Suchergebnisse

This paper attempts to explain the extent to which leaders perceive their neighborhood organizations as effective in providing programs and services to their neighborhood constituents. Contributing factors that influence perceptions of effectiveness are measured through observed variations in organizational resources and complexity, leader behavior, constituent relations, and the differences in beliefs between board members and staff and volunteers. Theories of organizational behavior are used as an alternative perspective from which to study neighborhood organizations. Data for the study come from a survey of leadership affiliated with 40 neighborhood organizations in the City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

How diversified are small town revenues? Revenue diversification is analyzed among towns governed by town meetings. Using previously developed diversification measures, the findings confirm that these localities draw from less diverse revenue streams than other state and local governments. The reasons for these variations include differences in home rule status as well as tax and expenditure limitations imposed by states. The authors suggest that revenue allocation in these jurisdictions is substantively different from other forms of local government because these communities rely much less on sales taxation than states and municipalities. Their essay proposes possible options for improvement, along with other criteria by which small towns can assess their revenue diversification.

AbstractNeighborhood organizations have become more important players in urban areas in recent years due to a renewed interest in social capital and an emphasis on the continuing development of community. With this elevated status comes more responsibility for the delivery of services to citizens and scrutiny by these very citizens, the press, and government officials. Much of what we know about neighborhood organizations comes from our observations of board deliberations. Through these deliberations board members make decisions that affect neighborhood constituents. In this study we examine the context in which neighborhood boards in the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, make decisions. Using theory borrowed from the literature on local government boards, we develop a series of testable hypotheses relating to the level of conflict on these boards. Our findings indicate that conflict is relatively low across boards in Milwaukee; however, the number of board member and certain behavioral variables explain a significant amount of the variance in the level of conflict.

Discusses conflict among political actors serving on elected boards or councils, focusing on town governance; based on survey of public officials conducted in Winter 2002-03.