CITIES Why in Crisis?/Big-City Problems in Western Lands

The situation in Western lands may be somewhat less dire, yet an urban crisis still exists.  For example, the book The Crisis of America's Cities says:  "American cities today are marked by violence of extraordinary proportions. . . . The prevalence of violence in American cities is so severe that medical journals have begun devoting significant space to it as one of the major public health issues of our day."  Of course, violence is a plague in  many major cities throughout the world.  

The deterioration of  city life is one reason why many cities have become unattractive to employers. Says the book The Human Face of the Urban Environment:  "Businesses have moved  to the suburbs  or overseas, shutting down plants, leaving them behind 'brown fields'-empty buildings or contaminated lots, with toxic materials buried in the ground, totally unfit  for development."  As a result, many cities find poor people concentrated in areas "in which environmental problems are too easily ignored-where sewage systems break down; where water purification is inadequate; where vermin infest garbage-filled lots and invade dwellings; where little children eat lead paint from the walls in deteriorating apartment buildings . . . where no one seems to care."  In such an environment, crime, violence, and despair flourish.

In addition, Western cities are having difficulty providing basic services. Back in 1981, authors Pat Choate and Susan Walter wrote a book with the dramatic title America in Ruins- The Decaying Infrastructure. In that they stated: "America's public facilities are wearing out faster than they are being replaced.   "The authors expressed great alarm over the number of rusting bridges, deteriorating roads, and crumbling sewage systems in major cities.  

Twenty years later, cities such as New York still have ailing infrastructures. An article in New York Magazine described the massive Third Water Tunnel project. It has done on now for some 30 years and is called the biggest infrastructure project in the Western Hemisphere.  It involves an expenditure of some five billion dollars.  When finished, the tunnel will deliver one billion gallons of fresh water a day to New York City.  "But for all this prodigious digging,"says the writer,  "the tunnel is only meant to supplement the existing pipes , enabling them to be repaired  for the first time in the beginning of the century."  According to an article in The New York Times, repairing the rest of the city's crumbling infrastructure-its subways, its water mains, its roads, its bridges-will cost an estimated 90 billion dollars.   

Note: Now this is why things should not be put off for years; if something needs fixed, then fix it! instead of putting it in their pockets. It is the politician's responsibility to make sure that things get taken care of.  But the greed seems to take over. 

Next time: CITIES Why in Crisis?/Conclusion of Big-City Problems in Western Lands

From the Awake! magazine