The Phoenix City Council Meeting The Phoenix City Council meeting stood packed with attendees ranging from council men and women, lawyers, (basically elderly) interested citizens, neighborhood representatives, owners of businesses, and many others firm on playing a undeviating role in the due process of local government. The meeting began with an invocation from the pastor of a local church invited to pray by the Mayor Stanton. Then following was a pledge to the flag and then the mayor carries the motion. The Mayor reads for the council while passing them several agendas. This series of formalities set the tone for the arrangement and flow of the summit as a whole. Things steered quickly and professionally thanks to the succinct language of both the City Clerk and the Mayor, who led the agenda of the assembly. In general, each agenda entry was introduced by the Clerk, and then led through the agenda by Mayor, who asked for each item’s approval by the Council. The executive order of the agenda acted mostly as a general guideline, as the meeting swerved from the stated order with relative occurrence. Instead of a stringent order, the items seemed to be litigated first, in terms of how straightforwardly they might be permitted. Entire swathes of application were approved if the Council did not obtain any requests for dialogue concerning the item, and if the Council was expected to endorse the item unanimously. In theory, most of these items had already been hashed out in the various other committees through which any agenda item must pass before reaching the City Council. Following the transition of the speedy measures, the Clerk maneuvered back to the agenda items skipped in the earlier mass approval. In hardly any cases, such... ... middle of paper ... ...one the commercial development issues to make it clear to the council. The city manager was put to task on the information of the commercial development the city is doing. The motion was continued to the next formal to make answers that are more professional on the budget used to make fitness center. More elaboration on what the city is investing was also part of the issue that made the motion continue to the next sitting. In all, the Phoenix City Council assembly, as anticipated, covered a huge breadth of topics. From voting in the antidiscrimination law to liquor licenses to historical appellations, the meeting directly addressed planning in nearly all of its forms. Through the meeting, I understood the process of decision making in the city as they address the pressing issues in line with the opinions of the public while the council vetoes other decisions in.
After reading the case study Welcome to the new town manager, by Mary Jane Kuffner Hirt, I established three major problems the community of Opportunity needed to correct. These problems involved the water & sewer system, the balancing budget, & the pay-as-you-go method. The city manager, Jennifer Holbrook, must implement strategies that would correct these problems quickly.
The fourth chapter of City Politics by Dennis R. Judd & Todd Swanstrom covers the rise of "Reform Politics" with many local governments during the first half of the 1900s as a way to combat the entrenched political machines that took control of many large city governments in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Over the course of the chapter, Judd & Swanstrom quickly cover the history of the "reform movement" with different examples of how the reform movement affected city politics in different areas.
Going further into the layout of the book, the author chose a very "normal" approach to organization of the chapters. That process being, state, explain, and elaborate. It analyzes the management of rulemaking at three levels presidential, agency, and individual rule administration. Kerwin begins strong with the background of rulemaking, definitions of rulemaking, history, categories and reasoning. Logically he proceeds with "The Process of Rulemaking", followed by "Issues and Contradictions" in chapter three. He moves on to the management of r...
You have been asked by the state representative to analyze and write a report on a very important piece of legislation. You have kept track of this legislation, but been having a...
The procedure for approving a bill and making it a law involves many steps. The following description is a short summary from “How Our Laws are Made”, an in depth description of the legislative process that can found on the website of the Library of Congress. After a bill is drafted, a member...
The issue of purchasing the Reformed Church of Palos Heights exemplified that the citizens are the ones who run the city. The citizens made their presence known in the City Council meetings as well as in the media. The Aldermen attempted to first bribe the Al Salam Mosque Foundation of Chicago with $200,000, and then to purchase the Reformed Church of Palos Heights. The Mayor sided with the people and vetoed the idea of paying $200,000 to the Al Salam Mosque Foundation of Chicago. In the end, the democratic policies on which our country was founded prevailed. The voices of the citizens were heard with a vote AGAINST: 2,856.
On Monday, April 13th, 2009, I visited the Culver City city council meeting, and found that they operate using a council-manager form of government. For a city with a population of about 38,000, this type of governmental structure is fairly common, and I was not surprised to see it in action in a community where the median household income is around $56,000 a year. Culver City is also a culturally rich community with a 60 percent Caucasian population, and a quarter of the residents are either of African American or Asian decent. The mayor, D. Scott Malsin, is one of five members on the council, and his term as mayor is on a rotating basis. Having been to a Hermosa Beach city council meeting with a similar council-manager structure, I knew what to expect.
The Texas government is a complex system whose ultimate purpose is to serve its citizens. Oftentimes, its complexity in certain aspects causes problems in its efficiency in serving. The way the Texas Constitution is written, how local governments run, the judicial, legislative, and executive branches’ efficiency, as well as Texas public policy and fiscal policy result in a government that is not set up to best serve its citizens. By 1875 the need to rewrite the Texas Constitution had become very evident, and a Convention was held to rewrite the Constitution.
Politics or politicking is a game that is more ostensible and reserved for the political arena; however, metaphorically, much of the political discourse can also be found within organizations. Politics in organizations, then, is design for groups to reconcile differences between interests, conflicts, and power (Morgan, 2006). The case study to be analyze (Cutting Back at City Hall) is one that illustrates all three aspects of interests, conflicts, and power as the City of Smithville, the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the International Association of Firefighters (IAF), and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) deliberate the city’s proposed budget.
Harrison, Brigid C., and Jean Harris. "Congress." A More Perfect Union. New York: McGraw Hill, 2011. 408-410. Print.
As seen quite often in the Obama administration, legislation gets stuck and lost in Congress due to the polarization of the parties in recent years. In Obama’s case, he has frequently threatened to go around the House and Senate if they could not reach an agreement or would shoot down his plans. Cato’s Pilon points out, however, that the hurdles of Congress are no mistake. Pilot states that the framer’s of the Constitution knew what they were doing, and this was intended to keep the checks and balances as well as accountability to the public (Lyons,
Kevin B. Smith, Alan Greenblatt, and John Buntin, Governing states and localities: First Edition (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press), 2005, 95.
The successful use of team practice aims to better serve respected stakeholders. In urban planning, the unity and cohesiveness of a finished work signifies professionalism and clarity, which can only be arrived from a great team. In order to achieve solidarity, good decision making tactics must be enforced. Decision making involves making a logical choice influenced by, and not limited to, facts and information, time, and emotions. These factors may be a sole factor or combined together. Thus, decision making aims to solve a problem. In regards to urban planning, decision making has great influence on the overall success or failure of a plan. This plan may involve key stakeholders or the public, regardless of what party is at stake, decision making must be based on rationality. This paper will examine four decision making practices: (1) decision by authority, (2) decision by majority vote/rule, (3) decision by averaging opinions, and (4) decision by consensus.
Light, Paul C., and Christine L. Nemacheck. "Chapter 7 Congress." Government by the People, Brief 2012 Election Edition, Books a La Carte New Mypoliscilab With Etext Access Card Package. By David B. Magleby. 2012 Election Edition ed. N.p.: Pearson College Div, 2013. N. pag. Print.
Planning is an approach towards the problem solving rationally. It can be taken as a remedial tool for creating change in the current situation in a systematic and efficient way. A problem in the planning profession will be The solution found by planners to varied situations in practice is very dependent on the certain criteria like social, economic, environmental, and political. The evaluation of a solution on these criteria defines the success of a solution. The new definition of the planning problems was given by Rittle and Webber in their path breaking article (Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning).