The original 'burbs are in trouble

WASHINGTON -- They are the places that helped America gather itself after World War II, close-in "first suburbs" such as Shoreline and Burien where cheap land and a good life attracted millions of new residents and lit the fuse on the greatest economic expansion in modern history.

That was then.

Today, King County and 63 others across the country are stressed as never before, forced to cope with aging populations, rising poverty rates, a rapid influx of immigrants and sky-high housing costs, according to a study released Wednesday by the Brookings Institution.

The study also found that the gap between rich and poor is getting wider and that household incomes increased everywhere in the nation except first suburbs during the 1990s. First suburbs, which are defined as areas just outside primary cities, also have more foreign-born residents than primary cities.

"First suburbs are staring down a set of looming challenges that threaten their overall stability," the study said, which was released at a seminar that included King County Executive Ron Sims and county leaders from Pittsburgh, Dallas, New York and northern Virginia metropolitan areas.

The crunch is arriving at a time when the inner counties are often invisible to political leaders, researchers say. At the same time, 52 million people in the United States live in first suburbs, a larger population than primary cities and even newer suburbs.

Sims said King County is addressing the problems better than most, although he acknowledged even for King County, solutions are difficult and expensive.

"For whatever reason, we've been very fortunate and doing it well enough to kind of avoid the consequences of metropolitan areas in other parts of the country," he said.

King County fits the profile of other first suburbs. Its population has soared 342 percent between 1950 and 2000. Nearly 1.2 million people live in the country today.

Family income has also risen faster than the nation as a whole, with the county claiming an average family income of $57,802, according to the 2000 Census.

Like other counties in the report, King County's poverty rate has risen, from 5.16 percent in 1970 to 6.75 percent in 2000. Its roads have also been overwhelmed. The aggregate commute time in 1980 was 8.8 million minutes; in 2000, it was 15.5 million minutes.

Researchers said the study sought to identify -- and quantify -- the changing nature and health of the first inner suburbs. Those areas are defined in the study as those areas that "developed first" just beyond a city's boundaries but before rapid suburban expansion took hold.

"They are usually in the first ring of communities very close to the metropolitan core and often began as bedroom communities for professional, white, downtown commuters," the study said.

The study identified 64 counties across the country as homes to first suburbs and analyzed demographic changes in those counties from 1950 to 2000. The Northeast has the largest concentration of first suburbs with 27; the West has the fewest, nine. In addition to King County, Pierce County met the definition of "first suburb."

Sims said King County already has embraced some of the recommendations in the report, including a focus on high-density development instead of sprawl.

Researchers and county leaders say the problems aren't going away any time soon. Mayors -- even from small cities -- have done a far better job at concentrating their political muscle than their counterparts from the counties, researchers say.

Meanwhile, federal politicians have fixated on the "exurbs" as the newest and richest source of votes and contributions, Sims and others said.

"We just want the federal government to be more sensitive to our needs," Sims said. "There are more poor people outside Seattle than in it. There are more people of color outside Seattle than in it."

FIRST SUBURBS

Growing close-in suburbs are being shortchanged by federal housing and transportation policies that favor central cities and outer suburbs, a private research group suggests

Population of "first suburbs" of King County

1960: 377,927

2000: 1,173,660

Population of Seattle

1960: 557,087

2000: 563,374

Source: Brookings Institution

P-I Washington correspondent Charles Pope can be reached at 202-263-6461 or charliepope@seattlepi.com.

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