Post-Suburbia: Government and Politics in the Edge Cities.

• Author: Bailey, Sheryl D.

Reviewed by GFOA member Sheryl D. Bailey, Ph.D., director of financial policy, City of Hampton, Virginia.

Jon Teaford's thoroughly researched book traces the transformation of governmental institutions over the course of the suburban movement of the early 1900s through the emergence of "edge cities" or "post-suburbia" during the second half of the century. Teaford submits that America's metropolitan profile today does not follow the traditional contour with a central business hub and suburban rim. As people, industry, commerce, and entertainment migrated to the formerly suburban fringe, multiple urban-like hubs developed along the metropolitan periphery that were not dependent on the traditional core. Thus the terms "edge city" and "post-suburban metropolis" were born.

Teaford maintains that the governmental institutions associated with post-suburban life also defied traditional concepts. In order to explain why and how the post-suburban polity developed, Teaford examines six representative counties in detail: Suffolk County and Nassau County, New York (Long Island); Oakland County, Michigan (north of Detroit); DuPage County, Illinois (west of Chicago); Saint Louis County, Missouri; and Orange County, California. As pioneers of the post-suburban world, these six counties share certain identifiable patterns although they have differing histories and governmental institutions. In particular, they exhibited similar approaches to preserving the suburban ideal while tolerating useful urban realities.

Suburbanites wanted the small, intimate, and homogeneous village life with abundant green space and fresh air, as well as a small-scale, nonpartisan polity characterized by volunteerism, cooperation, and consensus; however, they also valued the reduced work commute, lower tax rates, and convenient entertainment and shopping that development brought. Teaford posits that the driving force in the development of the post-suburban polity is this tension between suburban ideals and post-suburban realities: as the suburban population spiraled during 1920-40, the number of small and supposedly neighborly municipalities also grew. This overall trend toward governmental fragmentation led to a confusing maze of governmental units, inefficient service delivery, and high costs. He delineates the political development of each of these six counties to illustrate this thesis, providing thorough and meticulous reporting on local and state political developments to...