Browsing by Author "McGovern, Stephen J., 1959-"

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    A Formula for Success? Utilizing Culture in Social Movements: The Civil Rights Movement, the Antiwar Movement, and the Music of the 1960's
    (2000) Haines, Jeffrey A.; McGovern, Stephen J., 1959-
    Everyone who was alive at the time with access to a television certainly can remember the events that transpired the night of April 29, 1992. That marked the night of the unforgettable Rodney King beating at the hand of the Los Angeles Police Department, and an aerial camera was there to capture those unbelievable proceedings blow-by-blow. It did not take long for the video to soon be broadcast on every news report in the nation, nor did it take long for the black community of Los Angeles to initiate riots in response to acquittal of the white policemen accused of the beating. For every face, white or black, who viewed the images from that video, acquittal did not seem to be the likely verdict and the masses certainly voiced their displeasure through their actions. Millions of dollars in damage was done to the city courtesy of fires, looting, and general violence and vandalism. Though the case was quickly re-tried and the policemen were then found guilty for the unnecessary beating of Mr. King, no one will ever forget that tape. Even upon reviewing the video or simply observing a single image of the beating again some time later, those brutal moments of anger and rage can quickly paint all of the events that ensued as a result back into one's mind as if it had just happened. The beating of Mr. Rodney King is just one example of how a social movement, no matter how large or how small, can use culture to its advantage in achieving its goals. But does this theory hold true across the board in relating to all social movements? What methods are most effective, why are they effective, and is it possible to augur them before they actually happen? In the following pages we will attempt to answer these questions, first by studying how four sets of established scholars in the field of culture and social movements have answered them. They are Ron Eyerman and Andrew Jameson, David Snow et al. and Robert Benford, William Gamson, and Todd Gitlin. Then, in an attempt to answer the question ourselves, we will investigate the music of the 1960's and the effect it had on the Civil Rights Movement and the Antiwar Movement as our case studies. Finally, drawing from the established theories in addition to the information we have gathered from the case studies, we will ultimately determine how social movements consistently utilize culture in fulfilling the goals it sets out to accomplish.
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    A New Vision for Public Schools: Reforming Urban Public Education Magnet & Charter Schools
    (2004) Cummings, Sherine; McGovern, Stephen J., 1959-
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    An Investigation into Philadelphia's Opioid Crisis
    (2022) Roth, Hannah; McGovern, Stephen J., 1959-
    My thesis is on potential solutions to the opioid crisis in Philadelphia, and specifically the Kensington neighborhood. The opioid epidemic continues to destroy the lives and livelihoods of drug users and their loved ones. It recently was announced that over 100,000 Americans died from drug overdoses between 2020 and 2021 alone, with the CDC estimating that about 75% of these deaths were from opioids. I focus on the crisis in Philadelphia and specifically the Kensington neighborhood, the epicenter of Philly's epidemic. Upon finding a broad consensus amongst scholars about effective solutions to the crisis, a major puzzle remains: What is getting in the way of more progress? If anything, the opioid crisis in Philadelphia has only worsened in the past few years, despite the election of a progressive Democrat, Mayor Jim Kenney, who ran on addressing the city's startling opioid epidemic and has been sympathetic to those impacted by it. I set out to answer this question by investigating Philadelphia's opioid epidemic in an open-minded fashion––interviewing people involved in the crisis from all different angles and perspectives––to identify the major barriers stalling the alleviation of this dire public health crisis. I hypothesized that there are two key sets of barriers preventing more progress: bureaucratic and political ones. I found that the classification of political and bureaucratic obstacles is not fully accurate. There is a lot of overlap between these two barriers, and therefore I divided the identified barriers into more distinct groups. These consist of minor bureaucratic problems, flawed policies, problematic approaches, and ongoing political challenges. To overcome these barriers, I provided nine recommendations to the mayor: (1) bring back drug court, but reform it; (2) fund research and development to help treatment catch up to the changing drug supply; (3) cut down on relations with CBH. Make the assessment process like nearby counties and as simple as making a phone call; (4) incentivize treatment providers to fill slots; (5) open a safe injection site in a hospital and hire independent evaluators. Or, heavily invest in community engagement and potential concessions if a SIS is to be put in a residential area; (6) expand peer support services for people in recovery; (7) create a drug czar position; (8) update the public and relevant departments monthly on the opioid crisis and what your priorities are for the upcoming month; and (9) invest in an excellent drug education program in schools.
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    Analysis of Oppositional Frames in Evaluating Movement Success: National and Local Debates Over Sex Education Programming
    (2009) Finkel, Lauren; McGovern, Stephen J., 1959-
    This thesis attempts to add to framing theory by identifying a cleavage in the types of framing strategies employed by social movement actors. A thorough analysis of the framing literature reveals that social movement actors either engage in proactive or reactive framing. Proactive framing involves creating new, previously unused frames, while reactive framing is the process through which social movement actors recycle frames. In order to fully understand these different framing strategies, I argue that scholars have to look at oppositional movements in conversation with each other. To further explore this idea, I pull two recent case studies from the contemporary sex education debate—one which explores funding legislation at the federal level, and other which analyzes a debate over curriculum content in Montgomery County, MD.
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    Analyzing Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy in Lancaster City and Hazleton PA
    (2020) Warner, Elizabeth; McGovern, Stephen J., 1959-
    In America today it is perceived that big coastal cities are places of refuge for immigrants and refugees. National policies are targeting marginalized groups so it would make sense to think that big coastal cities, under the leadership of more progressive mayors, would be a safe haven. Whereas places in rural America are thought to be hostile to immigrants and refugee. But instead there are many smaller cities in red areas that are taking in high numbers of both immigrants and refugees. The BBC reported that Lancaster, one of the cities that I will study, brought in 20 times more refugees per capita than any other city in the United States (Strasser, 2017). Hazleton, the other city I will study saw a significant rise of immigrants from 2000 to 2010. The Standard Speaker, Hazleton's local paper, reported that in 2010 23.8 percent of Hazleton's population was counted as Hispanic, four times higher than in 2000 (Staub, 2010). Both of these small, rural, and Pennsylvanian cities are in counties that Donald Trump won in 2016. This thesis is addressing two research questions. The first one is: Why are small and rural cities more friendly to immigrants and refugees? For this research question I will be looking at two case studies: Lancaster City and Hazleton, PA. I will be using census data, newspaper articles, and a few interviews. Hopefully this research will show why these two cities are welcoming refugees and immigrants and will push other small cities to be more welcoming. Lancaster City and Hazleton are prospering right now so it was clearly the right choice for these cities. Why shouldn't other smaller cities do the same? As mentioned before both of these cities are in red counties. Why are these cities defying their county norm and being welcoming to refugees and immigrants? We will see that Lancaster City has a historical precedent for being welcoming. But the city is also aging and provides affordable housing and good paying jobs for immigrants and refugees. Hazleton made national headlines after trying to implement unconstitutional anti-immigrant laws. Immigrants continued to flock to Hazleton regardless of these laws because of the job opportunities and affordable housing that Hazleton provided. Coming from Gateway cities like New York City and Philadelphia Hazleton was their shot of owning a home, the American dream. My second research question is: What do cities do after immigrants and refugees arrive: What is the most effective way to help? I will, again, be looking at two case studies for this question, Lancaster City and Hazleton. For this research question I will be looking at newspaper articles and interviews. It is not enough to be welcoming to immigrants and refugees. Once they get here the city needs to react and make the city work for them. Are advocacy groups in Lancaster City and Hazleton getting things accomplished? If they are then other cities can look to these cities and take their strategies. These cities being in red counties brings up another problem. If the cities are welcoming immigrants and refugees to their city, but then cutting resources and benefits will that really be in the best interest for immigrants and refugees moving there? While I originally thought that Lancaster City would provide better results from advocacy it will be shown that Hazleton was more successful at organizing and producing change. This thesis will shed light on why smaller cities are being welcoming to refugees and immigrants and how these cities react to advocacy from these groups. If more and more cities across the United States would be more welcoming it would be for the benefit of their individual city. Smaller and more rural cities across America are seeing their populations decrease. If these cities are attractive to immigrants and refugees they can see their populations rise and their cities flourish once again. More importantly, these immigrants and refugees need to be able to hold their elected officials accountable and get policies passed that would help them prosper. Cities across America, not just gateway cities, are welcoming immigrants and refugees in and it is an important new area of research. These small cities are seeing examples of successful advocacy that also needs to be researched more fully. Hopefully much more research will come in the future.
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    Are Rural Massachusetts Communities “Bowling Alone?” An Investigation of Civic Engagement, Political Participation, and Partisanship in the Massachusetts Hilltowns
    (2023) Hueston, Katherine; McGovern, Stephen J., 1959-
    As of 2016, states containing only 17% of the United States population had the power to elect a U.S. Senate majority, meaning the most rural states have the power to decide who controls the Senate and the Presidency (Badger 2016). Given rural voters’ outsized power, it is critical to note their majority support for the Republican Party, as 54% of rural voters surveyed by Pew Research Center in 2018 leaned Republican (Parker et al. 2018). In contrast, young rural people are relatively liberal, as 47% of rural youth supported Biden in 2020, though only 38% of the rural population at-large supported him (“How Rural Youth Voted in the 2020 Presidential Election”). However, 60% of rural youth also live in “civic deserts,” where lack of access to civic education, civic affairs, and digital resources makes participation in civic and political life more challenging (“Civic Deserts: 60% of Rural Millennials Lack Access to a Political Life;” Kay and Kalkar 2020). If increasing civic engagement in rural communities to bring people out of “civic deserts” leads to increased political participation and Democratic partisanship, left-leaning policymakers have a vested interest in understanding how civic engagement could be utilized as a political and electoral tool. It is, therefore, of interest to scholars and policymakers, alike, to better understand the role rural youth play in American politics, leading me to ask: what are the factors influencing the political participation of young rural voters, and, specifically, how do these factors account for partisan shifts of the group? The existing literature on rural youth political participation and partisanship is largely bifurcated into research on rural political participation and partisanship and youth political participation and partisanship. Potential explanations for rural political participation and partisanship include socioeconomic status (Verba and Nie 1972; Verba, Schlozman, and Brady 1995), rural consciousness (Cramer 2016), civic engagement (Putnam 2000; Kahn 2023), and proximity to urban centers (Gimpel et al. 2020). Efforts to explain youth political participation and partisanship posit socioeconomic status (Rouse and Ross 2018), recruitment by political elites (Rosenstone and Hansen 1996), current events and generational attitudes (Lowrey 2022), new technology and social media (Smith 2013), and civic engagement (or lack thereof) (CIRCLE; Zukin et al. 2006) as potential players in youth political and partisan habits. Robert Putnam’s research in Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (2000) ultimately inspired me to consider how civic engagement may be causally related to both political participation and partisanship for rural youth, a potential relationship that has seldom been studied in political science. So, to evaluate a potential causal relationship among these variables, I hypothesized, H-1: if rural towns have higher levels of civic engagement, they will have higher rates of political participation, which will then lead to higher levels of Democratic partisanship. Furthermore, to examine a potential causal relationship among these variables for rural youth, I posited a second hypothesis, H-2: in rural towns that are predominantly Democrat, where one town has a higher rate of youth civic engagement and the other has a lower rate of youth civic engagement, the town with a higher rate of civic engagement will have higher levels of youth political participation, which will also result in higher rates of Democratic young voters. I conducted case studies of three demographically similar towns (Becket, Chester, and Chesterfield) in a rural region in western Massachusetts called the Hilltowns (Fig. 1). The Hilltowns are home to greater partisan diversity than Massachusetts at-large, with a number of communities voting Republican, including Chester, which went for President Trump in 2020, while Becket and Chesterfield went for President Biden. I conducted interviews with residents in each town, asking them questions regarding their civic engagement, political participation, partisanship, and their perceptions of how civic engagement may be a contributing factor to their political participation and partisan choices. To evaluate H-1, I compared the results of my interviews across the three towns in an effort to draw a causal relationship between high levels of civic engagement, increased political participation, and greater Democratic partisanship. I found in all three towns that residents who are civically engaged are more likely to be politically engaged, as well as be more Democratic. The opportunities for civic engagement in each town differed significantly, based on resources available, but for all three, it became apparent that there is a small portion of the population that devotes itself to civic affairs, while most people remain unengaged from civic engagement and local political participation, especially. Ultimately, I found a link between those who are already civically engaged, political participation, and Democratic partisanship, though socioeconomic status, which influences one’s ability to participate civically, also plays a role in whether and how people engage civically and participate politically. Thus, socioeconomic status became an apparent contributor to residents’ propensity to participate civically and politically. I had a more difficult time evaluating H-2. To evaluate this hypothesis, I anticipated speaking with youth in Becket and Chesterfield, both Democratic, to see whether the town with greater youth civic engagement saw even more youth political participation and higher levels of youth Democratic partisanship. Given the time constraints of this project, however, I found it very challenging to make inroads with young people, especially those ages 18-25, in both towns. I did speak to one high school senior who works with the local newspaper in Becket, who told me he believes young people are civically engaged, though the types of activities people partake in are often connected with their existing political ideologies; young people care far more about national than local politics; and that those who are left-leaning are increasingly leaving the Hilltowns, with few draws to keep them in the region. Meanwhile, I was able to disseminate a survey regarding civic engagement, political participation, and partisanship at the high school Chesterfield is part of. However, of the nine students who completed my survey, none were from Chesterfield because it is a regional school. This made extrapolating results particularly difficult, as I cannot say the beliefs expressed by students in other communities are generalizable to Chesterfield. So, I was not able to conclude that youth civic engagement, political participation, and partisanship are causally tied, primarily because of the time constraints I faced. While I found socioeconomic status, as well as rural consciousness, to be additional factors influencing rural civic engagement, political participation, and partisanship, I did still find a relationship between those who are civically engaged and those who are more politically engaged. I believe the limitations of my study were, first and foremost, my challenges reaching rural youth, and also my limited view of political participation, which did not account for more informal political activities, like discussing current events or following political news online. My limitations clear the way for future scholars to use a broader definition of political engagement to understand how civic engagement, political engagement, and partisanship may be causally linked. Additionally, future scholars could consider the role socioeconomic status plays in young rural residents’ abilities and propensities to engage in civic and political affairs. I believe this research is only the beginning of further investigations into the role of civic engagement as a potential influence on partisan identity, especially for young rural voters, who represent the future of American democracy
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    Because the Internet: Political Knowledge and Engagement in the New Media Environment
    (2015) Greifeld, Katherine; McGovern, Stephen J., 1959-
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    Becoming Social Justice Activists in Church: An Account of Resources that Lead to Heightened Mobilization for Progressive Causes Among White Suburban Protestant Congregations
    (2021) Coen Gilbert, Dexter; McGovern, Stephen J., 1959-
    Often unseen, faith-based institutions and organizations in the United States today mobilize for progressive causes in ways that vitally contribute to grassroots democracy. Most scholars approaching the topic of congregational mobilization do so through analyzing how clergy, outside organizations, or lay members push their church to act for a given cause. This thesis, alternatively, examines the role of specific resources in predicting a heightened level of mobilization for progressive causes among white suburban Protestant congregations. Through interviews with members of four churches in the suburbs of Philadelphia, I identify four resources (personal and collective identity, connections, and clergy tenure) that have an impact on the level of mobilization a church is likely to achieve for progressive causes. This mobilization occurs through what I label personal and political mobilization, both of which are of great value in fighting against inequality in the United States.
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    Charter schools: a Philadelphia study
    (2002) Enkishev, Ilya; McGovern, Stephen J., 1959-
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    Communities, Coalitions, and Cash: Strategies for Equity-Based School Finance Reform
    (2012) Donofrio, Gemma; McGovern, Stephen J., 1959-
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    Community Policing and the Persistent Racial Gap in Community-Police Relations
    (2011) Morrill, Molly; McGovern, Stephen J., 1959-
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    Compromise within Coercion: A System for Eliciting Municipal Compliance within the Realm of Affordable Housing and Integration
    (2018) Louis, Devin; McGovern, Stephen J., 1959-
    While de facto segregation of US neighborhoods is the product of many historical forces, most of them overtly and violently racist, more recent attempts to segregate suburbs, such as realtors’ use of racial steering techniques in forming neighborhoods, landlords’ rent setting, and the use of income exclusionary zoning laws, have been largely economic in appearance and more insidious in their racism. The topic I address is how the current segregation of many wealthy, white, American suburbs by race and class manifests itself in part in the lack of affordable housing options available in such areas. The research question I ask is thus, how should the local governments of these suburbs be approached in order to best ensure the development of affordable housing option within their borders? This thesis is significant because it addresses residential segregation, an issue relevant to scholars, but also looks at policy and affordable housing development in a way that is relevant to legislative bodies and can result in tangible changes to the homes accessible for many low- and middle-income families in US suburbs. My literature review showed that the key debate is how pressure suburbs, to best elicit their compliance in the process of promoting residential integration. Most scholars argue that suburbs must be coerced, through having state bodies oversee them and take them to state courts when they do not make substantive effort to create their own affordable housing initiatives. Others think to incentivize suburbs through economic rewards for developing affordable housing, and a few think about the prospect of compromise between state and local government, with mutual concessions and consideration of suburbs’ needs in such processes. However these scholars always think about incentivizing and cooperation as alternatives to coercion. I agree with most scholars in that the amount of coercion used by state governments, builders, and affordable housing advocates towards local governments positively corresponds to the probability that they develop affordable housing. However, where I differ from other scholars, in my hypothesis, is that I contend that compromise with local governments at a limited capacity within this coercive framework of accountability brings the highest probability that suburbs will develop affordable housing. My case study was the state of New Jersey. Within it I focused on three time periods, 1985 – 1999, 2000 – 2014, and 2015 – 2018, and throughout those time periods I focused on two suburbs, Mount Laurel and South Brunswick, to illustrate general trends that I also researched. I sought out all existing data on affordable housing development collected by the sate, and when that proved to be limited, I supplemented it with data from specific scholarly studies and court documents. I also interviewed a mix of eight experts, including housing scholars, city planners and attorneys for municipalities, affordable housing developers, and affordable housing advocacy groups. I attempted to compare how the usage of coercion, incentivizing, and cooperation between the three periods demonstrates the effectiveness of any of these strategies. I found that, in periods of time where coercion was the only mechanism for eliciting development of affordable housing in suburbs, most suburbs that came into contact with the coercive system were likely to develop at least a plan for building affordable housing, and many others built actual affordable housing units when they were sued for using exclusionary zoning tactics. However, within these time periods, progress towards getting affordable housing built was slow in becoming widespread among suburbs, because each individual suburb had to be taken to court. What my thesis also found was that periods without any coercive framework, in which suburbs could be taken to court for failing to plan for or build affordable housing, often had low levels of affordable housing development from municipalities. Essentially, the absence of coercion, even with incentives and avenues for cooperation, was ineffective in ensuring the development of affordable housing. Ultimately, the most interesting finding of my thesis was that, within time periods where a coercive system was implemented, when state agencies provided avenues for cooperation with suburban municipalities, there was a higher level of affordable housing development within shorter periods of time, in terms of both planning and actual construction. This often took the form of municipalities fearing the threat of coercion, and opting to cooperate when doing so might give them more flexibility and control over how they developed affordable housing. Even if they were reluctant to develop affordable housing, most municipalities preferred to cooperate when it was clear that they would ultimately have to build such housing. This proactive behavior from municipalities also resulted in more construction of affordable housing units in a shorter period of time, since every suburb did not have to wait through long court processes to eventually be forced to build. The significance of my finding on cooperation is that it provides an avenue for scholars to research how municipalities can be harnessed, in certain situations, as cooperative and helpful in their own affordable housing development, instead of always having to regard them as wholly adversarial in the process. This finding can also be used by various parties to affordable housing development, including builders, advocates, and state agencies, to develop practice and policy that will be more effective in ultimately getting affordable housing physically built. However, one limitation to my research is that my findings cannot be fully generalized because of the small number of case studies that I used, due to the lack of a central hub for data and information in the case of New Jersey. Further research on strategies used to elicit affordable housing development from suburbs, which also is able to go through the process of examining more case studies, could better prove my cooperation hypothesis on a general scale, outside of New Jersey.
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    Confronting Accountability: A Call for Achievable Alternatives to No Child Left Behind
    (2010) Brichter, Ashley; McGovern, Stephen J., 1959-
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    Considering Political Opportunity Structure : Democratic Complicity and the Antiwar Movement
    (2006) Morgan, Katrina; McGovern, Stephen J., 1959-
    This thesis is concerned with the emergence and growth of social movements. In particular, it enters the debate on the political opportunity structure that is thought to influence social movement activity. It answers the question: what political conditions facilitate social movement emergence and growth? This thesis studies the case of the Iraq Antiwar Movement, and considers three political factors, the level of access to the political system, political efficacy, and the abandonment of expected elite allies to the cause. This question is especially important when one considers the importance of dissent as an indicator of the condition of democracy. Understanding the hurdles faced by dissent in the United States can explain and predict social movement activity, as well as evaluating the condition of democracy.
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    Cops Amidst a Crisis: An Inside Look at Rochester, New York’s Approach to Responding to Mental Health Crises
    (2024) Pelish, Buddy; McGovern, Stephen J., 1959-
    Death has become too common of a result when police arrive on the scene of mental health crises, even though not all of the deaths receive national attention. Not only can these encounters result in deaths, but they may also result in an endless cycle of incarceration, and thus lack of treatment, for individuals experiencing a mental health crisis or that are likely to experience a mental health crisis. My thesis seeks to answer the question, “what role, if any, should police have in responding to mental health crises?” In attempting to answer this questions, scholars have aligned with one of three schools of thought. One school of thought, which argues that police should have a large role given that they have received mental health and de-escalation training, maintains that police officers are often the first to arrive on scene. On the other hand, some scholars contend that police should have no role in responses, and that only mental health professionals should arrive on the scene of a crisis. I align with a third school of thought, which states that police should play a complementary role when responding to mental health crises. I hypothesize that an enhanced police presence alongside other experts leads to successful outcomes during mental health crises responses. In order to evaluate this hypothesis, I look at the city of Rochester, New York. Following the death of Daniel Prude, the city of Rochester and the Rochester Police Department experienced changes in how they respond to mental health crises. My hypothesis is for the most part confirmed, in that an enhanced police presence alongside other mental health experts will lead to successful outcomes, but this is not always the case. This is to say that there is not a one-size fits all in terms of responses to mental health crises, and that there are several other factors that can determine which response is the best course of action. These findings can be generalizable for police departments and cities across the country, especially those that have experienced instances of police misconduct and ensuing political and social changes. Overall, police departments and cities should pay close attention to how they decide to implement and develop new approaches to mental health crises.
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    Crime Control, Civil Liberties, and Policy Implementation: An Analysis of the New York City Police Department's Stop and Frisk Program, 1994-2013
    (2014) Lubelczyk, Colin; McGovern, Stephen J., 1959-
    My thesis will seek to provide an overview of the relevant arguments that comprise the stop and frisk debate before applying independent research to a more specific research question. It will begin with a historical background section that will provide an overview of Terry vs. Ohio, the landmark 1968 Supreme Court case that first authorized stop and frisk, before summarizing the ways in which the tactic's use has changed over time. The subsequent section is a literature review that summarizes the scholarship that has sought to answer the following two research questions: 1) is stop and frisk an effective law enforcement tactic? 2) has stop and frisk been implemented fairly in respect to constitutional and minority rights? Following the literature review is a brief research design section that introduces a new research question, case studies, and methodology. The final sections offer an in depth description and analysis of stop and frisk implementation in New York City during two case studies, 1994-2001 and 2001-2013. These sections seek to answer the research question: what variables determine the fairness of an urban stop and frisk program?
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    Democratizing Transit Planning: The Role of Democratic Planning in Overcoming Obstacles to Equitable Transit Policy
    (2024) Graves, Will; McGovern, Stephen J., 1959-
    Americans rely on transportation in almost every aspect of their daily lives, whether it be working, shopping, visiting friends, attending church or going to the doctor. Yet, for more than a century, many have struggled to overcome the effects of inequitable transportation policy. There is great concern among scholars and policymakers that some Americans lack the basic necessity of transportation. However, local transportation policies often create inequities instead of improving them. This thesis investigates how to overcome obstacles to equitable transportation policy. Significant attention in transit equity is focused on determining guidelines for achieving equitable transit outcomes, yet there is less attention on how equity best-practices succeed within the politics of public transit planning. While the Biden administration has taken important steps to remedy inequitable transit policy, the efforts of local government officials to realize and act upon these efforts indicates the most important aspect for overcoming obstacles and establishing equitable public transit. Thus, I decided to focus specifically on the role of democracy within the planning process. I performed a comparative case study of recent transit policy in Gwinnett County, one of Atlanta’s core metropolitan counties, and the second most populous county in the State of Georgia. As metropolitan areas experience increasing inversion, my research sheds light on the importance of local politics in shaping local transit policy. My case analysis suggests that a focus on democratic planning can yield equitable policy. Further, government officials play the most important role in advancing a democratic planning process. Despite limitations, my research reveals the extent to which the election of local politicians can impact the desired transit outcomes of the public, and the integral role of local elections for advancing transit equity. I provide important insights into who wields power in the public transit planning process, and how to advance equitable public transit through the complex political landscape of American metropolitan areas.