Volume 4, No. 1, Spring 2000
The Long-Run Fiscal Health of Central Cities: The Impact of Devolution
Howard Chernick and Andrew Reschovsky
Although cities appear to be stronger fiscally than they have in over a decade, the authors argue that central cities remain in a weak fiscal position, and that their position will be further weakened by the devolution of welfare responsibilities to the states. Chernick and Reschovsky explore the reasons why the fiscal health of central cities is weaker than most suburban communities and how welfare reform will affect central cities' fiscal health. Lastly, they propose several policies that may improve the long-run fiscal health of central cities.
Howard A. Chernick is a professor of Economics at Hunter College of the City University of New York. Professor Chernick worked as a senior researcher in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services prior to coming to Hunter College. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania. Andrew Reschovsky is a professor of Agricultural and Applied Economics and Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has worked with the U.S. Treasury and recently as an advisor to the Government of South Africa. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
The Production and Interpretation of Information in the Mortgage Loan Application Process
Guy Stuart
This paper proposes an alternative research and policy agenda to explain and reduce racial and ethnic disparities in denial rates. It departs from traditional approaches to disparities in loan denials, which focus on whether discrimination is the cause of the disparities, and focuses instead on the disparities as a problem in and of themselves. Loan denials are a failure of the loan application process, which is designed to generate loan approvals. In addition, loan denials are costly to all concerned. This paper adopts an ethnomethodological approach to the loan application process and analyzes the production and interpretation of information in the process. Specifically, using field data, it shows how the credit profile of the loan applicant is constructed through the process itself, and the way in which that information is interpreted. The paper concludes by arguing that further analysis of the process from an ethnomethodological perspective can generate valuable information that lenders can use to better manage their loan application process to decrease denial rate disparities. This paper proposes mechanisms by which lenders can be encouraged to do this.
Guy Stuart is Lecturer in Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Dr. Stuart worked on community economic development issues in the nonprofit sector in Chicago for four years after receiving his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago. Dr. Stuart is also the author of a study entitled Segregation in the Boston Metropolitan Area at the end of the 20th Century (2000).
Brownfield Redevelopment in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Donald T. Cunningham, Jr.
With the decline of manufacturing as the major contributor to the national economy, many cities across the United States have found themselves with large tracts of industrial land that need to be redeveloped. These sites, known as brownfields, offer a unique opportunity for policy-makers to promote and manage growth. Bethlehem, Pennsylvania contains the nation's largest single-owner brownfield site, located on the land formerly occupied by Bethlehem Steel Works. The following article summaries the events leading to the creation of the brownfield site and the policy problems and solutions that local leaders have devised for its proper redevelopment.
Don Cunningham received a master's degree in political science from Villanova University and a bachelor's degree in journalism from Shippensburg University. He served previously as a senior information specialist at Pennsylvania Power & Light Co., media relations director of Moravian College in Bethlehem, and as an award-winning newspaper writer. He was a member of the Bethlehem City Council from 1995 to 1997 and was sworn in as mayor in 1998. The Cunningham family has lived in Bethlehem for five generations.
The Market for Smart Growth
John Haugland
Conventional development patterns of low-density, single-use, and automobile-dependence have increasingly come under fire for a host of fiscal, social, and environmental costs. Concentrating on the latter, these patterns contribute to the depletion of finite natural resources and to the degradation of ecological functions, and they increase pollution that the larger ecosystem struggles to assimilate. In addition to its positive social and fiscal impacts, Smart Growth alternatives can be promoted for their positive environmental effects. There is strong evidence for a market demand for Smart Growth alternatives. However, the demand for Smart Growth is not currently represented by market share due to a variety of government incentives for sprawl from local to federal levels. Recognition of both the true demand and of government barriers to that demand can help those who promote the efficiency of Smart Growth within their own communities.
John Haugland has been with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency since 1990. He is currently promoting innovative perspectives in sustainability. Mr. Haugland holds a Master of Public Policy Studies from the Harris School of Public Policy (1990), a Master of Arts in International Relations from the University of Southern California (1987), and Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the University of Chicago (1982).
Strategic Investment and Economic Development in the United States
Federico Pe-a and John Parr
This essay traces activities from the early 80s to the present in the Denver metropolitan area, which is comprised of six counties and 41 municipalities with a population of 2.5 million (1998). In particular, it focuses on activities in the central city, Denver, with a population of 500,000 whose mayor from 1983 to 1991 was Federico Pe-a and from 1992 to the present has been Wellington Webb. A major theme of the essay is that the traditional boundaries of political jurisdictions are not very relevant to issues such as economic development. The essay gives lessons learned in economic development for both the region and central city.
Federico Pe-a lives in Denver and is a Managing Director of Vestar Investments, Inc. In addition to serving as Mayor of Denver he has served as the Secretary of both the U.S. Department of Transportation and U.S. Department of Energy. He received a B.A. (1969) and a J.D. (1972) from the University of Texas at Austin. John Parr is a co-founder of the Denver-based Center for Regional and Neighborhood Action. He is the former President of the National Civic League. He co-directed the 1987 study "Boundary Crossers: How Ten Metropolitan Regions Work." He received a B.A. (1970) from Purdue University and a J.D. (1977) from the University of Denver.
The Chicago Empowerment Zone: A Holistic Approach to Community Development in the Inner City
Stephanie Niccole Alexander and Hilda M. Rodriguez
The ultimate goal of Empowerment Zones is to serve as a catalyst for social, economic, and cultural revitalization of depressed neighborhoods through the interplay of public, private, and nonprofit partnerships. EZ legislation boasts a forum to provide solutions to widespread community problems from the neighborhood up, rather than from Washington down. However, is this actually possible? This paper presents an overview of the three clusters that comprise Chicago's Empowerment Zone - the West Side, Pilsen/Little Village, and the South Side - and the impact the designation is having on those communities. This report begins by tracking the history of Empowerment Zones and the need for this initiative in Chicago. Are Empowerment Zones a viable development strategy that not only will rebuild neighborhoods but also a sense of community?
Stephanie Niccole Alexander has studied issues concerning disenfranchised populations for most of her academic and professional life. As a 1999-2000 Arthur Quern Fellow, she researched the health needs of impoverished African American adolescent women in the West Cluster of Chicago's Empowerment Zone. She recently received a Master of Public Policy from the University of Chicago and is currently, a Consultant for the Tiber Group. Hilda M. Rodriguez recently received a Master of Public Policy from the University of Chicago. Her areas of interest are economic development, community empowerment, and the impact of social programs, specifically welfare, on low-income communities. She currently is a Consultant with the Public Sector Division of Deloitte Consulting.
The Externalities of Neighbors and the Role of Barriers in Urban Geography
Douglas S. Noonan
A general theoretical approach to residential siting decisions can usefully incorporate the externalities of neighborhood characteristics. Because some physical objects may mitigate those externalities, they can be expected to influence peoples' residential patterns and general welfare. In a world where people prefer being near their own kind, the presence of these "barriers" encourages residents to cluster along opposing sides of the barrier. Barrier objects thereby induce a greater disparity in neighborhood characteristics than would have prevailed in their absence. Geographic and Census data for Chicago in 1990 support this hypothesis for a variety of barrier types and demographic characteristics (race, ancestry, language, and income).
Douglas Noonan is a Ph.D. student at the Harris School of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago. He is co-contributing editor of "Managing the Commons" (Indiana University Press, 1998). He is a graduate of the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. A former research at the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment, his policy area of interest is environmental economics.
Book Reviews
Inside Game, Outside Game: Winning Strategies for Saving Urban America (1999) by David Rusk, Brookings Institute
Mari Gallagher
The Corporate Practice of Medicine: Competition and Innovation in Health Care (1999) by James C. Robinson, Brookings Institute
Barry S. Maram
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