Cisneros, Henry G.

Pena, Federico F.

English

Notre Dame Law School: NDLScholarship

Journal of LegislationVolume 13 | Issue 2 Article 81-1-1986Gerard, American Survivors - Cities and OtherScenes and Ferman, Governing the UngovernableCityHenry G. CisnerosFederico F. PenaFollow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/jlegThis Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journal of Legislation at NDLScholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion inJournal of Legislation by an authorized administrator of NDLScholarship. For more information, please contact lawdr@nd.edu.Recommended CitationCisneros, Henry G. and Pena, Federico F. (1986) "Gerard, American Survivors - Cities and Other Scenes and Ferman, Governing theUngovernable City," Journal of Legislation: Vol. 13: Iss. 2, Article 8.Available at: http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/jleg/vol13/iss2/8BOOK REVIEWSAMERICAN SURVIVORS-CITIES AND OTHER SCENESby Karen GerardNew York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1985. Pp. 325. $22.95 hardcover.Reviewed by Henry G. Cisneros*By the turn of this century, the City of New York had flowed inexorablyinto the surrounding terrain, populating Queens, the Bronx, Brooklyn, andStaten Island with warehouses, office buildings, factories and homes. Al-most nine decades later, an economist and former director of New YorkCity's economic development has written a book entitled American Survi-vors-Cities and Other Scenes. Karen Gerard has crafted an immenselyreadable work-an urban diary, if you will-about her personal experiencesand analyses in New York's contemporary decline and resurgence. Shejoined Chase Manhattan Bank in the 1950s, rising to a vice-presidencybefore she became a thoughtful deputy mayor for economic policy underthe irrepressible Mayor Ed Koch.Ms. Gerard's book could perhaps be retitled Diary of a New York Yup-pie. The reference is not meant to be slighting, because Gerard includesmany personal references about her decades in the city, including glances atcareer mobility, rearing children, race relations, working women executives,and much more. She effectively merges personal commentary with somerevealing insights into the urban process.For example, she writes about Ann Rhymer, her black housekeeper fortwenty-five years. Mrs. Rhymer moved northward from the Deep Southduring the Great Depression, refused to use the servants' entrance when shestarted working for the Gerard family in 1958, and obviously influencedGerard's own thinking about what came to be called "the underclass." Ge-rard notes that "Ann Rhymer would be the first to acknowledge it-thatthere is another group of blacks that is set apart, objects of study and dis-cussion[,] . . . those who are alienated, living outside the economic main-stream, women dependent on welfare, and men 'dropping out' through drugaddiction or a life of street crime."The book is not comprised solely of personal observations, however. Ge-rard's economics training influences her writing, as it influenced earlier at-tempts to calculate alternative formulas for a standardized national welfaresystem during the Nixon years. She writes that the attempt was doomed tofailure then, and is even less likely to achieve workable reality in the Reaganera.Most mayors in the United States would agree with Gerard's inevitable* Mayor, City of San Antonio. B.A., Texas A & M University, 1969; M.A., Texas A & M Univer-sity, 1970; M.A., Harvard University, 1973; Ph.D., George Washington University, 1975.Book Reviewsconclusion: "Transference of income will not take care of our povertyproblems unless we achieve strong enough economic growth to provide jobsand develop a labor force with the skills and motivation to engage in paidemployment." Her ultimate conclusion is that "[s]trong, sustained eco-nomic growth is the sine qua non for reducing poverty." This conclusionoften receives scant attention from the nation's media, in terms of perceiv-ing what mayors and other city officials concerned with economic develop-ment are trying to achieve; indeed, elected officials are often careful to avoidbeing labeled with the damaging sobriquet of "trickle down theorist."Gerard uses statistics to back up her conclusions. She notes that"[s]trong growth helped the nation to reduce the poverty count by overforty percent between 1960 and 1973, [while w]eak, sporadic growth con-tributed to the increase in poverty that occurred in the next decade." Sheconcludes that poverty will again decline if the nation maintains vigorouseconomic growth during the 1980s.Although not a panacea, economic growth is the only way to effectivelydeal with the vastly underpublicized numbers of the poverty-stricken in ur-ban America-not to mention newly arrived immigrants-who are dailyfacing a hostile environment in many large U.S. cities. More importantly,we must recognize the effect of poverty upon the institution of the family.Gerard touches on this critical urban concern, although a more extensiveanalysis of poverty's role in breaking up the traditional American family isneeded.As a mayor and public official, I must confess to a deep feeling of uneaseand worry about what is happening to the American family in our cities,where eighty percent of the nation's population now resides. There are toomany poor children, too many poor families in our cities today. And pov-erty is crushing the family as we prefer to think of it.Statistics underscore the debilitating effect of poverty on the Amercianfamily. Fully a third of our children will receive some form of welfarebefore they turn eighteen. The number of single family households headedby women-a subject dear to Gerard's heart-has doubled in the last tenyears. More than half of the children living in these single-family homes livein poverty. A child under six years of age is six times more likely to be poorthan a person over sixty-five.Near the end of her book, Gerard asks: "Who are the survivors inAmerican cities?" Her answer focuses on the men and women of the post-war "baby boom" who are now reaching middle age, along with such di-verse groups as the new immigrants, youthful criminals, and women takingon new roles outside the family. She lists another long-time survivor-thefamily-with a question mark, before delving into middle class concerns.Gerard also addresses the rise of new professionals in urban America.Like many middle class professionals, Gerard has spent her career gaugingsuccess-traditional up-the-ladder American success-by watching herpeers. Entry into the labor force, she argues, is not the test; instead, it re-volves solely around "what you do and how well you are paid once you arethere." She has incisively watched the salary inflation of those with MBA or1986]Journal of Legislationlaw degrees, attributing the huge rise in these job sectors to corporate spe-cialization in New York City.This career scrutiny prompts her to pose a provocative question: Howdo you promote entrepreneurship, the risk-taking that is essential to innova-tion, in large corporations? She feels, and I agree, that the product-whatwe teach our lawyers and MBAs-can be improved. Gerard questionswhether law schools stress training in adversarial skills, while ignoringtraining in mediation and negotiation. What is it, she asks, that we want ourbest and brightest to do in a rapidly changing society?The answer Gerard offers is not totally satisfying, but she correctly con-tends that the original question about innovation and entrepreneurship canonly be decisively resolved when we begin asking the right questions. Sheconcludes these passages with the following: "Unless we are prepared to askthose hard questions, we will find that jobs may be out there for a new cropof lawyers and MBAs, but oversupply-in the sense of misallocation of ourresources-will remain a deep-seated problem."There is more in the form of trenchant questions, coupled with less thansatisfying answers. The net result, however, is well worth reading. I havebeen impressed with Karen Gerard since first meeting her at a conferenceon the economic futures of American cities; she remains equally impressivethroughout her "survivor's diary." For anyone heading toward an urbanprofessional career, her American Survivors is a good travel guide to exam-ining the future.[Vol. 13:3 10GOVERNING THE UNGOVERNABLE CITYby Barbara FermanPhiladelphia: Temple University Press, 1985. $22.95 hardcover.Reviewed by Federico F. Pena *As a former state legislator and now a mayor, debate often erupts at ournational meetings over who has the most difficult jobs in America-gover-nors, legislators or mayors. Although Barbara Ferman's book, Governingthe Ungovernable City, makes clear that the chief executive of major citieswould get her vote as the toughest political office, she has written a remark-ably optimistic text on the task of governing our cities.Ferman's book, which is written in an academic style with voluminousreferences to the best urban and political scientific research in the field, iswell-grounded in political realism and makes clear what most practitionersof urban politics know first hand: the field of study is complex and the effortat governing our cities effectively will not submit to easy formulas or simplemodels.The book examines two cities in detail, Boston and San Francisco, andplaces them in a theoretical context that makes for useful lessons and rulesfor mayors of all sizes and types of cities. Although Boston and San Fran-cisco differ from other U.S. cities in many of their political, cultural andformal arrangements, they still have characteristics that make for ready ref-erence. Most major cities have similar non-partisan elections with a civilservice and a myriad of independent boards, commissions, authorities andelected officials that contribute to a highly fragmented politicalenvironment.Ferman found that the political styles of the mayors of San Franciscoand Boston were heavily influenced by their electorate. San Francisco citi-zens tend to be more issue-oriented. In order to be successful, San Franciscomayors must respond to the issues concerning their electorate. In Boston,the electorate tends to be more service-oriented. Boston mayors gain votesprimarily by providing jobs and services to the community. Ferman con-tends that mayors must be sensitive to the priorities of their constituenciesbecause mayors cannot be economically productive unless they have astrong political base.My experience as mayor of Denver has convinced me that Ferman isessentially correct. One of the chief problems facing American mayors isthat they often lack the political power to effectively lead the cities. Theproblem is further compounded when cities are both issue-oriented and ser-vice-oriented. In Denver, the newly arrived professionals are highly issue-oriented, but many of the ethnic groups within the city remain primarilyMayor, City of Denver. B.A., University of Texas, 1969; J.D., University of Texas, 1972.Journal of Legislationservice-oriented. Only by balancing these interests is it possible for a mayorin Denver to be a successful leader.In four well-written sections, Ferman focuses her attention on the for-mal and informal strategies that mayors in various political cultures andcontexts use to achieve or try to achieve basic municipal goals. Two of thesections of special note analyze the role of the federal government in urbanaffairs and mayorial efforts at enticing the private sector into partnershipsfor economic development. Although the description of the federal roleneeds to be extended to account for the rapid diminution of federal re-sources for cities and urban needs, the book in general is as current as themost recent effort at reforming the civil service or reorganizing the in-dependent authorities.Ferman's major service is to move away from analyzing municipal out-puts or styles of leadership and instead focus attention on political skills andthe political context. Ferman emphasizes the trade-offs that must bereached between managing declining resources and increasing needs, tryingto instill realism among urban constituents and yet maintain hope, workingto create islands of opportunity and entrepreneurship while not abandoningthe poor, homeless or dependent.To achieve these trade-offs requires both political skill and executivepower. And the accumulation of power raises the question of the balancebetween enough power to govern, keeping fragmentation and rivalries fromdestroying an urban agenda and the danger of too much power for narrowor self-aggrandizing purposes.The book's basic optimism lies in its commitment to effective executiveaction as essential for a good urban life, and a belief that our cities' execu-tives can summon sufficient political skills to overcome the problems of gov-erning with diminished resources and fragmented power.[Vol. 13:313

Gerard, American Survivors - Cities and Other Scenes and Ferman, Governing the Ungovernable City

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Gerard, American Survivors - Cities and Other Scenes and Ferman, Governing the Ungovernable City

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