[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 141 (Thursday, October 3, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12330-S12331]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        URBAN WOES AND SOLUTIONS

 Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I would like to call the Senate's 
attention to an op-ed in the New York Daily News by Professor Mitchell 
Moss. Professor Moss, director of the Taub Urban Research Center of New 
York University, has a long history of illuminating our Nation's urban 
woes, and potential solutions.

[[Page S12331]]

  I ask that the article entitled ``U.S. Cities Need a Helping Hand'' 
by Mitchell Moss be printed in the Record.
  The article follows:

                    U.S. Cities Need a Helping Hand

                           (By Mitchell Moss)

       Like suburbanites who commute to high-income jobs in 
     downtown offices, Bill Clinton and Bob Dole treat cities as 
     places to raise money, not as centers of commerce and culture 
     with physical and human needs.
       The same is true across the political spectrum. Both 
     parties used cities to stage their conventions--but failed to 
     acknowledge the economic and social importance of cities in 
     their party platforms. Neither party has a set of policies to 
     deal with the impact of immigrants, to help schools, to pump 
     private dollars into housing or to use the renewal of the 
     infrastructure as a way to create jobs.
       The Democrats' only strategy for cities is to create more 
     empowerment zones. That's supply-side idea stolen from Jack 
     Kemp's playbook, but it is too unproven to warrant expansion 
     into a national spending program. And congressional Democrats 
     still support the entrenched interest groups that impede 
     innovation at the community level.
       As for the Republicans, it took Kemp, a former housing 
     secretary, to remind them that cities are still part of the 
     United States. In fact, the GOP platform virtually ignores 
     cities while paying homage to the nation's agricultural 
     heritage and calling for tax policies to preserve the family 
     farm.
       The GOP would shift most domestic programs to the states, 
     putting cities at the mercy of suburban and rural-dominated 
     legislatures that consistently shortchange urban schools and 
     mass transit systems.
       And both parties have joined in passing anti-urban welfare 
     reform legislation. The targets of this law--poor people and 
     legal immigrants--are disproportionately located in the 
     nation's major cities. Moreover, welfare reform, when 
     combined with the bi-partisan agreement to balance the budget 
     without reducing entitlements, will force Washington to 
     intensify its two-decade-old policy of urban disinvestment.
       Ironically, the federal government's abandonment of cities 
     is occurring at the precise moment when central-city office 
     markets are rebounding, when business improvement districts 
     are cleaning up streets and sidewalks and when church and 
     community-based corporations have mastered the art of 
     developing low-cost housing.
       There is even a new cadre of mayors trying to do what was 
     once considered impossible: Govern big cities. Giuliani in 
     New York, Riordan in Los Angeles, Daley in Chicago, Rendell 
     in Philadelphia and White in Cleveland are taking on the 
     challenge of reducing high taxes, holding down municipal 
     labor costs, stimulating tourism and improving safety--all 
     without the help of their governors and legislatures.
       So what can Washington do to help mayors and their cities? 
     There are no quick fixes. But there are priorities that 
     warrant funds and attention:
       National immigration policy has caused overcrowding in big-
     city schools, especially in New York and Los Angeles. The 
     cost of educating the children immigrants should be partially 
     covered by the federal government and not just local 
     taxpayers.
       Washington should build on its successful use of tax 
     incentives to attract private dollars to finance low-income 
     housing and stimulate minority employment in the contracting 
     and construction trades. Federal policy makers also should 
     recognize the importance of religious-based organizations in 
     housing and economic development.
       The federal government can help create jobs while improving 
     urban infrastructures by fostering public and private 
     investment in mass transit, intelligent highways and 
     waterfront development.
       The federal government cannot cure the problems of cities, 
     but voters must not let the presidential candidates run away 
     from the cities, either.

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