Pennsylvania's Crisis: A Ring of Decline

The Philadelphia Inquirer examines why a high percentage of older suburban towns and boroughs in Pennsylvania and New Jersey are on the edge of failing.

1 minute read

November 25, 2003, 1:00 PM PST

By Chris Steins @planetizen


"A regional crisis has been rising, slowly and quietly, from places no bigger than pinpricks in the map. All the easier not to notice... Every quarter of the country is studded with deteriorating towns and small, decaying cities. But researchers who study them say that few areas are more troubled than the Pennsylvania and New Jersey suburbs around Philadelphia and Camden - seven counties that hold what nationally renowned demographic analyst Myron Orfield calls 'a ring of decline unusual for its depth and severity.' "

Thanks to Dan Magee

Sunday, November 23, 2003 in The Philadelphia Inquirer

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