Local Distress, State Surpluses, Proposition 13


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American Babylon


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A gripping portrait of black power politics and the struggle for civil rights in postwar Oakland As the birthplace of the Black Panthers and a nationwide tax revolt, California embodied a crucial motif of the postwar United States: the rise of suburbs and the decline of cities, a process in which black and white histories inextricably joined. American Babylon tells this story through Oakland and its nearby suburbs, tracing both the history of civil rights and black power politics as well as the history of suburbanization and home-owner politics. Robert Self shows that racial inequities in both New Deal and Great Society liberalism precipitated local struggles over land, jobs, taxes, and race within postwar metropolitan development. Black power and the tax revolt evolved together, in tension. American Babylon demonstrates that the history of civil rights and black liberation politics in California did not follow a southern model, but represented a long-term struggle for economic rights that began during the World War II years and continued through the rise of the Black Panthers in the late 1960s. This struggle yielded a wide-ranging and profound critique of postwar metropolitan development and its foundation of class and racial segregation. Self traces the roots of the 1978 tax revolt to the 1940s, when home owners, real estate brokers, and the federal government used racial segregation and industrial property taxes to forge a middle-class lifestyle centered on property ownership. Using the East Bay as a starting point, Robert Self gives us a richly detailed, engaging narrative that uniquely integrates the most important racial liberation struggles and class politics of postwar America.




Flame and Fortune in the American West


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Flame and Fortune in the American West creatively and meticulously investigates the ongoing politics, folly, and avarice shaping the production of increasingly widespread yet dangerous suburban and exurban landscapes. The 1991 Oakland Hills Tunnel Fire is used as a starting point to better understand these complex social-environmental processes. The Tunnel Fire is the most destructive fire—in terms of structures lost—in California history. More than 3,000 residential structures burned and 25 lives were lost. Although this fire occurred in Oakland and Berkeley, others like it sear through landscapes in California and the American West that have experienced urban growth and development within areas historically prone to fire. Simon skillfully blends techniques from environmental history, political ecology, and science studies to closely examine the Tunnel Fire within a broader historical and spatial context of regional economic development and natural-resource management, such as the widespread planting of eucalyptus trees as an exotic lure for homeowners and the creation of hillside neighborhoods for tax revenue—decisions that produced communities with increased vulnerability to fire. Simon demonstrates how in Oakland a drive for affluence led to a state of vulnerability for rich and poor alike that has only been exacerbated by the rebuilding of neighborhoods after the fire. Despite these troubling trends, Flame and Fortune in the American West illustrates how many popular and scientific debates on fire limit the scope and efficacy of policy responses. These risky yet profitable developments (what the author refers to as the Incendiary), as well as proposed strategies for challenging them, are discussed in the context of urbanizing areas around the American West and hold global applicability within hazard-prone areas.




Proposition 13 – America’s Second Great Tax Revolt


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California’s controversial property tax law, Proposition 13, is considered one of the most significant tax revolts in American history. Libraries, facing decreased funding, were pushed to reset priorities, rethink operations, and learn a new activism. Their struggle left many lessons from which the library community can learn.







Managing America's Cities


Book Description

This work describes the operations of a typical municipal government and examines the many productivity trends that are occurring in city halls across America. Much of the focus is on the increasing need for planning in city government to ensure that productivity goals are met. It thoroughly examines the roles of the council, manager, and clerk in promoting increased productivity. It then looks at such municipal departments as legal, finance, fire, human services, library, police and public works, demonstrating proven techniques and structures in each that improve service. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.







Tax Crusaders and the Politics of Direct Democracy


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Daniel A. Smith exposes the truth about the American tax revolt. Contrary to conventional wisdom, recent ballot initiatives to limit state taxes have not been the result of a groundswell of public outrage; rather, they have been carefully orchestrated from the top down by professional tax crusaders: political entrepreneurs with their own mission. These faux populist initiatives--in contrast to genuine grassroots movements--involve minimal citizen participation. Instead, the tax crusaders hire public relations firms and use special interest groups to do the legwork and influence public opinion. Although they successfully tap into the pervasive anti-tax public mood by using populist rhetoric, these organizations serve corporate interests rather than groups of concerned neighbors. The author shows that direct democracy can, ironically, lead to diminished public involvement in government. Smith looks at the key players, following the trail of money and power in three important initiatives: Proposition 13 in California (1978), Proposition 2 1/2 in Massachusetts (1980), and Amendment 1 in Colorado (1992). He provides a thorough history of tax limitation movements in America, showing how direct democracy can be manipulated to subvert the democratic process and frustrate the public good.




State and Local Tax Revolt


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The California State Constitution


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Part One. The history of the California Constitution -- Part Two. The California Constitution and commentary -- Article I. Declaration of rights -- Article II. Voting, initiative, referendum, and recall -- Article III. State of California -- Article IV. Legislative -- Article V. Executive -- Article VI. Judicial -- Article VII. Public officers and employees -- Article VIII. [Repealed] -- Article IX. Education -- Article X. Water -- Article XA. Water resources development -- Article XB. Marine resources protection act of 1990 -- Article XI. Local government -- Article XII. Public utilities -- Article XIII. Taxation -- Article XIIIA. [Tax limitation] -- Article XIIIB. Government spending limitation -- Article XIIIC. [Voter approval for local tax levies] -- Article XIIID. [Assessment and property-related fee reform] -- Article XIV. Labor relations -- Article XV. Usury -- Article XVI. Public finance -- Article XVII. [Repealed] -- Article XVIII. Amending and revising the Constitution -- Article XIX. Motor vehicle revenues -- Article XIXA. Loans from the public transportation account or local transportation funds -- Article XIXB. Motor vehicle fuel sales tax revenues and transportation improvement funding -- Article XIXC. [Enforcement of certain provisions] -- Article XX. Miscellaneous sujects -- Article XXI. Redistricting of Senate, Assembly, Congressional, and board of equalization districts -- Article XXII. [Architectural and engineering services] -- [Articles XXIII throught XXVIII have either been repealed or renumbered; there are no Articles XXIX-XXXIII.] -- Article XXXIV. Public housing project law -- Article XXXV. Medical research