Gregory Freeman: Cities' Problems Need Examining. 5/29/1992

Headline: CITIES' PROBLEMS NEED EXAMINING
Reporter: By Gregory Freeman

Publication: ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Last Printed: Fri., May 29,1992
Section: WAR PAGE, Page: 1C, Edition: FIVE STAR

NOW THAT THE PLIGHT of the cities is on the minds of official Washington, those in decision-making positions should give that plight careful consideration to determine the proper approach.
Both the president and Congress have been quick to develop policies to throw money into the cities. That is far from the best way to approach their problems.
The problems themselves must first be examined.

Those problems, as we all know, are many. We should first realize that the cities of today are not the cities of 40, 30, even 20 years ago. Most major cities in this country have become poorer and poorer and much more ethnic than ever before.

Many cities have become playgrounds for those who live outside of them and prisons for those who live within them.
They are playgrounds because most cities are sites of the cultural institutions of metropolitan areas. They are the homes of the zoos, the symphonies, the major parks.
They are the jails because many of the poor and elderly in those cities - and in most cities, the numbers of both are growing - are trapped. They are struggling, in some cases, just to stay alive from day to day. Their financial conditions make it impossible for most of them to move, so they remain in their rundown homes and apartments.

But the problems are considerably more complicated than they may appear on the surface.
   Drugs have hit many cities in a hard way. They affect the poor perhaps more than others because the effects of drug sales, use and abuse are so broad. In some cases, tenants live in buildings in constant fear because other tenants are dealing in drugs and will stop at nothing to make sure that they make their sales. In other cases, homicides are commonplace because of the double whammy of easy availability of guns and regular disputes over drugs.
   That is coupled with the problems of education. The amount of money spent per pupil in many cities is much lower than in their suburban counterparts because the cities - faced with tax bases that decline as each city resident moves to the suburbs - have little money for education.
   Then there's the problem of jobs. For many poor people who live in cities, there are none. And where there are jobs, they often exist in the suburbs, where most middle- and upper-class people live. If you have no car and even public transportation can't get you to the work site, the jobs may as well not exist.
   Add to that the problems of a lack of direction for many. Politicians these days are fond of talking about family values. What they don't seem to understand is that it is impossible to discuss family values with people who don't know what they are. Entire generations of people have grown up without these values and need to be taught them.

And so, as the president and Congress prepare to distribute funds to the cities, they should realize first of all that no amount of money will heal all of the cities' woes.
There is no question that money can help considerably. Most cities have been choked for money for a dozen years or so, and most are all the worse for it.

But any influx of money must not only come with efforts to help those who are on the bottom rung of our society move up the ladder but also help teach those people how they can continue climbing up that ladder. That means that such money must be coupled with policies designed to increase personal responsibility. Without that, no one can make a permanent climb up that ladder out of poverty and despair.
   There is nothing wrong with tying efforts to teach people responsibility with monies that are received from Washington. Government programs should not exist forever, and people should not be taught to rely on them. No one should look upon government aid as permanent.
   Government programs should help to make people's lives better and should teach people how they can make their own lives better.
   That can be done. People can be taught to take the steps that ultimately will improve their lives.

It takes a lot more thought than simply throwing money at problems, though, and those in official Washington must ask themselves whether they are willing to take the time to think the problems through, or whether they would prefer to appropriate the money quickly so that on Election Day they can say they tried to do something about the problem.
It's to be hoped official Washington will look to the former rather than the latter.
America's cities today face real and serious problems. They require nothing less than real and serious solutions.

Daniel Schesch - Webweaver

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