A Municipal Instrument

Disclaimer:

Governing a city is a complex mix of high level management and grass roots politics. So, I'm going to ignore all that and just list terms that I think are important to the average mayor or citizen. In case you are wondering, I am not a mayor and hope never to be one. I do, however, consider it my business to tell them how to do their job, just like everyone else.

For the purpose of this design, the 'mayor' is the person who ultimately runs the city. This person may be called a "city executive" or some other appropriately gaudy title, but I'm going with the shorter word.

This design focuses on the local level, but I assume that the basic functional areas are similar at all levels of government. This assumption is appropriately part of the Disclaimer section.

The Urban Map

This design uses eight facets of city governance. Some of these things may also be controlled at the county, state or national level, but the mayor still has to factor these functions into her plans.

This design uses the following eight Types:

Controlling Functions (motivators)

Bureaucracy

This is really what controls everything, faceless people doing mundane things. The elected officials are just the icing on the cake. Bureaucrats are omnipresent and eternal. They actually keep things running while the vicissitudes of politics swirl around them. 

A mayor that does not control the Bureaucracy does not control the city. In place of 'control' I could also have said 'understand', 'support' or even 'satisfy'.

Planning

All cities change over time. If these changes are not anticipated and controlled, they will trend towards entropy (which is a bad thing from an organizational point of view). Planning should cover expansion, recession, daily operation, emergencies and windfalls. All Plans are contingency plans. 

Planning includes information collection and interfaces with national or international businesses, other city governments and other levels of government.

Regulation

The police are usually the most visible part of this function, but they are not the only part. Regulation includes creating, administering and enforcing the laws. Real estate zoning, fire safety, traffic control, public safety and sanitation are all important areas that have to be Regulated.

Once an offender has been identified, the offense must be documented and verified (in court) and the offender must be punished and rehabilitated. This last step is the most important part of the entire process because the most common type of offender is the repeat offender. Without rehabilitation, enforcement is simply vindictive.

Emergency

Go ahead, make all the Regulations you want. Life is chaotic at best (as opposed to death, which is totally predictable). When things go wrong, you have to respond. Your electorate expect to be rescued, even when they are the sole cause of their dilemma. Any survivors and the victims` friends and relatives will complain if you don't protect them from themselves (and from violent acts of nature, which happen much less frequently).

Supporting Functions (satisfiers)

Education

In the long run, this is the most important method of keeping a city viable. Ignorant people do short sighted things. An educated electorate will usually prefer competent politicians (although ethical politicians do seem to be short supply).

Athletics

Athletics is the best form of "bread and circuses". People need something to occupy them when they aren't working. Amateur and semi-professional sports provide a (relatively) drug and alcohol free way to sublimate the violent urges that exist within all of us (yes, I'm looking at you). 

If people participate in casual competitive or noncompetitive sports they will be healthier and happier which will lower the burden on the social services functions. Health care is divided between the Athletics and Emergency functions.

Information Access

The electorate should be able to easily get information about any facet of government that does not directly encroach upon the privacy of private citizens. This will also undercut local 'news' outlets ability to 'spin' isolated events into major scandals (unless the mayor really is corrupt or incompetent).

This design incorporates the interfaces needed by the public to access governmental information.

Utilities

These are things such as water, sewer, power, traffic control, public transportation, etc. Utilities may be contracted out to the private sector, but the mayor has to make sure that they are Regulated and available to citizens to support their legitimate needs. If Utilities are not available, over priced or inadequate,  the people who are capable will leave and your population will be reduced to the indigent and the incapable.

"Little Boxes on the Hillside"

This block would require the Business, Law, Sport, Education and Employment laths. That would put it somewhere in the #76 Specialization area.

The terms are organized into four tables, each containing four sub-tables (or banks) which consist of sixteen cells. Each cell contains a command, a keyword or a link depending on usage.  The headings before the four tables below and the (unique) element combinations that define each sub-table's purpose show the Controlling divisions. The four dark rows within each table separate the sub-categories or banks and contain the (repeating) four Supporting element combinations that define the meaning of each individual cell.

This design only shows positive terms. Negative terms would be the opposite of each 'passive' term listed below. If the term is 'active', the negative form will invoke the function or be used to capture the state or current value.

Cell #00 contains the name of this block of terms, it is used to create the Specialization "Table of Contents". If you select cell #00, you will lock-in this block of terms and you will need to unplug Command Mode to exit, even if these terms aren't commands. I can't think of a reason to select cell #00 that doesn't involve using the Table of Contents to lock-in this block of terms, so I don't see this as a problem.

The "Quick Access" sub-table is the default because that is where the majority of citizens will obtain and provide information. These are the "Left Hand Only" indices (#0[0-F]). The "Right Hand Only" indices are the first (#[0-F]0) Terms in each sub-table. Notice also that '5' and 'D' are the most awkward finger combinations so they are used for less critical events (ideally).

There are still several place-holders left in the tables above because I am not familiar enough with the inner workings of the machinery of government. Licensing and Inspection could probably be combined into a single sub-table, but I'm not sure how the remaining space would be used.

Some of these terms would be links to other vocabulary blocks where their subject matter could be explored in detail. This is a very high level view of Government commensurate with my vague notion of "how Things get Done".