3. Mass Transit SystemsTransit can potentially offer excellent access to jobs, schools, and retail services. From 1950 to 1990, residential density in Chicago dropped from 16,000 to 12,000 people per square mile, while density more than tripled in surrounding Cook County and the counties beyond. Nevertheless, out of a total of 7.5 million people in the greater Chicago region, 5.5 million still live in Cook County's 800 square miles. Most of Cook County's residents, 2.8 million people, live in Chicago's 221 square miles. While the balance of the region's population (8 million total minus 5.5 million in Cook County) reside in the "collar" counties, which cover 2,400 square miles, the majority live in more compact towns, villages and satellite cities. 20 As a result, most of the region's residents live in areas with sufficient density to support mass transit, and the areas where most residents choose to live enjoy this amenity. They also enjoy the benefit of needing a full car per-household less than peer communities lacking the benefits of proximity, access and good transit. 21 Mass transit that spans a region is a good example of an asset held in common by city communities and by suburbs. In Chicago, a concerted coalition of inner-ring suburban mayors and inner-city community leaders halted the proposed demolition of the oldest elevated line on the system. The appropriately renamed Green Line became the core of Chicago's empowerment zone and of west suburban Oak Park's successful downtown redevelopment. Joint planning around the resultant transit oriented district at each station has enabled continued reinvestment at both city and suburban stops along this line.22 More generally, the stations (or in the case of bus service, the stops) are an undervalued asset.23 In Chicago, there are approximately four hundred rail stations and thousands of busy bus stops. These historically were the cores of busy commercial and activity centers. The accessibility provided by proximity to transit service translates into tangible community and area-wide benefits. The annual Emerging Real Estate Trendsby PricewaterhouseCoopers continues to rate mass transit quality as one of the five defining characteristics of strong real estate markets.24 And it is no coincidence that most of the six "gateway cities" to which the majority of "new Americans" are immigrating are well served by bus or rail. Evidence collected by Dowell Myers indicates that immigrant willingness to forgo automobile expense is a major factor in the high homeownership rates experienced in these communities (see section on race and poverty, below). 25
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