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First Suburbs In The Northeast And Midwest: Assets, Challenges, And Opportunities, Robert Puentes

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article examines the decline of first suburbs, the older inner-ring suburbs closest to cities that grew up before or immediately after World War II. As families leave these areas for the expanding outer suburbs, the tax base shrinks and poverty and failing schools result. Inner suburbs lack the sophisticated governmental structures of cities to combat these problems, and without a shift in investment policies, first suburbs will continue to suffer.