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Andrew Cassel and Dan Rottenberg

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from: Dan Rottenberg

The Noxious Effects of Suburbanization

Posted Monday, March 5, 2001, at 11:54 AM ET

Andy,

We have no snow whatsoever in Center City Philadelphia, where I live--and even if we had 10 inches, it would be irrelevant. I live six blocks from my office, six blocks from City Hall, four blocks from the world's greatest orchestra, within six blocks of some two-dozen of the best restaurants on the East Coast ... you get the idea. But maybe you don't. Center City Philadelphia (i.e., downtown) is truly a unique place. It's home to some 70,000 affluent, educated people who live and work within the same neighborhood. There's nothing like it in any other U.S. city. (New York has similar smaller neighborhoods, but no single neighborhood this large.) I read recently that Dallas is making a big push to get 2,500 upscale residents to live downtown. They sure think big in Texas, don't they?

Yet precisely because of Center City's uniqueness, outsiders can't conceive of such a place. Corporate executives transferred to Philadelphia don't even think of living downtown; instead they head straight for the suburbs. Which I would argue is harmful both for them and for the city.

More Americans now live in suburbs than in cities or small towns or rural areas. The noxious effects of suburbanization on places like Philadelphia are most visible on snow days. When I arrived here in 1972, in most offices a blizzard meant that a few suburbanites couldn't make it in to work that day. Nowadays a blizzard means that the whole office has to shut down--either because damn near everyone lives in the suburbs and can't get out of their driveways or because the office itself is in the suburbs (and consequently inaccessible) or both.

I am of course familiar with the arguments pro and con for living in the suburbs. The upside is space, grass and trees, lower taxes, safety, reliable (if bland) schools, convenient parking, and a feeling (albeit delusionary) of control over one's life. The downside is that your brains turn to applesauce. Which brings me to my question. For the past 10 years or so your newspaper, the Inquirer, has shamelessly pandered to suburban readers who don't really want to be disturbed by the issues of the day (that's why they moved to the suburbs in the first place). Your economics column is one of the few thoughtful, substantive, intelligent features left in that newspaper. Yet you yourself are a 'burbite. How on earth have you maintained your perspective, not to mention your job? What is your secret?

Dan

the breakfast table
entries
12345678910111213141516
from: Dan Rottenberg

The Noxious Effects of Suburbanization

Posted Monday, March 5, 2001, at 11:54 AM ET
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Andrew Cassel writes a thrice-weekly column about the economy. He has been a columnist, business reporter, and national correspondent for the Philadelphia Inquirer since 1984. Philadelphia journalist Dan Rottenberg is a veteran of 16 years with alternative publications and the author of seven books, most recently The Inheritor's Handbook. He currently edits Family Business magazine.
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