“Urban Enterprise Zones”: Hope or Chimera?

The Kemp-Garcia Urban Jobs and Enterprise Zones bill is a legislative proposal bobbing in the wake of Kemp-Roth and the monetarist ideas that absorb the Reagan administration’s attention. It is of interest because it is the only conservative proposal even to notice the problems of urban America, and a variant of ideas more commonly associated with liberal interventionists and city planners. These sources of interest are symbolized in the bill’s co-sponsorship by Robert Garcia, a liberal Democrat from the South Bronx.

The bill would empower local governments to designate deteriorated areas as “local enterprise zones.” The local government would then promise to reduce real estate taxes by 5 percent for a four...