From Newsday:

Affluent, but needy

As they grow and change, the nation's first suburbs, Nassau County included, show signs of stress ahead

BY BRUCE KATZ AND ROBERT PUENTES
Bruce Katz, left, is director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit research organization in Washington, D.C. Robert Puentes is a fellow in the

February 12, 2006

The problems of America's older, inner-ring first suburbs, Nassau County being among the most prominent, are finally beginning to draw national attention. And not a moment too soon. Warning signs loom.

A new analysis of statistics comparing population growth and demographic changes in these areas from 1950 to 2000, to be formally released by the Brookings Institution this week, shows that across the country first suburbs are undergoing a series of changes that threaten their ability to remain vital and prosperous communities during the long term.

While still largely affluent and suburban in character, these places, which are adjacent to central cities and were identified as standard metropolitan areas by 1950, are beginning to take on some of the characteristics of urban areas. An influx of lower-income minority and foreign-born residents means that, like cities, these first suburbs increasingly will need more state and federal aid to keep up with a growing need for social services and affordable housing.

At the moment, however, they fall through the cracks in a nation where government assistance has been directed for years at urban or rural areas. As Sen. Hillary Clinton said in a speech last month at Adelphi University, "Long Island is the victim of its own success."

Nassau, as we all know, possesses major assets - proximity to New York City, extensive parkland and beaches, quality neighborhoods, a large number of highly educated residents with high income levels and a highly developed transportation network for commuting to the city. Its home values are among the highest in the nation. But a number of trends suggest that stress lies ahead.

The population has remained stagnant since the 1960s in terms of size, yet is much more diverse than even 20 years ago. Racially, the nonwhite percentage of the population has grown nearly 15 percent since 1970; the percentage of foreign-born has more than doubled, and the elderly population has risen nearly 400 percent since 1950, compared with the U.S. average of 185 percent.



Amid great wealth, growing pockets of poverty and communities of poorer and older residents are presenting needs that weren't an issue in earlier years, when incomes and education levels were not as dissimilar as they are today. A county built as a haven for young, middle-class families with automobiles, most of whom who could afford single-family houses, is now home to a growing population with limited access to cars, a need for cheaper housing and a greater need for social services in order to succeed as members of the community.

Just as we have seen in cities, as their numbers increase, foreign-born populations will put new demands on schools unaccustomed to non-English speakers and on health care systems designed to serve much smaller numbers of lower-income clients. The growing numbers of elderly also will need more health and social services.

Across the country, other first-ring suburbs such as Newark's Essex County, Chicago's Cook County, Seattle's King County and Atlanta's Fulton County also are dealing daily with these issues. The risk for the nation is that their relatively small local governments - which not only have to serve a changing population but maintain an aging system of highways and bridges - will leave them vulnerable to a rapid decline once they start to run out of resources. The suburbs' underdiversified commercial bases add to the risk.

As Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi warned in his State of the County address last year, "We have stopped growing. America's first suburb has reached middle age. We now have little open space left to grow, and we want to preserve what we have left. Meanwhile, traffic worsens, and under current zoning laws we can't redevelop those places that could sustain more density. With no new construction or new business, with rising expenses and a flat tax base, local government will be forced to raise property taxes even further or dramatically cut existing services. To continue on that course would be a catastrophe for Nassau. It would mean not simply no new business, but a loss of business and a shrinking tax base to pay higher and higher taxes."

The long-run problem Nassau faces is really a national problem, and it deserves a national solution.



You'd expect the first suburbs to have the political clout to demand one. They are home to about 20 percent of the nation's population. In some states like Maryland, Connecticut and New Jersey, about half the residents live in first suburbs. New York State, the city and first suburban populations together constitute a super majority: Two-thirds of all New Yorkers live in these places. At least a third of congressional districts represent all or part of first suburbs.

The trouble is that these suburbs are not organized to deliver on this political power. Rather, they operate independently or as part of a vast suburban bloc. We tend to think of Nassau and Suffolk as a bloc, for instance, even though most of Suffolk County is a good deal newer.

As a consequence, first suburbs are caught in a policy blind spot between the benefaction long directed toward central cities for problems like housing and economic investment and the new attention being lavished on fast-growing outer suburbs, where demands for new infrastructure and services take precedence.

The first suburbs are often not poor enough to participate in economic programs like empowerment zones or other housing and urban redevelopment efforts. They are frequently too small to qualify for direct funding. With populations less than 50,000, for example, Garden City, Wantagh, West Hempstead and others are not entitled to receive direct funding from the federal Community Development Block Grant program, which pays for improving housing, streets, infrastructure and downtowns.



What can the first suburbs do to get the attention they need from federal and state governments?

First, they need to encourage more research that can help state and federal policy makers understand the urgency of the demographic and market trends in first suburbs and re-envision how these places can continue to thrive. Unfortunately, scant data exist. Institutions such as Hofstra University have begun to fill this gap - in Hofstra's case, with its new Center for Suburban Studies - as have metropolitan organizations in places like Philadelphia and St. Louis. Much more research is needed in many localities.

Second, these first suburbs need to build coalitions and share experiences and lessons, in order to develop and articulate an agenda that focuses specifically on their needs. Successful regional alliances have emerged in Cuyahoga County, near Cleveland, and in Los Angeles County. Some leaders like Suozzi are seeking to build alliances statewide.

The groundwork for reform already is being laid in a number of areas:

On the federal level, Sen. Clinton and Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) have introduced the Suburban Core Opportunity, Restoration and Enhancement Act in the Senate and House. This bill would set aside $250 million for first suburbs nationwide to help fund reinvestment and revitalization projects.

Several states, including Pennsylvania, Michigan and Illinois, are directing infrastructure dollars to cities and established suburbs. This gives priority to the maintenance and rehabilitation needs of existing infrastructure before building new.

Efforts are under way to foster cooperation between first suburbs and central cities. Cleveland's new mayor has promised, for example, to create a post in his administration to oversee regional issues.

First suburbs in Pittsburgh's Allegheny County and Boston's Middlesex County are collaborating to jointly assemble parcels of land with uniform tax rates, codes and streamlined approvals to encourage redevelopment.

Such federal, state and regional efforts are still early in formation and, to date, limited in effect. They raise the potential, however, of first suburbs' flexing their political muscle.

Whether Nassau County and the other first suburbs will emerge as a powerful, focused and disciplined force remains one of the great political questions of a young century.