In short, unfettered suburban sprawl has played a key role in hollowing out Detroit. One problem with sprawl is the suburban habit of walling out poor people through snob zoning and other means, thereby putting the burden of poverty on the city, which, due to the flight of wealth to these very suburbs, have a declining ability to deal with the problem.
Sounds familiar, doesn't it? I especially like the term "snob zoning" which I think describes perfectly what has been happening in communities (I'm lookin' at ya, New Berlin!).
I've never understood the anti-Milwaukee mentality in the suburbs and elsewhere in the state.
In the long run, though, the hollowing out of Detroit, the metro area’s flagship, hurts the suburbs, too. A shabby main city tends to keep corporations away from the entire area, not just the city. What’s more, a vibrant hub acts as a magnet for the young creative class, which urban planners regard as vital to an area’s future prosperity.
Detroit has lost half of its residents, down from a peak of 1.85 million in the 1950s to 911,000 today. Despite its losses, it is still 11th largest city in terms of population. But it still has the expensive infrastructure of a much larger city. Milwaukee has lost 5% of its population in the 1990s alone (although this has been reversed somewhat by the recent downtown boom), and is now ranked #26. As reported recently, Milwaukee is ranked as fourth poorest. Only three cities, including Detroit, has a higher poverty rate.
The question is, where do we go from here? Will the suburbs and the state recognize that a healthy and prosperous Milwaukee is in their best long-term interest, or will they continue the short-sighted policies of the past?
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment