Deck 12: Local Land Use and Environmental Politics

Question 1

Which of the following statements regarding land use politics is false?

A)Zoning affects and reflects the services that cities need to provide.
B)Different land uses are associated with different needs and produce different revenues.
C)Dozens of factors,many affected by land use politics,enter into the location decisions of people and businesses.
D)Cities are generally prohibited from competing with one another over land use.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Why might an unincorporated area want to become incorporated as its own city?

A)To maintain control of its taxation
B)To increase the chances of becoming annexed by another city
C)To limit its population growth
D)To abolish government oversight

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Which of the following is NOT a force that helped to create a booming market for single-family homes,altering the fate of cities?

A)The Great Depression
B)World War II
C)Home-building innovations
D)Highway systems

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Many newer cities,as well as some very old cities,have been formed primarily for

A)economic purposes.
B)population expansion.
C)land control.
D)increased governmental power.

Question 5

Which metro area experienced the greatest rate of growth between 2010 and 2012?

A)Houston,TX
B)The Villages,FL
C)Denver,CO
D)San Francisco,CA

Question 6

All of the following statements regarding the power of American cities are true EXCEPT

A)America's local environment is unique when compared with much of the developed world.
B)location decisions of residents and firms have tremendous consequences for the places they move to,as well as the places they leave.
C)American cities are granted far more control over land use and zoning powers than much of the developed world.
D)American cities are far less dependent on locally generated revenues than much of the developed world.

Question 7

Which of the following,created by the National Housing Act of 1934,was an instrumental program in the creation of the suburbs?

A)Housing and Service Loan Department
B)Federal Housing Administration
C)Federal Bank for Loans
D)Housing and Urban Development Administration

Question 8

Which of the following innovations involved a detailed contract with Los Angeles County that allowed municipal incorporation without the new city providing various public services?

A)Los Angeles Plan
B)Lakewood Plan
C)City-County Public Service Contract
D)California Municipality Plan

Question 9

After the single-family housing boom in the 1950s,how did existing and emerging cities change?

A)They both began limiting population growth.
B)They both began providing a full range of public services.
C)They both instituted the property tax.
D)They both stopped holding partisan elections.

Question 10

Which of the following is TRUE regarding newer cities and traditional cities?

A)Newer cities are very similar to traditional cities.
B)Many older,traditional cities do not provide a wide range of public services.
C)Progressive reformers advanced the idea that traditional cities should address issues that the free market failed to fix.
D)Newer cities have had great success granting monopolies to private firms.

Question 11

In the market model of city politics,businesses and residents are akin to in a marketplace.

A)consumers
B)employers
C)employees
D)manufacturers

Question 12

One way to think about the political environment of American local governments is to think of cities and counties as

A)monopolies in an uncompetitive marketplace.
B)businesses in a competitive marketplace.
C)tycoons in a high-profit industry.
D)consumers in a marketplace.

Question 13

What percentage of incorporated American cities are relatively small places with populations of less than 100,000?

A)24 percent
B)48 percent
C)70 percent
D)98 percent

Question 14

Which of the following is the most rapidly growing category of special districts since 1987?

A)Multiple service districts
B)Public health protection districts
C)Library districts
D)Housing districts

Question 15

Which of the following metro regions actually lost population between 2000 and 2010?

A)Houston
B)Detroit
C)Philadelphia
D)Chicago

Question 16

Which of the following provides a particular service for a specific geographic area?

A)Special district
B)Municipal service district
C)Specific-duty district
D)Exclusive district

Question 17

Which of the following involves decisions about where,and how much,building is permitted?

A)Zoning policy
B)Border control
C)Development policy
D)Mobilization politics

Question 18

Which of the following is one of the largest,and most fragmented,metropolitan areas in the United States?

A)Houston
B)Phoenix
C)Los Angeles
D)Atlanta

Question 19

As the opening vignette suggests,except for which of the following,communities can use local land use powers

A)to overcome federal environmental protections.
B)to spur on economic development.
C)to compete for businesses and residents.
D)to generate annual revenues.

Question 20

Vernon,California,is known for its

A)extensive residential zoning.
B)exclusive industrial zoning.
C)exclusive beachfront properties.
D)extensive local elections.

Question 21

Which of the following is NOT one of the legal powers that cities have to affect land use?

A)Eminent domain
B)Taxation
C)Zoning regulations
D)Population regulation

Question 22

When it comes to a city's authority to regulate public health,safety,and welfare,perhaps the most important tool a city has to affect land use is known as

A)eminent domain.
B)police powers.
C)beltway politics.
D)districting powers.

Question 23

Which of the following is NOT true regarding zoning policies employed by local governments?

A)The U.S.Supreme Court has ruled that the Fifth Amendment does not require a city to compensate the owner of land for the lowering of property values.
B)Generally,regulations must forward some "public use" and should not cause a particular owner to bear the burden of the regulation's cost.
C)Pro-development forces generally support regulations that local governments employ to control land use.
D)Developers,large land owners,building industry officials,and realtors often attend planning commissions to lobby city officials for particular zoning policies.

Question 24

Which of the following is NOT true regarding slow growth politics?

A)Slow growth politics emphasizes a person's orientation to a place based on the value a person receives from living in a city.
B)National surveys show that most suburban residents do not favor limits on local growth.
C)Slow growth advocates are sensitive to their quality of life and to the bonds they have with their friends and neighbors.
D)Exit is an extreme option for most people dissatisfied with trends in their community;instead,people join neighborhood associations to fight for their cause.

Question 25

Slow growth forces had their earliest influence in

A)elderly communities.
B)minority communities.
C)southern communities.
D)university communities.

Question 26

Which of the following is NOT true regarding zoning powers of local governments?

A)Zoning is promoted as a way to prevent incompatible land uses from being located in the same place.
B)Zoning allows a city to plan its development.
C)The U.S.Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that local governments can use zoning but that they do not have to compensate the land owner at fair market value.
D)Zoning is the most widely employed local land use control technique today.

Question 27

What can local governments do to help defray the cost of new buildings,industrial parks,and other facilities that might attract new businesses?

A)Offer legislative-approved loans.
B)Guarantee state aid.
C)Offer industrial development revenue bonds.
D)Guarantee local construction returns.

Question 28

Which of the following is NOT true regarding the "growth machine"?

A)Popular concern about the consequences of suburbanization and sprawl is greater now than in any previous decade.
B)In most cities,pro-growth forces have typically held the upper hand.
C)Pro-growth forces often use compelling,partisan political messages that enjoy widespread public support,particularly among liberal Democrats.
D)It exists largely to facilitate development,rather than provide services and amenities.

Question 29

What power grants state and local governments the ability to take property for public use while requiring that government pay compensation?

A)Municipalcation
B)Zoning
C)Preemption
D)Eminent Domain

Question 30

Regarding challenges to their exclusionary effects,local zoning ordinances are

A)consistently brought to court and found unconstitutional.
B)largely immune to charges based on intentional racial exclusion.
C)no longer posing problems for minority populations.
D)have been replaced with more fair land use regulations.

Question 31

Which of the following was perceived as a "bad investment" for banks,developers,and real estate agencies prior to 1968?

A)Higher-density,multi-family housing
B)Detached,single-family housing
C)Large,multi-district neighborhoods
D)Mixed-race communities

Question 32

Local governments may be limited in how much they can regulate businesses because of the

A)major investment cities have made to keep businesses in their borders.
B)amount of corruption found at local levels of government.
C)fear of exit that cities have if they lose businesses.
D)universal demand for big businesses by citizens.

Question 33

Local politics in most American cities revolves around

A)environmental politics.
B)the provision of private services.
C)corruption and election fraud.
D)land use issues.

Question 34

In California,political mobilization against local development was found to be higher in cities that had

A)no prior use of district elections.
B)a history of little to no local initiative use.
C)relatively poor populations disgruntled with public services.
D)higher proportions of white-collar residents.

Question 35

As suburbs became increasingly popular,which of the following groups became locked into older cities?

A)Asian Americans
B)Hispanics
C)African Americans
D)Whites

Question 36

Which of the following is NOT true regarding the success of growth controls?

A)Many critics argue they restrict the supply of housing in the face of strong demand,increasing the price of housing.
B)Many critics claim they are an environmental protection hustle that defends privileged homeowners.
C)Many economists point out that the cumulative effect of certain policies,such as low density zoning,increases the cost of homes.
D)Many economists point out that increased government spending helps to slow growth.

Question 37

In 2009,Westchester County,New York,one of the wealthiest counties in the country,was found by a federal judge to have

A)"utterly failed" to meet its fair housing obligations.
B)"massively overreached" its use of eminent domain.
C)"inexplicably misused" its police powers.
D)"astonishingly surrendered" its economic authority to the state of New York.

Question 38

Low-density zoning is

A)likely to squeeze out housing opportunities for the less affluent.
B)the most fair and racially unbiased zoning technique.
C)used to increase the population density of an area.
D)increasing minority populations in cities that use it.

Question 39

Local zoning originated in

A)Los Angeles.
B)Chicago.
C)Miami.
D)New York City.

Question 40

Which of the following terms is an indicator of sprawl?

A)Population Density
B)Demographic Splurge
C)Spillover
D)Concentrated Development

Question 41

Which of the following statements regarding efficiency gains from local competition is false?

A)The trade-off for efficiency gains is intermunicipal inequality.
B)One benchmark for efficiency is the size of local government,measured in terms of municipal spending per resident.
C)Cities with more surrounding suburbs and neighboring municipalities spend more per resident.
D)A substantial minority presence in a region corresponds with growing inequality,such as the adoption of exclusionary land use policies.

Question 42

What is eminent domain? Make sure to discuss the implications of the Supreme Court's 2005 ruling,Kelo v.City of New London,and the taking of private property by state or local governments.

Question 43

What is the "market model" of local politics,who are "consumers" in this model,and how does population growth
inform the model? Is it realistic?

Question 44

Which of the following is NOT true regarding the poor in major American cities?

A)A history of racial segregation,federal subsidies,and rigid zoning laws in newer suburbs leaves older communities with a greater share of the region's poor residents.
B)Metropolitan fragmentation means that many businesses and industries generating tax revenue are outside of the traditional city's reach,leaving the poor without a tax base to pay for public services.
C)Poor suburbs are more heavily in debt than more affluent suburbs.
D)Suburban cities where the less affluent do reside spend less per person even though they have less valuable property to tax.

Question 45

When metropolitan governments were first being created,there was an assumption that they would

A)reduce the amount of crimes committed in a large city.
B)result in more tax revenue per capita for the local governments involved.
C)eliminate the need for a sales or income tax.
D)be cheaper and more efficient to provide services from a large,centralized bureaucracy than from several competing jurisdictions.

Question 46

What are special districts? How do they differ from general purpose local governments? Finally,why is the Lakewood Plan important?

Question 47

How did suburban cities emerge? What role did FHA and VA loans play in the growth of suburbia? Discuss the types of discrimination that occurred in the building of suburbia.

Question 48

What have some regions done to reduce competition among cities for development and to create a fairer distribution of tax benefits?

A)Implemented regional tax base sharing
B)Merged two or more cities into one megacity
C)Annexed surrounding unincorporated regions
D)Provided incentives for the private sector to provide multi-city public services

Question 49

How should we define the "city," and how has the definition changed over time? Discuss the role of zoning policies
and police powers in your answer.

Question 50

The worst case scenario for the negative effects of competition for economic development between local governments is that it may

A)result in civil war.
B)create "beggar thy neighbor" policies.
C)completely alienate local businesses.
D)scar the reputations of local elected officials.