ABSTRACT
As we grope toward more satisfactory criteria for urban public service decision making it is essential to keep in mind the relationship between the operations of the public and the private sectors. Indeed, our political philosophy leads us to consider the government to be, in some ultimate sense, a means whereby the members of the community can have their needs and wants satisfied more effectively. That is, public outlays are only justifiable in terms of their effects on private decisions and activities and, thus, on the welfare of the public in general. Looked at the other way, this means that only changes in the private arrangements can render appropriate types of urban governmental services which were formerly uncalled for. The entire relationship may even be viewed as a dynamic process whereby changes in public services affect private activities, which in turn lead to further changes in public policies and so on ad infinitum.
