This article has some good things to say, but ultimately misses the mark. Charles Marohn does a great job of breaking down the issue. Between 1960 and 2020 Jackson has tripled in size while adding...
This article has some good things to say, but ultimately misses the mark. Charles Marohn does a great job of breaking down the issue. Between 1960 and 2020 Jackson has tripled in size while adding only 6% more people. There has been barely any growth in the tax base while there has been an absolutely massive increase in the amount of infrastructure. Yes racism and climate change are an immense danger and causing many issues, but they aren’t the core of the problem here.
Our spread out, car centric suburban design is the core issue. This type of city building is unsustainable long term, and rots our cities from the inside out. “In the pursuit of jobs and economic development, American cities have spread themselves out beyond their abilities to financially sustain themselves. All those roads, all that sidewalk, all those pipes....they are really, really expensive. We're starting to understand that building it all was the easy part. Maintaining it generation after generation is hard.”
It's kinda what I alluded to. Everyone sees the $10 million 'build a road' as a 1-off expense, and the $1 million annually to keep it well maintained gets written off as an excessive line item...
It's kinda what I alluded to. Everyone sees the $10 million 'build a road' as a 1-off expense, and the $1 million annually to keep it well maintained gets written off as an excessive line item because the first 10 years were not expensive to maintain.
This article describes the state of the water system in Jackson Mississippi, which has been unable to produce clean drinking water for the past five years. The writer mentions the common situation...
This article describes the state of the water system in Jackson Mississippi, which has been unable to produce clean drinking water for the past five years. The writer mentions the common situation across many older cities whose governments have not planned for future maintenance costs as well as the declining population (specifically the departure of white middle class people) reducing the revenue available to perform maintenance.
The article particularly focuses on the influence of race on this problem, as Jackson is mostly made up of black residents and in the nearby suburbs (which have clean drinking water) are mostly white people - It is from these suburbs that most of the powerful Mississippi politicians have been produced. The article argues that systemic racism is the main cause for Jackson's current problems and lack of investment for the future.
"My taxes are too high" <- How infrastructure gets defunded. Tax cuts should be progressive, and temporary. We shouldn't ever be in a situation where someone with a net worth over a million gets a...
whose governments have not planned for future maintenance costs
"My taxes are too high" <- How infrastructure gets defunded.
Tax cuts should be progressive, and temporary. We shouldn't ever be in a situation where someone with a net worth over a million gets a tax break.
I don't think that's what the article presented as what's going on Seems like a recursive cycle of population depletion spurred by "white flight" have made it so that there aren't people to tax,...
I don't think that's what the article presented as what's going on
“This is like a triple or quadruple whammy, what’s going on,” said Alan Mallach, senior fellow at D.C.-based Center for Community Progress. “One layer is the fact that older cities — completely leaving aside race, poverty, all that — are at a disadvantage to young cities.”
“Then you get the second layer,” Mallach continued. “You have this whole phenomenon which has been going on really since the 1950s, where older cities, central cities, have essentially been abandoned by large parts of the middle class, especially the white middle class, for the suburbs.”
Seems like a recursive cycle of population depletion spurred by "white flight" have made it so that there aren't people to tax, as opposed to tax cuts on people that are still there.
Yeah. The people leave, but the infrastructure (and need for maintenance) stays. I imagine there'll be a lot of areas that are returned to nature to one degree or another over time.
Yeah. The people leave, but the infrastructure (and need for maintenance) stays. I imagine there'll be a lot of areas that are returned to nature to one degree or another over time.
The article is about "abandonment by the middle class." It's not rich people we're talking about. (If there were any rich people there, it probably would have been fixed.)
The article is about "abandonment by the middle class." It's not rich people we're talking about. (If there were any rich people there, it probably would have been fixed.)
Perhaps I should have mentioned I was talking in the abstract. Infrastructure across the US is grossly underfunded and falling apart. Poor neighboorhoods are definitely feeling the pain first.
Perhaps I should have mentioned I was talking in the abstract.
Infrastructure across the US is grossly underfunded and falling apart. Poor neighboorhoods are definitely feeling the pain first.
This article has some good things to say, but ultimately misses the mark. Charles Marohn does a great job of breaking down the issue. Between 1960 and 2020 Jackson has tripled in size while adding only 6% more people. There has been barely any growth in the tax base while there has been an absolutely massive increase in the amount of infrastructure. Yes racism and climate change are an immense danger and causing many issues, but they aren’t the core of the problem here.
Our spread out, car centric suburban design is the core issue. This type of city building is unsustainable long term, and rots our cities from the inside out. “In the pursuit of jobs and economic development, American cities have spread themselves out beyond their abilities to financially sustain themselves. All those roads, all that sidewalk, all those pipes....they are really, really expensive. We're starting to understand that building it all was the easy part. Maintaining it generation after generation is hard.”
It's kinda what I alluded to. Everyone sees the $10 million 'build a road' as a 1-off expense, and the $1 million annually to keep it well maintained gets written off as an excessive line item because the first 10 years were not expensive to maintain.
This article describes the state of the water system in Jackson Mississippi, which has been unable to produce clean drinking water for the past five years. The writer mentions the common situation across many older cities whose governments have not planned for future maintenance costs as well as the declining population (specifically the departure of white middle class people) reducing the revenue available to perform maintenance.
The article particularly focuses on the influence of race on this problem, as Jackson is mostly made up of black residents and in the nearby suburbs (which have clean drinking water) are mostly white people - It is from these suburbs that most of the powerful Mississippi politicians have been produced. The article argues that systemic racism is the main cause for Jackson's current problems and lack of investment for the future.
"My taxes are too high" <- How infrastructure gets defunded.
Tax cuts should be progressive, and temporary. We shouldn't ever be in a situation where someone with a net worth over a million gets a tax break.
I don't think that's what the article presented as what's going on
Seems like a recursive cycle of population depletion spurred by "white flight" have made it so that there aren't people to tax, as opposed to tax cuts on people that are still there.
Yeah. The people leave, but the infrastructure (and need for maintenance) stays. I imagine there'll be a lot of areas that are returned to nature to one degree or another over time.
The article is about "abandonment by the middle class." It's not rich people we're talking about. (If there were any rich people there, it probably would have been fixed.)
Perhaps I should have mentioned I was talking in the abstract.
Infrastructure across the US is grossly underfunded and falling apart. Poor neighboorhoods are definitely feeling the pain first.