2009-03-27 - Laserfiche WebLink

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The line between suburb and city blurs as inner ring suburbs struggle with the problems of the cities' past. "Suburbs now provide more jobs than cities. Only about 22 percent of jobs in major metropolitan areas are located within three miles of a traditional downtown; twice as many are more than 10 miles out. Suburbs also host more immigrants: in the largest metropolitan areas, nearly six in 10 foreign-born residents now live in the suburbs. In places like Charlotte, N.C., Minneapolis, Sacramento, Calif., and Washington, the first address of many new Americans is most likely down a suburban lane. Then there are the downsides. Nationwide, a million more suburbanites are living below the poverty line than city dwellers. Suburban St. Louis County, has 50 percent more working-poor families than the City of St. Louis itself. The mortgage crisis only adds to the problems. The foreclosure rate in Clayton, which encompasses many of Atlanta's southern suburbs, is twice as high as that in Atlanta. Homes in neighborhoods close to downtown Chicago, Pittsburgh and Portland, Ore., have held their value, while prices for homes far from those urban cores have plummeted, according to new research by Joe Cortright, an economist at Impresa Consulting." Read the full story at http://www.newsweek.com/id/180028/page/1. The basis for this article is a paper co-authored Mark Muro, Jennifer Bradley, and Bruce Katz, director of the Metropolitan Policy Program and a vice president at the Brookings Institution. The article is attached. Miracle Mets - Our fifty states matter a lot less than our 100 largest metro areas. Source: EW Gateway Bulletin, Newsweek, January 17, 2009. Older Streets Are Safer Streets - Wes Marshall and Norman Garrick, after a study of data from 130,000 car crashes in California, have determined that cities built since 1950 have more dangerous roads than those built before 1950. The newer cities tend to have more “dendritic” networks — branching, tree-like organizations that include many cul- de-sacs, limiting the movement of traffic through residential areas. They also do not have as many intersections. The pre-1950 cities, on the other hand, tend to be more grid-like, giving motorists many more routes from which to choose. For several decades, traffic specialists believed a tree-like hierarchy of streets was superior because it made residential neighborhoods quieter and presumably safer. Nevertheless, an American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) study cited by the UConn researchers points out that more-connected street networks tend to reduce travel speeds. That is important because even a small reduction in speed can boost safety mainly by reducing the severity of the accidents. "A recent report from Europe found that when average vehicle speeds drop by just 5 percent, the number of injuries drops by 10 percent and the number of fatalities falls 20 percent. Extensively connected street networks may not have fewer crashes over all, but the crashes that occur are less likely to leave someone dead." Read the full story at www.newurbannews.com/14.1/janfeb09key.html. Source: EW Gateway Bulletin, New Urban News, January 26, 2009 and Planetizen Newswire Upcoming Meetings and Events: Monday, April 6: 5:30 PM Study Session, Economic Development 6:30 PM Council Meeting Monday, April 20: 5:30 PM Study Session, Budget Projections 6:30 Council Meeting Monday, April 27: 6:30 PM Budget Meeting, Health Insurance Monday, May 4: 5:30 PM Study Session 6:30 PM Council Meeting