James M. Vanderleeuw

Political Empowerment, Mobilization, and Black Voter Roll-Off

Borrowing findings from the literature on voter turnout, the authors examine the causes of roll-off in city council contests among black voters in New Orleans, a black empowerment area, between 1965 and 1998. The findings suggest the relevance of institutional power on group political participation. Roll-off among black voters declined after blacks held the majority of city council seats. Moreover, the findings indicate the relevance of election competitiveness. Black voter roll-off was lower in runoff elections than in primaries. Finally, the findings suggest that mobilization by black candidates, particularly by black incumbents, may yield enhanced political participation among black voters in urban elections.

Applying Black Threat Theory, Urban Regime Theory, and Deracialization: The Memphis Mayoral Elections of 1991, 1995, and 1999

ABSTRACT: Until 1991 Memphis was the only major US city with a majority-black population that had not elected a black mayor. Various explanations, including in-fighting and competition among black city leaders and citizen aversion to candidates who attempt cross-racial appeals, have been offered to explain the lack of an elected black mayor of Memphis prior to 1991. We first investigate how Herenton overcame these electoral obstacles to become Memphis’ first elected black mayor in 1991, and then won reelection in two consecutive reelection attempts. We then apply Herenton’s campaign strategy and the vote in these elections to several popular theories of voting and election strategy in urban elections—black-threat theory, urban regime theory, and deracialization. Our findings point to the new trend of biracial coalitions in the urban setting and suggest the importance of reconsidering the traditional theories of racial politics, such as the black threat thesis.

Racial Transition and White‐Voter Support for Black Candidates in Urban Elections

Traditional black threat theory predicts an inverse relationship between the size of a jurisdiction’s black population and white crossover voting. Recently, a modified black threat theory suggests that it may be more reasonable to expect a curvilinear U-shaped relationship between black density and white crossover voting, due to changes in both racial composition and white group status. Using Gary King’s Ecological Inference (EI) procedure to estimate white crossover voting at the election unit level through precinct-level data, this study examines the relationship between black density and white crossover voting across 29 biracial elections in New Orleans between 1977 and 1998. Results of our analysis support neither a negative, nor a U-shaped relationship. Rather, the shape of the relationship is an upward half-U. We explain this nonlinear relationship by suggesting that as blacks become a majority, white voters begin to cast votes for black candidates in a strategic manner.

What Do Key Votes Measure

Congressional Quarterlys key votes are examined on two of the organizations stated criteria: legislative controversy and presidential power. Key votes reveal greater internal conflict but less controversy than do all roll-call votes in Congress. At least for Republican presidents, key votes are a very parsimonious (i.e., consistent) measure of congressional support for presidents. We conclude that key votes are a better measure of presidential power than they are of controversy in Congress.

Economic Development Priorities and Central-City and Suburb Differences:

Results of prior research indicate that central cities are likely to adopt progrowth policies, whereas suburbs have become increasingly “antigrowth.” This research further examines the city and suburb differences in economic development priorities at the city-administrator level. By utilizing survey data that targeted administrators of cities with a population of at least 5,000 in the state of Texas, this study tests four hypotheses that are derived from previous theories. Results show that there is a high level of consensus among city and suburb administrators regarding the importance of economic development and job creation. However, central-city administrators accord a greater level of importance to job creation and to a regional economy than do administrators in suburbs. Furthermore, the administrators’ perceptions of policy priorities are also conditioned by the structure of their local government.

The Role of Economic Development Corporations in Local Economic Development

Since their establishment, city-level economic development corporations in Texas have grown in popularity as an ostensible means of providing for economic development. However, one knows little about the association between these economic development entities and the economic vitality of the areas they serve. Using a 2005-2006 survey of city leaders in Texas, along with Census data for 304 Texas cities, the authors investigate the association between the use of economic development corporations and the level of local unemployment. Results of the analysis indicate that economic development corporations have a reliable association with lower levels of unemployment; however, the activities of these entities matter. Lower levels of community employment are associated with activities that focus on industrial development. In contrast, the authors find no reliable relationship between the level of city unemployment and economic development corporations that engage in quality of life activities.

Women City Leaders and Postmaterialist Values: Gender Differences in Economic Development Priorities

We investigate gender-associated differences in the attitudes of city leaders regarding local economic development priorities. In so doing, we test the thesis that the economic development priorities of women city leaders will reflect postmaterialist values; in other words, women city leaders will place more of an emphasis on quality-of-life issues than do men. We employ results of a survey of more than 150 city leaders in Texas. Our findings offer support for our postmaterialist thesis and indicate that while women differ little from men in terms of traditional economic development considerations, such as the importance of job creation and revenue generation, women more than men also consider the influence of economic development efforts on a communitys environment and aesthetics.

The Influence of Racial Transition on Incumbency Advantage in Local Elections

The author assesses the impact of incumbency on racial voting patterns and, more important, the extent to which the changing racial composition of a citys electorate conditions the relationship between voting behavior and incumbency. To address these concerns, the author examines voting behavior across a series of mayoral and city council elections held in New Orleans between 1965 and 1986, the period during which that city underwent racial transition from majority white to majority black.

The 2006 New Orleans Mayoral Election: The Political Ramifications of a Large-Scale Natural Disaster

On Monday, August 29, 2005, the Gulf Coast of the United States was hit by the sixth most destructive Atlantic hurricane on record, Hurricane Katrina. Katrina formed in the Bahamas on August 23 and entered the Gulf of Mexico two days later, on the twenty-fifth (Knabb 2005 ). Twelve hours after entering the gulf, Katrina grew from a Category 3 to a Category 5 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with winds up to 160 miles per hour. Katrina made landfall on the twenty-ninth as a powerful Category 3 storm with winds up to 145 miles per hour. However, once Katrina made landfall she maintained a storm surge equivalent to a Category 5 storm. For the city of New Orleans, the greatest threat without question was to be from the storm surge. Lake Pontchartrain—which normally sits at one foot above sea level—was elevated to eight and a half feet above sea level. On Tuesday, August 30, the citys levees broke in three places—along the Industrial Canal, the 17 th Street Canal, and the London Street Canal (Mihelich 2005 ). As a result, 80% of the city was flooded, in some places with water as high as 20 feet above sea level (Knabb 2005 ).

City web sites: Do they promote economic development, or branding, or anything at all?

The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which cities in the United States use their web site to promote strategic goals, in particular the goal of economic development. With growing use of and reliance upon web-based information in modern society, it becomes increasingly important to understand how local communities use their web site. Do cities in the United States use the Internet to promote their city as a beneficial place to conduct business, as urban economy literature suggests that they might? If not, what kinds of information do cities convey via their web sites? Are web sites used for purposes of city branding at all? To address these questions, this study uses results of a content analysis of 345 city web sites. The cities are home-rule cities in the state of Texas. Relying on literature on web page usage, we examine a web sites homepage image and title, the links provided on the homepage, and the destination of these links. The studys findings suggest that while some city web pages reflect a strategic goal, for the most part cities are not using their web site to promote any strategic goal, economic or otherwise. We argue that even if uncertain of results, city leaders should consider at least modest changes to their web site to better promote and brand their city.