Burbs, Unite!

For a few years, Robert Puentes of the Brookings Institution has been preaching about the the need for "first suburbs" to work together. Increasingly, it seems, he has a choir. In New Jersey this week, two dozen mayors and other officials from some of the state's older suburbs gathered to discuss their common concerns and plan an formal association. "With growing social needs, reduced outside financial resources, and greater dependence on tax revenues," writes Gene Racz in Central Jersey's Home News Tribune, "older suburbs are struggling to fend for themselves, often competing with one another for limited funds." An association of first suburbs, it is hoped, will allow suburban towns to work together and unify their voice when arguing for changes in the state capitol.

In 2002, Puentes identified 64 counties across the country that contain first suburbs, communities that boomed after World War II, but now face many problems associated with urban decay. They are home to a fifth of the American population.