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March 21, 2011
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Final Findings Looking at the socioeconomic data in the my blog post, one can find a correlation between the following characteristics and council-manager governments: smaller percentage of black persons fewer ethnically owned minority firms higher median household income and household value lower poverty rate greater number of foreign born residents larger percentage of Hispanic/Latino persons faster rate of population growth larger the young population in a city. However, these findings are based on median averages and are not necessarily statistically significant.
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March 7, 2011
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Question of Research The primary question I hope to answer is: What socioeconomic characteristics increase the likelihood that council-manager form of government governs a city? Essentially, do the stereotypes and generalizations that I examined earlier regarding council-manager form of government hold true today? Using the 100 largest cities by population in the United States as my data set, I identify differences between those cities with council-manager forms of government and those cities with mayor-council. Of the 100 cities in my data set, 48 use the council-manager form of government, 49
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March 2, 2011
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Overview of Theory In this section, I outline the prevailing theories and generalizations regarding which and how different city characteristics influence the adoption of council-manager form of government. These stereotypes of council-manager form of government (e.g. the claim that council-manager form of government is best suited for small-mid sized cities) may have been more applicable in the early years of the reform movement but are still found in today’s literature. Each of the generalizations is essentially a testable hypothesis, of which, unfortunately, few tests exist. Race: It is impossible to examine
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February 7, 2011
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Previous Academic Work There is an abundance of scholarly work on the topic of professional management in cities. The majority of literature available on the council-manager form of government examines either its rise as a product of the reform movement in the United States or its advantages versus disadvantages as contrasted with the mayor-council form of government. The two areas of focus are linked by the fact that reformers of the late 19th and early 20th century promoted the creation of a city manager as a tool to improve the service of local
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January 31, 2011
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This blog post is part one in a five part series. Each post is an abridged section taken from Kevin Carter’s practicum paper for Georgetown University entitled “Beyond Stereotypes: Socioeconomic Characteristics of Modern Council-Manager Cities.” The purpose of this blog is to encourage study into “the profession’s” past and start a dialog between theory and practice – academics and managers. The original paper (and by extension, this blog) examines the prevailing stereotypes surrounding the council-manager form of government, provides a literature review on the political development of those stereotypes, and then tests socioeconomic differences between
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October 15, 2010
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Govs Give Back is a non-profit that promotes public service, financial stewardship, and America’s general welfare by encouraging Federal employees to donate their general schedule salary increases to charitable organizations.
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