Philadelphia Weekly

As Gov. Rendell and Pennsylvania Senate Republicans spar over control of an estimated $16 billion in federal stimulus dollars, economically challenged suburbs like Upper Darby, Lansdowne and Yeadon are clamoring for their fare share. The Southeast Pennsylvania First Suburbs Project, an organization founded in 2007 by local boroughs, churches, townships and community groups, has brought different constituencies together and given voice—and teeth—to their demands.

On a recent Thursday night, more than 200 residents, local government officials and religious leaders packed Valley Forge’s National Christian Conference Center to lay out their request for federal funds that they say are needed to repair crumbling sewer and wastewater treatment systems, ensure a fair distribution of school funding and improve regional planning. In addition to committed community stakeholders, a few dozen people from out-of-state community organizations—in town for a training—showed up for an object lesson in citizen accountability.

Emotions in the room reached a fever pitch as speakers detailed their communities’ decline. Montgomery County Commissioner and former congressman Joe Hoeffel said to the crowd, “It’s like a revival meeting in here.”

Advocates say their neighborhoods have declined over the past 30 years as wealthier residents moved out to western Delaware and Chester counties. As the richer left and the poorer arrived, local governments found themselves in the impossible situation of declining tax revenues and an increasing demand for social services, in turn leading to higher property taxes that made communities less attractive to residents.

But the peculiarities and problems of Upper Darby, Lansdowne and Yeadon are not unique to the Philly area. First suburbs, where about 20 percent of Americans live, were built during the post-World War II boom and iconically represented in sitcoms like The Brady Bunch. But things have changed.

Increasing race and class disparities mean that while first suburbs are home to ever-deeper pockets of concentrated poverty, they are still on average wealthier than the country as a whole. An increasing share of our elderly and foreign-born population also live there, transforming these communities from being much less diverse than the nation as a whole in the 1980s to far more so today.

According to a 2006 Brookings Institute report, “while first suburbs do retain some typically suburban traits, they are also beginning to take on characteristics normally associated with central cities and other urban places.” As the tract houses and McMansions of the new exurbs gobble up ever more farmland and make people increasingly car-dependent, first suburbs’ infrastructures are crumbling.

Activists with groups like 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania say that improving first suburbs fights sprawl. Marilyn Wood, the director of the organization’s southeastern branch, says that revitalizing older suburbs “takes the pressure off of open space” and is a “win-win for communities and the environment.” And in an ideal post-petroleum economy, Wood says, closer-in houses near mass transit will be optimal places to live.

Wood also says the problem of concentrating poor folks in first suburbs goes beyond straining municipal budgets. Low-income workers, shut out of living near workplaces like the King of Prussia Mall or the Great Valley Corporate Center, spend a big chunk of their lives commuting.

While motivated by a variety of issues, people at the meeting agreed that their communities could absolutely benefit from the stimulus funding and they’re now willing to work together. Because first suburbs are broken up into small jurisdictions, they often end up competing against one another for scarce resources. Linda Osinupebi, president of Yeadon chapter of the NAACP, says, “We’re coming together as a coalition to network. We understand that what’s been going on in Chester is the same as what’s been going on in Yeadon ... We’re putting differences behind us. We’re all in this together now.”

Rev. Rohan Hepkins, pastor of Yeadon’s Chapel of the Good Shepard, called for better regional planning and more financial support for communities like his. “The problems we’re facing are too large to tackle alone. Housing, infrastructure, transportation [issues] ... are eroding our community, negatively impacting all of us. Folks move out because municipalities are forced to raise property taxes.”

First Suburbs hopes that organizing these communities will send a loud, clear message to elected officials. In what seemed like a scene straight out of a Saul Alinsky organizing handbook, Yeadon Borough Council Member Jacquelyn Puriefoy-Brinkley asked local politicians to stand up, thanking them for their support. After the first round of applause, she put the standing decision-maker on the spot, asking, as the crowd was caught between surprise and laughter, “Will you support our agenda?” No one turned her down.

Advocates like Puriefoy-Brinkley were happy to hear Donna Cooper, Gov. Rendell’s secretary of planning and policy, commit to helping the communities apply for state funds. Republican state Sen. Edwin Erickson and Democratic Sen. Daylin Leach pledged to support First Suburbs’ agenda in Harrisburg.

Cooper emphasized that state money should not be politicized and that no town needs to hire a consultant to apply for state funds. She also encouraged First Suburbs to keep up their fight. “Nobody in this room is asking for anything outrageous. You’re asking for things you deserve.”