Tense Commandments

During the 1990s, dozens of large US cities continued to lose population, as jobs and people moved to the suburbs. Despite widespread urban revitalization and renewal, one fact remains unmistakable: when choosing where to live and work, Americans prefer the suburbs to the cities. Most of the underlying causes of the urban predicament are familiar: disproportionate poverty, stiff city tax rates, unsatisfactory public services and a cultural preference for the suburban way of life. Less recognized is the distinct possibility that sometimes the regulatory policies of the federal government - the rules and rulings imposed by its judges, bureaucrats and lawmakers - further disadvantage the cities, ultimately burdening their ability to attract residents and businesses. In "Tense Commandments", Pietro Nivola encourages renewed reflection on the suitable balance between national and local domains. He examines an array of directive or supervisory methods by which federal policymakers narrow local autonomy and complicate the work urban governments are supposed to do. Nivola includes case studies of six cities: Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles.