Question 1:
Progressive reformers campaigned for the operation of local government in a businesslike manner. The interests of the upper class in the society motivated this. The approach would see the local governments run using economic strategies heavily reliant on scientific methods. This would help increase efficiency in service delivery.
The strong mayor and council-manager forms of city government are structured in a manner similar to corporate entities. The head organ of the strong mayor government is the executive branch where the mayor is chief executive officer of the government. The strong mayor is apolitical appointee. On the other hand, the council manager is a professional manager tasked with the administrative responsibilities in the council management just like a chief executive officer.
Question 2:
The civil rights movement contributed to the enhanced political participation of minority groups by advocating for minority representation and inclusion in decision-making process. This helped increasing the standard of living of the minority groups since they would get a fair share of the government resources. However, the equitable distribution of resources has been inhibited by ant minority sentiments in local government policymaking process.
Question 3:
The reason why white democrats in Chicago were against the election of Harold Washington as the mayor was that he represented the pride as well as the success of the black people. This was viewed as intimidating to the whites. Their fear was that he would destroy the Chicago patronage system. Others feared that he could go against the law because he had not filed his tax returns in the past.
Question 4:
Cities had to turn to user fees and charges in order for them to meet all the regulatory obligations of the city. The government should only play a controlling role to the revenues collected from these charges. The fund should not be used for development purposes but for the operation of the agencies regulating different functions of the city.
