As a result, lending institutions and businesses become wary of the liability in holding title to these parcels, and decrepit buildings and vacant lots are left as physical reminders of urban blight. Instead of reinvestment, public and private money flows to suburban areas, to build anew where nothing but grass and trees existed before, often because the up-front cost is considerably smaller and the taxes are lower. While urban areas are equipped with the infrastructure necessary to service all industries, smaller communities armed with TIFs can leverage profit-enhancing packets for businesses to relocate. Only in a very narrow, short-term context. From this simple financial perspective, sprawl has become a critical business climate issue.
Basic infrastructure is already in place in our urban centers.
It is simply underutilized. Without such improvements, businesses will fall farther behind the global competition. There are other problems as well. Continued physical expansion of infrastructure often comes at the expense of maintaining what is already in place. It also creates an ever-increasing inventory that must be maintained with shrinking government resources at all levels.