-Caveat Lector- Report: Urban Issues Affect Suburbs By DEB RIECHMANN .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - Social and health concerns once centered in America's cities are surfacing in suburbia, according to a report that says the lines between urban and suburban areas is blurring. Cities and their outskirts are reporting similar rates of violent crime, the National Public Health and Hospital Institute said in the report released Wednesday. Outlying areas also are experiencing a rise in teen-age pregnancy and the numbers of dangerously small newborns, and are beginning to confront the problems of providing health care to the poor. ``The findings raise questions about the wisdom of policy initiatives that are based on outdated assumptions - that cities are dangerous enclaves with intractable social problems while suburbs are America's Pleasantvilles,'' Dennis Andrulis, the author of the report, said referring to ``Pleasantville,'' a movie partly set in the idealized life of postwar suburbia. The report compiles information on poverty, crime, disease and health care in the nation's 100 largest cities, their counties and their larger metropolitan areas for the years 1980 to 1996. Among the findings in the report: Cities in the Northeast had lower increases in low-birth weight infants than surrounding suburbs between 1985 and 1995 - 11 percent and 13 percent, respectively. Births to teen-age mothers in these cities decreased more than 7 percent while their suburbs experienced almost a 3 percent increase during the same 10-year period. Blacks, Hispanics and foreign-born populations increasingly are settling in the suburbs. Forty-six urban counties and only 10 cities had an increase in black residents between 1980 and 1990. In the counties surrounding the 25 largest cities, the Hispanic population rose an average of 46 percent in the 10-year period. >From 1990 to 1996, one-third of the largest cities led their counties in violent crime rate declines. Cities with the highest crime rates in the 1980s showed the greatest reduction in crime rates through 1996. The 25 largest cities collectively experienced an 11 percent decline between 1990 and 1996 while the rate in surrounding cities increased 1 percent. The number of suburban or county public hospitals, which traditionally have provided the most health care to the poor, declined 43 percent between 1990 and 1996. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
