WHAT WAS I SAYING ABOUT THE GROWTH PONZI SCHEME?

Strong Towns contributor Nathan Hawryluk makes my point that city governments ought be symbiotic rather than parasitic on commerce.

[Strong Towns founder] Charles Marohn has suggested cities should focus less on density as an objective and more on the ratio between private investment and public investment. Traditionally, private investment led to public investment. Private investment is essential to maintaining public infrastructure. Marohn thinks financially stable cities should strive for “a target ratio of private investment to public investment of somewhere between 20:1 on the risky end and 40:1 on the secure end.”

That way, perhaps the assessments for street repair are sustainable, rather than likely to drive residents and businesses out.

It's on the city fathers to be prudent, though, and budget for maintenance, in order that the infrastructure doesn't crumble for lack of repair.

Cities, like homeowners saving for their inevitable roof repair, could collect or save enough money each year to prepare to replace their infrastructure when its lifespan ends. As these figures from pages 15 and 17 of our infrastructure status report shows, the City manages $84.7 billion of infrastructure. How much should we be saving annually to make sure we can replace that infrastructure when the time comes?

That suggests homeowners, also, ought be prudent.

Unfortunately, too often city governments hope for some future "stimulus" or "infrastructure" package to make all the contingent liabilities go away.  That way lies nasty reality checks.  "Philip K. Dick wrote, 'Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.'”