From Broken Cities, a Plea for Grassroots Fixes
In “The Fight to Save the Town,” legal scholar Michelle Wilde Anderson shows how four poverty-struck communities fought back against austerity measures.
Stockton, California, in 2012, when the beleaguered city declared bankruptcy. Its road back to fiscal health has been challenging.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
When Stockton, California, declared bankruptcy in 2012, it was the largest municipal failure in American history. But it wasn’t exactly a surprise: By the late 20th century, the city had already become a symbol of urban decline. Once a hub of canning, farming and manufacturing jobs, Stockton saw its major employers begin to leave the region; the city’s tax base evaporated and housing values plummeted.
As Michelle Wilde Anderson recounts in her new book, “The Fight to Save the Town: Reimagining Discarded America,” Stockton’s economic woes deepened in the wake of the Great Recession: Between 2007 and 2011, the city was saddled with 20% unemployment and suffered a higher foreclosure rate than any city in the nation apart from Detroit.