Praise For Greater Cleveland's First Suburbs Consortium

America's older suburbs are feeling their age, with symptoms including declining population, struggling school systems, fiscal constraints, and a lack of land for new development. Advocates say the cities are caught in a "policy blind spot," between worries about large central cities and growing suburbs fed by urban sprawl. They say federal and state officials should fix existing suburbs before providing money for projects in greener pastures.To fight back, older suburbs are forming alliances. Greater Cleveland's First Suburbs Consortium may not have been the first group of its kind, but it is "by far the most visible and effective in the country," said Bruce Katz, director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution.There is also a companion article briefly discussing first-ring suburban activities in Kansas City, Detroit, Long Island, Pittsburgh, and the National League of Cities:http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1098…

Thanks to Richard Sicha