TURNOUT IN MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

Turnout in municipal elections is even lower than that in presidential elections. Yet the problem has been largely ignored by academicians. In recent years, there have been court challenges under the 1982 Voting Rights Act to majority vote and other than single-member districting provisions as requirements that are believed to dilute the political impact of minorities. The present analysis presents an overview of our knowledge to date, relating electoral districting and majority vote arrangements to black patterns of participation. It reviews the available literature, traces the associations that exist, identifies the problems in data collection and analysis that are present and sets forth a propositional inventory and set of conclusions that can serve as the basis for future research. The analysis incorporates original data and insights from the author's research and from cities in which he has served as a consultant.     

STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND:*ANTHROPOLOGISTS IN AGENCY SETTINGS

The author draws on a variety of long- and short-term experiences in applied anthropology to characterize some of the differences between academic and non-academic research contexts. The differences are illustrated with two examples of consulting on drug projects; one involving Indian drug programs, the other, a four city study of PCP use. The conclusion suggests how anthropology graduate programs might change to train students for this kind of work.     

MANAGING MUNICIPAL SERVICES IN AN ERA OF DECUNING FEDERAL ASSISTANCE

Federal aid to local governments was cutback throughout the Reagan administration. In dealing with these revenue cutbacks, ex-recipients have a variety of options, to find new sources of revenue or reduce expenditures. Based on the perspectives of local government budget officials and environmental data, this study attempts to determine which governments will be most successful in minimizing service cutbacks in this environment. Using a cross-sectional analysis and data concerning federal revenue sharing, we find both support and differences for many predictors found in previous case-studies of fiscal stress. The differences likely stem from the new cutback environment. This study illustrates that management strategies under fiscal decentralization are strategic and not haphazard.     

THE STATES' ROLE IN LAND USE POLICY

Historically, land use had been an exclusively local function. By the early 1960s, a "quiet revolution" broke the local government monopoly over zoning and land use, with a larger state role. Those states which passed land use legislation soon were faced with substantial political opposition, especially from rural dwellers and developers. When Congress considered national land use legislation in the early 1970s. these same interests united in effective opposition.     

SYSTEM AND PROCESS IN CAPITAL-INTENSIVE PRIVATIZATION: A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY OF MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER TREATMENT WORKS

Capital-intensive privatization (CIP) is an option for infrastructure project development. Advocates claim that CIP generates cost savings through efficiencies inherent in the coordinated design, construction, and operation of facilities. The present paper assesses these claims in the field of municipal wastewater treatment facilities (WIWs). It presents case-study results and aggregate data on seven of the first privatized WIWs, and on seven comparable grant-funded facilities. The analysis relies on the concepts of system and process. It concludes that CIP changes the system of players and the processes through which they interact. In doing so, CIP generates efficiencies of time and cost in project design and construction. It also may change accountability mechanisms, trade efficiency off against accountability, and raise issues of compatibility with the nature of the state. These matters bear directly on the current debates over tax and budget policy generated by increased demands for services, limited resources, and deficit reduction mandates.     

INTERGOVERNMENTAL IMPLEMENTATION MANDATES: A STUDY OF TWO LAND USE REGULATORY POLICIES

This paper examines the implementation mandates and experiences associated with two intergovernmental regulatory policies, one at the federal-state level and the other a t the state-control level. The policies are the Federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 and the Florida Growth Management Act of 1985. These experiences suggest that implementation mandates, a t least with respect to intergovernmental regulatory policies, are not as effective as logic and rational argument might dictate.     

UNANTICIPATED CONSEQUENCES OF A.I.D. PROJECTS: LESSONS FROM IMPACT ASSESSMENT FOR PROJECT PLANNING

We examine lJ.S. Agency for International Development project designs as described in pre-project design documents arid compare them using document review protocols to project outcomes as described in project impact evaluation reports for 40 projects. From this we draw three major conclusions concerning project designs: (1)most are unrealistic – estimated outputs greatly exceed actual outputs at the same time that considerable cost overruns occur, (2) they do not adequately assess the feasibility of the implementation, maintenance, and use of the project and its outputs, and (3) they do not adequately assess potential negative impacts. In light of these shortcomings we offer several recommendations for consideration and testing.