2 page essay book review
Mary1234
5.NeoliberalCityWinter2020.zip5.NeoliberalCityWinter2020.pptx
Governing the Neoliberal City
1
Unequal Cities
Ruling Los Angeles: A History of Power
Growth Machine: Class Power in the American City
From Keynesian to Neoliberal Urban Governance
Caging Grassroots Activism in Neoliberal Growth Machine
Governing the Poor
Think Pair Share:
Which groups dominate city politics and government?
Why?
1. Ruling Los Angeles
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Economic Context:
Core Members and Objectives:
The Ruling Class: Part I (1880s-1950s)
Harry Chandler
Speculation Strategy:
Form Land Syndicates
Co-Invest in HUGE Chunks of Land
Subdivide Land into Tracts
Provide Infrastructure to these Lands:
Stimulate Demand: Boosterism
Bolstering Downtown Properties:
Norman Chandler
The Ruling Class: Part I (1880s-1950s)
The Role of Government:
Infrastructure to Support Growth
Repression of Dissenters (Unions, Socialists, Communists)
The Ruling Class: Part I (1880s-1950s)
Dispersing Investors from the Center
Retail:
Industry:
Hollywood:
The Ruling Class: Part I (1880s-1950s)
Dispersing Investors from the Center
Retail:
Industry:
Hollywood:
The Ruling Class: Part I (1880s-1950s)
Downtown Growth Machine:
Core Members and Objectives:
Relations:
Political Power:
Major Projects: Reinforcing Downtown Centrality
Massive Revelopment:
The Ruling Class Divided: Part II (1950s – 1970s)
Urban Renewal: Making ‘Good’ Business Environments and Pushing Minorities and Poor into Ghettos / Barrios
Urban Renewal in Los Angeles: Community Redevelopment Agency
The “Chicano Removal Agency” : Bunker Hill and Chavez Ravine
Bunker Hill 1950
Bunker Hill 1990
Chavez Ravine, Before
Chavez Ravine, During
Chavez Ravine, After
The Ruling Class Divided: Part II (1950s – 1970s)
The Changing Bases of Economic Power:
Defense and Aeronautics:
Savings and Loans:
The Ruling Class Divided: Part II (1950s – 1970s)
West Los Angeles Growth Machine:
Power Base:
Relations:
Objectives:
Political Power:
“Unruh-Ahmanson Political Machine”
The Ruling Class Divided: Part II (1950s – 1970s)
Responding to Urban Crisis: Making Amends through Tom Bradley
Downtown Elite – Facing the Threat of Extinction
Tom Bradley: Peace Maker of Growth Machines?
The Ruling Class Divided: Part III (1950s – 1970s)
Mayor Tom Bradley and Otis Chandler
2. How do we explain for the power of economic elites?
Growth Machine
Defining the Upper Class (Generally):
Structural Position (owners, managers)
Relations and Culture
Political Power:
Growth Machine: Class Power in the City
Koch Brothers and Vice President Pence
Dependency on Economic Elites
“Increasingly I found myself spending time with people of means –law firm partners and investment bankers, hedge fund managers and venture capitalists. As a rule they were smart, interesting people, knowledgeable about public policy, liberal with their politics, expecting nothing more than the hearing of their opinions in exchange for their checks. But they reflected, almost uniformly, the perspectives of their class: the top 1% or so of the income scale that can afford to write a $2000 check to a political candidate.”
Convergence of World Views
“I know that as a consequence of my fundraising I became more like wealthy donors I’ve met, in the very particular sense that I spent more and more of my time above the fray, outside the world of immediate hunger, disappointment, fear, irrationality, and frequent hardships of the 99% of the population–that is, the people I would I had entered public life to serve. In one fashion or another, I suspect this is true for every senator: The longer you are a senator, the narrower the scope of your interactions.”
Growth Machine
Economic Interests: Buy cheap land, redevelop it, resell at profit
Land Developers as Collective Actors
Value of Land is Relational
Requires Cooperation among Competitors
Multiplicity of Coalitions: Depending on Scale, Projects, Size
Is there an URBAN Ruling Class?
Growth Machine: Class Power in the City
2. Relations among Urban Upper Class
Growth Machine: Class Power in the City
3. Exercising Political Power: The Growth Machine
Structural Interdependencies:
Why do Land Entrepreneurs Depend on Local Politicians?
Why do Politicians Depend on Land Entrepreneurs?
Social Ties that Bind:
Strong Ties
Common Norms
The Value of Strong Ties
The Auxiliary Players (selective incentives):
Organized labor
Media
Utilities
Universities
Museums:
Sport Franchises
Growth Machine: Class Power in the City
Legitimation Functions
Discourse
Create Identity: “Go Team!”
Justification: “Growth is Good for all”
Organizations and Institutions
Employ Discourse
Disseminate Discourse
Naturalize Discourse
The Special Role of Intellectuals
3. Exercising Political Power: The Growth Machine
Growth Machine: Class Power in the City
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Government
Developers / Investors
Money
Authority
Relations
Systemic Interdependencies
Growth is Good
Growth is Good
Growth is Good
Aux. Unions
Aux. Sports
Aux. Media
Aux. Museum
Aux. University
Aux. Planners
Growth is Good
Legitimation Functions
Growth is Good
Growth Machine
Growth Machine: Class Power in the City
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Hard Supports:
Infrastructure
Tax credits
Subsidies and loans
Soft Supports:
Boosterism:
Nice Cultural and Sports Attraction
Ideological support
Create “Investor Friendly” Environments:
Growth Machine: Class Power in the City
NY Times, Nov. 13, 2018
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Liberal Growth Machine:
Philosophy: Regulation and Social Programs Re-distribute Growth Benefits
Community Benefits Agreements
Living Wage
Rent Control
Conservative Growth Model:
Philosophy: Government Intervention Repels Investors
Cut zoning regulations
Keep wages down
No rent control
Mayor Gil Garcetti
Growth Machine: Class Power in the City
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3. From Keynesian to Neoliberal Urban Governance
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Keynesian Capitalism (1930s to 1970s):
Goal: Balance Growth between Rich and Poor Regions
Rationale: Spur Consumer Demand, Contain Overheating Rich Regions, Reduce Inequalities
Policy: Redistributing Wealth and Industry throughout the Country
From Keynesianism to Neoliberalism
Keynesianism: Regional Equality = National Prosperity
Territorial Management during Keynesianism
Urban Managerialism
Feds Design Housing Policies
Cities Manage and Implement
Re-Distributive Spatial Policies
Effects: Balanced Growth
From Keynesianism to Neoliberalism
The Death of Keynesianism: The Three Suspects
Economic Rupture: Serious Problems
Ideological Rupture: Neoliberal Economics
Political Rupture: Translating Neoliberal Ideas into Public Policy
From Keynesianism to Neoliberalism
“The choice facing the nation is between two totally different ways of life. And what a prize we have to fight for: no less than the chance to banish from our land the dark, divisive clouds of Marxist socialism and bring together men and women from all walks of life who share a belief in freedom.” (Margaret Thatcher, Speech, 1983)
Milton Friedman
Ronald Reagan (US) and Margaret Thatcher (UK
Neoliberal Capitalism (now):
Goal: Creating Growth Poles out of Rich Global Cities
Rationale: Rich Cities Drive National Growth (i.e. regional trickle down)
Policy: More Infrastructure to Winning Regions, Encourage Competition
From Keynesianism to Neoliberalism
Neoliberalism: Rolling Back Keynesian Support to Cities
From Keynesianism to Neoliberalism
| Programs | 1981 | 1993 | Percentage Cut |
| Community Development Block Grant | $6.3 billion | $4 billion | -36.5% |
| Urban Development Action Grant | .6 | 0 | -100% |
| General Revenue Sharing | 8 | 0 | -100% |
| Mass Transit (rail, buses) | 6.9 | 3.5 | -49.3% |
| Assisted Housing | 26.8 | 8.9 | -66.8% |
| Clean Water Construction | 6.0 | 2.6 | -56.7% |
| State Prison Expenditure | 6.8 | 22 | +228% |
(Eisinger 1997)
Effects on Localities:
Decline in Federal Money for Services (in a context of fast de-industrialization):
Increased Dependence on Local Taxes:
More Focus on Economic Development:
From Keynesianism to Neoliberalism
Disciplined by Inter-Urban Competition
Intensify Growth as a Source of Economic Life
The Pillars of Economic Development
Branding strategies: Industry, Consumption, Command and Control Specialization
Tourism
Creative Class and Gentrification
Economic Development Incentives
From Keynesianism to Neoliberalism
34
Prioritizing Businesses over the Poor:
Distribution of Risks and Reward
Public assumes risks
Private captures most rewards
From Keynesianism to Neoliberalism
35
Competition as a Disciplining Force:
Constraints on City Officials
End of Keynesianism (declining taxes and federal subsidies)
Globalization and Capital Mobility
Inter-Urban Competition as Disciplining Force
From Keynesianism to Neoliberalism
“Even the most resolute and avant garde municipal socialists will find themselves, in the end, playing the capitalist game and performing as agents of discipline for the very processes they are trying to resist” (David. Harvey 1989: 5).
From Keynesianism to Neoliberalism
Enticing Investors: Amazon HQ2 Competition
1. Los Angeles, 2. New York City, 3. Crystal City, Virginia
Group Exercise: Your team has been tasked with developing a project to attract Amazon to invest in your city.
Why engage in this competition?
What are the attributes that would make your city a good investment for the headquarters of Amazon?
What types of support would your city provide to Amazon?
Who are the likely winners and losers with investment?
4. Caging Grassroots Activism in Neoliberal Growth Machine
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Partnering Up with the Grassroots
Decentralization and Privatization
The Role of Community Partners: Community Development Corporations
Methods of Management:
Clientelism: City Councils Hold the Purse Strings:
Technocratic Dominance and Professionalization
Caging Grassroots Activism in Growth Machine
40
Professionalized Nonprofit Organizations
Best Resourced, Most Connected Residents Participate
Legitimating Language
Caging Grassroots Activism in Growth Machine
41
Competition according to New Rules Compels Organizational Conformity
Homogenization of the Local Grassroots
Caging Grassroots Activism in Growth Machine
42
Government
Developers / Investors
Money
Authority
Relations
Systemic Interdependencies
Growth is Good
Growth is Good
Growth is Good
Aux. Unions
Community Organization
Aux. Media
Growth is Good
Legitimation Functions
Growth is Good
Caging Grassroots Activism in Growth Machine
Community Organization
Community Organization
Growth is Good
43
5. Governing the Poor through Increased Repression
Jailing the City
45
Jailing the City
46
Jailing the City
Police Brutality
47
Jailing the City
Police Brutality
48
Governing Homelessness
Policing the Poor in the Gentrifying City: Skid Row Los Angeles
Past Strategy (1960s – 2000): Containment
Internal Policing: Toleration
External Regulation: Cordoning off the Poor
Governing Homelessness
Homelessness as an Impediment of Gentrification
Governing Homelessness
Homelessness as an Impediment of Gentrification
Internal Regulation: ”Safe Cities” Initiative - Criminalizing the Homeless
"Some of these people do need help, but the majority of these people do not need help. They just need the push to get out. (LAPD Officer Mike Fernandez, LA Times, 9/9/2007).
“Church groups that deliver food directly to people on the streets are enabling them. Why would they get up and go if someone is out here feeding them every day? It's almost like a child. If you set some type of guidelines and restrictions, he'll be a positive person in society. If you allow him to do whatever he wants, he will" (Los Angeles City Developer, LA Times 11/18/2008).
Governing Homelessness
Growth Machine: Class Power in the American City
Ruling Los Angeles, a brief history
From Keynesian to Neoliberal Urban Governance
Caging Grassroots Activism in Neoliberal Growth Machine
Governing the Poor
