Copyright (c) 2013 All rights reserved. http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason Recent documents in Susan G. Mason en-us Wed, 16 Jan 2013 15:55:25 PST 3600 http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/15 http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/15 Wed, 18 Jul 2012 08:04:37 PDT Roughly a century ago, American cities were the fulcrum of development of professional public personnel administration. Although the federal government had enacted the Pendleton Act in 1883, the principal components of the merit system -- job testing, selection rules, classification, and pay -- were forged in municipal research bureaus in many large cities (Finegold, 1995). These bureaus provided the intellectual organization for Progressive reformers, who battled political machines and machine politics in countless locales. The reforms they devised dominated the principal personnel functions in most cities for well over six decades. During the past thirty-five years, cities have found it necessary to modernize their personnel systems and to augment the functions of HRM. Civil rights laws and the impetus to create a representative workforce as well as the government reinvention movement and the growth of information systems technology have all stimulated a reexamination of and recreation of basic practices. This chapter will examine the history and the present state of traditional personnel functions, as well as new functions caused by workforce diversity, technology, and the rise of e-government. Since there are so many local governments that can range in size from a few thousand to 8 million, certain elements will pertain to all while some will not be as widely shared.

]]> Susan G. Mason et al. http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/14 http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/14 Wed, 25 Apr 2012 09:40:51 PDT The paper presents a novel approach to the conceptual development of bikeshare systems to create healthy cities and economic development using GIS and optimization modeling. Additionally, we test the applicability of Reilly's law of retail gravitation to bikeshare programs and their potential impact on economic development. The Central District Health Department of Boise, Idaho, is in the conceptual phase of creating a bikeshare system for Boise and considering funding and location needs. In a collaborative effort between Boise State University and the Central District Health Department, we developed a GIS driven approach to allocate and rank stations. The paper demonstrates methodologies and policy recommendations for a bikeshare system. Bikes, as a healthy alternative to automobiles or to incomplete public transit options, provide the opportunity to travel within a city, or region, in a fast and flexible pattern for reasonable trip distances. Bikes present an ideal platform to facilitate short commutes, recreational rides, and even trips for small errands. The post‐modern divide with work and home in potentially significant distances from one another often means the bike (if any is owned) usually stays in suburbia while its owner commutes to work in the city. This forces the owner to use the car for short‐distance trips within the city. Bikeshare systems go beyond the regular relationship of one owner, one bike, and just one location. With stations allocated in a network across the city, they offer bicycling interested customers an opportunity to "check out" a bike at one station and ride it to a station close to the preferred destination. Most systems offer a 30 minutes check‐out without charge and contribute, with a proper distribution of stations and amount of bikes available, to zero‐emission traffic and to an active healthy city. This raises the question of what is the proper spatial distribution and amount of stations/bikes to create a functional system. The paper builds on a review of existing systems in the US and the way demand/supply was modeled. We apply a GIS feasibility analysis as the first level in this allocation/location problem. This contains an evaluation of the built environment and creation of a composite measure to identify preferred areas. Second, a GIS based optimization model evaluates this measure and creates automatically a network of proposed locations. The model considers the amount and size of possible stations due to funding opportunities and creates scenarios for later policy discussion. We conclude with findings for Boise, ID, but also set emphasis on the model's transferability to other cities considering a bikeshare‐system.

]]> Thomas Wuerzer et al. http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/13 http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/13 Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:23:37 PST Project-based learning geared toward a client provides the instructor with an applied method for classroom teaching. This article provides detailed information on how to incorporate project-based assignments into public administration courses. Student evaluations indicate that students perceive their learning to be more effective when it is project-based and client- or real-world oriented. This article looks at the integration of project-based assignments to coursework even when there is no identified "real" client.

]]> Susan G. Mason http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/12 http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/12 Mon, 02 May 2011 11:04:47 PDT This article provides empirical evidence that the factors of context and social climate are the most influential for achieving green building. Using both chi-squared analysis and factor analysis findings indicate that providing the context and social climate which can reduce transaction costs influence green building. Specifically, through policies and guidelines, having the local expertise and support to make the outcomes occur are all important factors. Additionally, central cities were much more likely to engage in green building than suburban or non-metropolitan areas. This finding has implications for matters of collective action.

]]> Susan Mason et al. http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/11 http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/11 Mon, 29 Nov 2010 07:31:10 PST Municipal governments often struggle with growth and infrastructure while trying to emphasize collaboration between citizens and administrators in developing and implementing public programming. Neotraditional or New Urban design advocates assert neighborhood design as a response to concerns that rapid community growth, sprawl, and the resulting social and political changes lead to deteriorating quality of life and democratic participation in communities. Advocates argue neighborhood design elements that increase pedestrian traffic and encourage social interaction may mitigate the effects of income disparity and citizen apathy. Results from this study – using geographic information systems technology along with demographic data, land use information, and neighborhood viscosity indicators – indicate traditional design elements do not necessarily associate with factors assumed to foster neighborhood viscosity such as more civic engagement.

]]> Susan G. Mason et al. http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/10 http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/10 Mon, 13 Sep 2010 16:21:05 PDT Mazmanian and Sabatier advocate the importance of legislation for successful policy implementation. Scholars such as Perkmann have identified structural factors that affect regional cooperation. Under Workforce Investment Act, legislative and structural factors in obtaining regional cooperation across traditional state and local government boundaries are analyzed in nine U.S. Midwestern metropolitan regions. Results from this study suggest there are policy design and structural factors such as the focus of actors; same year implementation of the act; and the amount of hierarchical integration of administrative entities that can be enhanced to increase the likelihood that regional cooperation will occur under WIA.

]]> Susan G. Mason http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/9 http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/9 Thu, 09 Sep 2010 13:15:37 PDT This article provides empirical evidence that factors derived from the collective action theories resonated with employment and training policy implementers as the most influential for achieving regional cooperation for community development. Findings indicate that having specific reasons and the opportunity to benefit from collaborating does more to advance cooperation than competing for scarce resources. Permitting Workforce Investment Boards self-governing authority and providing an opportunity for mutual gains are promising means for gaining substantive cooperation both within and across workforce investment areas in U.S. employment and training policy.

]]> Susan G. Mason http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/7 http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/7 Wed, 25 Aug 2010 08:41:43 PDT Finding ways to increase trust may be one mechanism to overcome the alleged negative consequences of urban sprawl for neighborhoods. This study explores two relationships with community design and trust. First, is one benefit of some of the underlying concepts of New Urbanism design that they build trust? Second, can these design concepts overcome one undesirable feature of cities: the deleterious effect of income inequality on trust? This study uses survey data collected from 34 city of Boise neighborhoods and 2000 US census data aggregated to the neighborhood level to examine the effects of street design, sidewalks and open space on building trust and moderating the effect of income inequality on trust. The study finds that cul-de-sac designed streets, sidewalks and parks or open space increase trust. There is no evidence that design features actually moderate the effects of income inequality on trust. The findings suggest that local governments can influence the quality of life for residents in their communities through neighborhood design even if municipalities cannot use design to moderate the effects of income equality on trust.

]]> Susan Mason http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/8 http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/8 Wed, 25 Aug 2010 08:41:43 PDT Susan G. Mason http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/6 http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/6 Wed, 25 Aug 2010 08:41:42 PDT Susan G. Mason http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/5 http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/5 Thu, 01 Jul 2010 09:02:00 PDT Susan G. Mason et al. http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/4 http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/4 Thu, 01 Jul 2010 08:48:23 PDT Leslie R. Alm et al. http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/2 http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/2 Thu, 24 Jun 2010 12:01:07 PDT Tax increment financing (TIF) has been a popular and controversial economic development tool for several decades. This research considers the determinants of competitive dynamics, equity, and path dependency on TIF use. We use logistic and ordinary least squares regressions on the approval, number, and value of TIFs in Missouri to flesh out the way the determinants contribute to TIF approval, value, and frequency of use. This study finds that there are competitive dynamics that affect TIF use: being adjacent to another city that uses TIFs increases the likelihood that a city will approve a TIF. The study finds evidence that TIF adoption patterns contribute to intermunicipal inequality, and provides some support for the importance of path dependency on TIF use.

]]> Susan Mason et al. http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/1 http://works.bepress.com/susan_mason/1 Thu, 24 Jun 2010 12:01:06 PDT College roommate conflict deters student success, particularly for freshmen. The typical causes of roommate conflict are investigated and a new roommate behavior contract exercise is discussed as one method of reducing roommate conflict.

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