Urban Sprawl in Rochester

Main Page

What is Urban Sprawl?

History of Urban Sprawl

Urban Sprawl in Rochester
     Problems with Sprawl
     Anti-Sprawl Supporters

Ways to Combat Sprawl
     
Tolls on 490 to Combat Sprawl

The Future



References

     Urban sprawl has long been hitting Rochester hard.  According to US Census figures, Rochester's population has been dwindling since at least 1970, when it was 295,022.  In the 2000 census, Rochester’s population numbered only 219,773, a decline of 25.5%!  This means that there are 25.5% less taxpayers in the city paying taxes.  Those taxpayers are also poorer than the ones who have moved out, on average, meaning that more government assistance is necessary with less money.  This creates worse situations in schools and public works, and starts a downward spiral of a greater urge in residents to flee the city.  In fact, the child poverty rate in Rochester right now is 37.5%, the highest in the state.  The overall poverty rate is placed at 25.9%.  The state averages are only 20% and 14.1%, respectively ("Faces of...").  "Rochester went from 4 high-poverty census tracts in 1970 to 20 in 2000. (Johnson)."

     Sprawl in Rochester has also lead to extreme racial division in the city.  Looking at the maps on the right, the yellow areas shows urban development and the red areas show poverty spots in the city.  As the developed areas have grown since the 1940s, so have the poverty areas.  Unlike the developed areas, however, poverty areas have remained in the center of Rochester, enlarging as sprawl enlarges, but remaining centered.  These red areas are 97% minority and contain 80% of Rochester's entire minority population (Johnson).  These figures are shocking and clearly show the racial division sprawl causes.

     In addition to problems in the inner city, Rochester’s urban sprawl problem affects local rural areas as well.  Land is lost at an incredible rate in Rochester’s rural areas.  In the past 20 years, Rochester has lost more than 20 square miles of rural are to sprawl (Regan). 

     Rochester is ranked twelfth in the nation among cities affected by sprawl.  Ranked thirteenth is Dallas, Texas and ranked eleventh is Hammond, Indiana.  This same list ranks San Bernardino, California as the worst sprawler in the country.  Other upstate communities rank below Rochester.  Syracuse ranks sixteenth in the country and Buffalo ranks sixty-seventh among cities.  The list, compiled by Cornell University, ranked communities based on four factors: residential density, neighborhood mix of homes, jobs, and services, strength of activity centers and downtowns, and accessibility of the street network.  Those were then further broken down in to 22 measurable variables to compare urban sprawl among major cities (Ewing).
top

Anti-Sprawl Supporters

     Urban sprawl is not happening unnoticed in Rochester and a few different groups have sprung up to inform the public and rally them against this potential crisis.  One of the most vocal anti-sprawl supporters is former Rochester city major William A Johnson, Jr. who was first elected in 1993.  Mayor Johnson has spoken out many times against sprawl both while in office and in the time since he left office.  One of the greatest problems of sprawl, in his opinion, is how it relates to race.  He often references the racial figures discussed above in his speeches and writings.  These racial findings show how sprawl is an evil entity that discriminates based on race and class, Johnson believes.  “Sprawl, geographic isolation by race, and highly concentrated black poverty are the three constants of metropolitan growth in America ” (Johnson).

    In 2002, Rochester city and Monroe County officials met to discuss the possibility of merging both the school districts and the governments of the city and Monroe County.  This proposal was brought up in an attempt to "[unify] voice for economic development, [widen] tax base, [create] a greater sense of community and government efficiency" (Doyle).

    The final result of public forums on the issue, however, met with negative results.  While sides both for and against consolidation of the city and county had supporters, in the end the cons won out.  They claimed that the city was merely trying to get more control of a more successful county and merging districts would diminish the voice of local town and village officials.  
top

Rochester in 1970

Rochester in 2000

photo source link

Email: Karl Keily

Nazareth College