State and Local Government
Spring 2016
Final Exam
Welcome. Today, we gather to discuss the troubles that have
overtaken our communities here in the once-happy region of Los Felices. Since
the attempted power grab by the wayward urbanites in San Los one year ago, our
rural communities have been wary. Bitter.
Blinded by ambition, the young professionals of San Los
forgot that money is only one measure of a successful life. They brushed aside
their elders when they should have sought wisdom from their elders. They tried
to trick their neighboring communities into a regional plan that would have
benefited only the pockets of San Losians at the expense of everyone else in
Los Felices. They forgot that strong communities rise and fall together… that
no-one succeeds if the community as a whole is suffering.
When the real intent of the San Los scheme was uncovered,
our neighbors in Diversaville naturally felt betrayed. No temporary reduction
in port fees was worth ceding Diversaville’s access to the mouth of Overflow
Canal. The citizens of Diversaville grow our local food and maintain a small
but productive export industry… they deserve our appreciation and unimpeded
access to a port from which to sell their goods. And they deserve for their
desire for better eduational opportunities for their children to be taken
seriously. If Diversaville thrives, Los Felices as a whole will thrive.
Dellatons, too, felt betrayed when they learned that the
senior condos promised along the north shore open space area would be so costly
that our own seniors, the elders of San Los itself, would not be able to afford
them. That the senior condo development contract was promised to a real estate
development firm owned by the mayor’s husband, who stood to make millions from
the deal. The citizens of Dellatown stood to lose their beloved open space and
their access to the ocean so that rich politicians from the city could get
richer.
Even our most highly educated teachers and technical
professionals in our dear college town of Neverland were nearly fooled by the
San Losians into accepting short term investments of money in exchange for a
long term brain drain of talent.
Angered, our three rural communities joined together into an understandable,
but misguided alliance to rebel against these aggressions from the city.
But aggression can’t stop aggression. San Los had indeed
begun to earn its cynical nickname, San Lost. Some in our communities even
began to refer to our neighbors not as San Losians but as San Losers. But name-calling
and punishing San Los will not bring harmony back to Los Felices. As with our
good neighbors in Diversaville, our neighbors in San Los must thrive if Los
Felices is to thrive. We must find a way to work together.
When Dellaton, Diversaville and Neverland dammed the River
San, diverting its flow to Overflow Canal, they changed our local river
ecosystem. Fish attempting to swim upriver to spawn are blocked by the dam and
they don’t know how to find the new outlet at Overflow Canal. Seawater is
making its way farther and farther inland, damaging the riverbank. And now there’s
talk of a second dam to hold it back. Enough is enough.
Los Felices needs a Regional River District with equitable
representation for urban and rural populations so that our river management
practices support the flourishing of all our communities. This must include the
animals that live in and near the river, as well as the river ecosystem as a
whole. Removal of the dam, and restoration of the river’s natural flow is a top
priority.
Question 1
Why might a regional solution be appropriate for Los
Felices? What negative consequences might result? Can you think of a better
solution?
Question 2
The Los Felices Regional River District plan will move
forward expeditiously. Each town must pitch in for the cost of managing the
LFRRD. Something will have to be cut from the budget in order to make these
payments. Either that, or citizens will have to accept a tax increase. Which
will you do?
Question 3
In trying to wrest control of the region back to itself
after the San Dam went in, San Los City pushed through a blatantly
gerrymandered redistricting scheme. Why are the borders in this scheme unfair?
3b) Having been brought down by their own ambition, the
urbanites of San Los were, however, finally humbled and realized that they had caused
division within the region. That’s why they asked an elder to propose the peace
initiative being worked through today. As part of this initiative, they have
nullified their own gerrymandered redistricting scheme and offered to work with
all communities of Los Felices to draw up a fair and equitable new set of
districts that will actively prevent discord from developing again in the
future. How would you re-draw the boundaries to meet this goal? Explain your
drawing.
4) Now that the LFRRD is established to cooperatively manage
the river region, and the district lines have been re-drawn to actively prevent
future discord, each new district should choose the form of local government
that will be most effective for it going forward. Would you recommend a Strong
Mayor, Weak Mayor, City Manager or City Commission style of local government
for your newly-designed district? Why?
