On Comeback Cities

This was my favorite book of the semester. Sadly, as thoughtful and spot on for its time, the book seems out of place - more of an historical account due to the swiftly changing economic situation. This at least gives us the opportunity to reflect upon where we were heading, and to remain positive that once this crisis passes we may continue that work.

I found it beneficial to focus on some of the small positive changes occurring within our inner cities as the last reading for this course. While the author was dead wrong on the economic impact of things such as the CRA, banking failures and easy credit's impact on the nation, there was much to be hopeful for with regard to actual citizens, businesses, communities and indeed even governments on a micro scale having a macro impact.

The softening economy could potentially enhance these developments just as much as they could hinder them. If people are positive and forward thinking, they may realize that it is with the community that much of this change will come about. Improving education and economic opportunities within the Inner City as well as many other depressed regions will be a grass roots effort. There will be little financial assistance from the federal government for several years most likely, as it is dealing macro-economically with the challenges. States are much poorer, several in deep recessions with huge deficits. This poses and opportunity for citizen action, small scale development and improvement - and hopefully a return of personal responsibility in America. One can hope.

I of course wish the age of handouts and fast money and negative savings will end with this crisis, but the lack of responsibility for one's actions along with the sense of entitlement that has been fostered may hamper this effort. Learn to live within your means and teach that to your community. This will aid in returning much needed common sense to leaders and organizations that will be at the forefront of improving the lives of the citizenry.

Comeback Cities, along with many of our readings, has reinforced my own personal belief that to affect change in the Inner City and to foster growth and development, cooperation and a sense of community through regionalism, we must focus on the micro level - by recapturing the American spirit of compassion, civic involvement, individual effort, hard work, selflessness and respect. Once we learn that government is not always the answer and a quick handout will not resolve our problems, we as a society can finally look around and tackle the problems staring us in the face.

I would like to end this by saying thus far that this course was the most thought provoking and compelling course in the MPA program thus far. We could use more of these types of lessons with regard to Public Administration - the practical, thoughtful, realistic view of the polices and procedures and their very real impact on society.

Chapter 8 - Place Matters, thoughts on 21st century metropolitics

After reading the litany of ideas they have on how to resolve the urban sprawl issue through political coalitions, it brings to mind the current presidential race and how a lot of their concerns seem to be moot with the direction the house, senate and white house will all end up after November 4th. It appears that an economic crisis could prove the deciding factor in granting the Democratic party a majority throughout government, regardless of where the district lines were drawn (in the book's opinion, in Republican favor).

The question I raise to this is will Obama govern as Clinton did? Or with this new super majority will he be able to do more (or less depending on who you are) to bring about urban change? We learned that Clinton governed with a suburban/urban coalition but found he was unable or unwilling to make considerable changes within urban centers. Obama will have an opportunity Clinton did not, one that allows him to propose solutions to the urban issues under his presidency with a democratic majority to carry them out.

I find their defense of the districts of Illinois and Texas as examples to be rather naive. How they continued to say that this representative would see the better way or the brighter light by adopting pro urban policy plans within their districts. Obviously they don't know politicians very well. The politician would be more concerned with keeping a base that would re-elect him or her. Many of these proposals could upset that balance of power within their own districts. While it is the right way, it is politically unfeasible and therein lies one of the darker sides of our political spectrum.

I would think a redistricting approach that cut across geographic boundaries would allow for solutions to play out - this idea was posited in the chapter. If for instance a congressperson represented portions of Birmingham proper but their district included sections of Mountain Brook and Hoover, they would be more inclined to assist the voting population within the city limits in order to maintain their political office. Of course that district would have to have a large chunk within Birmingham and the citizens would have to participate more fully. However, as the book mentioned, there is little incentive at this time for inner city residents to participate in the process as the outcome is basically decided.