Community-Based Research Commons^™

Democratic Institutions Create Civic Health: How Local Jurisdictions Can Enhance Their Problem-Solving Capacities Through Inclusive Governance, Including A Case Study Of Newark, Delaware, Ezra Temko

SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Civic health is a community’s economic, civic, and social infrastructure – its capacity to solve its problems. This paper explores how contemporary local governments address the opportunities and challenges facing their communities and how local governments could utilize civic engagement to enhance civic health. It also evaluates the status of Newark, Delaware’s civic health and offers pragmatic steps Newark’s government can take to enhance the community’s civic health. Democratic governance is the 21st century engine for communities like Newark, Delaware to enhance their civic health. Collaborative and inclusive governance can improve a community’s abilities to solve problems. The Newark community …

Providence's Unending Quest For Cash, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The mayor of Providence has a big problem. How can he balance a budget that addresses the needs of an increasingly large number of people, yet deal with a declining tax base that is less able to pay for theses extra services?"

Pawtucket Puts Planning On Tv, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"When the Rhode Island Comprehensive Planning and Land Use Regulation Act was passed by the General Assembly in 1988, the state became one of a handful of states that sought to bring order out of the chaos of development. The results of that legislation are slowly starting to emerge.

The original law stipulated that by the end of 1990, each city and town would file with the state a comprehensive plan which addressed nine elements. Subject to state approval to ensure compatibility with state goals and policies, the plans will allow communities to better deal with problems related to growth."

Census Numbers May Mean Money To Cities, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"It looks like we're nearly there. The results of America's most costly census have been announced and many cities and states are not happy with them. A possible adjustment of figures will likely do little to placate them."

Minorities, Cities To Bear Brunt Of Federal Cutbacks, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The sad story of the 4,500 Rhode Island families whose welfare benefits will be reduced or ended with this current 1982 fiscal year should make us profoundly aware of the plight of the poor. In the next few months government-mandated action will bring the federal budget closer to balance. Not yet noticed but soon to be realized, will be the impact on minority poor, and on the place where most of them live--the city."

Providence Home Rule, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The opposition bumper stickers have already appeared. In bright fluorescent colors to catch the unsuspecting eye, the message is loud and clear--'Reject Home Rule Charter.' Why should there be this opposition, and who are the people against this progressive move toward better local government?"

The Energy-Saving Cities, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"Can Rhode Island automobile drivers survive on one and one-half gallons of gasoline a day? This is the target set by the federal government for the next quarter in its attempt to make us less dependant on foreign sources of petroleum."

Waste, Abuse Assure Changes In Section 8 Housing, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The series of articles and subsequent editorials on the Section 8 program that appeared in these papers have drawn several angry responses to the editor from residents of this government-assisted housing. Typical is the following: 'When something worthwhile is being done for the handicapped and elderly in Rhode Island, why do you do your best to kill it?...If the Section 8 program is hurt in any way because of your articles, you can sit back and laugh while 1,700 future applicants for housing are crying.'"

Right Mix For Successful Downtown Renewal, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"It is sometimes called a 'big, small town.' It has all the trappings of a large urban center: from outdoor concerts at the Civic Center to a Go-Go lounge; parking problems and traffic congestion, to a Worthinton Street where bars and prostitutes prevail; and vacant old buildings , to new, high-rise office blocks. Sheer numbers alone in this city bring visible evidence of the activities and characteristics common to the downtowns of most large American cities."

Housing Rehabilitation Working In Hoboken, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"One may not believe the argument but George Kohn, executive vice president of Applied Housing Associates, makes an interesting point. His business is housing, and he raises the question of where one should live--Manhattan or Hoboken. Why live on Manhattan's West Side, he asks, and pay $1,000 a month to wake each morning and view the flat, industrial ad boring New Jersey landscape across the Hudson? Why not live in Hoboken, at a $250 monthly rental, and view the fantastic, and only one like it in the world, Manhattan skyline to the east? Thirty cents and a 12-minute PATH subway …

The Case For Residency Requirements, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The issue has been raised previously. It came up again most recently with the applicants for jobs with the Providence Fire Department. The question is, 'Should city employees be required to live in the city which employs them?'"

Cleaning Up The Litter, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The last time the Environmental Protection Agency checked the numbers, it determined that eight million tons of America's annual municipal solid waste load was in the form of bottle and can beverage containers. Much of this was picked up from highways before it eventually reached municipal landfills."

Despite The Heartaches, Urban Renewal Deserves High Marks, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The term "urban renewal" draws a mixed reaction. For some, it has meant relocated families, destroyed neighborhoods and heartache, even years after the fact. For others it has meant new construction, new jobs, increased taxes, reconstructed neighborhoods and visible signs of process."

Mayoral Candidates And Downtown, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The next mayor of the city of Providence will have some hard decisions to make on the future of this city. There will be economic opportunities and constraints, social problems, political decisions and a host of questions to be raised and subsquently answered over the next four years which will shape the direction in which Rhode Island's capital city will move--and it is starting to move.