The Rule of Choice: How economic theories from the 1950s became technologically embedded, politically contested urban policy in New York City from 2002-2013 John Haynal West Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy under the Executive Committee of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Columbia University 2016 Copyright 2016 John Haynal West Some rights reserved This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License http:// creativecommons.org/license/by-nc-sa/4.0/ Abstract The Rule of Choice: How economic theories from the 1950s became technologically embedded, politically contested urban policy in New York City from 2002-2013 John West To rule through choice is to create differentiated options for urban citizens who use public infrastructure and to produce information and price signals that guide decisions. It treats urban residents as rational consumers of public goods. Economists, planners and activists developed the rhetoric and tools of choice over the course of a half-century. This strategy moved from the fringes of planning and policy making to become widely accepted and adopted. How did this manifestation of choice become central to urban policy? What are the consequences of policies that emphasize individual choice? What can be done to make them conform to the ethical standards of planning? The dissertation that follows focuses on the origins and development of choice-based policy-making and the public dispute over it in New York City. Two cases elucidate the rule of choice. School choice and congestion pricing were signature policies for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (2002- 2013). In the 1950s two economists, William Vickrey and Milton Friedman, translated fundamental principles in that discipline into policy proposals in education and transportation governance. When the Bloomberg administration sought to govern education and roadway infrastructure through choice, this strategy became the source of public debate and deliberation. The history and contemporary politics of the two cases provide material for reflecting on core theoretical issues in planning, including the changing nature of liberalism, the meanings and uses of data and rationality and the role of the material world in producing and recreating modes of engaging with urban problems. Table of Contents List of Figure and Tables ............................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iii Chapter One: Who Decides What Counts? .................................................................................... 1 Chapter Two Literature Review .................................................................................................... 19 Chapter Three: Methodology ........................................................................................................ 42 Case I: Congestion Pricing............................................................................................................ 70 Chapter Four: An ‘Impractical and Futuristic’ Idea becomes a Plan that Interests the Mayor .... 74 Chapter Five: Congestion Pricing Goes Public .......................................................................... 108 Case II: Choice Merges with Accountability .............................................................................. 154 Chapter Six: A Brief History of School Choice: From Laissez-faire to a Corporate Model ..... 158 Chapter Seven: School Choice in The Bloomberg Era ............................................................... 210 Chapter Eight: Findings .............................................................................................................. 257 References ................................................................................................................................... 308 Appendices .................................................................................................................................. 365 i List of Figure and Tables Figures: Figure 1: Case Selection Venn-Diagram …………………………………………………….. 60 Figure 2: EZ-Pass Jurisdictions (2013) ……………………………………………………… 92 Figure 3: RPA Congestion Pricing Cordon ………………………………………………… 100 Figure 4: Gridlock or Growth Distribution of Revenue ……………………………………. 112 Figure 5: Gridlock or Growth Distribution of Congestion …………………………………. 114 Figure 6: NYC Congestion Pricing Zone Cordon ………………………………………….. 122 Figure 7: Analytic Process for Congestion Pricing ………………………………………… 135 Figure 8: Revised Congestion Pricing Proposal ……………………………………………. 138 Figure 9: New York City School Closures & Small School Locations ……………………. 218 Figure 10: Counts of High School Programs by Admissions Methods 2005-2012 ………... 221 Figure 11: High School Selection Process …………………………………………………. 225 Figure 12: Accountability Training Graphic 1 …………………………………………….. 235 Figure 13: Accountability Training Graphic 2 …………………………………………...... 237 Figure 14: Demographics of Closed Schools ……………………………………………... 253 Tables: Table 1: Typology of Data-driven Governance ……………………………………………... 53 Table 2: Primary Research Interview Summary …………………………………………….. 65 Table 3: Comparison Scenarios …………………………………………………………….. 104 Table 4: RPA Plan Revenue Estimates …………………………………………………….. 105 Table 5: Brodsky Pricing Impact Estimates ………………………………………………... 127 Table 6: Type of High School by Admissions Criteria ……………………………………. 220 Table 7: School Performance Data ………………………………………………………… 224 Table 8: Expenditures on Office of Accountability ………………………………………… 234 Table 9: Percentage of Students Scoring Proficient or Better on State Assessments ……… 242 ii Acknowledgements I owe debts of gratitude to mentors and friends that I will strive to repay by offering them, my students and my future colleagues the same generosity showed to me. As an undergraduate I found inspiration for critical, humane thought as a Sociology at Kenyon College as a major studying with George MacCarthy, or “Mac” as he preferred to be called. I thank him for opening my eyes to the deep questions posed in the ‘cannon’ of humanist thought and it’s reinterpretation by 19th Century sociologists. This dissertation is strives to be an elaboration of the work that I began as a sophomore in Dreamers and Dissenters. Working as a planner, I returned to school at the University of Illinois Chicago, where I found my second intellectual home. Assisting Greg Schrock in the Center for Urban Economic Development, I was mentored into the practice of doing practical and academic research. I thought of our work together before almost every interview that I conducted for this thesis. Janet Smith modeled the work of an open, inclusive, and enthusiastic scholar. In her role as my thesis advisor, she helped me to ask important and relevant questions that continue to shape my work. With Phil Ashton and Rachel Weber, I have forged intellectual connections after graduation that have both broadened the scope of my work and improved the focus. In New York City, I was fortunate to be a part of several scholarly communities. I thank Moshe Adler for being an inspiring mentor and for introducing me to the labor study community at SUNY Van Arsedale. Through our annual pilgrimage to the Krueckeberg Doctoral Research Conference at Rutgers University, I learned how to present research in public and built relationships with fellow early career academics. Specifically, knowing and working with Ben iii Teresa and Juan Rivero has enhanced all of my work. At Columbia, the camaraderie of Eric Goldwyn and Dory Kornfeld made class discussion and thesis work engaging and lively. I thank my dissertation committee, Robert Beauregard, Debbie Becher, Lance Freeman, David King and Robert Lake. Their close reading and thoughtful comments during my defense will help me as I improve and use my work for future academic endeavors. Robert Lake’s role organizing the Kruekeberg Conference, and serving as the logistical and moral center of the Brooklyn Urban Reading Group has been immeasurably important for me and many other scholars in New York City. His detailed notes on sections of this dissertation helped me to improve and focus my argument. Robert Beauregard stands as my model for scholarship, collegiality and intellectual generosity. For the past seven years he has read and improved every piece of written work that I have produced. Any strengths of the dissertation that follows are largely due to his guidance. Over the course of a long intellectual project like writing a dissertation, life often changes in ways that make completion seem more difficult or even impossible. Two close friends made the process of enduring change compatible with the task of research and writing. Quentin Wiest and Saber Khan saw me through with camaraderie, support and, not insignificantly, by letting me crash on their respective couches at crucial moments. From both a practical and existential perspective, what follows has benefited from their generosity. iv DEDICATION To Ralph and Marlene West My father, Ralph West, gave me the gift of curiosity. I learned to be a researcher and a teacher by watching him ask good questions and, more importantly, listen closely to peoples’ answers. My mother, Marlene West, exemplified passion for justice and professionalism as a social worker caring for premature