Jack W. Meek

Business Improvement Districts in Southern California: Implications for Local Governance

Abstract: This article provides an assessment of the nature and functioning of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in the metropolitan area of the Southern California region. While modern BIDs date back to the mid-1960s, the emergence of BIDs is a relatively new phenomenon. The increasing numbers of BID in metropolitan areas have governance and jurisdictional implications. These implications are the central concern of this article. The governance and jurisdictional issues are examined with four research questions: Why and how were BIDs established? How do BIDs function? How are BIDs held accountable? Are BIDs effective? This article relies on case study research of five BIDs located in various areas of Southern California. Interviews were conducted with BID managers and local government representatives. Contextual information was gathered from state laws, official documents, and websites.

The scholarly practitioner Connections of research and practice in the classroom

This article outlines how Master of Public Administration (MPA) and Doctor of Public Administration (DPA) programs from one university in the United States approach the integration of theory, research, and practice. The article reviews the historic missions of US public administration programs that focus on the development of public service professionals and specialized practitioners. Next, we share how the MPA program integrates theory and research with practice in the development of civic professionals. Examples from the MPA program are shown in a taxonomy with illustrative examples. This article also contrasts the MPA with the DPA program that follows a scholarly practitioner model. Rather than exclusively following a traditional theory-to-practice model, practice-to-theory and more experiential research projects are critical to the development of graduate public administration students working in complex environments. More student-centric and student-initiated approaches provide more opportunities for student engagement and also are aligned with emerging pedagogical models.

Sub-Regional Transportation Initiatives: Implications For Governance

Abstract This paper examines the role of selected institutional forms and formal initiatives (councils of governments and joint power authorities) as integrative functions among local governments of the metropolitan region. These sub-regional networks provide integrative functions and enjoy greater success in implementing regional projects than their regional counterparts. This paper draws lessons from different examples of initiatives in the Greater Los Angeles area. These associations may signal a shift to a governance paradigm where policy creation and implementation is less a product of top-down intentional design, as it is individual vision, initiative, and leadership at the local levels.

Iterative Learning: Programmatic Lessons from a Course Embedded Approach to Program Mission Assessment

Abstract In this paper, we refer to iterative learning as a developmental approach toward assessment—a course-embedded program mission assessment—used by University of La Verne Master of Public Administration (MPA) program faculty. Iterative learning draws upon an understanding that informed assessment is a developmental process that evolves through deliberation, refinement, and discussion. The paper places this approach within the ongoing efforts in a field that is developing program assessment and competencies. We present lessons learned from our multiyear effort, including challenges and future directions.

The Role of the University as a Mediating Institution in Neighborhood Council-City Agency Collaboration

Abstract In a representative democracy, citizens depend on their public representatives and administrators to act on their behalf. However, city agencies often fail to respond to the needs of the people, who feel alienated from city hall because of the gap between expectations and reality, and this gap leads to a lack of trust between citizen groups and city administrators. Citizen participation in governance, especially in the form of neighborhood councils, is suggested as one solution to overcome this declining trust, because neighborhood councils can be an effective vehicle to collaborate with city agencies.

Making a difference: Good governance in disrupted states

ABSTRACT Public and community service operates within a demanding array of challenges. Many of these challenges are disruptive forces that originate from well beyond jurisdictional boundaries yet call upon local, state and national institutions to respond. In response to the disruptive forces, we witness the initiation and creation of new kinds of public service designs and partnerships. This article outlines the diversity of member institutions the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) and the role each play in enhancing public service in their communities. The article assesses how NASPAA - as a global institution - plays a role in advancing public service education globally by engaging members to establish common standards of educational practices and setting expectations for program outcomes. The article outlines current and future program practices that need to be encouraged in order to address disruptive forces and maintain program strengths in public service education that make a difference in our communities.

Cultivating resiliency through system shock: the Southern California metropolitan water management system as a complex adaptive system

ABSTRACT This study analyses the water management system in Southern California through the lens of complexity theory as it responds to system stressors and shock caused by severe and sustained draught. The study is grounded on the thesis that self-organization in the complex space of the water governance system creates the capacity to absorb spatial shock, and through this absorption process the space experiences resiliency. This paper identifies the attributes of spatial complexity of the Southern California metropolitan water management system, and analyses a spatial shock case that ignited stakeholder action that nurtured, promoted and furthered resiliency within the system.

Searching for Virtue in the City: Bell and Her Sisters

The hope for virtue in the city is to be found not just in the individual propensity to be virtuous but, more so, in the development of political and organizational rules and procedures, in virtuous leadership, and in the development of a virtuous public culture. This claim is made as a way to view what has come to be known as the Bell scandal—a scandal that fits squarely in the tradition of the municipal reform movement. The article places the scandals in Bell and its neighboring cities in this context and grounds its claims in a framework of municipal reform ethics.

Informed Governance: Complexity and the Commons

We wish to express our appreciation to all who contributed in the production of this volume, including all those who served as Reviewers whose careful and insightful re- views enhanced and improved the articles presented at the symposium and in this volume. We also want to express our appreciation to Dean Abe Helou, College of Business and Public Management, University of La Verne, for his continuing support for continuous dialogue and research regarding the potential of complexity theory and approaches for improving governance.