Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 20, 1993                   TAG: 9305200128
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE                                LENGTH: Medium

STUDY FINDS VA. CITIES IN DECLINE SUBURBS STILL EXPANDING AT EXPENSE OF URBAN

Median family income in six central cities fell 9 percent behind their suburban jurisdictions from 1980 to 1990, a strong sign that the cities' long-term decline is likely to continue, said William Lucy, professor of urban and environmental planning.

From 1960 to 1990, median family income in the cities fell 28 percent behind the suburbs, reflecting the "suburbanization of the middle class," Lucy said.

Lucy studied Roanoke, Norfolk, Richmond, Lynchburg, Danville and Charlottesville.

"Although they had lower incomes and more poverty than their suburbs, the central cities made a much greater tax effort to support public services, especially education, than their large suburbs did," Lucy said.

"The city school systems clearly have a difficult job," he said. "It is questionable whether cities are getting enough state funding compared to some other school systems to succeed in the work citizens and state officials expect from them."

The cities on average received no relative increase in state aid for education from 1980 to 1990, even though family poverty rates increased by 57 percent compared with their suburbs, the study found.

Public welfare and food stamp recipients were about four times more numerous in the cities in 1990 than their largest neighboring localities, the study showed.

In 1989, family poverty rates were: Richmond, 17.4 percent; Norfolk, 15.4 percent; Danville, 15 percent; Lynchburg, 12.8 percent; Roanoke, 12.8 percent; and Charlottesville, 10 percent.

In 1990, the percentage of food stamp recipients were: Richmond, 14.4 percent; Norfolk, 11.6 percent; Roanoke, 10.4 percent; Danville, 9.2 percent; Charlottesville, 8 percent; and Lynchburg, 7.7 percent.

Conflicting images have prompted lawmakers to question whether cities need federal and state assistance, Lucy said.

"On one hand, they saw office towers shooting up," he said. "On the other hand, the news media report daily on drive-by shootings, skyrocketing murder rates, AIDS crises and growing homelessness."

Lucy said cities may be declining because people prefer more space to less and safety to uncertainty.

"As long as most people have these preferences and developers, lenders and public officials cater to private tastes, suburban growth in a sprawling pattern will keep spreading," he said. "Cities will be the losers in the process."

Ironically, there is growing evidence of frustration in suburbia, especially with traffic congestion and damage to the environment, the study said.

"The question for society to weigh is this: Can we afford either the continuing decline of cities or the costs to the environment and to the public expenditures associated with sprawling suburbia?"