Sixth-worst ranking seen as in the making for years
By GARTH STAPLEY BEE STAFF WRITER Last Updated: December 8, 2006, 06:13:23 AM PST. Source: Modesto Bee
Modesto's suburbs rank sixth-poorest among the United States' 100 largest cities, according to a study released Thursday.
And the Central Valley is home to three of the poorest big-city suburbs.
Bakersfield and Fresno suburbs are third- and fourth-poorest on the list, respectively, reported the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C., think tank that studied poverty rates for 2005.
"It shouldn't be any surprise to us, but it is, because we tend to try not to face things we don't like to see," said Carol Whiteside, founder of the Modesto-based Great Valley Center. Her organization for years has sounded a warning bell that the notoriously ill-funded, undereducated valley must prepare for a coming growth explosion.
"Even though sometimes we like to think our poverty resides in farmworker labor camps, it's not true," continued Whiteside, a former Modesto mayor. "It's in our own back yard and we have to pay some attention."
A poverty rate of 43.9 percent made suburbs of McAllen, Texas, the poorest in the country, followed by El Paso (38.7 percent), Bakersfield (23.1 percent), Fresno(16.2 percent),Albuquerque, N.M., (15.9 percent) and Modesto (15.1 percent).
For the study, Modesto's "suburbs" were all of Stanislaus County outside the city's boundaries.
Stockton's suburban poverty rate fell from 13 percent in 1999 to 10.4 percent last year.
Nationally, the 18.8 percent poverty rate in cities remained twice as high as that in suburbs, with 9.4 percent.
But for the first time, poor suburbanites outnumbered those in inner cities across the United States. That's because more people moved to the suburbs.
"Poverty isn't growing that fast — it's just becoming more concentrated," said Myron Orfield, executive director of the Institute on Race & Poverty, in Minneapolis. He conducted a study of childhood poverty in California's Central Valley suburbs a decade ago.
Affordable housing plays a role
Leaders' attitudes toward affordable housing play a huge role in the valley's problem, Orfield said, as they continue to approve private, gated communities for the wealthy with no units for lower-income people.
"When someplace says, 'Absolutely no,' other places have to say 'yes' twice," Orfield said.
The study disapproved of communities without inclusionary zoning, or policies requiring a percentage of affordable units for so many market-priced units in new developments.
Politicians in Modesto, Stanislaus County and most Northern San Joaquin Valley communities have sided with developers and shunned such requirements. Patterson and Ripon are exceptions.
The report also points out the dangers of sprawl, or rapid outward growth from urban hubs. Economic woes simply relocate to rings beyond the inner city, Whiteside said, while valuable farmland disappears.
She describes a "post-World War II plastic radio syndrome." People stopped replacing broken tubes in wooden radios and began buying whole new plastic radios, she described, only to discard them when broken and buying more.
"We're doing that with our cities and suburbs," Whiteside said. "Instead of fixing them, we just throw them away and move on."
Governments usually are required to use developer fees for new roads, parks and schools, leaving little money to maintain their older counterparts, Whiteside noted.
Bill Bassitt, chief executive officer of the Stanislaus Economic Development and Workforce Alliance, said the valley's poverty stems from high unemployment, low wages and an undereducated work force. His organization recruits business to Stanislaus County.
"(The factors) all add up to a serious concern about our ability to have sustainable living wages," Bassitt said.
Despite valley cities' deplorable rankings in the nation, most made gains in the first half of this decade.
Modesto's suburban poverty rate fell from 16.2 percent in 1999 to 15.1 percent in 2005. In the same time frame, Stanislaus County's poverty rate dropped from 16 percent to 14.4 percent, and the rate in Modesto proper declined from 15.7 percent to 13.4 percent.
San Joaquin County's poverty-rate decline from 17.7 percent to 14.6 percent was among the most dramatic in the nation, the report states, as was Stockton's, from 23.9 percent to 20.1 percent. Stockton's suburbs also improved from a poverty rate of 13 percent to 10.4 percent.
Most inner-city poverty is higher
Modesto, with few downtown housing options, bucked the national trend because its suburban poverty rate (15.1 percent) actually is higher than downtown (13.4 percent).
Much more typical are Fresno, Sacramento and Stockton, where downtown poverty is more concentrated. The percentage of poor in those inner cities compared to their suburbs are 24.3 percent to 16.2 percent in Fresno, 19.2 percent to 9.9 percent in Sacramento and 20.1 percent to 10.4 percent in Stockton.
On the Web: www.brookings.edu/metro/pubs/20061205_citysuburban.htm.
Bee staff writer Garth Stapley can be reached at 578-2390 or
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