Prince George's County's problems as but one more example of the impact of outmigration

The Examiner is running a special series about "the decline of Prince George's County." While it's nice that we get to see the fruits of a "seven month investigation" I don't know what the big deal is. See "A haven no longer: Social scourges thrive in Pr. George's - Part 2 of an Examiner Special Report." (Also see this Examiner commentary from July.)

First, people moved out of the center city into outlying parts of the center city.

Second, center cities declined as people moved out to suburbs.

Third, inner-ring suburbs declined as people moved out even further away--not just out from center cities but from the inner-ring suburbs as well.

Fourth, now outer suburbs are losing out to the exurbs.

Rather than work to revitalize communities, people move away, farther and farther out, and leave the work to others.

Yes, the PG situation is complicated by poverty and changing demographics in the District of Columbia. But it's also a matter of (perhaps a) failure to recognize current conditions and how to address them. (E.g. a few weeks ago I commented on PG County Executive Johnson's comment about the problems of PG County Hospital solely being the result of "bad management" rather than recognizing the reality of their patient base and the impact of receiving patients from DC, a high-poverty caseload, etc. With that level of reasoning capability, how can you expect progress?)
Last week I had the letter in the alternative weekly in Louisville about Norton Commons. The managing director and I had a spirited email discussion afterwards. He summed up our differences in that "we are on different planets."

He's right. I work for revitalizing and repopulating the center city. Secondarily I am interested in the area along Rhode Island Avenue up to College Park because I am thinking of going to school up there. But really I care about the city. So building a nicer subdivision 10, 20, 30, 40 or more miles from the center city, even if it's new urbanism, doesn't excite me all that much.

Check out "Ten Principles of Revitalizing Inner-Ring Suburbs" -- Source: Hudnut, William H., Halfway to Everywhere: A Portrait of America’s First-Tier Suburbs, Urban Land Institute, 2003 ISBN: 0-87420-901-3.

In "Deadly Blame Game," today's Post editorializes about the PG County crime issue and makes the point that the status quo is not working. The issue isn't "the border" and "crime leaking from DC" so much as it is dealing with the social, economic, and development issues in a creative, focused fashion.

This is an interesting paper about Lakewood, Ohio: "Addressing the Difficulties of Inner-Ring Suburbs: A Case Study of Lakewood, Ohio."

Anyway, it's a lot more than public safety. The PG County people need to look at the pilot "Elm Street Revitalization" program in Pennsylvania, read The Community Economic Development Handbook, and a whole lot more...