Over the past decade it has become increasingly clear that many of our larger cities are slowly and steadily moving toward fiscal hard times. Often this trend has been hidden by the polish, glitter, and glitz of showplace downtowns, shopping plazas, and highrise office complexes. Other times it has been hidden by defrayed maintenance of infrastructure, a subtle erosion of services to specific sub-groups in the community, or the collapse of capital improvement planning.