The New York City metro area spans three states, 31
counties, and some 2000 units of government.
Indeed, many of our biggest cities, such as Chicago, Philadelphia, and
St. Louis, straddle multiple states. With
enough public officials in their governments to themselves compose a small city,
each must recognize the mutual benefits of regional cooperation.
Defining a city as the area under the jurisdiction of a Rudy Giuliani or
a Richard Daley ignores the larger context in which cities today exist.
Unfortunately, many large cities cannot adequately plan even their own
futures, much less become involved in regional planning and problem solving coordinating
several state capitals, dozens of county seats, and thousands of others.
Regional cooperation, however, is critical to the success
of cities in several respects. Mainly,
it is necessary to resolving conflict between newer suburbs, older suburbs,
and center cities. For example, the
solution to sprawling cities has commonly been more highways linking farther-out
development, while inner cities and the older areas like Newark, Gary, and East
St. Louis rot. Notice also that each
of these areas is located in an entirely different state from the large city,
heightening the need for regional interstate decision-making.
Additionally, newer low-density development often is
not serviceable by public transportation, contributing to congestion in transportation
systems in and around center cities. Portland's unique urban growth boundaries are one of the positive
outcomes of regional planning addressing infrastructure concerns.
Regional cooperation is also necessary to smooth out
tax inequalities that end up sending cities into fiscal chaos. Northwest Indiana, for example, does a booming
business selling Chicago residents cheap cigarettes, gas, alcohol, firearms,
and fireworks. Having attracted wealthy
Chicago residents, Northwest Indiana's property tax base is high and its excise
taxes low. Additionally, the easy availability
of gambling devices, guns, and explosives in Northwest Indiana contributes to
Chicago bankruptcies, homicides, and public safety threats. However, no multi-state regional planning body
exists to deal with these conflicts. As
a result, Chicago retail sales fall, as do tax revenues, which could force the
city into a death spiral of rising taxes and lower tax bases. Chicago also has to deal with the negative
effects of the easy availability of "sin items" just around the corner
in Northwest Indiana. As another example,
our outrageously high wage tax here in Philadelphia has significantly contributed
to its continued depopulation, and as its residents and businesses flee to the
suburbs, the poor, elderly, and others with disproportionately small tax burdens
are left behind--with higher taxes.
Regional planning, however, is a tough sell to both
the public and politicians. Both fear
that "experts" will come in and eliminate the uniqueness of each area,
or that planning benefits only the poor or people of color. I spent 1998 and 1999 working as Assistant
Campaign Manager on a mayoral race in my "edge city" hometown of Valparaiso,
Indiana, for a candidate who campaigned on regional planning. We ended up losing by 1%, partially because
some residents of our city feared that regional planning meant that the region's
problems would be "imported" into Valparaiso, without acknowledging
the impact of our city on the surrounding areas.
In whatever way you chose to cut it, a city's are the
region's problems, and the region's problems are the city's. For instance, recently the children of several
multimillionaires in my hometown were found to be driving their fancy cars daily
to Chicago's Robert Taylor projects to purchase heroin for resale locally.
Residents were shocked, not just that "our best kids" (i.e.,
"our rich white kids") do heroin, but that they wouldn't be scared
to make the 35 mile trip into one of the world's worst inner-city housing projects
to get it. Problems like this transcend political boundaries;
they must be solved regionally.
The need for effective regional planning and problem
solving thus touches on nearly every major issue facing large American cities
today: infrastructure, taxes, the economy, safety, drugs, education, and transportation.
To view cities as singular mediaeval enclaves isolated from their surroundings
is dangerously out-of-date. The health
of the mother city depends on the health of her suburbs, just as their health
depends on the mother cities. Getting
these hundreds of different governments to cooperate is a tall order, but one
on which the health of whole regions depends.