Adapting (Municipal) Form to (Provincial) Function: City–County Separation and the Introduction of the Consolidated Municipal Service Manager System in Ontario,Canada

In 1998, the province of Ontario introduced the Consolidated Municipal Service Manager (CMSM) system, which effectively downloaded the responsibility for delivery and partial funding for a range of social services to municipalities. Separated cities and counties—a unique system of municipal organization in Ontario that draws a sharp institutional distinction between urban and rural areas—were given a particularly wide range of discretion over the implementation of these services. A number of these jurisdictions experienced an array of problems reaching a local solution. Some even wound up in arbitration. This article examines the implementation of the CMSM, focusing specifically on the unique institutional arrangement found in counties with separated cities, finding that the provincial government overlooked the institutional design of city–county separation, hindering the policy downloading process. Overall, it is argued that the local institutional environment is key when shifting policy responsibility from central to local actors.     

CITIZEN PERCEPTION OF POLICE SERVICE DELIVERY: A LOOK AT SOME CONSEQUENCES

What difference does it make if public services are inequitably distributed? This articles addresses that question by examining the relationships among perceived inequity in service delivery and dissatisfaction with public services on-the-one-hand, and a variety of other attitudes and reports of behavior on-the-other. In the case of police services, I find that perceptions of inequity and dissatisfaction with services have negative consequences both for the quality of life individual citizens enjoy and for the capacity of government to provide services effectively and efficiently.     

INFERRING THE DISTRIBUTIONAL EFFECTS OF BUREAUCRATIC DECISION RULES

Although the bureaucratic decision rules that govern delivery of municipal public services are presumably distributionally benign, they may in fact exert a strong influence on the distribution of urban policy benefits. This article explicates the decision rule governing delivery of two specific types of fire protection services in a small city, measures the distributional inequity characteristic of the patterns of delivery, and infers one or more distributional standards implicit in the decision rule. Statistical analysis using the Index of Inequity indicates that some decision rules incorporate elements of both equality and market standards, while others support need as the distributional standard.     

Constraints on Local Welfare Discretion in an Era of Second‐Order Devolution

Under devolution, state and local governments are expected to use the greater authority granted to them to design new and innovative programs that are tailored to local needs. Existing research on the devolution of welfare programs has reported substantial variation in the policies adopted by states in the wake of welfare reform. However, under second‐order devolution, local governments also gained discretion over welfare services. Some have argued that, while devolution should increase flexibility, local governments face constraints that limit their functional discretion. Using California as an example, I assess whether there is variation in the service priorities adopted by local governments and whether these priorities translate to frontline practices. I show differences in the service priorities of local governments; however, these priorities are not associated with differences in sanctioning or time‐limit exemptions. Thus, while local governments may formally adopt different priorities, state and federal policy choices, as well as client characteristics, may restrict priorities from translating into differences in caseworker behavior.     

THE EVALUATION OF COPRODUCTION PROGRAMS

This article evaluates the benefits and costs of local coproduction of services. Coproduction is understood as active participation beyond the normal requirements of citizenship by individuals or groups in the delivery of municipal services intended to raise the quality and/or amount of their provision. The benefits and costs of coproduction programs are examined in six areas: tax savings, service effectiveness, citizen participation, motivating service-directed behavior, training and coordination arrangements, and service equity.     

From subjects to authors – reconnecting community organisations to their core practice

ABSTRACT

The widely observed erosion of the policy capacity of governments and their public services is mirrored by decay in the practice and program capacity of community organisations. This capacity once depended on the practical expertise of a values-driven workforce employed in organisations focused on a social purpose. Governments relied upon this core competency to inform their approach to investment, program design and the delivery of community services, but this has changed. Social purpose in community service organisations have been frustrated by a preoccupation with funding models, procurement approaches and contract details at the expense of the delivery of outcomes. It has resulted in community organisations becoming subjects of service delivery rather than authors of it. The paper frames these dilemmas and provides a theoretical framework for community organisations to reposition from subjects to authors in the system. The paper takes the form of a reflective assessment from a practice perspective.     

辽宁省城市基本公共服务质量差异的时空分析

基于基本公共服务的内涵,从教育服务、文化服务、卫生服务、基础设施服务、社会保障服务、生态环境服务和信息服务7个方面构建了基本公共服务质量评价指标体系,运用熵值法对2003-2011年辽宁省城市基本公共服务质量进行综合测度,并以此为变量,利用差异系数和基尼系数对辽宁省各市基本公共服务质量差异的演变过程与空间格局进行定量分析。结果发现:辽宁省各市基本公共服务质量整体为上升的趋势,表现出较为明显的规模特征,沈阳市和大连市两极突出;2003-2011辽宁省城市基本公共服务质量区域差异总体扩大的基础上,呈现先扩大后缩小的演变趋势,且以文化服务、卫生服务和基础设施服务的差异为主;空间上,公共服务质量空间提升极化作用不断增强,表现为不断向"沈阳-大连、盘锦-本溪"的"十字"轴线紧靠。     

CONSUMERS AS COPRODUCERS OF PUBLIC SERVICES: SOME ECONOMIC AND INSTITUTIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

The concept of coproduction of public services has captured increased attention as a potential means of increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of local government. In this article we explore the concept of coproduction in an effort to sharpen the definition of that concept and add rigor to our understanding of the effects of coproduction in local service delivery and the processes by which coproductive activity occurs.     

An Analysis of Capitation for Mental Health Services

The major impetus for health care reform clearly seems to be the desire to contain the cost of health care. One of the major cost-containment methods proposed is capitation. Capitation poses specific problems when applied to mental health services delivery. This article discusses several of the major issues pertaining to the utility of capitation in mental health, discusses on-going capitation efforts, and provides an evaluation of capitation programs. Future directions for research on capitation in mental health are then suggested.     

Personal Assistance Services: The Hub of the Policy Wheel for Community Integration of People with Severe Physical Disabilities

The success of persons with severe physical disabilities in living independently in the community, engaging in self-directed productive activities, and staying healthy depends, in part, on getting and maintaining adequate personal assistance with basic tasks such as getting out of bed and tending to personal hygiene. Although few policymakers would disagree with the contention that many people with disabilities need assistance with daily tasks, there is considerable debate about who should provide assistance, what services should be included, who should pay, who should be entitled to publicly provided and paid services, how much assistance should be provided, and who should control its administration. The prevailing model for delivery of personal assistance services has been primarily medical, with control of services by health care professionals, rather than independent living, with control by consumers receiving services. Traditionally there has been an institutional bias of funding for disability-related service, despite its much higher expense than community-based personal assistance services and its violation of basic human rights. Proponents of various solutions to health care reform have given little consideration to the provision of support services for people with disabilities. The advantages of implementing a uniform national system for the delivery of personal assistance services based on consumer control are discussed.     

线上和线下生活服务设施可达性及其协调关系——以生鲜果蔬店铺为例

作为智慧城市的重要组成部分,“新零售”得到蓬勃发展,提供当日配送服务的“新零售”深刻影响了城市生活服务的可获取性和时空可达性。本文以南京中心城区为例,运用两步移动搜索法、耦合协调度模型等方法,探究提供当日配送生鲜果蔬服务的店铺和传统生鲜果蔬实体店空间分布特征,分析线上和线下生鲜果蔬店铺的可达性及空间协调关系。研究发现,线上生活服务遵循技术扩散假说,强化了中心城区的生活服务集聚,同时线上生活服务集聚和可达性仍受实体地理空间约束;线上生活服务有悖于效率假说,对传统生活服务的空间分异具有加强作用,整体上没有提高生活服务的供给效率和空间公平性。研究结果可为新零售影响下城市生活服务设施的配置优化提供科学依据。     

Ryan White CARE Act Title I Funding Priorities and Unmet Service Needs in Baltimore, Maryland

The analysis presented in this paper explores the similarities and differences between the services selected as priorities for funding by the Baltimore Ryan White CARE Act Title I Planning Council during the first 2 years of the program in this metropolitan area, and services perceived by HIV/AIDS service providers and people living with HIV/AIDS to be unmet needs. The data used for these analyses were collected as part of a study to assess the implementation and impact of the CARE Act legislation in the Baltimore eligible metropolitan area( EMS ). This project includes three interrelated components: (a) a case study of the legislatively mandated Planning Council, (b) a survey of providers representing HIV/AIDS service organizations, and (c) a qualitative field study of the perceptions of people living with HIV/AIDS about the service delivery system. Taken together, the data from these three sources describe the similarities and differences among these three groups involved in HIV/AIDS care in Baltimore, in terms of their perceptions of services needed by people living with HIV / AIDS. The conclusions drawn from this study can be used to strengthen needs assessments in Title I-EMAs throughout the United States.     

The politics of discretion: Authority and influence in asylum dispersal

This paper considers how discretion, understood as both a capacity to make decisions and a form of influence that is often hidden, operates within the accommodation and support of asylum seekers. Combining critical discussions of discretion with accounts of a ‘local turn’ in migration policy, I argue that discretion plays a key role in shaping how policy is implemented and offers insight into the changing governance of asylum at national and local levels. Drawing on empirical material examining the development of the UK's asylum dispersal system, the paper extends accounts of discretion beyond ‘street-level’ to argue for a focus on how discretion reflects different claims to institutional authority. Addressing four accounts of discretion in dispersal, I argue that tracing discretion can offer insights into how ‘implementation gaps’ in asylum policy are negotiated and how tensions between national and local governments are contained. Tracing discretion in this way may advance critical interrogations of power relations in welfare bureaucracies and develop understandings of institutional agency and influence within liberal democracies.     

我国虚拟旅游网站的功能评价研究

随着虚拟现实技术的发展,越来越多的人开始享受虚拟旅游,虚拟旅游网站和其他网站的本质区别在于其所提供的虚拟旅游产品和服务,因此,虚拟旅游产品和服务的质量构成了网站的核心竞争力。本文选取具有代表性的虚拟旅游网站作为研究对象,在虚拟旅游和网站评价指标体系相关研究的基础上,建立虚拟旅游网站的评价指标体系,并采用内容分析法进行实证研究,以探究目前我国虚拟旅游网站的功能概况。研究结果显示:一方面,目前我国虚拟旅游网站界面功能结构不完整,主要表现为用户界面友好性低、更新不及时、交互性不强等问题。另一方面,就网站的虚拟旅游产品和服务而言,其内容较单调,对虚拟现实技术的应用不够深入,体验性设计不够,多数网站还处于对虚拟旅游产品和服务进行低水平开发的阶段。为此,笔者提出了相关建议,并对后续研究进行了展望。     

MEASURING THE INEQUITY OF URBAN PUBLIC SERVICES METHODOLOGICAL DISCUSSION WITH APPLICATIONS*

This article attempts to extend the analysis of urban service delivery beyond equality of units of service input to measurement of the equity of both inputs and outputs (impact). The author develops an original technique for measuring and indexing service equity. It is applied to police services in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The findings are generally consistent with other recent research around the nation in that only modest inequities in service inputs and outputs are found and little evidence of systematic discrimination toward the poor and racial minorities is found.     

江苏省城镇化发展协调度评价与地区差异分析

将城镇化分解成人口城镇化、经济城镇化、土地城镇化和社会城镇化4部分,且认为这4部分应处在协调耦合状态,用TOPSIS法对江苏省城镇化发展协调度进行评价,之后对评价结果的地区差异进行分析,以对城镇发展政策制定提供依据。研究表明:常州和扬州在优质协调区;南京、镇江、苏州和无锡在良好协调区,且土地城镇化相对滞后,说明城镇土地高效集约利用;徐州、淮安和南通在基本协调区,徐州与淮安土地城镇化过快,社会城镇化滞后,表明城镇土地粗放低效利用,同时忽视公共服务产品供给,南通土地城镇化滞后,表明城镇扩张缓慢,城镇化的土地代价水平较低;泰州和盐城在轻度失调区,盐城经济城镇化滞后,泰州土地城镇化滞后,土地集约利用强度大,城镇发展选择的是一种精明增长路径;连云港和宿迁在中度失调区,土地城镇化明显快于其它城镇化,城镇发展土地代价水平高,具有相当过渡性损失。     

Is There a National Policy For Children and Youth With Serious Emotional Disturbance?

This article examines the status of a national mental health policy for children in need of mental health services. The need for systems planning and services integration involving multiple agencies is presented. The different programs of the major governmental agencies involved in the delivery of services to children are reviewed, as are the range of services provided. This article demonstrates the fragmentation and duplication that is endemic in all aspects of mental health, and that consequently makes policy implementation exceedingly difficult.     

Social Service Delivery and the Voluntary Sector in Contemporary Australia

Continuing poverty, deprivation and unemployment in rich English-speaking countries have led governments to reconsider existing methods of delivering social services. In Australia, the Minister for Employment Services, Tony Abbott, has developed a doctrine of 'constructive compassion' to justify human service delivery through private firms and voluntary organisations. The McClure Report has also argued for 'social partnerships' involving governments, the business community and the voluntary sector. The limited purpose of this research note is to evaluate these arguments using the conceptual tools of market failure, government failure and voluntary failure and drawing on some of the theoretical literature on the voluntary sector, especially Billis and Glennerster (1998). We contend that considerable scope does indeed exist for social service delivery by voluntary organisations, subject to at least one important caveat.     

Presentational state power: temporal and spatial influences over asylum sector decisionmakers

Previous analyses of forced migration have drawn attention to the increasing discretion held by asylum sector decisionmakers. According to these accounts, as the state reacts to the political risks associated with asylum migration control, responsibility for forced migration management is increasingly transferred onto a range of intermediate actors, between state and society, including local government employees, asylum interviewers, immigration judges and security staff. Yet little research has directly addressed these intermediaries' collective experiences and the influences to which they are subject. The article therefore focuses attention explicitly upon the nominal conduct of this increasingly authorised, discretionary and highly heterogeneous population. Drawing upon 37 interviews across four sites at which asylum sector intermediaries have significant and increasing discretion over asylum seekers' experiences, the findings demonstrate the importance of institutionalised timing and spacing for the determination of their volitional conduct. The timing and spacing of government institutions are important, not only through their influence over asylum seekers directly, but also because they present asylum seekers to those with discretionary authority in ways that are conducive to exclusionary uses of this authority.     

The impact of centralisation upon geographical variations in the provision of aged care services: a comparison of outcomes in Melbourne and Adelaide

This paper examines the extent to which centralisation affects service delivery through a comparison of geographical variations in community-based services for the aged in the cities of Melbourne and Adelaide. The first part outlines the administrative structures in the two cities. This is followed by a comparison of geographical variations in the provision of meals-on-wheels services and residential accommodation within the cities. The final part considers the implications of the results for our understanding of the influence of centralisation upon service provision in Australian cities.