Are the suburbs facing financial ruin?
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- Опубликовано: 25 янв 2023
- Read a more detailed answer to this question here:
www.strongtowns.org/journal/2...
The Road to Insolvency is Long
www.strongtowns.org/journal/2...
Another helpful article
www.strongtowns.org/journal/2...
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RECOMMENDED READING
Great article on the mindset of a local advocate: www.strongtowns.org/journal/2...
If you're interested, tactical urbanism resources:
actionlab.strongtowns.org/hc/...
Rachel Quednau's article on suburban insolvency is really on point
www.strongtowns.org/journal/2...
Connected to this question is another oldie-but-goodie on maintaining a focus on the impacts of the suburban experiment (not on 'sprawl' as a nebulous concept)
www.strongtowns.org/journal/2...
But there are things that can be done:
www.strongtowns.org/journal/2...
I like this ST article about insolvency showing up as a "soft default" rather than hard bankruptcy:
www.strongtowns.org/journal/2...
Calgary should spend or save ~$3B/year just to cover the replacement costs of everything that the City owns. The City's budget is usually ~$4.5B/year. That doesn't give me confidence about our finances.
www.strongtowns.org/journal/2...
Articles on annexation:
www.strongtowns.org/journal/2...
www.strongtowns.org/journal/2...
Taking Action
www.strongtowns.org/journal/2...
The Problem Described in One Situation
www.strongtowns.org/journal/2...
www.strongtowns.org/journal/2...
www.strongtowns.org/journal/2...
www.strongtowns.org/journal/2...
On the days you're feeling frustrated
www.strongtowns.org/journal/2...
Can't attend? Catch the replay in Action Lab once it gets posted.
S1E1 Jan 25
The problem with suburbia in America is that it's become so ingrained in our culture that people don't see alternatives. They don't see the benefits of building more culturally defining architecture, of building a city that youd wanna live in, not get away from, of building houses and housing complexes in closer proximity to amenities and services.
I think of the suburbs like little colonies: they have their grocery store for food and drink 5-10 minutes away driving, they have Walmart for other cheap goods, and they have variety big box stores everywhere. Your car is like your horse that you use to explore the land, because everything else is too spread out.
The problem lends itself to homogeneity, over-sprawling, and utilitarian mindsets for everything. Not everything has to be regimented in a militaristic manner. Ironically, this suburban sprawl has also helped cause the US obesity pandemic. Growing up, I was told to go out more, but I played video games all the time. Because there was NOWHERE ELSE TO GO.
Your comment is really perceptive. We talk about the Suburban Experiment as a rigid application of military-adjacent planning (post-war demobilization tactics were at the core of the early suburban development practice) which resulted in an orderly but dumb approach to building communities. Our argument is that traditional development has always been chaotic, messy, and smart -- unleashing the 'spooky wisdom' of tens of thousands of hands over time.
My city had to get a grant from the county to fix 4 streets in my neighborhood and replace water lines sewer lines, storm sewer lines, and sidewalks. They just don't have the money. Almost 20 years ago they annexed an area from an adjacent Twp then permitted a large cul-de-sac residential neighborhood to go in. That bill is coming due soon.
The desire of Capital markets to seek the highest return at the lowest risk pushes populations into 8 metros. All driven by utilitarian aims. Ex. Amazon would much rather service a million people from 1 building than 5 smaller buildings serving 200k each. Transport costs are huge today and principals of agglomeration favor metros which favor corporate relocations expansions in metros. The majority of the US population in 8 and then as trends continue, 5-6 metros is the complete opposite of an anti fragile economy. Americans criticize China for doing the same thing by government edicts, that capital markets do today in the US. Net effect is the same.
“These governments won’t go bankrupt, they’ll just slowly abandon necessary services until a crisis happens.”
I don’t disagree but I think your answer falls a little short of the question. In the question, the phrase financial ruin is referring to the objective end of a particular suburb, and what you’re describing doesn’t seem to have an end.
Are you implying that governments will just roll with ever-increasing crises indefinitely? Wouldn’t the worst suburbs be experiencing overlapping major crises, or at least back-to-back-to-back crises? Are there any examples you’d give that aren’t just one or two crises?
Yes it dosent have an end and that’s exactly what’s he’s describing
@Zachsdickdotmpg : A core aspect of the Strong Towns argument is that cities and towns are participating in an infinite game (tinyurl.com/6fd7kren) and that the approach needed in such a situation differs from the norms and standards of other things. Corporations can disappear from existence but cities and towns don't. They just limp along - and can be resuscitated with prudent actions. Imagine a baseball game with infinite innings - a team needs to play very conservatively and strategically find low-risk ways to score runs without risking injury or exhaustion. The corollary in community building is to guard the coffers to ensure that it is being spent on things that result in genuine returns (increased confidence, durability, and wealth-creation opportunities).
Outsized pension obligations, crumbling streets, inadequate pedestrian infrastructure (because there's no money), cutbacks to services that build community confidence and capacity (like libraries, rec centres, public plazas, etc): I think those are fair descriptions of a lot of existing suburban communities.
@@strongtownslibrary They’re absolutely fair descriptions of reality, but I think I’m just put off by the idea of infinite. For example if pensions continue to be underfunded, some cities will probably cut even more services to fund their pensions rather than letting them fail. This, I think, should exponentially speed up the rate of that city going bankrupt. Defunding schools, raising taxes to notably high rates, etc.
But the idea of a city infinitely pushing their debt crisis down the road seems like a failure to communicate a logical conclusion to a city not collecting enough taxes for its residents to retire, or for its schools to be funded. No schools being funded, or no jobs that offer retirement plans, or a 100% tax rate would be the logical conclusion of this situation, wouldn’t it?
@@zachsdickDOTmpg don't ever expect 100% tax rates. Higher than in other places would be the indicator.
Hi, I came from one of those cities where it just spiral. You can look up Opa-locka, fl. Eventually the county took over our water, crumbling roads, pay is low so our commissioners skim from budget for extra income. Police pay is low so a lot of corruption. One commissioner was going to go to jail and actually unalived himself. One Major made a big speech and quit. Our old city hall which was suppose to be restored is rundown and firehouse abandoned and falling apart. Our only saving grace is grants from the county and loans. We were developed prior to 1920s so we started with good mixed use but after ww2 suburb development started and the only growth we were able to get were income restricted housing but growth stopped. We literally just limp along.
I have seen this cycle play out in many areas in my +40 years of life. Many just move to a cheaper place n just keep the cycle going. I really don’t know how the it ends. Maybe with higher interest rates 🤷♂️
I’ve taken the opinion that higher property taxes r not necessarily bad. In these many ‘low tax’ states they get u in many other ways. Sales tax, greater transport cost, and eventually higher housing cost, not mention yearly tax on vehicles, higher insurance (depending on location).
Areas in the South have already reached a point where home prices r unaffordable, even for the well to do Yankees. Also since the property taxes r so low it won’t take much for a doubling or tripling of taxes. The transplants will complain but still pay (cheaper then NYS). These transplants will find that COL will catch up with them in the supposedly cheaper places (assuming they live long enough).
You can say the same thing with unhoused
Those damn don't know how to properly use watertaps! - that would be interesting to hear. I hate your conclusions but they are probably the best we're going to get with problems that are above a certain complexity.