The process of economic restructuring

The process of economic restructuring has, over the past few decades, had an enormous impact on American cities. Among those hardest hit by changes in urban economies have been African Americans and other minorities who had the fewest options in electing to leave the central cities and follow manufacturing jobs to the suburbs and even farther afield. These same groups were equally unprepared to take on the service sector jobs that developed as restructuring progressed. It is sometimes claimed that this was accidental -- that economic restructuring is merely the product of impersonal free-market forces. But government at all levels plays a major role in restructuring and, on every level, "conflict is a central feature in which competing groups, with unequal power, strive to shape restructuring to serve their own interests" (Squires, 1990, p. 102). In New York, as in every large American city, race has been a primary factor in this politics of restructuring. Despite a brief attempt at urban populism in the mid-1960s, New York's city government has largely favored development at the expense of its minority populations. The position taken by most administrations was bluntly summed up by Mayor Edward Koch who said in 1984 that he spoke out for the middle class, "because they pay the taxes: they provide jobs for the poor" (quoted by Fainstein, 1990, p. 561). Yet, while the middle class has generally prospered in New York City, the poor have found few jobs either accessible

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ive African American and Puerto Rican constituency since these groups constituted a major part of his political support (Savitch, 1994, p. 572). But his plan was overridden by regular Democrats who feared that political patronage would be taken away from them and relocated in these new centers. Lindsay settled for seven privately-funded Offices of Neighborhood Government (ONGs) which were located in white neighborhoods as well. When Abe Beame, a regular Democrat, took office in 1974 the ONGs were still operating and the concept of decentralization had become widely accepted as a means of dealing with growing urban problems. In 1975 a charter commission (the Goodman Commission) had taken the ONGs as a model for administrative arms which were to be added to the city's 59 community boards. The reach of each board was to "approximate 'natural communities'" and local elected officials were to appoint the members of the boards who would function in an advisory capacity. The boards were charged with service coordination and, in their advisory capacity, they were to deal with questions regarding land use (Savitch, 10994, p. 755-756). The unanticipated consequences of the community boards proved to be extremely important. While the

Category: Economics - T