level attempts to reform metropolitan governance "from above."

Grades: Grades are based on the following assignments:

1. Class attendance and participation             20%



2. Two short (4 page) essays requiring you to             40%
   1. Build a better urban politics and policy life cycle model than the model presented in class; or
   2. Build a better urban public policy typology than thetypology discussed in class; or
   3. Build a better city by arguing pro or con analyzing a reform proposal on topics such as campaign finance, the living wage, planning, or Green Energy proposals.
      
      
3. A 12-15 page term paper due during finals week for the semester.

Build a better region by arguing pro or con on regional             40%
governance efforts such as regional sales tax sharing, and other proposals to strengthen the environment, preserve open space, decrease "fiscalized" land use planning, address regional inequities, build affordable workforce housing, and fight traffic gridlock in California’s Capital Region. Students may, with permission, write term papers on other regions outside the Capital Region area.

Attendance Policy:

I consider your enrolling in this seminar to be a commitment to me and to your student colleagues to attend each class session. We all benefit from everyone’s contributions. It is not okay to miss class for any but the most unavoidable of reasons. Once in awhile you may be required to attend an activity that will require you to miss the seminar. Please remember that excessive absences (let’s call twice "excessive" for the moment) jeopardize successful completion of the course. In addition to attendance and "seat time," the quality of your participation in class discussions will be reflected in your grade.

Seminar Format:

This is not a lecture class. If you come expecting to be told what was covered in the readings, you will be disappointed. My job is to select interesting and useful readings, orient you to them by identifying key questions, and to guide the discussion. Your job is to read the material, think about it, and come prepared to share your ideas with your classmates. We have the tremendous advantage that each of you probably already has considerable experience with one or more urban political locations. Americans tend to have more experience and information about urban and local politics than any other level of politics in the American political system. This experience will provide you with a daily ability to test and apply the material discussed in the class readings and discussions. You should emerge from the class with a richer understanding or urban policy and politics, and a life-long ability to better understanding the workings of public bureaucracies at the local government level.

Required Books:

1. Robert Waste, The Ecology of City Policymaking (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989).
2. Robert Waste, Independent Cities: Rethinking U.S. Urban Policy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).
3. Bruce Katz (ed.), Reflections on Regionalism (Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2000).

Additional Required Reading for the Seminar - and Crucial for Completing Your Term Papers - is Available at the Following Internet Web Sites:

1. The Speaker’s Commission on Regionalism at: www.rewww.regionalism.org
2. The Commission Library containing reports at: www.regionalism.library/
3. The Public Policy Institute of California at: www.ppic.org
4. An excellent regionalism resource at: www.calregions.org
5. Sacramento regionalism resources at: www.regionalism.org include:
1. Reality not Myths;" Sacramento Bee;
2. Mary Lynne Vellinga, "Sale Tax Bill Tells Ideal of Regionalism," Sacramento Bee;
3. Rusty Hammer, "Region: Without Vision, Sacramento Faces Accidental Future," Sacramento Bee;
4. "Regionalism, Small Version," Los Angeles Times;
5. Philip LaVelle, "Regional Plan for Governing County Gains Panel Approval," San Diego Union-Tribune;

See also these reports at the same www.regionalism.org Web Site location:
1. Speaker’s Commission on Regionalism Final Report: "The New California Dream: Regional Solutions for the 21^st Century;"
2. Robert Wassmer, "Influences of the "Fiscalization of Land Use" and Urban-Growth Boundaries;"
3. "The State of California’s Regions."

See also two additional reports:
1. Robert Waste, "Drawing Lessons from Regional Successes," Faculty Fellows Report # 38; and
2. Robert Wassmer, "The Connection Between Local Government Finance and the Generation of Urban Sprawl," Faculty Fellows Report # 44, both reports located on the Internet at: www.csus.edu/calst/government_affairs/faculty_fellows_reports.html

Recommended Books:

1. Diana Hacker, A Pocket Style Manual, 3^rd Edition (Boston, MA: Bedford Books).
2. Myron Orfield, Metropolitics: A Regional Agenda for Community and Stability Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1998).

Course Outline and Readings:
PART I: THE "ECOLOGY" OF URBAN POLITICS
Week 1: Jan. 30 Does Political Structure Make a Difference in Urban Politics?

Read:R. Waste, Ecology, Chapter 1
Discussion Questions

1. How many different "types" of cities are there?
2. What, if any, difference does structure make? Why or why not?
3. What is the impact of "issue networks" or "iron triangles" in urban politics? Examples?
4. What are the strategies used by actors in the urban politics scene? Name or label the different styles, with an example of each?
5. What is the impact of federalism on urban politics?

Week 2: Feb 6 Life Cycles, Triggering and Focusing Events.

Read: R, Waste, Ecology, Chapter 2.
Discussion Questions:

1. What is a triggering or focusing event?
2. What is the policy life cycle, and how does it explain the formation of public policy?
3. What are "containment" strategies in urban politics?

Week 3: Feb 13 Groups Report Back: Improving on the Life Cycle Model

Discussion Questions:

1. What modifications would strengthen the model?
   Or - alternately, can this model by saved, why or why not?
2. Original models presents by students or groups?

Week 4: Feb 20 Further Impacts of "Ecology" - How Age & Locale Influence Urban/Local Politics

Read: R. Waste, Ecology, Chapter 3.

PART II: ;THE TYPES OF PUBLIC POLICY
Week 5: Feb. 27 A Typology of Public Policies

Read: Robert Waste "City Limits, Pluralism, and Urban Political Economy" Journal of Urban Affairs (handout); and R. Waste, Ecology, Chapter 4.
Discussion Questions

1. Critically analyze the economic determinist policymodel of Harvard’s Paul Peterson?
2. What implications does the "policy stepladder" model discussed in the assigned reading have for understanding (or failing to understand) the urban/local and regional policy process in California?

Week 6: March 6 Building Improved Policy Typology Models Group Projects

Week 7: March 13 Regulatory Policy and the Paradox of Reform Policy & Politics

Read: R. Waste, Ecology, Chapter 5.
Discussion Questions

1. What is the "clientele capture thesis" and how, if at all, does it apply to regulatory policymaking? (i.e., the FPPC) in California, and campaign contribution and lobbying in urban politics in California?

PART III: THE POSSIBILITIES FOR REFORM
Week 8: March 20 Local Reform Possibilities - Guest Speaker on Campaign Reform in Sacramento Politics

Read: R. Waste, Ecology, Chapter 6.

Week 9: March 27 The "Tragedy of the Regional Commons"

Read: R. Waste, Independent Cities, Chapter 3, "The Political Invisibility of American Cities; and
Robert Wassmer, "Influences of the "Fiscalization of Land Use" and Urban-Growth Boundaries;" and
Robert Wassmer, "The Connection Between Local Government Finance and the Generation of Urban Sprawl," Faculty Fellows Report # 44, report located on the Internet at: www.csus.edu/calst/government_affairs/faculty_fellows_reports.html
Skim, "The State of California’s Regions."

Week 10: April 3 Regional Reform Possibilities: Attempting Regional Reforms (Guest Speaker)

Read:
Bruce Katz (ed.), Reflections on Regionalism (Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2000).
Robert Waste, "Drawing Lessons from Regional Successes," Faculty Fellows Report # 38; available on the Internet at: www.csus.edu/calst/government_affairs/faculty_fellows_reports.html; and at www.regionalism.org the following articles:
Reality not Myths;" Sacramento Bee;
Mary Lynne Vellinga, "Sales Tax Bill Tells Ideal of Regionalism," Sacramento Bee;
Rusty Hammer, "Region: Without Vision, Sacramento Faces Accidental Future," Sacramento Bee;
"Regionalism, Small Version," Los Angeles Times;
Philip LaVelle, "Regional Plan for Governing County Gains Panel Approval," San Diego Union-Tribune;

Week 11: April 10 Regional Wrap-Up: Tax Sharing, CCRI’s, State Regulation or Tally Ho for the Status Quo?

Read: Speaker’s Commission on Regionalism Final Report:
"The New California Dream: Regional Solutions for the 21^st Century."

Week 12: April 17 The Case for Reform at the National Level

Read:
R. Waste, Independent Cities, Chapters 1, 2 & 3.

Week 13: April 24 Reform the Urban Scene: Attempts at the national Level, World War II through the Clinton Years

Read:
R. Waste, Independent Cities, Chapter 4.

Week 14: May 1 Local Efforts; Can Urban Politics/Policy Save Itself?

Read:
R. Waste, Independent Cities, Chapter 5.

Week 15: May 8 National/Local Efforts: The Case for Progressive Reforms

Read:
R. Waste, Independent Cities, Chapter 6.

Week 16: May 15 National/Local Efforts: Radical Proposal for Changing Urban Politics & Urban Policy

Read:
R. Waste, Independent Cities, Chapter 7.