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GCI Working Paper Series - 2007
Does
Form of Fiscal Governance Matter:
Fiscal Practices and Outcomes in Chicago
Suburbs
Rebecca Hendrick
Associate Professor of Public Administration
College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs
University of Illinois at Chicago
January 2007
GCP-07-01
This paper explores the extent to which government performance varies
between traditional council-mayor structures and reformed council-manager
structures. Little research exists on the linkage between type of government
and financial management practices outside of budgeting or performance
measurement. The research presented here uses both qualitative and quantitative
data on suburbs in the Chicago metropolitan region and a relatively
unique, three-stage research design to address these analytical problems
and provide more detailed inferences about the linkages between fiscal
governance, financial management practices, and financial conditions
in these local governments. The findings demonstrate interesting and
complex relationships between fiscal governance (and form of government),
financial management practices, financial conditions, and other factors
important to these conditions.
Optimal
Leverage in Real Estate Investment with Mezzanine Lending
John F. McDonald
Professor Emeritus, Economics and Director, Center for Urban Real Estate
University of Illinois at Chicago
January 2007
GCP-07-02
The paper presents a theoretical analysis of the optimal leverage for
the purpose of investing in real estate under the condition that borrowing
in excess of a standard amount such as 70 to 80 percent of the purchase
price must be accomplished through a mezzanine loan with a high rate
of interest. The conditions under which a mezzanine loan is used are
derived. It is shown that a larger mezzanine loan is used the greater
is the required expected after-tax rate of return to equity. Investors
who choose greater risk require a higher expected after-tax return to
equity and therefore borrow more and purchase more real estate with
a given equity investment.
Preparing
Adolescents to Read-To-Learn in the 21st Century
Louis M. Gomez
Professor of School Education and Social Policy
Northwestern University
Kimberly Gomez
Assistant Professor
College of Education
University of Illinois at Chicago
January 2007
GCP-07-03
This paper explores ways to remedy adolescents’ failure to acquire
reading-to-learn skills and explains the importance of being able to
understand texts from diverse disciplines in order to be successful
in the professional workplace and enhance overall life chances. The
authors suggest that inquiry-centered learning environments in schools
might better prepare students for the educational demands of careers
in the 21 century labor market. They also offer suggestions about how
these learning environments might better be coupled with the support
of reading and literacy.
Engaged Scholarship at the University
Ann Feldman
Associate Professor, Department of English and Director of First Year
Writing Program
University of Illinois at Chicago
February 2007
GCP-07-04
The complex relationship between the university and the city provides
the context for this chapter, which explores not only the changing nature
of scholarship in the metropolitan research university, but how its
changing intellectual climate should, in turn, change our conception
of writing instruction for students who attend college in the city.
It is argued that engaged research -- participatory, reciprocal research
-- depends on an awareness of research as a discursive practice; that
is, on how language and rhetoric are used to shape emerging knowledge.
When both faculty members and students focus on engagement, their relationship
to the city is enhanced, while also enhancing undergraduate education
and, in particular, writing instruction.
The
Ecological City: Metaphor versus Metabolism
Sharon Haar
Associate Professor, School of Architecture
University of Illinois at Chicago
February 2007
GCP-07-05
In this study – a textual and visual analysis – I look at
the ways the term “ecology” has been used to motivate western-style
modernism in a global context and to prescribe and advance design decisions
based largely in formal, compositional, and stylistic assumptions. Among
the questions I am interested in is how new frameworks – sustainability,
sustainable communities, and sustainable design – extend earlier
ecological metaphors and the extent to which they have sublimated stylistic
and formal design ideas without truly resolving the impact of modernization
on the landscape.
Maximization
of Non-Residential Property Tax Revenue by a Local Government
John F. McDonald
Professor Emeritus, Economics and Director, Center for Urban Real Estate
University of Illinois at Chicago
February 2007
GCP-07-06
The paper presents a model of the market for commercial or industrial
real estate at the local level that is used to derive an equation for
the property tax rate that maximizes tax revenue – given that
demand for real estate at the local level is highly elastic and capital
is mobile in the long run.
Addressing
Controversy in the Classroom:
Teaching about Immigrant Rights in Chicago
Schools
Irma Olmedo
Associate Professor, College of Education
University of Illinois at Chicago
April 2007
GCP-07-07
This article examines the issue of teachers’ decisions to address
controversial issues as teaching opportunities in the classroom, using
the recent immigrant rights mobilizations of 2006. As public reports
of planned deportations of the undocumented were heard, especially in
communities in urban areas with high proportions of these populations,
many families were gripped with fear about their status. This research
involved exploring the classroom-based activities of Chicago teachers
to engage their students in inquiry on these issues, and the participation
and perspectives of children that resulted from these activities.
The
HistoryMakers: A New Primary Source for Scholars
Julieanna Richardson
2006 Vernon D. Jarrett Senior Fellow
Great Cities Institute
University of Illinois at Chicago
April 2007
GCP-07-08
This paper explores the possibilities of increasing the use and accessibility
of The HistoryMakers’ video oral history archive. The archive
of oral histories of African American “HistoryMakers” from
a wide range of backgrounds is a potential resource for academics, school
teachers, students, and historians alike. Information is presented on
the current state of the archives, potential future uses, and the importance
of documenting and preserving these oral histories to gain a deeper
understanding of African American history and experience.
Comparing the Efficiency
of Urban Transit Park and Ride Lots
Using Data Envelopment Analysis
Darold T. Barnum, Sue McNeil, & Jonathon Hart
December 2007
GCP-07-09
This paper discusses the need for a performance measure that compares the efficiencies
of subunits within an urban transportation organization, reflects the diversity of inputs
and outputs, and is objective and consistent. The paper presents a method for developing
such a performance indicator, and illustrates its use with an application to the park-and-ride
lots of the Chicago Transit Authority. The proposed method applies Data Envelopment Analysis
supplemented by Stochastic Frontier Analysis to estimate efficiency scores for each subunit.
The paper demonstrates how the scores can provide objective and valid indicators of each subunit’s
efficiency, while accounting for key goals and values of internal and external stakeholders. The scores
can be practically applied by a transit agency to identify subunit inefficiencies, and, as
demonstrated by several brief case studies, this information can be used as the basis for changes
that will improve both subunit and system performance.
Using Panel Data Analysis to
Estimate Confidence Intervals for the DEA Efficiency of Individual Urban Paratransit Agencies
Darold T. Barnum, John M. Gleason, & Brendon Hemily
December 2007
GCP-07-10
This paper demonstrates a methodology using Panel Data Analysis to estimate confidence intervals for the
Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) efficiency of individual urban paratransit agencies and the statistical
significance of trends in individual agency efficiency. The procedure accounts for stochastic variations
of the inputs and outputs of the target agency as well as stochastic variations of the inputs and outputs
of its efficient benchmark peers. The procedure is demonstrated using nine years of data from 34 urban
paratransit agencies.
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