The Urban West: Managing Growth and Decline.

• Author: Forte, Debra

Reviewed by Debra Forte, assistant city manager for the City of Lubbock, Texas, and member of GFOA's Executive Board.

This text is a timely piece for cities. The authors focus on urban cities in the western United States, and discussions are centered around growth, infrastructure, economic development, and politics. One can glean useful information from the case studies and data provided by the authors.

Considerable information is provided from research, and the comparisons made among cities are beneficial to the reader. The authors studied all cities with populations between 100,000 and 200,000 in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. In-depth study was conducted for 10 focus cities: Tempe, Arizona; Modesto, California; Pueblo, Colorado; Boise, Idaho; Reno, Nevada; Salem and Eugene, Oregon; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Tacoma and Spokane, Washington. The time period examined is the "decade" of 1978 to 1988. Data were collected beginning with 1978 due to that year's property tax revolts and the first of a series of cuts in federal aid. Only western cities were analyzed, as the authors felt that eastern cities had been reviewed and reported on for some time. Additionally, they felt that the dilemmas faced by western cities varied from those of the eastern cities.

Three major problems for Urban West cities are addressed. First, the system of federalism places stress on cities when there are declines in federal grants, state restrictions on local discretionary authority, or federal tax code changes affecting the issuance of debt. A second challenge stems from citizen initiatives and property tax revolts, issues that first surfaced in the western part of the U.S. (The authors raise the question as to whom the decisions should lie with - the elected officials or the citizens via recall, referendum, etc.) The final problem is concerned with the population growth experience in the Urban West and the resultant infrastructure requirements. These three issues serve as a thread to tie all the chapters together.

The book clearly demonstrates the reactive mode in which these cities found themselves, and the varying ways in which growth and change...