Reagan and the Cities

Report Outline
Contours of New Urban Policy
Cutbacks of Existing Programs
New Initiative: Enterprise Zones
Special Focus

Contours of New Urban Policy

Reagan's Plans of the Reduced Federal Role

For the last half-century, the federal government has been actively involved in trying to solve the problems of America's cities. Unable to deal effectively with poverty, population growth or loss, increased service demands, shrinking or static tax bases, and unable to gain sympathy from rural- or suburban-dominated state legislatures, the cities in recent decades have turned increasingly to Washington for economic assistance. Despite the hundreds of federal programs, physical and social and economic conditions in many cities, especially the older industrial cities, have become worse.

Many conservatives, including Ronald Reagan, have pronounced the era of large-scale federal assistance a failure, saying that it has done little to help the cities while placing a massive burden on the nation's taxpayers. Supporters of federal urban aid argue that the cities have been the victims of the vicissitudes of the national economy, and would be much worse off without federal assistance.

Two reports released in Washington during a recent three-day period illustrate these profoundly differing visions of the conditions of America's cities and the need for federal aid. On July 9. President Reagan, as required by law, sent to Congress his 1982 National Urban Policy Report, prepared by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. It stated the administration's intention to continue limiting federal aid to cities and shift responsibility for urban programs from the federal to state and local governments. On July 12, the National League of Cities (NLC) released preliminary results of a survey of 43 cities indicating that the majority are in poor fiscal shape and are unable to absorb the new responsibilities thrust upon them by even the early stages of federal retrenchment.