There's talk the urban environment is so totally different from the rural that two Extension Services will result. I submit this is the wrong argument at the wrong time. Philosophically, the argument is misguided. Extension is the statewide, educational outreach arm of the land grant university, of the people's university. It's natural, proper, and necessary that Extension have a meaningful presence in our big cities.
Extension is responsible for educationally serving all people of the state.
On practical, numerical terms, the argument doesn't make sense either. If there ever was room for debate, the preliminary results of the 1990 Census have laid it to rest for all time. The United States, quite simply, has become an urban and metropolitan country. It now contains 195 cities with populations of more than 100,000 people. Urban residents have needs Extension can address, and elected officials who represent them demand we do so as an expectation for programmatic and financial support.