United States Af(n/
Environmental Protection
Agency
September 1978
New England's
Urban
Environment
and
The National
Program
For the Cities
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I am happy to send you this copy of a pamphlet
which discusses New England's urban environ-
ment in the context of President Carter's national
program for the cities. The President's program
contains several unique and positive strategies,
particularly for cities where a combination of en-
vironmental and economic problems require imag-
inative and coordinated solutions.
Two aspects of the program are particularly im-
portant from an environmental aspect and from
my personal point of view. The first is the
program's basic approach which mandates a
strong and cooperative working relationship
among governments at all levels, with the private
sector, and with urban groupings to carry forward
the program's several strategies. Having worked
for both federal and state government, I can ap-
preciate fully why the President has made this
"New Partnership" the cornerstone of his program
for the cities.
A second feature of note is that pollution con-
trol needs and the health of urban economies are
collectively addressed for the first time in a single
federal program. The environmental community in
New England often finds itself contending with
the charge that pollution control programs can on-
ly succeed at the sacrifice of economic productiv-
ity and community revitalization.
The comprehensive and interrelated nature of
the President's program, however, is a clear
demonstration that economic and environmental
objectives are not mutually exclusive but in fact
can complement one another.
William R. Adams, Jr.
Regional Administrator
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NEW ENGLAND'S URBAN TRADITION
President Carter's national urban program,
which he sent to Congress in the spring, draws
heavily upon New England's century and a half ex-
periment with city living. This is a long period of
time and makes our cities as much a New England
tradition as other features of the area.
It seems almost unbelievable these days that as
late as the 1920's, Lawrence, Somerville, Man-
chester and several other New England cities had
more people than Miami or San Diego while New
Haven, Worcester, and even Boston's Dorchester
community supported larger populations than
Houston or Dallas. Not only was Providence on a
par with Atlanta and Denver, but Boston neighbor-
hoods like South Boston, Charlestown, and Brigh-
ton were all ahead of Phoenix and San Jose in the
population ratings. Some still refer to this period
as the "gilded age" of New England's urban exper-
ience.
New Englanders know, of course, that the last
several decades have been extremely tough and
often turbulent times for many of their older cities.
But while several critical economic and environ-
mental problems remain, it is clear that many of
the area's urban centers and neighborhoods are
making strong comebacks. New England state
and local governments and scores of community
and neighborhood groups are beginning to solve
several problems which newer urban areas are
only beginning to recognize.
It's not surprising, therefore, that President Car-
ter made a special effort to tap governmental and
private sources in New England for assistance
when he began to develop the national urban pro-
gram.
ENVIRONMENTAL OVERTONES OF THE
"NEW PARTNERSHIP"
First and foremost, these New Englanders con-
curred with a national consensus that the corner-
stone of the urban program had to include a new
cooperative partnership among governments at all
levels and with private urban groups to carry for-
ward the program's several proposed strategies.
From an environmental perspective, this "New
Partnership" is unique since pollution control
needs and the health of urban economies are col-
lectively addressed for the first time in a single
federal program.
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Economic Revitalization
Underlying the program's basic philosophy is
the premise that older urban areas, including sev-
eral in New England, simply can't make a full
comeback without strong and sustained eco-
nomic growth or revitalization. Local officials from
these areas are almost unanimous in agreeing
that their cities can't get very far without
strengthened economies.
Specifics of the President's program include
establishment of a National Development Bank to
encourage businesses to locate or expand in dis-
tressed urban areas, and a program to make it
easier for private industry to hire disadvantaged
workers. A labor intensive public works program
has also been proposed that will help to supple-
ment these employment initiatives since many of
the jobs will be geared for urban projects.
From an environmental perspective, eventual
success of New England's urban revitalization ob-
jectives may ease some of the frustrations which
result in a widely held belief that pollution control
programs are largely responsible for New Eng-
land's urban problems. All the evidence which can
be mustered to argue the opposite isn't nearly as
effective as initiatives which curb the economic
problems themselves.
Parks, Bikeways and Waterfronts for People
The President has also proposed that cities be
allowed to compete for federal monies to develop
new and improved recreational resources in areas
where they are critically short for community
needs. The possibilities range from city parks to
auto free bike paths and innovative uses of old
buildings for public recreational purposes.
Recreational resources can work to comple-
ment a number of environmental objectives that
include buffers against noise and air pollution pro-
vided by tree filled parks and auto free recrea-
tional spaces in densely populated areas. Bike
paths are a recognized way to reduce automobile
air pollution in cities and are encouraged as one
part of comprehensive programs to control this
problem in metropolitan areas.
Equally important, there's a unique opportunity
to create waterfront parks in cities located near
lakes, rivers and harbors to coincide with New
England's continuing water cleanup program.
Several New England cities already have pioneer-
ing programs around waterways where old
buildings and other structures, which had been
partially unused for decades, have been turned in-
to recreational assets. These include Boston's
Waterfront Park and nearby Quincy Market com-
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plex, and Lowell's Heritage Park. The latter is
fashioned around old mills and houses, many of
which date from the 1830's when Lowell was the
center of America's fledgling industrial move-
ment. The Lowell plan and othe/ preservation pro-
grams are part of a new recognition by New
Englanders that the area's historical resources
aren't limited to those from the Revolutionary War
Period and that innovative ways can be found to
promote environmental, economic and recrea-
tional objectives simultaneously along urban
waterways.
Neighborhood Recognition
Another unique aspect of the national urban
program is that it puts the federal government on
record for the first time in support of voluntary ac-
tion programs at the neighborhood level. These
movements are especially well developed and ad-
vanced in the New England area.
Neighborhood Self-Help Programs: The Presi-
dent's proposals include a cooperative program
with city governments to provide assistance to
neighborhood groups for local self-help programs.
These include initiatives that create jobs, cut
down on crime, establish health centers, expand
community development credit unions and
broader programs which extend credit for housing
rehabilitation.
Community Impact Analyses: Another initiative
with implications for preserving and strengthen-
ing city neighborhoods is a "Community Impact
Analysis" program which the President has al-
ready put in motion by executive authority. Under
this program, all federal agencies will review the
effects that their major policies and programs
have on urban and regional areas as part of the
legislative and budgetary processes. Much of the
drive for this program has come from neighbor-
hood groups including several in New England
which are sensitive about the adverse impact of
past federal projects (highways and other large
building or renewal programs) on neighborhood
cohesion and stability.
The West End's Belated /.egacy.'This sensitivity
began to develop locally some two decades ago
following an urban renewal program which wiped
out Boston's- large and historic West End com-
munity. Old timers still remember the West End as
a vibrant area of narrow streets and compact row
houses where politics was rough and tumble and
family and neighborhood were established local
institutions that bound the community together.
What decision makers considered a slum in those
days is recognized in retrospect as a lost resource
for Boston. As government leaders and citizens
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pondered over the rubble of the West End, a strong
consensus emerged that old city neighborhoods
should be saved and not destroyed.
This consensus prevailed in more recent times
when a proposed super highway through Boston's
Southwest Corridor was scrapped after intense
citizen opposition. A substitute plan was subse-
quently developed for the area even though a large
number of homes had already been removed for
the highway path. This new plan, which the federal
government has recently agreed to support as part
of the urban program, will provide for multiple use
of the cleared land for improved mass transit, rec-
reational areas, and job creating industries. Like
the Boston Waterfront development program and
the Lowell Heritage Park, the revised program for
the Southwest Corridor combines a number of en-
vironmental and economic objectives. But the lat-
ter is somewhat different in that neighborhoods
were the key factor that shaped the eventual out-
come.
From an environmental perspective, the actions
of neighborhood groups can contribute directly
and indirectly to the solving of several pollution
problems. These include local programs to curb
noise and solid waste, and street controls to ease
pollution and congestion caused by the automo-
bile. In a broader sense these and other pollution
control programs can only be advanced if individ-
ual neighborhood groups rate them as a top prior-
ity and if these organizations perceive them as
complementing their more immediate goals and
priorities. Neighborhood groups which have suc-
cessfully accomplished their own projects, more-
over, almost always have the momentum and con-
fidence that leads them to search for and demand
environmentally responsible forms of develop-
ment that provide needed employment and other
urban improvements while protecting public
health and neighborhood vitality.
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POLLUTION CONTROL ASSIS-
TANCE FOR NEW ENGLAND'S
URBAN AREAS
The national urban program's New Partnership
gives federal, state, and local authorities specific
tools and resources to contend with several forms
of pollution and their side effects. Specifically, the
program includes initiatives for contending with:
The Price of Urban Sprawl
The President's program clarifies and extends
several initiatives which are seeking to curb the
contributions that some past federal programs
have made to urban sprawl while recognizing that
specific growth and development policies are the
prerogative of state and local governments. One
element related to this is a proposed state incen-
tive grant program to encourage states to develop
and implement growth strategies which aid de-
clining cities, control sprawl, protect environmen-
tally sensitive areas, and reform inequitable fiscal
structures. As part of this effort, EPA has already
issued guidelines to make certain that new and
enlarged waste treatment plants are constructed
only to take care of existing water problems and
projected growth needs. Overdesigned treatment
plants cost taxpayers more in terms of construc-
tion costs and subsequent user charges. They can
also attract accelerated and uncoordinated
growth and development which cities and towns
can't contend with individually.
New England government officials and private
citizens in the area are increasingly aware that tra-
ditional lifestyles, economic stability, and environ-
mental quality are threatened by regional and
urban sprawl. It often creates a vicious cycle that
simultaneously draws resources and people from
older city centers while destroying the unique
characteristics of outlying communities. Un-
manageable sprawl has developed into more than
an aesthetic problem for some of New England's
urban areas.
Economic Costs: Sprawl can affect consumer's
pocket books by increasing taxes they pay for
municipal services such as sewer charges, public
transportation, road maintenance, snow removal
and trash collection. Sprawl has also contributed
to the loss of a large part of New England's
already limited farming land.
Water Resources: Sprawl is also straining
municipal water supplies in several areas, many of
which are already overtaxed to accommodate in-
creased water demands which this kind of rapid
development generates.
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Water Pollution: Sprawl also contributes in a
unique way to water pollution in lakes, rivers and
streams. Construction processes generate more
polluting substances and development programs
which haven't been totally thought through remove
natural buffers between land and water (such as
trees and other foliage) which work to hold pollu-
tants and sediments from reaching the water.
Air Pollution: Sprawl has played a role in con-
tributing to air pollution in several of New Eng-
land's metropolitan areas as mass transit finds it
hard to keep pace with growth and as more auto-
mobiles are pressed into service for ever longer
trips between homes, work and shopping. And the
damage this does to public health isn't the only
problem these transportation trends pose for ur-
ban areas of the region. Costs for gasoline also
multiply and the area's already vulnerable energy
posture is made more vulnerable.
Urban/Suburban Impacts: One of the problems
with gaining support for an urban initiative that
concentrates on older cities is a feeling by out-
lying communities that there's little in it to benefit
them. The sprawl issue, however, only underscores
how interdependent whole metropolitan areas are
with regard to natural resources and with pollution
problems. Sooner or later, many of the problems
that older cities experience initially, begin to ap-
pear in outlying communities as well.
New England's Leadership Role: The decision
to factor growth and development problems into
the President's urban program supports growth
policy statements formulated by several state and
local governments in New England. The policy
growth report entitled City and Town Centers
developed by the Commonwealth of Massachu-
setts was, in fact, a principle model used by the
federal government in articulating its own growth
policy. It stresses the need for responsible and
coordinated growth programs that address the
needs of individual cities and towns while comple-
menting broader economic, environmental, and
social priorities.
Air Pollution Control—Making the "New Partner-
ship" Work
The urban program includes specific initiatives
which should help New England's cities come to
grips with its economic development needs while
carrying out its obligation to reduce health debili-
tating air pollution. Specifically, there would be
federal air planning grants to help localities ac-
commodate both objectives. Another formula in
the President's program is a strategy that would
enable localities to "bank pollutants" from Indus-
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tries that reduce their air pollution. These reserves
could then be used as credits of sort to support
new industry and other development as long as
the overall trend in the affected area was toward
cleaner air.
The "New Partnership" between federal, state,
and local authorities is especially critical in this
area. Many of New England's older industrial
cities have developed growth policies providing
for expanded industrial development because of
long-standing economic problems that have resul-
ted in chronic high levels of unemployment. But
many of these cities have severe air pollution pro-
blems. The urban planning and banking programs
offer new opportunities to meet these economic
and environmental challenges.
Moving People and Removing Pollution
New England city dwellers (and suburban resi-
dents as well) continue to suffer through several
days of very unhealthy air pollution each year and
the automobile is primarily responsible for the
problem. It remains the number one air polluter in
most of New England's cities. Neither EPA nor
state and local environmental agencies can solve
this problem alone.
The urban program proposes cooperative ar-
rangements among several federal agencies to
create improved transportation programs that will
move people more efficiently, cut down on air pol-
lution from automobiles, and encourage economic
development and improved transit stations in ur-
ban corridors where transportation systems can
be linked to help reduce reliance on the automo-
bile. EPA and the Department of Transportation
are already at work on this joint effort.
Implied in this coordinated approach is a recog-
nition that specific programs for reducing auto-
motive air pollution (car pools, bus lanes, van
pools, and the vitally important automotive in-
spection and maintenance program) are best ac-
complished if they complement several other ob-
jectives in urban areas.
Picking up the Trash
Finally, the President's program recognizes that
solid waste disposal is a growing problem in many
areas including some New England cities which
face a shortage of landfill sites. It also recognizes
that it's time' for America's cities to take advan-
tage of several promising techniques for recover-
ing valuable resources including energy supple-
ments from solid waste.
Under the President's program, New England's
cities will have the opportunity to compete with
other parts of the country for grants to study the
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feasibility of several solid waste recovery systems
through a program administered by EPA.
Trash and garbage contribute as much to neigh-
borhood blight in some New England communi-
ties as housing deterioration and crime. Local of-
ficials consistently rate it as a major and chronic
headache. As the mayor of one city recently
lamented, "Everyone wants me to pick up the
trash but nobody wants me to put it down."
There's reason to hope as a result of this program
and other innovative approaches to dealing with
trash and garbage that the city or town dump will
one day go the way of the horse and buggy in New
England.
NEW ENGLAND'S PRESERVATION-
IST PHILOSOPHY
In a very basic sense, the President's urban pro-
gram has the potential to advance several eco-
nomic and environmental goals that have often
been viewed as incompatible with one another
and the source for bitter debate and acrimony. The
program is collectively both a resource and strat-
egy for bringing together several diverse constit-
uencies that include business and industry, organ-
ized labor, the environmental community and all
kinds of urban residents.
The environmental community in New England
is often accused of being insensitive to urban
needs. But this charge overlooks the urge to pre-
serve and improve on existing things that is a
natural inclination for a New Englander.
Most New Englanders who are concerned about
preserving a wildlife refuge in a wetlands area will
appreciate the several ethnic and racial heritages
that enrich New England's city neighborhoods
and the combination of resources required to sus-
tain these "urban villages."
The President's recognition of voluntary action
programs to preserve and restore city neighbor-
hoods has an environmental ring to it also. Many
neighborhood groups in New England have pro-
grams underway to deal with local pollution prob-
lems. And the spirit of voluntarism and self-help
action programs which spark the neighborhood
movements are essentially the same character-
istics that have made the environmental coali-
tions so resourceful in New England.
The President has been the first to stress that
the national program for the cities isn't a cure-all
for every urban ill and that it will take a long time
before several of the program's goals and objec-
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tives are recognized. The important and positive
thing at this stage, however, is that it has provided
a new direction in which the federal government
stands ready with resources that will help and not
hurt city economies and neighborhoods. National
thinking has come a long way from the time when
bulldozers levelled the old West End.
This is a key factor that should unite environ-
mentalists and urban constituencies behind the
national urban program. The support from both is
crucial to making the effort work.
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