Myungjung Kwon

CLIMATE PROTECTION AND ENERGY SUSTAINABILITY POLICY IN CALIFORNIA CITIES: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?

ABSTRACT: Local governments have undertaken climate protection and energy sustainability policy actions to comply with state environmental protection legislation. However, noncollaboration and high up-front costs involved in sustainability programs hinder some cities from adopting climate protection and energy sustainability policy actions. This study examines climate protection and energy sustainability policy actions in 172 California cities and develops a framework from literatures in environmental protection policy, institutional analysis, policy innovation, policy entrepreneurship, and urban politics to construct hypotheses which are tested with data from a 2010 International City/County Management Association (ICMA) survey. Comparative descriptive analyses indicate that California cities are more advanced in the use of these policy actions than the rest of theUnited States. A set of Poisson regression and negative binomial regression analyses provides evidence that financial independence, education, homeownership, form of government, ICLEI membership, and the intergovernmental impacts of entrepreneurial state legislators influence the use of these policy actions at the local level. The influence of these factors differs across sustainability, environmental conservation, and energy use reduction policy actions.

A Theoretical Framework on the Determinants of Strategic Cities: Empirical Results From Florida City Governments

Strategic planning is a commonly used management technique, but most state and city studies on strategic planning are descriptive and have not developed a clear theory as to why cities use strategic planning. In this paper, we develop a framework for measuring cities’ use of strategic planning, that includes factors related to form of government, community wealth, and other community attributes as well as the more commonly examined factors related to internal city management capacity. Rather than using a dichotomous dependent variable of “use” or “not use,” we use an index of four strategic planning activities to represent the extent of strategic planning use. We test our multivariate model using ordered logit and data collected from a 2005 survey of Florida city managers, mayors and chief administrative officers. We find support for all four of the major theoretical factors in our model. More strategic cities are more likely to be council manager cities, heterogeneous in population, depend less on sales tax revenue, have risk-taking leadership, use more contracting out, and have staff who participate in professional networks.

Motivations Behind Using Performance Measurement: City-wide vs. Selective Users

Abstract This article identifies and describes the utilisation of performance measurement in Florida local governments. Two research questions are considered here: which factors influence Florida city governments to use performance measurement? And how do the factors associated with cities that are city-wide users differ from cities that are selective users? The paper develops a framework constructed from literatures in performance measurement and management innovation to develop hypotheses that are tested with 2005 Florida local government data. This study finds strong support for the role of community attributes, form of government and internal capacity as contributors to the use of performance measurement. The study also finds the factors that influence city-wide users are different from factors that influence selective users, especially with regard to revenue size and the reward/incentive system.

To Use or Not to Use Strategic Planning: Factors City Leaders Consider to Make This Choice

Over the past 30 years, local governments in the US have used a variety of administrative reforms to help clarify goals and improve performance to adjust to changing political and social environments, and demands for new services. Osborne and Gaebler’s (1993) Reinventing Government and the National Performance Review work argued that government should be run in a more strategic manner, be more attuned to customer needs, less bureaucratic, and more innovative. As a result, since the early 1990s, strategic planning and new public management (NPM) approaches, such as performance management and contracting out, have been widely used in local governments. City administrators were early users of strategic management processes such as strategic planning and performance management approaches (Vinzant and Vinzant, 1996). Strategic planning is still popularly used in local governments because it helps them respond to external forces that use their services and impact their agencies, and to reorganize their internal capacity in order to provide better public services to stakeholders.

Examining Sustainable Development Policy in California Cities: 2011 Energy Sustainable California Communities Survey

DOI 10.1515/cjpp-2012-0026 Calif. J. Politics Policy 2013; 5(4): 711–730 Myungjung Kwon* Examining Sustainable Development Policy in California Cities: 2011 Energy Sustainable California Communities Survey Abstract: In order to enhance both marketability and sustainability of the commu- nity, California cities seek a sustainable development policy which attempts to inte- grate sustainability programs into an economic development strategy. The author examines sustainable development policy in California cities and explores four research questions. First, to what extent are California cities interested in the adop- tion of sustainable development policy which integrates sustainability programs into their economic development strategy? Second, what policy efforts do Califor- nia cities currently undertake for a sustainable development policy? Third, what obstacles do California cities face in pursuing sustainable development policy? Fourth, what additional efforts do California cities need to undertake for a better and smarter sustainable development policy? This research develops a framework from literatures in economic development policy and sustainability policy for descriptive analyses using the 2011 Energy Sustainable California Communities Survey data. The findings from the descriptive and explanatory analyses indicate that considerable numbers of California cities are interested in sustainable devel- opment policy and engage in various efforts related to the policy, but lack of funds and political will discourage California cities from pursuing the policy effectively. Keywords: climate protection and energy sustainability policy actions; economic development strategies; green industries; sustainable development policy. *Corresponding author: Myungjung Kwon, California State University, Fullerton, Politics, Administration and Justice, 800 N. State College Blvd. Fullerton, CA 92834, USA, Tel.: +657-278-3809, e-mail: mkwon@fullerton.edu 1 Introduction Pollution and climate change are significant problems that demand governmen- tal action. State governments have adopted climate protection policy to tackle environmental policy issues. These policies often require local governments to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As a result, considerable numbers of

Examining strategic sustainability plans and smart-growth land-use measures in California cities

Given many potential obstacles, what types of strategic plans and measures for climate protection and/or energy sustainability are more likely than others to be adopted by cities? What are the key internal and external obstacles to adopting and implementing these plans and measures? Based on data obtained from a survey conducted from 2010 to 2011 and other sources, this paper develops a framework derived from political contracting theory and strategic orientation literature to examine how public management obstacles, socio-economic factors, and political factors influence a citys likelihood of having strategic energy sustainability plans and measures in place. Moreover, this paper finds that many California cities remain reluctant to require residents and businesses to comply with more challenging sustainability measures, such as smart-growth land-use practices, and that those cities with a strategic energy sustainability plan already in place tend to be more willing to adopt smart-growth land-use measures.

Citizen, Customer, Partner: Engaging the Public in Public Management

What is the contribution of this work to the field? In a word: “substantial,” but with much yet to be done. In learning more about emotional labor to write this review, what became clear is how it crosses many disciplines. The concept of emotional labor is credited to the work almost 30 years ago of Arlie Hochschild (a sociologist). Emotional labor research has since crossed from sociology to psychology, criminology, child and family studies, business, and organizational behavior—to name a few. Emotional labor has certainly been studied in law enforcement for some time. The authors have provided an extensive resource list and have written on this topic in the past. Emotional labor is practiced across service jobs and those studied include nursing and health care, American higher education, paralegals, magistrates, parenting, Indian call centers, clergy, beauty salon workers, even prostitutes and exotic dancers, and many more. An old adage in law enforcement is that under stress you will react the way you were trained— and there is a lot of truth to that point. Training does not stop at an academy, but continues on a regular basis, especially in high liability areas (driving, use of force, and self-defense—all potential emotional labor events). As the first responder learns his or her new role, they become more seasoned with time and experience on how to handle situations. Without knowing it, they are practicing emotional labor. This is why I believe this contribution is so significant. Only very recently have we begun to deal with first responders as themselves being victims in crisis events or subject to overexposure to stress in a prolonged crisis event (i.e., hurricanes). I believe the authors have clearly articulated the notion of emotional labor and have aptly applied it to public safety. This is significant, because police and fire rescue services comprise the most visible face of local government. In the book, theory and practice met. To follow through with our authors’ intent, the next logical step for emotional labor and public safety is to have theory inform the practice.