Fields of Dreams

A sister publication, American City and County, has a nice story up on restoring brownfields.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington-based Brookings Institute, 450,000 brownfield sites, comprising more than 80,000 acres, currently blight America's cities. Because of tight budgets, brownfields often remain idle and abandoned, costing local governments billions of dollars in lost property tax revenues, imposing potential liabilities in the areas where they are located and prompting public outcry for cleanup and reuse. Over the last decade, however, cities and counties have used state and federal programs to restore brownfields without constraining their budgets.