Problems of Local Governmental Reorganization
| Published date | 01 December 1949 |
| DOI | 10.1177/106591294900200406 |
| Date | 01 December 1949 |
| Author | Edwin A. Cottrell |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
599
PROBLEMS
OF
LOCAL
GOVERNMENTAL
REORGANIZATION
EDWIN
A.
COTTRELL
The
Haynes
Foundation
Los
Angeles,
California
HE
Federal
Bureau
of
the
Census
defines
a
metropolitan
area
as
one
t
with
a
central
or
core
city
with
at
least
fifty
thousand
inhabitants
and
secondary
territory
with
at
least
fifty
thousand
more.
Thus
the
metropolitan
district
is
a
collection
of
communities,
incorporated
or
un-
incorporated,
having
a
heavy
density
of
population
and
entirely
inter-
dependent
in
its
economic,
social,
and
political
operation.
There
are
140
such
areas
in
the
United
States,
and
about
half
of
the
total
population
lives
in
these
centers.
In
the
typical
metropolitan
area
there
are
a
number
of
municipal
governments
with
artificial
and,
in
many
cases,
ancient
hallowed
bound-
aries.
An
increasing
number
of
Americans
live
in
communities
that
are
out
of
balance
politically,
economically,
and
socially.
The
legal
jurisdic-
tions
no
longer
fit
the
political
realities.
There
is
usually
found
a
highly
decentralizing
population
movement
which
leaves
a
blighted
area
with
lowered
property
values
and
attendant
hazards
and
liabilities
at
the
cen-
ter
and
brings
about
an
uncontrolled
spreading
residential
peripheral
growth.
Inability
to
face
the
increasing
strain
on
the
tax
structure
has
raised
a
demand
for
an
extension
of
state
functions
or
a
distribution
of
centrally
collected
taxes
for
local
functional
operation
subsidies.
The
in-
creasing
population
per
square
mile;
the
more
intensive
use
of
land
by
crowding
lots
with
structures;
the
more
rapidly
increasing
school
popula-
tion,
demanding
as
many
as
one
new
school
building
per
day,
as
in
Los
Angeles,
or
per
week
or
month,
in
other
areas;
streets
and
other
transpor-
tation
arteries
stifled
and
strangled
with
mass
traffic;
playgrounds,
hos-
pitals,
jails,
and
other
institutions
overcrowded
and
functioning
ineffic-
iently-all
these
conditions
are
becoming
worse
daily.
Population
in
most
metropolitan
areas
is
now
pressing
beyond
the
safety
margin
of
the
re-
sources
available
for
its
support,
and
certainly
in
some,
such
as
our
wes-
tern
coast
areas,
with
a
staggering
speed.
Finances
and
facilities
of
all
gov.
ernments
are
strained
by
the
problems
presented.
The
situation
is
one
in
which
governments
are
trying
to
meet
demands
for
more
schools,
play-
grounds,
streets,
recreational
areas,
utilities,
and
numerous
other
services
through
a
two-inch
pipe
when
a
ten-inch
main
is
required.
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