CDBG in Chicago: The Politics of Control

The first eight years of CDBG provided Chicago with almost three-quartersof a billion dollars. At the outset, the city executive, headedby Mayor Richard J. Daley, took control of CDBG planning andallocation, despite the efforts of the "machine's" opponentsto use CDBG's housing assistance and citizen participation requirementsas levers for political reform and social change. The city executivecontinued in firm control even after the Carter administrationtook office determined to reverse inherited New Federalism policies.City hall opponents found that HUD's more assertive policieson housing assistance, citizen participation, and targetinghad little effect on the executive's ability to decide how andwhere to spend CDBG funds. The dominant role of the executivealso persisted after Mayor Daley's death, although Mayor JaneByrne (elected in 1979) shifted CDBG decisionmaking from operatingcity departments to the mayor's budget office. ^*I am indebted to Sheila Macmanus for her valuable assistancein researching this article. David N. Larson, Deputy Commissionerof Planning, City of Chicago, read an early draft and made manyhelpful comments. Leonard Rubinowitz of Northwestern Universitygenerously provided me with working drafts of his chapter inDecentralizing Urban Development, cited below.     

Fixing race: visual representations of African Americans at the World's Columbian Exposition,Chicago, 1893

ABSTRACT

Cooks examines the Johnson family cartoon series published in Harper's Weekly during the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Her analysis addresses the series’ caricatures of African-American fairgoers in the context of the landmark exposition, a national celebration of America's cultural leadership and accomplishment since its ‘discovery’ by Christopher Columbus in 1492. The Johnson family cartoons are remarkable because they are the only racist images in the issues of Harper's Weekly in which they appear, highlighting the importance of their message that African Americans were an unwanted presence at an event that served to solidify America's national identity. The series provides insight into some of the social anxieties of white Americans regarding the presence of African Americans at the exposition. It also explores white American discomfort with racial and economic diversity through the antics of the imaginary yet symbolically representative Johnson family. Cooks's discussion includes a visual analysis of the cartoons and comparisons of the Johnson family images with photographs and illustrations of African-American labourers at the fair and with depictions of proper behaviour by white American fairgoers. This examination of the cartoon series questions the roles of race, class and social hierarchy in turn-of-the-century America, and illustrates that acceptable mainstream attitudes clung to ideas of racial prejudice.     

Chicago Political Economy

I am indebted to James Buchanan, William Dougan, David Fand, William Mitchell, and George Stigler for helpful discussions and comments. The usual caveat applied.     

Demographic dynamism and metropolitan change: Comparing Los Angeles,New York,Chicago, and Washington,DC

Abstract

The fluid dimensions of demographic status—age, career progression over time, geographic redistribution, and growing duration of residence—have not been sufficiently recognized in urban theory and policy. Demographic dynamism deserves special attention because it is through the presumed consequences for people that we judge the desirability of economic, political, and physical changes in a city. To explore the magnitude and significance of these issues, population dynamics and associated poverty and homeownership trends in four major metropolitan regions are compared.

Los Angeles may be changing more rapidly, but its dynamics only accentuate trends under way elsewhere. Rising proportions of the population that are neither in the white “majority” nor black “minority,” the low proportion of longtime residents, and the new challenge of immigration call into question fundamental assumptions about links between people and urban policy. The meaning of both poverty trends and homeownership attainments must be reassessed.     

State-Local (Chicago) Relations in Illinois: The Harold Washington Era, 1984

Since Harold Washington became mayor of Chicago in 1983, relationsbetween the city and the state have changed significantly. Forone, the mayor is no longer the power-broker in state politics.The perception that Richard J. Daley controlled state governmentmay have been a myth, but today—after the mayoraltiesof Bilandic and Byrne, and with Washington now in office—eventhe myth no longer prevails. The continuing conflict in thecity council, with Washington's forces being in the minority,has also contributed to the change in state-local relations.The city council divisions carry over to a divided legislativedelegation in Springfield. Underlying the present situationare maneuvers by the various potential candidates for the 1987mayoral election. Some clues as to the outcome can be seen inthe election returns for U.S. Senator in the 1984 contest betweenincumbent Charles Percy and Congressman Paul Simon. Black votersdeserted Charles Percy in 1984; in the past, they had stronglysupported him.