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58 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Municipalities |
Political Jurisdictions (cities, villages, towns) incorporated under state law to provide governance to defined geographical areas |
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Counties |
Geographical subdivisions of state government |
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County Commission System |
A form of county governance in which executive, legislative, and administrative powers are vested in elected commissioners |
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Council-executive system |
A form of county governance in which legislative powers are vested in a county commission and execuitve powers are vested in an independently elected executive |
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Commission-administrator system |
A form of county governance in which executive and legislative powers reside with an elected commission, which hires a professional executive to manage the day to day operations of government |
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Cities |
Incorporated political jurisdictions formed to provide self-governance to particular localities |
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Townships |
Local governments whose powers, governance structure, and legal status vary considerably from state to state. In some states function as general purpose municipalities, in others that are geographical subdivisions of counties with few responsibilities and little power |
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City Council |
A municipality legislature |
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City Manager |
An official appointed to be the chief administrator of a municipality |
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Mayor-Council System |
A form of municipal governance in which there is an elected executive and a elected legislature |
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Strong Mayor System |
A municipal government in which the mayor has the power to perform the executive funcitons |
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Weak Mayor System |
A municipal government in which the mayor lacks true executive powers, such as the ability to veto council decisions or appointment department heads |
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Council-manager system |
A form of municipal governance in which the day-to-day administration of government is carried out by a professional administrator |
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City Commission System |
A form of municipal governance in which executive, legislative, and administrative powers are vested in elected city commissioners |
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Town meeting |
A form of goverance in which legislative power are held by the local citizens |
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Special Districts |
Local governmental units created for a single purpose such as water distribution |
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Dillons Rule |
The legal principle that says local government can exercise only the powers granted to them by state government |
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Home Rule |
The right of a locality to self government usually granted through a charter |
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At large elections |
Elections in which city or county voters vote for council or commission members from any party of the jurisdiction |
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Metropolitan Area |
A populous region typically comprising a city and surrounding communities that have a high degree of social and economic intergration |
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Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) |
An area with a city of 50,000 or more people together with adjacent urban communities that have strong ties to the central city |
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Megaregion |
An urban area made up of several large cities and their surrounding urban areas that creates an interlocking economic and social system |
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Edgeless Cities |
Office and retail complexes without clear boundaries |
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Sprawl |
The rapid growth of a metropolitan are typically as a result of specific types of zoning and development |
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Zoning laws |
Regulations that control how land can be use |
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Low density development |
Development practices that spread (rather than concentrate) populations across the land |
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Leapfrog development |
Development practices in which new developments jump or leapfrog-over established developments, leaving undeveloped or underdeveloped land between developed areas |
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Impact fees |
Fees that municipalities charge builders of new housing or commercial developments to help offset the costs of extending services |
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Car-Dependent living |
A situation in which owning a car for transportation is a necessity; an outcome of low density development |
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Reform Perspective |
An approach to filling gaps in service and reducing redundancies in local government that calls for regional level solutions |
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Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) |
A border established around an urban area that is intended to control the density and type of development |
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Regional Council |
A planning and advisory organization whose members include multiple local governments; often used to administer state and federal programs that target regions |
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Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) |
A regional organization that decides how federal transportation funds are allocated within that regional area |
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Smart Growth |
Environmentally friendly development practices, practically those that emphasize more efficient infrastructure and less dependence on automobiles |
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Inter jurisdictional Agreement (IJA) |
A formal or informal agreement between two or more local governments to cooperate on a program or policy |
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City-County Consolidation |
The merger of spearate local governments in an effort to reduce bureaucratic redundancy and service ineffciencies |
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Annexation |
The legal incorporation of one jurisdiction or territory into another |
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Gentrification |
The physical rehabilitation of urban areas which attracts investment from developers and drives up property values |
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Rural Flight |
The movement of youth and the middle class from rural areas to more urban areas |
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Stop and Frisk |
A police tactic that allows police officers to stop, question and search citizens under a set of narrowly defined circumstances |
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Racial Profiling |
The allegation that police target minorities when enforcing the law |
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War on Drugs |
An effort by the federal government to treat drug abuse as a law enforcement rather than public health problem |
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Mass Incarceration |
The phrase used to describe the United States striking high rate of imprisonment |
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Supermax Prisons |
High security prisons designed to house violent criminals |
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Deterrence Theory |
A theory advanced by criminologists that harsh penalties will deter people from committing crimes |
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Recidivism |
The tendency of criminals to relapse into criminal behavior and be returned to prison |
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Drug Courts |
Special tribunals that offer nonviolent drug offenders a chance at reduced or dismissed charges in exchange for them undergoing treatment or other rehabilitation |
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Community or restorative, justice movement |
A movement that emphasizes nontraditional punishment, such as community service |
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Broken Windows policing |
Policing that emphasizes maintaining public order based on theory that unattended disorder breed crime |
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Community Policing |
An approach that emphasizes police officers forming relationships with neighborhood residents and engaging with them in collaborative problem solving |
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Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) |
The next-generation welfare program that provides federal assistance in the form of block grants to state, which have great flexibility in designing their programs |
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Public Health |
Area of medicine that addresses the protection and improvement of citizen health and hygiene through the work of government agencies |
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Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) |
The original federal assistance program for women and their children, started under Roosevelt's new deal |
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Medicare
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The federal health insurance program for elderly citizens |
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Entitlement program |
A government-run program that guarantees unlimited assistance to those who meet its eligibility requirements, no matter how high the cost |
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Poverty line or poverty threshold |
An annual income level, set by the federal government, below which families cannot afford basic necessities |
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Managed Care |
An arrangement for the provision of health care whereby an agency acts as an intermediary between consumers and health care providers |
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Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) |
A joint federal-state program designed to expand health care coverage to children whose parents earned income above the property line but still were too poor to afford insurance |