ABSTRACT
Much attention in recent years has been devoted to the problem of equality and urban public services. Institutional racism and discrimination have been shown to greatly influence the quality of life in America's urban centers (Feagin, 1978; Knowles and Prewitt, 1970). Wellman asserts that "racism can be seen to systematically provide economic, political, psychological, and social advantages for whites at the expense of blacks and other people of color" (1977:37). Studies that focus on urban service allocation and delivery are inquiries into discrimination and equality (Lineberry , 1977: 15). Lineberry describes the problem of differential public servIces In urban areas:
The idea that the poor and minority groups suffer a differential effect of inadequate public services is a widely held view (Fowler, 1974). The principal factors that contributed to the urban disturbances of the 1960s included dissatisfaction with municipal services in the urban ghettos (e.g., policing, educational institutions, parks and recreational facilities, garbage and refuse collection, etc.). The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders found that "inadequate sanitation services are viewed by many ghetto residents not merely as instances of poor public services but as manifestations of racial discrimination" (1967: 148). Lower-income and minority neighborhoods in many urban areas are often less well served by municipal governments than their high-income counterparts. Many of the early federal poverty programs were designed to combat these service inequities (Hallman, 1968; Lowry, 1968).
