Archive
California's freight corridor is a prime example of the most important
kind of development projects our cities will see.
When the brother of Mirabel Douglas, the speaker of the West Dakota House of Representatives, died of the hepatitis C virus, members of the legislature discovered this stealthy disease.
As big cities become more congested and polluted, the concept of car
sharing has shifted into gear.
Bob Brooks is a public servant with perspective: Not only does he simultaneously hold positions in two different city governments but the jobs are located in two different states.
Once upon a time in this country, architects did everything they could to sound like romantic poets. Generations of history students have faithfully copied down Daniel Burnham's pompous but powerful admonition to "make no little plans--they have no magic to stir men's blood."
To call something an "uphill battle" is a favorite cliche among policy makers, but when Las Vegas officials inspected a new addition to their city hall this summer, the phrase took on a more literal meaning.
ISTEA and TEA-21 were designed to overhaul state highway habits and
refocus spending. Is that what's happening?
There are tremendous hurdles that must be overcome to make huge,
enterprise-wide IT outsourcings work out.
The feds can create a new security agency. But they can't make us
secure. That has to happen at the grassroots.
Something funny is happening to Atlanta's old school buildings. People are living in them. Already three public schools have been recycled into loft apartments, another is being developed and a fifth is up for sale and may join the trend.
Standardized testing has become an article of faith for elected
officials all over the country. Many teachers and parents aren't true
believers yet.
By stupidity or guile, public finance officials--like their corporate
peers--can go astray. Fast-buck opportunities are there.
Nothing stands still in the fast-moving and ever-changing field of technology. One of the latest adjustments comes in the makeup of the National Electronic Commerce Coordinating Council--known informally as NEC3.
If a company getting tax breaks doesn't deliver the goods, should the
state or locality involved demand its money back?
Every year, this magazine honors people who have accomplished impressive things in state or local government.
Corporations have an insatiable appetite for personal data about the
habits of consumers. Critics say they shouldn't compile it without
asking permission.
The feds have learned what to do with polluted industrial sites.
States and cities taught them.
You might think that L. Douglas Wilder's opinion about public problems in Virginia would not matter much anymore.
When it comes to expanding public transit to fight traffic congestion,
a potentially viable approach is bus rapid transit.
Dogfighting is a mostly inner-city, gang-related activity that generally gets little attention from law enforcement authorities.
Simon and Garfunkel used to sing about cars on the New Jersey Turnpike gone looking for America. The New Jersey Historical Society believes that America can be found on the Turnpike itself.
When Milwaukee County needed to hire an accounting firm to look over its books, it used to be able to count on multiple bids from a number of the large national accounting firms.
Texas' unemployment insurance fund is in danger of bankruptcy, necessitating a loan from the federal government so that the state can continue to pay benefits to unemployed Texas workers. It is one of a handful of states with troubled funds.
Advocates say cyber charter schools deserve the same funding as real
ones. Critics say they aren't schools at all.
San Bernardino has been crooked for years. It will take years to clean
it up.
People may not care how clean the average street is, but they sure
want to know how their street compares to others.
The name of the game for enterprise architecture is linking all the
technological systems a government uses.
The mixture of religion and social service worries a lot of people.
But is it really a problem?
OK, so Houston's Buffalo Bayou isn't exactly the Seine. In fact, among urban rivers, it's one of the ugliest, a big, muddy stream that floods regularly.
When windmills are sited near scenic spots, environmental groups say
that's too high a price to pay for green power.
"If all who are engaged in the profession of education were willing to state the facts instead of making greater promises than they can possibly fulfill, they would not be in such bad repute with the lay public."
There are school superintendents who burst on the scene with a dramatic reform agenda, yet prove unable to bring the major constituencies along with them--the unions, the statehouse, the parents.
States and localities probably spend more money enforcing incredibly
restrictive rules than they lose on waste and fraud.
Property insurance is costly to buy and tough to regulate in the
aftermath of 9-11.
High-occupancy toll lanes work best on high-traffic roads. Without
congestion, drivers have little incentive to pay the toll.
The odds of winning the South Carolina lottery are one in several million. The chances of being arrested in neighboring North Carolina for merely having a lottery ticket in hand are far better.
Faith Ireland isn't someone to mess with. When she isn't administering justice from the bench of the Washington State Supreme Court, Ireland is bench pressing 120 pounds, squat lifting 215 pounds and dead lifting 242 pounds.
All across the country, Civil War battles are regularly brought to life by history buffs reenacting the roles of Union and Confederate soldiers.
In the battle for the title of largest-ever municipal bond issue, New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority is triumphant--for now.
Starting this year, Florida is making it possible for corporations to give donations to private scholarship-granting foundations in return for a dollar-for-dollar credit on their tax bills.
Two legal battles over investments came to an end recently. In one, California's San Bernardino County and brokerage firm Salomon Smith Barney reached a settlement over improperly invested funds and allegations of fraud and bribes.
Forty years ago, American society looked into the transportation future and found it thrilling. The first U.S. astronaut had orbited the earth. Preparations for a moon landing were underway.
While competition and turnover have just about disappeared at the state legislative level, they remain a fact of life for governors.
Florida looks very close for president again this year. Perhaps not as close as in 2000, the year of the hanging chads and butterfly ballots, but competitive enough that President Bush and John Kerry will each have campaigned there numerous times before the contest ends.
Inventories of artwork in public schools reveal surprisingly valuable
collections.
The animal-rescue cliche may be a firefighter clambering up a ladder to retrieve a cat stuck in a tree or on a rooftop. But in reality, firefighters more often find themselves rescuing felines and other pets from burning buildings.
Billy the Kid, the notorious Old West outlaw, was buried in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, about 150 miles southeast of Santa Fe. That is, unless he was buried in the middle of Texas. Or, possibly, northern Arizona.
Even minor mistakes can be deadly when an agency applies for a grant.
Advances in technology can fix the paperwork pitfalls.
Diagnosis: Changes in mental health care over the past four decades have failed to live up to their promise, creating a fragmented and disorganized system that is scarcely more effective than the one it replaced.
Diagnosis: Public health programs entered the century short of supporters and cash. The new emphasis on fighting bioterrorism is starving traditional functions even more.
Diagnosis: Nearly 44 million Americans lack health insurance. It's a serious and chronic problem for those who can't afford care and for both the private sector and the states, which are left picking up the tab.
Diagnosis: Long-term care threatens to bankrupt Medicaid and the states that pay for it. The best hope for a cure lies in cutting down on the need for institutional care.
Diagnosis: A little over a decade ago, Medicaid spent $5 billion a year on outpatient drugs. The tab is now an overwhelming $30 billion a year, with help from the new Medicare reform law an iffy proposition at best.
Diagnosis: Dramatic recent improvements in health care for poor children in America are being threatened by a new wave of cost-cutting in the states.
The tobacco industry remains a potent lobbying force, partly by
letting other groups advocate on its behalf.
Budget makers need to know where IT success stories are and the
difference investment in technology is now making.
Reducing the length of sentences for nonviolent offenders is one way
states are cutting prison budgets.
As experiments with deregulation sputter, a new generation of
municipally owned electric utilities is emerging.
The Bush administration's performance-measurement plans may mean a new challenge to state and local control.
George Zoffinger has never had much trouble telling people what he thinks. "Sometimes," says a friend and colleague, "we cringe."
The idea of treating citizens like customers is a managerial touchstone in municipal governance. The city of Evanston, Illinois, is taking that idea literally, expecting its citizen-customers to pay their bills.
By declining to hear an Iowa appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court has opened the way for state and local employees to sue for overtime pay. The action could have a devastating fiscal impact on Iowa, but it won't necessarily affect other states.
By 2050, Wichita's water supply is expected to fall short of demand. But this Kansas city is working on a solution: aquifer storage and recovery, also known as artificial groundwater recharge.
Four years ago, San Francisco International Airport tore down its Hilton Hotel so it could build another. But that plan has been shelved, along with several other major projects, in the aftermath of September 11.
The Alameda County Board of Supervisors recently doled out $8,720 in an effort to reduce bickering among its members.
At a time when Jesse Ventura's approval ratings have sunk below 50 percent for the first time since he was elected governor of Minnesota, and a thinly disguised novel about him by humorist Garrison Keillor languishes on remainder tables in bookstores, it's hard to say what the public's response will be to a Broadway musical called "The Body Ventura."
They're not as notorious or dangerous as, say, the "Texas Seven," but Atlanta's transit system recently dubbed a group of local lawbreakers the "Famous Five," and it has taken the unusual step of permanently banning them from the city's subways and buses.
Several state and local investment funds took a beating in the Enron
debacle. It could have been much worse.
A new, provocative report finds places where the economy is growing
strong even though the population isn't.
Even before September 11, the Zenith City Airport Authority was in trouble. Everyone knew it--sort of. The mayor and city council knew it. So did the governor and the legislature.
How's this for a juicy scandal: A state legislature sets up publicly funded caucuses to assist its majority and minority parties with legislative research and strategy.
States and localities now have to account for the real value of
everything from city halls to drainage systems.
We've gotten people off the rolls. But we aren't paying most of them
enough to live on.
Anyone who watched the Super Bowl in February is sure to remember the bombardment of mysterious commercials for the "mLife."
As historic preservationists move from saving old buildings to
fighting sprawl, they touch off new kinds of controversy.
Thirty transportation issues--and the means to finance them--were on
November ballots. Only half of them passed.
A growing number of school districts allow poor children to transfer
out of failing public schools. But the most desirable schools rarely
let them in.
States have done better on a whole lot of fronts in recent years.
Corporate regulation isn't one of them.
Private contractors who provide government services and depend largely on the government for their revenues are subject to state audit and must open their records under the state's Public Records Act.
The state giveth, and now it may taketh away. Missouri started a procurement card program in 1998 to reduce the administrative expenses of low-cost purchases. But a recent state audit showed that procurement cards may be leaving the state unnecessarily liable.
If Chicago residents are not familiar with the city's new bike lanes, they'll soon get a friendly reminder. The city plans to crack down on those who park in bike lanes, issuing warnings and $100 tickets for violators.
Airports rarely get along with their neighbors, but in Phoenix it's not just the usual jet noise that's causing tension. It's dust and pro football.
Is there true cost savings in consolidation? Ken and Bill debate the merits and demerits of such proposals and actions.
As New Jersey’s governor finishes a wild first year, a number of new Republican governors say they want to govern in his mold. But Chris Christie’s philosophy of budget cuts without revenue increases has been easier said than done.
Dan Gerlach is a smart guy. That's what everybody says about the recently appointed senior policy adviser to North Carolina Governor Mike Easley. Gerlach is especially sharp when it comes to taxes.
If the economy turns around, states and cities can get away with
finessing budget problems--but not if hard times linger.
While transit advocates suggest there's been a massive shift in travel behavior, those claims appear to be exaggerated.
It's complex, costly and confusing. Most states are still trying to figure out what the law that standardizes electronic health data is all about.
When the city of Louisville and Jefferson County, Kentucky, merge next January, their population of 546,000 will comprise the nation's 22nd-largest city, ranking just ahead of Seattle.
Heavy, wool plaid is what most people think of first when they hear the words "school uniform." But at Newport Elementary School in Newport Beach, California, the uniform is a tad less traditional:
West Virginia Delegate Emily Yeager describes herself as "100 percent a Democrat." That doesn't make her unique in the legislature, where Democrats hold a 3-to-1 margin in the state House.
Fort Lauderdale's efforts to project an upscale image now extend to its lifeguard stands. The city has installed eight new stands that come with spacious interiors, aluminum siding, bulletproof glass and ramps--at a cost of $28,000 each.
A California court's ruling this April could cost Orange County $285 million in property tax refunds.
A Web site launched in January is a big breakthrough for both investors in and issuers of municipal bonds. The site offers the closest thing yet to a real-time "ticker tape" on bond prices.
With health care expenses running out of control, several states are
taming at least a piece of their fastest-growing cost.
It isn't the teenagers who are the main obstacle to safer licensing
laws; it's their parents.
The Supreme Court's Olmstead decision has states picking up the pace
on home and community-based care--or else.
When states invest in IT, potent forces operating just below the
surface of the technology itself usually fuel the decision.
Worried about a repeat of California's rolling blackouts, the feds
have pushed the states to create new super-grids.
An election year is a notoriously awkward time to push contentious legislation. Why irritate powerful special interests--let alone some portion of the electorate--when your colleagues want everything to be as calm as possible?
Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn is cracking down on deadbeat agencies, setting a mid-February deadline for city agencies to pay their overdue bills.
In the aftermath of 9-11, states are taking definitive steps to
tighten up how and to whom driver's licenses are issued.
Sound Transit, a regional transportation agency in the Seattle area, is planning to break ground on a $2.1 billion light-rail project by mid-year.
With the launch of its "511" telephone hotline, Utah now offers commuters and tourists the latest tool for navigating traffic and transit systems.
A small New Jersey-based company has tapped into humankind's primal instinct to fight parking tickets. For a fee, parkingticket.com's software will scan databases in New York City, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., hunting for technicalities or other reasons why a ticket could be challenged in those cities.
Faced with a cash-flow problem, most people would not think of going to the shopping mall. But officials at the University of South Florida in Tampa had just the opposite reaction.
The debate over naming rights at sports stadiums is growing strangely philosophical in Pittsburgh as regulators struggle to decide whether labeling venues with the names of corporate sponsors constitutes "advertising."
Attorneys in Illinois probably behave no worse than lawyers anywhere else. The state Supreme Court, though, thinks that they still could afford to learn some manners.
With economic uncertainties undermining forecasts of future revenue,
local budget makers are reluctant to be optimistic.
While a new project will rise on the site of ground zero, the Twin
Towers' legacy survives throughout metropolitan New York.
"Damn it!" interjected Lynn Rice, the director of your Evansville office. "If you aren't going to let me manage my people, how can you even think about holding me accountable? Why even have me there at all?"
When people think about Montana, "consensus" isn't the first idea that pops into their heads. "Conflict" would be more like it. The history of Big Sky Country is filled with epic confrontations between farmers and ranchers, miners and copper companies, environmentalists and property owners.
After the presidential election fiasco, major voting reform looked
like a sure thing in 2001. Maybe this year.
Somewhere out there, as all government techies know, lurk bad guys itching to inflict mayhem on government computer systems.
There's nothing we need more right now than teamwork among state,
local and federal government. It doesn't come naturally.
When he owned a shoe repair and Western-wear shop in Hamilton, Montana, Alan Thompson believed there was always a right way to do things. "It was necessary if you worked for me," he says, "that you worked correctly."
Increasingly, states are pushing public university researchers to
become entrepreneurs as well. It's a delicate business.
Republicans and Democrats are more closely matched in state politics
than they have been in a long time. They may stay that way for quite a
while.
Budget crunchers in Ohio must feel like they can't win. They've spent the past several years looking for billions of dollars in funding for school construction to meet mandates set by the state Supreme Court.
Even for those governments that have mechanisms to hasten the firing
process, it can still be laborious to get rid of deadwood.
The biggest factor influencing transportation policy is the need to
accommodate a 23 percent gain in U.S. population by 2020.
We are all for innovation, but finding new and creative ways to kick the can down the road is not what we had in mind.
A citizen in Charleston, West Virginia, is raising a racket over the designation of a singles-only municipal tennis court.
Prairie dogs in Lubbock, Texas, won a death row pardon this fall when state and local authorities backed off a plan to slaughter some 50,000 of the furry rodents by igniting propane in their burrows.
The award didn't come with a dinner, money or even a handshake. And it wasn't exactly what you'd describe as an honor. Yet winning the national "Pickled Skunk Brain" award did bring Monroe County, Indiana, its 15 minutes of...well, recognition.
Iowa's immigrant-friendly policies aren't wildly popular among its
residents. But the state has little choice. It needs people.
Much-derided modernist architecture is now viewed as having historical
value.
Whether baby boys remember the pain of circumcision later in life has long been the subject of debate among medical researchers. But whatever the case, lawmakers in North Carolina won't soon forget their agony over the question of whether to end Medicaid coverage for the procedure.
With two dozen new governors taking office in 2003, the exodus of
experienced CIOs will create a precarious situation in the states.
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman's affinity for Beefeater gin martinis is well known on the local scene. Soon, he may become even more famous for that fondness.
Massachusetts and New Mexico made news three years ago when they issued bonds for construction projects and promised to repay the loans with federal highway grants they had coming their way. Now, Chicago has come to market with a variation on the grant-anticipation theme.
While Congress and the EPA fight political wars, states are making the
crucial environmental decisions.
Last May, Wisconsin's college-savings program, EdVest, held $9 million in cash that parents had invested for their children's higher education. By November, EdVest had $120 million in hand.
This is every public official's nightmare: The San Francisco Chronicle has started running daily photos and brief articles about government foul-ups. The first was a picture of graffiti defacing a city park's murals.
Tax and spending changes in recent years call into question the wisdom
of prohibiting states from running deficits.
Wichita is providing a discount air carrier with a $5 million subsidy
in an effort to bring cheaper air service to its airport.
The importance of governors lies not in their being electoral power
brokers or potential presidential candidates but in making policy.
When it comes to governing in the United States, "there is more that unites us than divides us," declared Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, as he welcomed more than 350 high-level local and state officials to Governing's annual management conference, held in Baltimore October 10-12.
Oregon has long had a reputation as a health-conscious place, so you probably won't be surprised to learn that people there don't smoke quite as much as people in the rest of the country.
While speeding along California highways, what you don't see might catch you. At least, that has been the hope of the California Highway Patrol, which for the past two years has deployed a fleet of sleek and stealthy Chevrolet Camaros.
Could it be that e-gov was never on track to transform the performance
of state and local governments?
The U.S. Congress usually keeps its hands off state taxation, but it
may meddle a lot in the near future.
