ABSTRACT
The Cities' Congress on Roads to Recovery put the spotlight on sixteen cities and twenty-one "success stories"—all of which were said to have helped their respective cities move away from dependency toward recovery. Success stories like those recounted at the Congress can, and have for the past thirty years, worked to enhance and expand the institutional, cultural, and downtown areas of many cities. The speaker, who was also the project's developer, might have made the identical presentation in 1982 at the Congress, but the Mansion House presentation was made in 1969. Consider Cleveland, a community which presented as its success story at the Congress, its recovery from the disarray of municipal default in 1978 to fiscal respectability and a more stable, respected national position. An important aspect of the Congress was its emphasis on public-private partnerships where they already exist, and the calling of such partnerships into being where they do not exist.
