Toward Equal Delivery of Municipal Services in the Central Cities

Urban living has become inevitable for most Americans in central cities and government assistance has risen steadily to help the masses crowded in the urban complex. Legislation has been aimed at equalizing the opportunity for employment, decent housing, voting, education, basic social welfare, and a host of other concerns considered elemental for the fulfillment of the “American dream.” Until recently, the courts have been slow to act affirmatively to remedy the inequities related to the enforcement of such legislation. Recent cases suggest an attitude of benign complacency in the Supreme Court, allowing it to ignore critical socio-economic problems in the central cities even though lower federal courts are clearly focusing on these problems and the legal issues they raise. In the area of equalizing municipal service delivery in the central cities, there is a developing scenario which now calls for judicial intervention under the equal protection clause.