But Peters' immense popularity has given him great sway, if not outright control, over city government. Even more notable, however, has been Peters' success at persuading many of the people who have a piece of Hartford's fate in their hands to feel obliged to do something constructive with it. This has yielded tangible accomplishments. The business community has stepped up to fill in funding gaps on youth programs and summer jobs, and to work with the city in crafting some job programs for welfare recipients. Perhaps most important, suburbanites no longer view Hartford as an alien landscape to be avoided at all costs.
Good things start to happen.
It has become commonplace to say that city governments cannot tackle urban problems alone, that salvation lies in communal effort. Inc. Reproduction in any form without the written permission of the publisher is prohibited.