What do the cases of the NYS Watershed, NYC Transit Authority, and the pandemic say about the promise and possibilities of improving government administration? Are we able to fix some of the problems that sometimes arise in public administration? What are some of the obstacles to reform, and what are some of the ways these obstacles are overcome? This is not simple, and there are no right answers, only factual and thoughtful answers. Please use at least two of the cases, and use concepts from the textbook to frame some of your thinking on this. Government bureaucracies, like people, are complex!
File Hanlon_Watershed_Protection_to_Secure_Ecosystem(1).pdf (199.281 KB)
File How Politics and Bad Decisions Starved New York%u2019s Subways – The New York Times.pdf (161.68 KB)
File MTA_Expensive_Subway_Track_NYT.pdf (311.292 KB)
File 1_Shaky_COVID_Response_Christian_Science_Monitor.pdf (206.98 KB)
1. Johnson, Chapters 1 and 2
Case 1: NYC Watershed
2. Emily Rueb, “How New York Gets Its Water,” New York Times, March 24, 2016, Available at: https://nyti.ms/2jRSmqf
3. Winnie Hu, A Billion-Dollar Investment in New York’s Water, New York Times, January 18, 2018, Available at: https://nyti.ms/2Di5y19
4. Jeffrey W. Hanlon, “Watershed Protection to Secure Ecosystem Services: The New York City Watershed Agreement,” Case Studies in the Environment, 2017, p. 1-6. (Available as a PDF on Blackboard under Topic 1.)
Case 2: NYC Subways
5. Brian M. Rosenthal, Emma G. Fitzsimmons and Michael LaForgia, “How Politics and Bad Decisions Starved New York City Subways,” New York Times, November 17, 2017, Available at: https://nyti.ms/2hIU01N (also available as a PDF on Blackboard under Topic 1).
6. Brian M. Rosenthal, “The Most Expensive Mile of Subway Track on Earth,” New York Times, December 28, 2017, https://nyti.ms/2pR3IlH (also available as a PDF on Blackboard under Topic 1).
Case 3: The Pandemic and Public Administration
7. Linda Feldmann, “Shaky COVID Response Lays Bare a Crisis in Government,” Christian Science Monitor, June 15, 2020, https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2020/0615/Shaky-COVID-response-lays-bare-a-decadeslong-crisis-in-government (also available as a PDF on Blackboard under Topic 1).
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