Tense Commandments Federal Prescriptions and City Problems

by Nivola, Pietro S.

• ISBN13: 9780815760931
• ISBN10: 0815760930
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-08-21
• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Summary

Despite widespread urban revitalization and renewal, Americans still prefer the suburbs to the cities. While many of the underlying causes of the urban predicament are familiar, there is also the less recognized possibility that regulatory policies of the federal government disadvantage the cities and ultimately burden their ability to attract residents and businesses. This book encourages renewed reflection on the suitable balance between national and local domains.

Author Biography

Pietro S. Nivola is a senior fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(14)
``Shift and Shaft''	3	(5)
Exemplifying the Problem	8	(2)
Plan of the Book	10	(1)
Some Preliminaries	11	(4)
Problems	15	(34)
The Trouble with Localism	16	(1)
Mandating without Spending	17	(4)
The Yellow Line	21	(5)
One Size Does Not Fit All	26	(3)
Zero Tolerance	29	(4)
Adversarial Legalism	33	(6)
Curing or Abetting the Mischiefs of Faction?	39	(10)
Summary
Tales from Six Cities	49	(44)
Baltimore	50	(6)
Philadelphia	56	(8)
New York	64	(7)
Chicago	71	(5)
San Francisco	76	(7)
Los Angeles	83	(5)
Conclusions	88	(5)
The Politics of Paternalism	93	(27)
The Thirties and Sixties	93	(2)
Quantum Leap	95	(3)
The Rise of Environmentalism	98	(3)
The Age of ``Low Politics''	101	(7)
The Courts in Charge	108	(8)
Mandates without Money	116	(1)
Summary	117	(3)
Comparative Politics	120	(17)
Fiscal Arrangements	121	(5)
Legalism	126	(3)
Other Elements of American Exceptionalism	129	(4)
Decentralization	133	(2)
Conclusions	135	(2)
Conclusions	137	(24)
The March of Mandates	138	(5)
Too Much of a Good Thing	143	(2)
Nostrums	145	(5)
Making Progress	150	(5)
Retrenchment	155	(6)
Notes	161	(48)
Index	209