Accessibility of public services : city government institutions and service spatial distribution

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Public services are central to the purpose of city government, and scholars have found that government institutions affect policy and budgetary decisions. I use the locations of libraries, parks, and fire stations in 15 U.S. cities to better understand whether public services are equitable and the moderating effect of institutions. Though the literature leads to hypotheses predicting that cities will place their public service facilities nearer to white, higher income neighborhoods, I find that this is not true for every city. In some cities, public facilities are closer to lower income neighborhoods with a high percentage of racial and ethnic minorities. I test whether such variation is due to cities' differences in institutional arrangements-city council electoral institutions and the administrative powers of a city manager and a mayor-and do not find a moderating effect. Additionally, in a case study of Seattle, I compare policy priorities and parks placements under an at-large city council system and a mixed system. I find some difference in the salient issues as well as the rhetoric of council members, while some priorities remain constant. Not enough time has passed to adequately compare the two systems, especially when using quantitative data to compare city park placement. More study is needed to better understand the effects of city government institutions on policy and representation.