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John Jay College of Criminal Justice

 

Seminar and Internship in New York City Government and Politics

 

GOV/PAD.402/403  Spring 2007

Tuesdays, 4th period/12:30 – 1:45pm, Room 3417N

       7th period /5-6:15pm, Room 4101N

 

Professor Janice Bockmeyer

Office: 3253N - Hours: Tues./Thurs. 3:30-4:45pm and by appointment

Email: jbockmeyer@aol.com or jbockmeyer@jjay.cuny.edu

Tel: (212) 237-8196/ Fax: (212) 237-8742

 

New York City is a global city at the heart of many both national and transnational political and economic trends. This semester interns will study the foundations of New York City government and politics, while interning in placements where they can assess the City’s approaches to economic development, housing and community revitalization, welfare, public safety and other policies. We will also explore the meaning for NYC of national and global trends in federalism, global crime and terrorism and the economy. We will also examine current issues in New York City government including education reforms, soaring health and housing costs, and decision making by the MTA and public authorities over recent mega developments. We will explore city politics in the context of national, state and regional politics; immigration and ethnic politics; and look at new trends in community politics.

In the internship placement students are asked to assess the organization and performance of their agency and how it interacts with other parts of city government, the state or federal government, and the private sector.  Students are asked to use reading assignments and seminar discussions to inform their understanding of policy making processes and recent policy decisions.

Requirements: Students will work in their placement for 12-16 hours per week.  In addition, students will attend a seminar once per week. Students are expected to complete reading assignments and participate actively in seminar discussions. Three times during the semester, the John Jay seminar will be replaced by the CUNY Forum, a podium discussion of city officials, activists and experts on a relevant policy issue. Forums are held at the CUNY Graduate Center (365 Fifth Avenue at 34th Street, CUNY-TV Studio, main floor - rear).  The Forums will take place on Tuesdays only: Tuesday, February 27, March 27 and April 24 at 7:00pm. Students must arrive to the TV studio by 6:45pm for seating. Attendance for both John Jay and Graduate Center meetings is mandatory. News and announcements of the Edward T. Rogowsky Internship Program can be found at: http://www.etrinternship.org.

 

Journals: Students will write weekly journal entries--(typed) 2-3 page essays--relating their reading assignments to their placement observations.  The entries should apply the topic of the week to the student’s placement and should make specific reference to the week’s reading assignment.  For example, if the week’s topic is, mayoral styles and municipal reform, students might address the implementation of reforms in their agency, the mayor’s role in the reforms, and how proposed or actual reforms have affected their agency and those who are constituents of it or the programs it delivers.  Students might compare earlier mayoral styles with those they are able to observe currently.  Students could also speak with their placement supervisor or staff for information on the topic as it relates to the agency’s staff, programs or constituents. [A sample entry is attached.]  If any weekly topic cannot be connected to the student’s internship assignment, students are asked to critique the reading assignment (1-2 pages) and summarize the internship activities of the week in a separate page. Journals are due three times during the semester.  Late journals are penalized by one half grade.

            Finally, students will give an oral presentation at the end of the semester.  Each student will have 10-15 minutes to summarize the most important findings from their placement.  Grading is as follows: 30% - class participation and final presentation; 35% - journals (a grade for each submission will be assigned and the three will be averaged for a total journal grade); 35% -sponsor evaluation.

 

Required readings available for purchase:

Halle, David. Ed. 2003.  New York & Los Angeles: Politics, Society, and Culture – A

            Comparative View. Chicago: Chicago Univ. Press. [Also on reserve.]

Kivelson, A.  2005. 2001.  What Makes New York City Run?  NY: League of Women Voters.

Readings available electronically, on reserve, or from the instructor:

Bellush, J. and Netzer, D.  1990.  Urban Politics New York Style.  Armonk, NY: Sharpe. –

            [available on reserve.]

New York City Independent Budget Office (IBO). Various. Publications

            available at http://www.ibo.nyc.ny.us.

 

GOV. 402   Calendar and Readings

Jan. 30            Approaches to understanding NYC politics: NYC in comparative context

                        Read: David Halle “The New York and Los Angeles Schools,” Halle-Intro.

 

Opening Feb. 1st -  Museum of the City of New York, “Robert Moses and the Modern City: Remaking the Metropolis,” Extra Credit Available for this Exhibit! See Prof. Bockmeyer (and visit the Museum website at www.mcny.org.

 

Feb. 6              Race, class and spatial inequality:The role of housing & development policies.

                        Read: Beveridge and Weber, Halle-1, Halle, Gedeon & Beveridge, Halle-5

                                    Policylink/Pratt Institute, “Increasing housing opportunity in NYC,” (avail:

                                                www.policylink.org)

                                    Robin Pogrebin, “Rehabilitating Robert Moses, NY’s Master Builder,”

                                    NYTimes, 28 Jan. ’07.                                   

                                               

Feb. 13            The political economy of a global NYC; the politics of a local budget.

                        Read: Gladstone & Fainstein in Halle-2

                                    IBO – A Guide to Understanding the NYC Budget, www.ibo.nyc.ny.us

                                    IBO – Budget Options for NYC, Feb. 16, ’06.

           

Feb. 20            Governance structures and the NYC Charter

Read: Sonenshein in Halle-10; Kivelson-all 

            see the NYC organizational chart at www.nyc.gov  

           

*Feb. 27          No JJ seminar - CUNY FORUM – *Meet at the Graduate Center, 6:45pm*

 

 

Special John Jay College Film Event! Screening of the film

Crash       

 

Tues, 2/27 and Thurs. 3/1, 3:30pm both days - Room 1311N

*Extra Credit assignment available for this event – see Prof. Bockmeyer!

 

Mar. 6              Mayoral politics in comparative perspective: NYC/LA

                        Read: Kaufmann in Halle-11; Eichenthal in Belush & Netzer-3

            C. Swope, (2004), “Late bloomer: New York’s businessman-mayor is

                        learning politics the hard way. But he’s learning it.” Governing.

                                                August. pp.22-27.

                        *1st Journal Submission* (5 entries due)

 

Mar. 13            Federalism and NYC Politics

                        Read: Pecorella in Stonecash (on reserve)

                                    Bejamin in Bellush & Netzer – 8

 

Mar. 20            (Re)building NYC: The role of public authorities in economic development

                        Read: Hauck-Walsh in Bellush & Netzer-7

                                    IBO, “Atlantic Yards: A Net Fiscal Benefit for the City?” Sept. 2005.

                                    Deborah Sontag, “Broken Ground – The Hole in the City’s Heart”

Available for purchase, on reserve, and at: www.nytimes.com

                       

Mar. 27            No Tues. Seminar: CUNY FORUM - *Meet at the Graduate Center, 6:45pm*

 

SPRING RECESS – March 30 –April 10

 

April 17         Immigration and political inclusion

                        Read: Sabagh & Bozorgmehr in Halle-3; Zhou & Kim in Halle-4, Halle,

Gedeon & Beveridge-5

*2nd Journal Submission* (4 entries due)

 

April 24            No Tues. Seminar: CUNY FORUM - *Meet at the Graduate Center, 6:45pm*    

 

May 1               TANF, Medicaid, and the impacts of welfare reform on NYC

                        Read :             Levitan in Halle-8

                                    Independent Budget Office, “While fewer in city receive welfare, many

more get SSI,” (Number 136). (avail: www.ibo.nyc.ny.us)

                                    Center for an Urban Future, “More Hard Times for New York’s Working

                                                Families,” March, 2006.

 

May 8               The politics of educating NYC

                        Read: Wrigley in Halle-7

                                    IBO, “Lawsuit Remains Unsettled, But School Spending Continues to

Rise. Number 139/Revised. 19 July, 2005

 

May 15             The Politics of Policing NYC

                        Read:  Katz in Halle-6

                                    IBO, “Alternative to Jail Programs” Inside the Budget, No. 148, July 11 ‘06

            *3rd Journal Submission* (4 entries due)

 

Final Exams - Oral Presentations:  4th period- Thurs., May 24, 12 – 2pm

7th period – Thurs., May 24, 5:30-7:30pm

                                                           

Resources for Studying New York City Politics and Government

Below is a selected list of books, articles and other resources that may help you understand your placement in the larger context of New York City politics.

 

Angotti, Thomas.  1999.  New York: Challenges facing neighborhoods in distress.  In Rebuilding

Urban Neighborhoods.  Eds. W.D. Keating and N. Krumholz.  Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Bailey, Robert.  1999.  Protected and unprotected minorities in the districting of New York’s City

Council, In Gay Politics,Urban Politics:  Identity and Economics in the Urban

Setting, Chapter 8.  NY: Columbia Press.

----------.  1998.  The city of Greater New York, 1898-1998: Balancing organizational capacity

and political legitimacy.  In New York Politics and Government, Ed. Sarah Liebschutz.

Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska Press.

Bellush, J. and Netzer, D.  1990.  Urban Politics New York Style.  Armonk, NY: Sharpe. - [Out of

Print but available at the downtown Barnes and Nobles, 5th Ave., at 18th Street.]

Berg, Bruce and Paul Kantor.  1996.  New York: The politics of conflict and avoidance.  In

Regional Politics: America in a Post City Age.  Eds. H.V. Savitch and Ronald Vogel,

pp. 25-50.  Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Bockmeyer, J.L. 2003. Devolution and the transformation of community housing activism. The

Social Science Journal 40:175-188.

Body-Gendrot, S.  2000.  The Social Control of Cities? A Comparative Perspective.  Oxford:

Blackwell.

Brecher, Charles, and Raymond D. Horton.  1993.  Power Failure: New York City Politics

and Policy since 1960.   New York: Oxford Univ.

----------.  1989.  Eds.  Setting Municipal Priorities, 1990.  New York: NYU.

Burrows, Edwin and Wallace, Mike.  1999.  Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898.

New York: Oxford Univ. Press.

City Limits.  New York’s Urban Affairs News Magazine. Any monthly issue.

Crahan, M. And Vourvoulias-Bush, A.  1997.  The City and the World: New York’s Global

Future.  New York: Council on Foreign Relations Press.

Doig, J.W. 2001. Empire on the Hudson: Entrepreneurial Vision and Political Power at

the Port of New York Authority. NY: Columbia Univ. Press.

Dreier, P., J. Mollenkopf & T. Swanstrom.  2001.  Place Matters: Metropolitics for the Twenty-

firstCentury.  Lawrence, KS: Univ. Press of Kansas.

Fainstein, Susan S., Ian Gordon and Michael Harloe.  1992.  Divided Cities.  London: Blackwell.

Foner, Nancy. Ed. 2001. New Immigrants in New York. New York: Columbia Univ. Press.

Fuchs, Ester R.  1992.  Mayors and Money: Fiscal Policy in New York and Chicago.  Chicago:

Univ. of Chicago.

Halle, David. Ed. 2003.  New York & Los Angeles: Politics, Society, and Culture – A

            Comparative View. Chicago: Chicago Univ. Press.

Hammack, David C.  1987.  Power and Society: Greater New York at the Turn of the Century.

New York: Columbia Univ.

Jackson, Kenneth T.  Ed.  1995.  The Encyclopedia of New York.  New Haven: Yale Univ.

Jones-Correa, Michael.  1998.  Between Two Nations: The Political Predicament of Latinos

in New York City.  Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press.

Kantor, Paul. 2002. Terrorism and governability in New York City: Old problem, new dilemma.

            Urban Affairs Review 38 (1): 120-127.

Kantor, Paul.  2002. The local polity as a pathway for public power: Taming the business tiger

During New York City’s industrial age. International Journal of Urban and Regional

Research 26 (1): 80-98.

Kivelson, Adrienne. 2005. 2001.  What Makes New York City Run?  NY: League of Women

Voters.

Kwong, Peter. 1987.  The New Chinatown.  New York: Hill and Wang.

Lin, Jan.  1998.  Reconstructing Chinatown: Ethnic Enclave, Global Change.  Minneapolis:

Univ. of Minnesota Press.

McCormick, Lynn. 2003. Coping with workfare: The experience of New York City’s community

            colleges.  Community College Journal of Research and Practice 27: 531-547.

McNickle, Chris.  1993.  To Be Mayor of New York: Ethnic Politics in the City.  New York:

Columbia Univ.

Mollenkopf, J. & K Emerson.  Eds.  2001.  Rethinking the Urban Agenda.  NY: Century

Foundation.

Mollenkopf, John H.  1992.  A Phoenix in the Ashes: The Rise and Fall of the Koch

Coalition in New York City Politics.  Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ.

Mollenkopf, John H. and Manuel Castells.  Eds.  1991.  Dual City: Restructuring

New York.  New York: Russell Sage

New York City Department of City Planning.  Community District Needs: Fiscal Year-----. 

City of New York.  Yearly publication.

Ness, Immanuel. 2005.  Immigrants, Unions, and the New U.S. Labor Market. Philadelphia:

Temple Univ. Press.

O’Cleireacain.  1996.  Tax Policy: The Intersection of the Economic Base and the Public

Budget.  The New York City Economy: Strategies for Growth.  Conference Report.

NY: NYC Comptroller Alan Hevesi and Robert Wagner School, NYU.  Dec.3.

Pecorella, Robert F.  1994.  Community Power in a Postreform City: Politics in New York City.

Armonk, NY: Sharpe.

Rogowsky, Edward T. and Ronald Berkman with Elizabeth Strom and Anthony Maniscalco.

1995.  New York City’s Outer Borough Development Strategy.  In Urban

Revitalization.   Eds. Fritz Wagner, Timothy Joder and Anthony Mumphrey.

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Rooney, Jim. 1995.  Organizing the South Bronx.  Albany, NY: SUNY.

Sanjek, Roger.  1998.  The Future of Us All: Race and Neighborhood Politics in New York

City.  Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press.

Savitch, H. with G. Ardashev.  2001.  Does terror have an urban future?  Urban Studies, 38

(13): 2515-33.

Savitch, H. & P. Kantor. 2002. Cities in the International Marketplace: The Political Economy of

Urban Development in North America and Western Europe. Princeton: Princeton Univ.

Press.

Sayre, Wallace & Herbert Kaufman.  1960.  Governing New York City: Politics in the Metropolis.

NY: Russell Sage Foundation.

Schill, Michael. Ed.  1999.  Housing and Community Development in New York City: Facing the

Future. Albany: SUNY Univ. Press.

Schwartz, Joel.  1993.  The New York Approach: Robert Moses, Urban Liberals, and

Redevelopment of the Inner City.  Columbus: Ohio State Univ.

Shefter, Martin.  Ed.  1993.  Capital of the American Century: The National and International

Influence of New York City.  New York: Russell Sage.

----------.  1985.  Political Crisis/Fiscal Crisis: The Collapse and Revival of New York City.

New York: Basic Books.

Sherrill, Kenneth. 1998. The dangers of non-partisan elections to democracy. Social Policy 28

(4): 15-22.

Weikart, Lynne A. 2001.  The Giuliani administration and the new public management in New

York City. Urban Affairs Review 36 (3): 359-381.

Yaro, Robert D. & Tony Hiss.  1996.  A Region at Risk: The Third Regional Plan for

the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut Metropolitan Area.  Wash.,D.C.: Island Press.

 

Other Resources:

For research on NYC or your city agency, visit the City Hall Library at 31 Chambers Street, Suite 112, NYC.gov/records or phone 788-8590.  Their hours are Monday through Friday, 10am-4pm. CITYSTORE is the City Publishing Center and carries a range of publications of the City of New York (as well as coffee mugs and T-shirts...).  This is the place to go for your most recent copy of the Green Book (now orange!), the official directory of the City of New York.  CITYSTORE is located at 1 Center Street, North Plaza or you can visit the NYC & COMPANY Visitors Information Center at 810 7th Avenue (corner of 53rd St). They are also online: NYC.gov/citystore.

Some helpful web sites are:

            NYC government: http://www.nyc.gov                       

            The Independent Budget Office: www.ibo.nyc.ny.us

            Center for an Urban Future: www.nycfuture.org.

            The Center for New York City Affairs: The official website of the Milano Graduate School

– New School, Center for New York City Affairs:

                        http://www.newschool.edu/milano/nycaffairs/

            City Limits magazine: www.citylimits.org

            The Regional Plan Association’s website is: www.rpa.org

For any questions on voting registration or for information on election districts and polling locations, call the NYC Board of Elections: (866) 868-3692 0r (866) VOTE-NYC or online: www.vote.nyc.ny.us.

            Finally, the New York City Public Research Library is one of the city’s greatest resources.  The main research collection is found at 5th Avenue and 42nd Street, call 930-0800 (www.nypl.org); the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is located at 515 Malcolm X Blvd. (491-2200); and the central site for urban resources is at the Science, Industry and Business Library at 188 Madison Ave. (Call 592-7080).