One scuttles in now like a rat. In the great city that now enriches my life day to day, the gifts are incalculable. Of course, our cities' problems are far from over. But, undeniably, the trends have turned. Blighted areas are reviving as crime rates fall.
Transit riders increase in number year by year and systems are improved and new ones built.
Housing demand spawns renovation and new projects. Businesses are returning. Few indeed would now call cities either hopeless or dispensable. Consider that so establishment a fellow as former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin has turned his attention to leading the Local Initiatives Support Corp., a nonprofit that connects corporations and community development groups. And crucial, too, as Jacobs would tell you, to the nourishment of human hearts and minds and spirits.