Boston, although a small city, can lead the way. Boston is America's urban success story. It is also a city at a crossroads, never stronger economically but facing new challenges bred from that success. The year 2000 in Boston represents an unprecedented opportunity. Boston's unemployment, crime and vacancy rates are all at record lows.
Public confidence is high, and future projections are generally positive.
This is the result of decades of hard work in every sector and neighborhood as well as a period of sustained economic expansion. But Boston is also facing a number of challenges. As detailed in this report, Boston's positive statistics on average mask a deeper reality. In the midst of generally rising prosperity, the cost of living has outpaced wages for many Bostonians and has created a negative economic undertow. Racial and class disparities in access to quality health care, schools, housing, technology, and transportation continue to reflect historic patterns of disadvantage which have not changed in proportion to Boston's economic success.