Rx for Suburbia
(Page 5 of 7)
March / April 2003
By Jay Walljasper, The Nation
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In the Twin Cities region, 40 percent of the growth in all commercial and industrial property taxes collected in each municipality are put into a regional pool and divvied up among communities on the basis of need. That’s why inner-city neighborhoods and hard-hit blue-collar suburbs there don’t show the same signs of economic freefall as their counterparts across the country. Lower-income communities benefit, in a small way, from the prosperity of their upscale neighbors. This tax-base sharing policy is a very popular idea, having survived five Republican attempts to repeal it in the state legislature since 1976. A look at the numbers shows why: Two-thirds of the Minneapolis–St. Paul region benefits from the economic good fortune of the wealthiest one-third. Many other states have adopted statewide funding of schools out of concerns about economic inequity.
Orfield believes that everyone living in a metropolitan area will benefit from these regional revitalization measures. Even residents of affluent suburbs—many of whom strongly resist these ideas because they don’t want to accommodate affordable housing in their communities or to share their local tax proceeds—end up ahead.
Orfield notes that he hears from some residents in affluent suburbs who support the regionalist agenda as a way to preserve the quality of life in their communities—by preventing further sprawl, easing traffic congestion, protecting open space, and ensuring future vitality. If the bulk of new investment continually flows to the outer edges of a metropolitan region, it’s only a matter of time until currently prosperous areas begin to show symptoms of decline. After all, many of the older suburbs around the country now experiencing urban decay were settled by families seeking a haven from what were perceived as problems of the city.
Orfield points to studies done by Richard Voith, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, showing that suburbs enjoy higher income growth and higher land values in metropolitan areas where the central city is economically vital. “If you live in a middle-class suburb and your center city is not doing well,” Voith says, “it’s a good bet that your suburb is not doing as well as a similar suburb where the center city is doing well.”
The regional revitalization movement also shows some promise as a way to reverse the fortunes of progressive politics. While he was in the Minnesota state house and senate, Orfield was able to enact portions of this agenda into state law thanks to a never-before-seen bipartisan coalition of city and suburban legislators, who often before were on opposite sides of these issues.
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