Memorandum on Possible Plans for a Publicly Funded Order Instructions: This is a Graduate course to earn a Masters in Public Administration. Please use double-spaced format.
Responses should be in APA style and must include citations and a bibliography. You are strongly advised to access a variety of information from academic journals and other scholarly works. Ensure that your answers are well-organized and that they respond to the specific question asked, display the range and depth of your learning, and demonstrate your ability to conform to the analysis, writing, and research standards of master’s level work. Both questions must be answered fully.
Question 1
You are on the planning staff of a major tourist attraction city. Your city is a tourist destination and draws thousands of summer and winter visitors to a variety of privately-owned amusement parks in the immediate area.
The mayor and city council of your local community have asked you to draft a memo outlining possible plans for a publicly funded water park in your city. In your memo, they have asked that you make a recommendation about whether the city should or should not move forward with a water park project. They have asked that in your recommendations to city leaders, you outline and develop:
1. The arguments in favor, and against, a publicly funded water park.
2. The groups you anticipate would favor and oppose this project.
3. Techniques for measuring the revenue and costs of the project.
4. A general cost-benefit analysis of the project.
5. Tools you would need to identify the location and timeframe of a project of this magnitude.
6. Groups that could partner with the city to collaborate on the project and groups that would actively campaign against the project.
7. Avenues for providing public input and dialogue about the project.
8. Consider as many financial constraints and gains that would be affected by the water park.
9. Additional evidence, research, comparisons, and figures that they would need to consider the project on behalf of the city.
Question 2
Congratulations! The leader of your country/state/region recently signed into law a piece of legislation that you authored that requires the recycling of electronic waste as a way to protect the environment. Unfortunately, you discover that much of this electronic waste is being loaded into containers and placed on cargo ships heading for countries in the third world. Once they arrive, the containers are unloaded and child labor is utilized to take the small, but valuable, metals out of this electronic waste. In some instances, the electronic parts are melted down, thereby exposing the workers to hazardous chemicals, and some workers die. In the process, the land, water, and food supply also are being contaminated. Please evaluate the political, social, and ethical implications of this decision that was made in the public interest.
Memorandum on Possible Plans for a Publicly Funded Sample Answer
Question 1
MEMORANDUM
TO: The Mayor
FROM: Planning Staff Member
DATE: November 25, 2014
RE: Possible Plans for a Publicly Funded Water Park
Given that the city is a tourist destination that draws thousands of summer and winter visitors to a variety of privately-owned amusement parks in the city’s immediate area, there is need to outline plans for a possible publicly funded water park in the city. A recommendation on whether the city should or should not move forward with the water park project will be based on merit (Philippe, 2009).
The arguments in favor of the publicly funded water park can be outlined as follows. Establishing a public funded water park will usurp corrupt and unfair city and government policies, and secondly, this is a step that will improve the access to the water park. Also, another positive outcome that will be a result of the publicly funded water park will result to improved efficiency and consequently water will be treated as an economic resource for the city as a result of the implementation (Philippe, 2009). Establishing a public funded water park will be a solution to the deteriorating public water systems that are currently feeling the triple-pinch of the dwindled federal and local funds. Water is considered a human right and not a business enterprise and hence this project would be a response to the rising public concern regarding water service availability.
The arguments against also underline the fact that water must not only satisfy the use domestically but also serve agriculture and the industry. The points against are that water should be provided by the government since the appropriate incentives will encourage it to solve the looming crisis. Secondly, it is argued that water companies should pay accountability to their shareholders, and not conversely to the society and hence they won’t seek to provide the water to all citizens (U.S. Geological Survey, 2005). Additionally, opponents of the possible plans to a publicly funded water park will argue that water privatization will impact the poor negatively, besides stating that since water is a universal human right, it can therefore not be privatized or sold to humans. As the pressure to iinvest in sufficient water supply increases, this burden will fall on the public water utilities that service over 80per cent of the US population. The problem of these artificially low rate public water utilities will be witnessed in the city if the public water park plan goes through (U.S. Geological Survey, 2005).
There several groups in the city that are concerned with the concerns of water provisions will obviously take a side of the plan to a public funded water park; some of the groups will favor the plan while others will oppose this project (U.S. Geological Survey, 2005). It is expected that the opponents will demand that the idea to create public funded water will salvage the right to water for the city participants and hence the mayor should prevent any privatization forms of these essential resource. The groups that are expected to be opposed to the plan are numerous environment, community, labor and youth organizations, and will rally against this plan. There are groups that will be expected to be at the fore front of favoring the implantation off the plan for a public funded water park including NGOs, The World Bank, Private water companies and a large number of the public that are not aligned to other position (U.S. Geological Survey, 2005).
Techniques for measuring the revenue and costs of water will need to be implemented to ensure that the financial planning is done. The Non-revenue water (NRW) refers to water that is lost after production before the customer manages to use it. The NRW will be a typical measure of the ‘lost’ volume of water as net water produced share (Foshee, 2007). NRW has a variety of audits and components that will ensure that the costs and revenue of water are well documented for the public funded water park. The International Water Association (IWA) has come up with a comprehensive methodology for the assessment of the various NRW components, which are accordingly: authorized consumption that is unbilled; losses that are apparent as a result of metering inaccuracies and water theft; and the real losses accrued from the mains of transmission, facilities of storage, mains for distribution or service connections (Foshee, 2007).
A general cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of the plan for a public water park can be enumerated to find out the costs and benefits that are associated with putting in place a public fund waterpark. The benefits that are both direct and indirect will impact the consumers, the industry investors, the government and the environment (Foshee, 2007). The consumers will have aetter access to water more reliably securely and recreationally; employment opportunities will be provided, and water for recreational use will be available then on. The investors in the plan will have revenue increases, reduced costs and will achieve an improved margin of reserve. The city-level water markets will be integrated allowing sufficient scale in water provision. There will also be an indirect benefit for irrigation water for purposes of farming. The government and hence the city council will have reduced fiscal strain as a result of the reduction of water cost investments. Additionally, there will be reduced environmental impact as deforestation will be dealt with through the growth of land cover has ultimately resulting to sustainable development due to the more efficient use of the water resource (Foshee, 2007).
Notably, there will be cost to the plan to create a public funded water park. There will be da displacement of people in large scale as the communities in the areas that will be used in the implementation of the plan will be forced to relocate (Deutsche Welle, 2011). There will be costs to the investment as a result of the high cost of the initial phase of the investment. The government and hence the city will incur high costs of setup associated with the installation of a new water park. Environmentally, the ecosystem will be disrupted as the project will involve disturbance of vegetation and animal population; this is a danger to the destruction and possibly ethe xtinction of various plant and animal species (Deutsche Welle, 2011).
Industry reform will make it possible to use tools to identify the location and timeframe of the public fund water project. The tool that will be utilized is a project management approach that will apply a purpose-developed geographic information system in the streamlining of the installation of 50,000 meters in just 15 months – identification of properties, expenditure forecasting, installation scheduling, contractor workflow implementation, and obtaining the first meter readings (Deutsche Welle, 2011). This innovative IT project tool for management has been previously acclaimed with an award as a result of the installation of efficient water meters as well as the automation of thousands of transactions daily , reduced water waste and leakage, while reducing the cost of water metering by over 50 per cent. This tool is efficient and will ensure compliance in compact time frame through technology, leveraging the expert’s knowhow, meeting the strict deadline, hence resulting to efficiencies (Deutsche Welle, 2011).
The groups that are anticipated to favor the projects are also expected to collaborate with the city on the project, and consequently, those groups anticipated to oppose the project are expected to actively campaign against the project (World Bank, 2011). The groups that are expected to be opposed to the plan are numerous environment, community, labor and youth organizations, and will rally against this plan. They will especially use the costs identifies in the CBA as the frameworks for arguing against the projects. There are groups that will be expected to be at the fore front of favoring the implantation off the plan for a public funded water park including NGOs, The World Bank, Private water companies and a large number of the public that are not aligned to the opposition. These groups will argue on the basis of the benefits of the project and will support the implementation to achieve the projections according to the innovative IT project tool for management (World Bank, 2011).
Since it is a public funded project there should be avenues for providing public input and dialog about the progress of the project. There are key consideration that should be put into place to ensure the involvement of the public, and consequently, the project management team should incorporate details on the involvement of stakeholders, identification and deliverance of message, developing a plan for public involvement, citing the requirements for the public involvement in the various capacities especially in compliance with the National Environmental Protection Act, as well as incorporating the techniques and tools for the success of the project (World Bank, 2011). The public input would be crucial in pushing the project on the required timeframes and satisfying the customer needs. A flexible approach should be implemented to involve the public in all the stages of the implementation through including them in the management teams. The avenues that can be identified in this setting are all the employment opportunities from blue collar jobs to documentation, to stratification to involvement in compliance teams and the project management team of course. This is a public project, and for every stage, there should be avenues for identification and involvement of public stakeholders (World Bank, 2011).
There are financial constraints and gains that would be effected by the water park. Much of the financial gains will be aligned in the elimination of water stress. As a result of the combination of problems, that include the growth of population, constrained supply of water and high poverty levels in the city, this project will assist the city from being hit hard by the water stress (Bosch et al, 2011). Resource-constrained and finance-constrained water stress which is part of many cities today will not be a trend that will affect the city. However, constraints will come in terms of the finances that will be channeled to the project leaving a vulnerability in the management of the health crisis of malaria, HIV/AIDS, TB, and now probably Ebola. These constraints may make the issue of the project lose its importance (Bosch et al., 2011).
There are various instances of research, evidence, figures and comparisons that will need to be considered for the project on the city’s behalf. The city will really need a water park due to the decreased reliance and safety of water;
This a project that will improve on the number of people that are accessing improved drinking water, especially compared with urban growth;
Fig: Urban population gaining access to improved drinking-water compared to urban population growth 1990-2008 (Economist, 2003)
Consider the case of water pricing for a majority of Southern Tasmania urban areas was based on land value. There was a Regulator requirement for two part pricing (service fee and volumetric consumption fee) by 1 July 2012. Therefore, 52,000 meters water meters needed to be installed. Project Management applying a purpose-developed Geographic Information System streamlined the installation of 52,000 meters in just 12 months (Economist, 2003).
I hope this comparison will provide a merit on the best move regarding the project.
Planning Staff Member,
Memorandum on Possible Plans for a Publicly Funded References
Bosch, Christophe, Hommann, Kirsten, Rubio, Gloria M., Sadoff, Claudia and Travers, Lee (2011), “Water, Sanitation and Poverty”, Intussen,[Accessed November 25, 2014]
Deutsche Welle (2011), “Water is a Human Right, UN Says”, Deutsche Welle,[Accessed July 11, 2011]
Economist (2003), “Private Passions”, Economist Magazine, [accessed November 25, 2014]
Foshee, Jack, et al. (2007), “Thirsty for Change: Concidering Water Privatization in Developing Nations”, Columbia University, [Accessed November 25, 2014]
Philippe, Marin (2009), “Public-Private Partnerships for Urban Water Utilities”, World Bank, [Accessed July 11, 2011]
U.S. Geological Survey. “Estimated Use of Water in the United States in 2000: Public Supply.” February 7, 2005. Accessed November 25, 2014.
World Bank (2011), “Paraguay – Community Based Rural Water Systems and the Development of Village Committees”, World Bank, [Accessed November 25, 2014].
Question 2
If the document that I authored was signed into law but was faulty in the fact that it had hazardous, even death impacts due to contamination of resources on the third world countries, definitely, this is a decision made on public interest that will have social, political, and ethical implications.
Politically, this is a case whereby as an international player, the region that signed this legislation into law was initially unaware that their productions will ultimately have a child-labor component in the third world. Straightforward and simple, it is clear that the region does not have much authority to control what happens in the third world region since it is governed by a different legislation (Duke, 2010.). The political economy of a place plays a very major role as per capita income in the determination of the child labor level in the region. The political implications are that the third world regions practicing child labor should be coerced to increase their prosperity levels because this will reduce the incidence of child labor the total workforce proportion. Child labor cannot be eliminated with just one political legislation that bans the exercise,, it is argued the elimination of child labor may leave then at a worse of a position than they were. The political system in these regions are defective and it is not a fault of the legislation because ultimately wealth cannot explain or determine the child labor incidence and proportion of children in the workforce and the hazardous exposure; it is actually a structural reflection of the local economy and although most of the time it is correlated with poverty, most of the time it is determined by economical local structures, production and finance, as well as cultural practices and norms (Duke, 2010.). The regions will need to involve their political tenets to stimulate economic growth to increase demand for adult, skilled labor and increased educational returns, besides incorporating measures to curb hazardous waste impact on the locals. It is all about government policy in these regions, exclusion of children from the formal sector setting does not imply they are precluded from working, nor does excluding industrial recycling from these regions increase the safety levels; it’s all about poor environmental and labor policing in these countries. This logic is hard to sink, and this may result to the third world region blaming it on the region that signed the legislation into law (Duke, 2010).
Socially, these child labor practices and instances of negatively impacting hazardous waste will change the lives of the third world locals by a very big proportion. These practices will result to significant financial losses as a result of health complications caused by the industrial activities. This will be a significant blow to this local economy (Lee, 2013). Surprisingly, workers will still work no matter the condition of the work environments and the impact they have on them, even for the child laborers. A National Hazardous Waste management Pan should be provided to these regions as a suggestion to improve the management of hazardous waste, while borrowing from the progress that has already been achieved by the local policy as well as the legislative changes that have been incorporated before this recycling efforts were introduced. These efforts will be targeted in enabling prevention collection, regulation, self-sufficiency, and legacy issues in terms of child labor, guidance and awareness, implementation of the suggested plan, and public consultation and involvement in any policies that will impact their lives by this magnitude in the future (Lee, 2013). This is a firm that generates negative externalities and that will need to consider its effects of its location on the surrounding population and social environment since their respective neighbors have a right to demand for compensation from the impacts of the hazardous waste as well as increase the transaction costs of location. It is clear that the region that signed this legislation into law varies both in value individuals place on the environment and in the residents ability to organize socially. Firms like this one that process hazardous waste, when making a decision on where to expand capacity, should put into account the variations in the potential for the collective action against the negative impacts of the waste and the child labor instances (Lee, 2013).
There are of course ethical concerns regarding the negative impacts of the waste firm and the incidence of child labor in the third world countries. The issue discussed in the scenario involves three principles that are directly related to ethical issues regarding child labor and inappropriate waste management: protection beyond national borders; protection of future generations; and the burdens of future generations. Radioactive waste should be managed in such a way that it should make sure that possible effects of the radioactive waste on the human health and the environment beyond national borders is taken into account. This is a part that the signed legislation failed to consider (Bogard, 2009). In regard to protection of future generations, hazardous waste should be managed in these third world countries in such a way that the predicted environmental, health and beyond impacts will not exceed the relevant impact levels that are acceptable in the third world region. This is legislation that was signed into law, and unfortunately, it will result into a burden for future generations if not checked. It is a provisions for the region that signed the legislation into law to assist the third world regions impacted by hazardous waste and child labor to manage the waste firm such that it will not impose burdens on their generations in future, at least they owe them that for a faulty legislation (Bogard, 2009).
In conclusion, the political, social and ethical implications of the child labor practices and the negative impacts of hazardous waste exposure are manifold. The legislation needed to have put into considerations these loopholes before signing it into law. A collective effort from this regions to the third world countries where the impact is felt will ensure successful mitigation of these negative implications, fast forward even, the law might be pulled down if this trends cannot be contained (Bogard, 2009).
Memorandum on Possible Plans for a Publicly Funded References
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Top of BottBogard, W.C (2009). Bringing theory to hazards research: conditions and consequences of the mitigation of environmental hazards. Sociological perspectives. 31, 147-68.
Duke, L. (2010.). Pollution Prevention and Hazardous Waste Management in Two Industrial Metal Finishing Facilities. Hazardous Waste and Hazardous Materials, 435-457.
Lee, S. (2013). Development of an above-grade hazardous waste disposal facility for future hazardous waste management. Waste Management, 336-336.
