So the thing about the ‘94 Clinton crime bill is that both the “100,000 new cops on the street” and the “midnight basketball” community services provisions jiujitsued right-wing concerns (anti-crime, pro-”block grant”) to bring back (fungible) federal grants to cities.

Such federal grants had been central to national policy as recently as Nixon but their decline afterward (Ford’s “Drop Dead” to NYC was refusing to backstop the expensive city welfare state that continued to expand as the city shrunk) had a lot to do with the period “urban crisis”, and choked off the pork and patronage that held Democratic urban machines together.

Clinton’s been catching a lot of shit for the bill, but now that the cities have revived and effectively become the Democrats’ sole base of power, he deserves some credit for that angle.