This seminal report by David Rusk in 2003 was a background report for a Brookings Institute Report on Back to Prosperity: A Competitive Agenda for Renewing Pennsylvania.
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The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has created the nation’s most fragmented system of local government within its metropolitan areas.
Without even examining sprawl-inducing state infrastructure investments, state policies have contributed to uncontrolled urban sprawl by making its “little boxes” governments so highly dependent on local property taxes, promoting a constant ratables chase. Over the last fifty years Pennsylvania ranks second only to West Virginia in consuming the most land for the least population growth.
The combination – constant outward development overlaying a pattern of immutable local government boundaries – has condemned Pennsylvania’s “inelastic” central cities, most boroughs, and many “built-out” townships to population, economic, and fiscal decline.
The many governmental “little boxes” actively contribute to the high degree of racial and economic segregation that characterizes Pennsylvania’s metropolitan areas.
Whether through costly inefficiencies, high social and economic disparities, or cutthroat intermunicipal competition, Pennsylvania’s governmental system of “little boxes” also retards its economic growth.
Overcoming these handicaps is beyond the capabilities of the current crazy quilt of “little boxes” governments.
The Governor and General Assembly must either radically change local governance or mandate new “rules of the game” for how the myriad “little boxes” must act on issues that transcend jurisdictional boundaries.
This paper will present evidence briefly substantiating each of the above statements before framing recommendations for state action.
Over the next few weeks and months, we will be exploring the seminal report, issued by the Boorkings Institution, which examined the State of our State and offered many bold recommendations. We will be revisiting these assumptions and seeing how we did and where we stand.
