Public Administration

WK5 course work.
Please use one page for each question
Question 1

We have studied multiple types of local government systems, from the simplest type of local government (the city/county model found in Hawaii), to extremely decentralized types of local government (often found in New England). After reviewing the different types of local government found in Chapter 9, which system of local government do you think is the most effective in terms of communicating the will of constituents, delivering public services, and in reducing red tape/bureaucracy? Which do you think is the worst? Or, do you think that there are no fundamental differences between these systems of local government in terms of the delivery of core government services?

Question 2
Where Do We Go From Here?
As we have studied over the previous four weeks, American government is highly unusual among Western industrialized nations because of the diffusion of power between multiple levels of government. Given the global economy, the rise of emerging economic superpowers such as China and India, and the challenges to remaining competitive in a global world, do you think that American federalism remains relevant? Do you agree with critics who argue that multiple layers of government slow down the machinery of government, making it virtually impossible to execute quick responses to society’s needs? Or do you believe that no fundamental changes are necessary to American federalism, and that despite changes in the modern world, the foundational features of American federalism remain as relevant today as they were at the nation’s founding? What changes, if any, would you integrate into the system of intergovernmental relations to effectuate better government and more efficient government?

Resources:
• Urban Institute (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. (http://www.urban.org/center/anf/index.cfm)
• A report by the prestigious Urban Institute on the implications of so-called “New Federalism” upon American communities. The site supports the Readings for this week.
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Lecture

Local Governments
Under the tenth amendment, the power to create local governments is left to the states. No two states have the exact same organizational structure (Stephens &Wikstrom, 2007). As a result, local governments are considered to be products of the states that create them, and the only powers local governments have are the powers provided to them by the states. Local governments can be divided into the following four categories:
Counties: The primary function of counties is to administer state laws within their borders. Counties are also responsible for keeping the peace, maintaining jails, collecting taxes, building and repairing roads and bridges, and recording deeds, marriages, and deaths. Counties are typically led by elected officials referred to as supervisors or commissioners.
Townships: A township is a division of local government, usually a subdivision of a county, found in most midwestern and northeastern states of the U.S.
Special Districts: The most familiar example of a special district is that of the local school district. You also see other types of special districts, especially in heavily populated areas where county and city governments may be overloaded with work.
Municipalities: City, town, or borough governments get their authority to rule only as it is granted by the state. About 80% of the American population lives in municipalities. A municipal charter is the legal document that defines the organization, powers, functions, and essential procedures of the city government. The charter also details the form of municipal government. The five most common forms of municipal government are: council-manager, mayor-council, commission, town meeting, and representative town meeting.
For more information on municipalities, please check out: http://www.nlc.org/build-skills-and-networks/resources/cities-101/city-structures/forms-of-municipal-government (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Hurricane Katrina
On August 26, 2005, New Orleans, the rest of the state of Louisiana, and other Gulf Coast areas in Mississippi and Alabama prepared for a Category 5 hurricane named Katrina. In anticipation of the storm, the governors of Louisiana and Mississippi declared states of emergency in their jurisdiction and requested that President George W. Bush follow suit at the federal level (O’Connor, 2012). The Bush administration responded by authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (known as FEMA) “to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of emergency” (O’Connor, 2012).
New Orleans Mayor Ray Magin followed suit the following day by issuing the first-ever mandatory evacuation of New Orleans as a result of warnings that the levees might not hold and, as a result, flood the city. Amidst these evacuations, Boston-based FEMA official Marty Bahamonde was sent to New Orleans to be the eyes and ears for FEMA Director Michael Brown (O’Connor, 2012). The Louisiana National Guard requested from FEMA 700 buses to help with the evacuation; only 100 were sent. Without any place to go, thousands of poor and elderly New Orleans citizens took refuge at the Superdome and the Convention Center.
At the time the storm hit, it was downgraded to a Category 3, but because the levees gave way as feared, entire sections of New Orleans were flooded, and one thousand-three hundred residents lost their lives in the storm (Colten, Kates, &Laska, 2008). Many survivors were stranded in their homes, some on roof tops.
Because of the massive flooding, President Bush declared Louisiana to be a major disaster area, which released federal funds to supplement state and local aid (Stephens &Wikstrom, 2007). Neither Mayor Nagin nor the Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco were able to agree on strategies to deal with this disaster. By this time, food and water had run out, toilet facilities were inoperable at the Superdome and the Convention Center, and violence resulted (Stephens &Wikstrom, 2007). FEMA representative Bahamonde, who was in the Superdome with other evacuees, repeatedly sent requests to FEMA director Brown. Unfortunately, Brown had little experience in how to deal with a disaster of this magnitude. There was no clear plan that detailed which level of government (local, state, or FEMA) would address the problems of how to evacuate the residents housed in the Superdome and Convention Center, as well as where to house them.
Because of this breakdown in intergovernmental communications, as well as difficulties in coordinating post-Katrina recovery efforts, many local, state, and the national government were forced to reevaluate their emergency response and disaster relief plans. Congress created a commission to determine how and why the federal government, especially FEMA, mishandled aid both during and after the disaster (Schmidt, 2013).
References:
Colten, C., Kates, R., &Laska. S. (2008). Three years after Katrina: Lessons for community resilience. Environment Magazine(50)5, p. 36-47. Retrieved from the ESBCOhost database.
O’Connor, K., Sabato, L., &Yanus, A. (2012). Essentials of American government: Roots and reform (2012 ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education.
Schmidt, S., Shelly, M., &Bardes, B. (2013). American government and politics today (16th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Stephens, G., &Wikstrom, N. (2007). American intergovernmental relations: A fragmented federal polity. New York, NY: Oxford Press.
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