Urban Affairs

In the year of the detested and timid politician, Minnesota's Republican governor and Democratically controlled legislature have done something rather amazing.Neal R. Peirce writes a column on state and urban affairs.

Three years after an Inner Harbor statue of William Donald Schaefer was unveiled, admirers of the city's first African-American mayor want to erect a statue of him nearby. A nonprofit foundation created to honor the late Clarence "Du" Burns, who succeeded Schaefer, is asking the city for permission to place an 8-foot-tall statue on the Inner Harbor's west shore, 800 feet south of the Schaefer statue. "What we want to do is tell Du's story, not just that he was the first African-American mayor of Baltimore but the role he played in the creation of the Inner Harbor" and other economic development initiatives, said Sean D. Burns, a local attorney who heads the Clarence "Du" Burns Memorial Fund Inc. "It's been a long time coming.

Across America, the movement to charter new public schools, even to contract schools and whole districts to private managers, is gaining ground fast.Neal R. Peirce writes a column on state and urban affairs.

The City Council gave preliminary approval last night to a Mount Vernon renewal plan that supports lower building heights than what developers and city officials had originally sought for the historic neighborhood. After several years of contentious negotiations among residents, developers and planning officials, community leaders credited Council President Sheila Dixon last night for brokering a compromise. "This was a cohesive partnership between all parties," Dixon said after the council unanimously moved the plan one step closer to final approval.

Washington. -- Could the best model to help bleeding urban neighborhoods be a 107-year-old prototype?Neal R. Peirce writes a column on state and urban affairs.

The Bush-Kemp enterprise-zone bill -- the administration's all-purpose cure for ailing inner cities -- is too much too late.Neal R. Peirce writes a column on state and urban affairs.

Washington -- Are inner cities about to be cured of the great supermarket blight?Neal R. Peirce writes a column on state and urban affairs.

Bronx, New York. -- The Republican Congress, governors and mayors, even the Clinton administration have been focusing this winter on ''devolution'' -- passing authority down from the federal government to states.Neal R. Peirce writes a column on state and urban affairs.

Washington -- After decades of pro-highway, anti-transit policies that skewer cities and waste energy, official Washington seems finally to have done something right.Neal R. Peirce writes a column on state and urban affairs.

St. Paul, Minnesota. -- Racked by recession and threatened by taxpayer revolt, states and cities have been slashing spending for education, infrastructure, social programs -- anything to stay fiscally afloat.Neal R. Peirce writes a column on state and urban affairs.

After four years of urban unrest and a host of new programs to deal with it, President Lyndon B. Johnson helped create in 1968 a small independent research organization to examine the effectiveness of his antipoverty agenda. "It was understood by those involved that the programs were not based on an understanding of what works but by a drive to do something," says William Gorham, who founded The Urban Institute and headed it until two years ago. A third of a century later, the self-described "nonpartisan economic and social policy research organization" has more than 400 staffers, a focus on broad national policy as well as specific city programs -- and plenty of company.

The Baltimore Development Corp. said yesterday that the state has approved a fifth enterprise zone for the city.The Central Area Enterprise Zone encompasses the Waverly business district on both sides of Greenmount Avenue and extends south of 33rd Street to Baltimore Street.The original plan for the zone, which offers targeted tax breaks to new and existing businesses, had been controversial because it included only the east side of Greenmount Avenue and included the Memorial Stadium site.

''Workers of the world unite. Rise in your splendid might. Tak the wealth you are making. It belongs to you by right.''Neal R. Peirce writes a column on state and urban affairs.Pub Date: 9/02/96

DRAMATIC DROPS in murders and other violent crimes, now reported in major cities coast to coast, may be the best news yet for urban America in the '90s.Neal R. Peirce writes a column on state and urban affairs.

Bronx, New York. -- The Republican Congress, governors and mayors, even the Clinton administration have been focusing this winter on ''devolution'' -- passing authority down from the federal government to states.Neal R. Peirce writes a column on state and urban affairs.

Are America's burgeoning prisons ready for reinvented government? With the nation's inmate population soaring past one million, more than doubled since the early '80s, the question has never been more acute.Neal R. Peirce writes a column on state and urban affairs.

''Workers of the world unite. Rise in your splendid might. Tak the wealth you are making. It belongs to you by right.''Neal R. Peirce writes a column on state and urban affairs.Pub Date: 9/02/96

Seattle. - The nation's eyes will be on Washington state Tuesday as it votes on the toughest term-limit measure yet devised.Neal R. Peirce writes a column on state and urban affairs.

Washington. -- With its friendly image, fabled entertainment network and $824 million in average yearly earnings, why did the Walt Disney Co. come a cropper in northern Virginia?Neal R. Peirce writes a column on state and urban affairs.

Washington -- Are inner cities about to be cured of the great supermarket blight?Neal R. Peirce writes a column on state and urban affairs.