Comeback Cities: A Blueprint For Urban Neighborhood Revival - Softcover

Grogan, Paul; Proscio, Tony

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0813339529 ISBN 13: 9780813339528

Publisher: Basic Books, 2001

Synopsis

Comeback Cities shows how innovative, pragmatic tactics for ameliorating the nation's urban ills have produced results beyond anyone's expectations, reawakening America's toughest neighborhoods. In the past, big government and business working separately were unable to solve the inner city crisis. Today, a blend of public-private partnerships, grassroots nonprofit organizations, and a willingness to experiment characterize what is best among the new approaches to urban problem solving. Pragmatism, not dogma, has produced the charter-school movement and the police's new focus on quality of life” issues. The new breed of big city mayors has welcomed business back into the city, stressed performance and results at city agencies, downplayed divisive racial politics, and cracked down on symptoms of social disorder. As a consequence, America's inner cities are becoming vital communities once again.

About this title

Review:

A pair of pictures on the opening pages of Comeback Cities captures this book's themes as well as any words can. The first shows President Jimmy Carter walking silently through the South Bronx: the shadows are long, there's a boarded-up building in the background, and Carter strolls through a littered field with his hands in his pockets, looking like a man who feels powerless. It evokes a sentiment authors Paul Grogan and Tony Proscio say they understand: "At least in our lifetimes, major cities have gone mostly downhill, burdened by industrial obsolescence, physical rot, riots, crime, poverty, and the serial failure of big federal rescue missions." The next picture, however, is a complete reversal. It shows President Bill Clinton visiting the same area 20 years later: there's a well-maintained residential building in the background, and a gesturing Clinton looks to be in the middle of a good conversation. "The American inner city is rebounding--not just here and there, not just cosmetically, but fundamentally," write Grogan and Proscio.

The authors highlight four trends that explain the urban upswing affecting not just the South Bronx, but American cities in general: the growth of neighborhood nonprofit groups; the creation of new markets, including the willingness of retailers to move into old areas; falling crime rates; and "the unshackling of inner-city life from the giant bureaucracies that once dictated everything that happened there--in particular, the welfare system, public housing authorities, and public schools." This is no dewy-eyed account; Grogan and Proscio readily acknowledge statistics that suggest there's not much of a recovery at all, and they're careful to qualify many of their statements. But anybody who has seen New York City circa 1990 versus New York City at the new millennium knows the authors have a point when they write that "something is happening in formerly bleak neighborhoods all over the country, something unforeseen and, at least in recent decades, unprecedented." They've done a good job of explaining what that something is. Before reading Comeback Cities, it's impossible not to hope Grogan and Proscio's optimism is warranted; afterwards, it's possible to believe they're right. --John J. Miller

About the Author:

Paul Grogan has been a leader in revitalizing America's cities for over twenty years. He has directed a number of major nonprofits that channel funds to grassroots, inner-city community groups. He now serves as President of The Boston Foundation. A former associate editor of the Miami Herald, Tony Proscio is a consultant to foundations and civic organizations and a free-lance writer on urban affairs. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0813339529
• ISBN 13: 9780813339528
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320