President Trump is infamous for politicizing civil unrest in cities, but his leadership's animus to urban areas is found in policy as well, despite the importance of large cities to the nation's economy.
"President Trump’s hostility to cities may help him politically, but it threatens to worsen the recession because metropolitan regions are the engines of the nation’s economic growth," according to an article by Robert McCartney filed under "Analysis" by The Washington Post.
Cities are the 'economic engine' of the country, according to various experts cited in the article, and the lack of a second economic relief package risks the ability of urban areas to lead the country out of a recession.
Among the experts cited in the article are Nan Whaley (D), mayor of Dayton, Ohio, and vice president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors; Mark Muro, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program; and Richard Florida, described in the article as "a University of Toronto researcher and author of books on urban areas."
The article lists the many programs, services, and jobs at risk as the duration of the pandemic lengthens into the fall and winter, mentioning issues central to professional planning several times throughout—like the dire financial straits of public transit agencies, and the likelihood that the number of public sector job losses, including planning jobs, will double over the next 18 months (1.3 million state and local government employees have lost their jobs since March, according to the article).
FULL STORY: Trump’s hostility to cities threatens to worsen the recession
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