The Wealth of Cities.

• Author: Galipeau, Roger
• Position: Review

Norquist, John O.

Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Press (207 pp)

Reviewed by Roger Galipeau, Director, Productivity and Deputy to City Manager, Montreal, Quebec.

The Wealth of Cities is an inspiring and timely book that deals with many aspects of city life. It not only makes us aware of several of the problems in our daily environment, but also offers remedies and solutions. It is pertinent to citizens, taxpayers, politicians, administrators, and developers.

The Wealth of Cities has a strong free-market bent and blames government policy for much of what has gone wrong with U.S. cities. The author, John Norquist, the current mayor of Milwaukee, says that cities have a life to themselves regardless of state or federal government policy. Local officials should do what they need to do first and ask for help after. Cities existed long before states and are not merely creatures of governments.

The good news is that despite misguided experts and counterproductive policies, some cities have survived, rebounded, and even thrived. The purpose of cities is to create conditions under which their people and businesses may live and prosper. The key to success is to deliver high-quality services at low cost. Norquist argues that mayors can cut spending and be re-elected. The book suggests ways to cut spending without reducing the level of services and gives suggestions as to what cities should do to keep spending below inflation.

The book presents strong arguments for better quality education. Norquist contends that parents should have the choice about which school their children attend. Norquist also argues that the American federal and state governments have killed affordable housing by ill-conceived policies such as...