So the thing about the \u201894 Clinton crime bill is that both the \u201c100,000 new cops on the street\u201d and the \u201cmidnight basketball\u201d community services provisions jiujitsued right-wing concerns (anti-crime, pro-\u201dblock grant\u201d) 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\u2019s \u201cDrop Dead\u201d 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 \u201curban crisis\u201d, and choked off the pork and patronage that held Democratic urban machines together.
Clinton\u2019s been catching a lot of shit for the bill, but now that the cities have revived and effectively become the Democrats\u2019 sole base of power, he deserves some credit for that angle.