Cities

Echoing antiurbanites throughout the ages, Mahatma Gandhi said that "the true India is to be found not in its few cities, but in its 700,000 villages" and "the growth of the nation depends not on cities, but [on] its villages."  The great man was wrong.  India's growth depends almost entirely on its cities.  There is a near-perfect correlation between urbanization and prosperity across nations.  On average, as the share of a country's population that is urban rises by 10 percent, the country's per capita output increases by 30 percent.  Per capita incomes are allmost four times higher in those countries where a majority of people live in cities than in those countries where a majority of people live in rural areas. 

Edward Glaeser

Triumph of the City:  How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter,

Greener, Healthier and Happier,

page 7

Tough times. . .multiplying needs. . .deep cuts

No one need remind us really that we find ourselves in the midst of tough times.  Especially hard hit has been the public sector.  Even in relatively prosperous states like Texas with comparatively low unemployment, local and state governments face huge budget deficits.  Elected officials struggle to balance budgets while embroiled in ideological battles of public policy and spending. 

In my view, we cut some things to our own peril.  Being penny wise and pound foolish will eventually catch up with us as a city, a state and a nation.  And, never forget, all of this come right down to the individual census tract and, even closer to home, the block where I live. 

The following report from The New York Times caught my attention.  It provides a good overview of what cities face,including even bankruptcy!

Read the report and then let me know your thinking.  Solutions?

Mayors See No End to Hard Choices for Cities


By MICHAEL COOPER
Published: January 21, 2011

WASHINGTON — Despite having one of the highest crime rates in the nation, Camden, N.J., laid off nearly half its police force this week after failing to win concessions from its unions. On the other side of the country, Vallejo, Calif., was filing a bankruptcy plan that proposed paying some creditors as little as a nickel or 20 cents on each dollar they are owed.

Mayors outside the White House on Thursday included, from left, Mick Cornett of Oklahoma City, Michael A. Nutter of Philadelphia, Antonio R. Villaraigosa of Los Angeles and Michael B. Coleman of Columbus, Ohio.

These are hard times for cities, and the mood was grim as more than 200 mayors gathered here this week for the winter meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors.

Many mayors have already raised taxes, cut services and laid off workers, even police and firefighters. Now they are girding themselves for more tough times, as falling home values are belatedly showing up in property tax assessments, and struggling states are threatening to cut aid to cities.

“I came in full of idealism — I was going to change my city,” said Mayor Bill Finch of Bridgeport, Conn., who has laid off 160 workers. “You get involved in government because you want to do more for the people, you want to show them that government can work and local government, by and large, really does work for the people — directly, you can’t hide. But then you say you’ve got to pay the same amount of taxes, and you’re going to get less.”

Some mayors said that they expected more cities, mostly smaller cities, to seek bankruptcy or possibly even default on their loans as the downturn grinds on, though municipal analysts see defaults as unlikely.

In interviews, mayors spoke about their efforts to keep their cities afloat by raising taxes, consolidating services, selling off city assets and shrinking their work forces.

Many of them, including Democrats who have been historically close to unions, said they were taking aim at public pensions, which they said were no longer affordable.

“That’s not a Democrat or Republican issue,” said Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, a Democrat who is supporting measures that would lower the cost of pensions for new police officers and firefighters and require employees to contribute toward the cost of their retirement health benefits. “The fact is, our pensions aren’t sustainable.”

To read the entire report click here.

City depths

Urban areas present daunting challenges.

Deep, sometimes frightening "holes" open up before us, with no apparent way to get across or over.

People everywhere.

It is easy to see people as the problem.

In reality, among the poor and the distressed, people provide hope and potential solutions.

The real challenge is getting people together to decide that hope is something we create in concert with one another, no matter how deep the holes or how daunting the fears.

We are in this together.

It is in this realization and commitment that we find our way across, and sometimes down to reclaim another friend.

[Photo taken from atop The Prince George hotel, a Common Ground Development property in New York City.]