Updated: 05/21/07 6:54 AM
New York State has one of the nation’s highest concentrations of economically struggling cities, but a new report suggests that changing attitudes toward cities are creating an opportunity to revitalize them by seizing on physical, cultural and economic assets.
The study by the Washingtonbased Brookings Institution revisits the economic conditions and symptoms that have long plagued many upstate New York cities, like population and job loss. It also points out that the problems are not limited to the cities themselves, but impact entire regions.
In all, the report identifies 12 upstate cities, including Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Jamestown, whose “economic health and residential well-being” trail that of nearly 300 other cities Brookings examined. As a result, the report said, nearly 4.5 million New Yorkers in 2000 live in “economically anemic communities, a fact that should surely alarm state leaders.”
But unlike past reports that merely repeat the woes, the Brookings report optimistically points up an array of attributes possessed by the state’s 12 “older industrial cities” that can overcome their challenges.
Those include historic properties and neighborhoods, walkable city grids, public transit, untapped waterfronts, a concentration of educational and medical facilities, and cultural options like museums, theaters and sports teams.
The report notes the newfound attention being paid to urban areas, with employment and populations generally rising, and the new interest by many young singles and “emptynesters” in living in cities instead of suburbs. And it urges government, civic and business leaders at the state and local levels to collaborate on developing “thoughtful and comprehensive policy approaches” that properly use those assets to help cities.
“This report is not just about New York and other Northeast and Midwestern areas having a number of economically underperforming cities,” said Jennifer S. Vey, senior research associate at the liberal thinktank’s Metropolitan Policy Program, and main author of the report.
“We really try to demonstrate that, given the many assets these cities have, the moment is really right for the revival of these urban economies . . . if the right public policies were in place to capitalize on them.”
In particular, the report urges efforts to reduce city crime, improve schools, reduce costs for families and businesses, reinvigorate downtowns, invest in industries in which cities have a competitive edge, upgrade infrastructure, develop waterfronts and parks, tear down obstacles like highways that block public space, build the middle class by investing in job training and wealth-building programs, and support growth of desirable urban neighborhoods.
If successful, it could mean better use of state funds that in the past were sunk into urban infrastructure, schools and social programs with little to show, the report said. And it could mean lower unemployment, higher incomes, higher property values, better quality of life, and growth.
“This all adds up to stronger, healthier, more productive cities and regions that are a boon to, rather than a drain on, state budgets,” the report said.
Business leaders said the report backs up what they’ve said. It’s a “good reiteration” of past assessments and “another validation of what we see, in reality, everyday,” said Andrew J. Rudnick, CEO of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership.
But they said the report focuses too narrowly on the problems and solutions for cities and not enough on the broader picture of changing state tax and other policies that inhibit growth.
“There appear to be some good ideas here for revitalizing cities, but the more pressing challenge from our perspective is to reduce costs statewide,” said Matthew Maguire, spokesman for the Business Council of New York State, which last week reported that New York’s per-capita tax burden is 56 percent above the national average, making it the nation’s heaviest. “We should start there.”
And Buffalo officials say Brookings is late to the game in their case. The city has $3.4 billion of economic development projects under way or recently completed, compared with a total assessed value in the city of $8.5 billion. The state created the Restore New York program to provide $300 million over three years for demolitions and reconstruction in targeted industrial areas, including in Buffalo.
The city is planning to demolish 1,000 to 2,000 derelict residential structures in each of the next five years. It now has 200 acres of “shovelready” land for new development and hopes to have 200 more acres in a year. And it’s trying to use its easy access to fresh water and location on the Great Lakes to target new business opportunities.
The city also revamped its permits and licensing process, and obtained $25 million from the state for efficiency and technology grants. It introduced a crime-fighting initiative and has obtained $1 billion to rebuild public schools, including City Honors. And it’s trying to improve neighborhoods like Hamlin Park and the Grant Street- Forest Street area, while offering incentives to police, firefighters and schoolteachers to buy homes in the city.
“Buffalo is already experiencing a major renaissance,” said Richard M. Tobe, the city’s commissioner of economic development, permit and inspection services. “The economic growth is very real.”
Daniel Gundersen, Empire State Development upstate chairman, agreed that the study picks up on some ongoing efforts.
“The Brookings Institute report confirms what Gov. Spitzer and the millions of upstate residents already know, that our upstate cities are in need of help.”
Citing the “Renew New York” effort launched by Spitzer, Gundersen said the state is “pursuing an integrated, economic development strategy that recognizes specific regional opportunities.”
The nationwide Brookings study rated 302 U.S. cities based on their performance in eight areas, including employment growth, new businesses, poverty rate and income levels. The cities were chosen based on their size and importance as the core of a metropolitan area.
The organization cited 65 cities as economically weak. In New York, it found that Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, Rochester, Schenectady, Syracuse and Utica are behind their peers.
In response to initial feedback, researchers went back and did additional analysis of 74 smaller cities in seven states: New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Michigan, Connecticut and Massachusetts. That identified another 15 struggling cities, including five in New York — Niagara Falls, Jamestown, Elmira, Rome and Troy — for a total of 12 out of 17 New York cities that were examined, or 71 percent.
Only Pennsylvania had more concentration of weakness, with 12 of 14 cities — or 86 percent.
The report found that most of the underperforming cities were traditionally industrial centers that had once been economic and political hubs, but hadn’t made the transition to a new economy based on service and knowledge. They are struggling with high unemployment, little or no growth in jobs and businesses, lower incomes and concentrated poverty.
On the other hand, the upstate cities have 453 historic properties on the National Register, 29 four-year colleges and universities, 28 two-year colleges, 45 medical facilities, 40 museums, and two major league sports teams — both in Buffalo.
“States already are spending a tremendous amount of money in urban areas,” report author Vey said. “Rather than focusing investments on managing decline, they really ought to focus their investments on stimulating economic recovery in urban areas.”
jepstein@buffnews.com
