Inner city's inner strengths mined

This article from the Chicago Tribune, "Inner city's inner strengths mined: Milwaukee leaders, with a nudge from Wal-Mart, glimpse potential in long-neglected area, want to tap spending power, labor pool," discusses Milwaukee and the "strengths" of its economy. It's part of a series of articles on the Broken Heartland.

The potential of urban areas should not be a surprise. For maybe a decade or longer, organizations like the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City and the Center for Neighborhood Technology (see the paper "Using The Hidden Assets of America's Communities and Regions to Ensure Sustainable Communities") have produced a wide variety of reports and studies about the strengths of inner city neighborhood economies. The Good Jobs First organization is but one more group "piling" on with similar studies.

The issue isn't the money that is or isn't in our neighborhoods, it's how to redevelop the retail and services and housing infrastructure to "serve" these communities. It's harder in most center cities compared to Washington DC because other cities continue to leak residents and businesses to the suburbs. (DC has this problem too, but at the same time businesses and residents continue to be attracted due to the constant growth of the federal government.)

It really comes down to how do we begin to think about the development of local economies. We can cede our economies to "outside forces" like Walmart and real estate developers that work on a national and international scale, or we can begin to redevelop our local infrastructure.

The organization Civic Economics has done studies of Austin, Texas ("Big Box Retail and Austin: An Independent Review") and the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago, which compared the economic impact of chain versus local retail. It's not pretty. From the Austin press release:

If you buy from a big box retailer, you may pay more for those low-cost jeans and backyard grills than you think. Low prices may lead to higher taxes, as big boxes increase traffic congestion, require more street and drainage improvements, burden local police and the public health care system, and hurt local businesses.

Those are the findings of a new study of big box retail sponsored by local nonprofits and unions. The study was conducted by a team of local economic development experts, including two University of Texas professors, and takes direct issue with an earlier study sponsored by the City of Austin.

"There is no free lunch," said Michael Oden, a professor of Community and Regional Planning at the University of Texas and a co-author of the new study. "It's estimated that every Wal-Mart store costs taxpayers over $400,000 per year in subsidies for poorly paid, uninsured workers. These workers need health and child care, affordable housing, even food. Taxpayers are also footing the bill for traffic congestion costs, infrastructure improvements and higher public safety costs."

The earlier City study claimed that big boxes do not compete with local business, and that most big box problems could be addressed through design standards. "Design standards just don't go far enough," said Oden. "The big problems with big box retail aren't design, they're economic. We need economic solutions."

So the Milwaukee people are behind, but then, so are most cities.

As the great online magazine Black Commentator states what is needed is a plan for cities to save themselves.

I have been thinking over the last couple days that probably no "Comprehensive Plan" across the United States has a "Plan Element" about "Building and Enhancing the Local Economy."