NPR's Talk of the Nation: Changing Face of America

June 28, 2001
San Francisco Town Hall Meeting

The music for this broadcast was performed by a trio from the Bay Area, the Asian American Orchestra.

Talk of the Nation's host Juan Williams doing a live broadcast

Hour 1:
Can a City Be Too Successful?

Are America's cities drowning in their own success? That's the topic of discussion on NPR's Talk of the Nation as Mayors Willie Brown of San Francisco, Ron Gonzales of San Jose and Paul Grogan of Harvard University join Juan Williams for a live broadcast from the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco in the latest installment of The Changing Face of America series. After years of decline, many of our largest cities appear to be turning things around. But with success comes other problems, including traffic congestion, people congestion, and high costs of housing. Are poor people and the middle class being driven out of our cities? Are some of America's cities becoming preserves for the rich?

Hour One Guests:

Willie Brown
Mayor, San Francisco, elected 1995, re-elected 2000

Ron Gonzales
Mayor, San Jose, Calif., elected 1998

Paul Grogan
Co-author - Comeback Cities: A Blueprint for Urban Neighborhood Revivial
Founder and President of CEOs for Cities (worked for two Boston mayors in a variety of positions)

Hour 2:
Majority Minority

The latest census shows that in California, whites are no longer in the population majority. Right now, 72 percent of the US population is non-Hispanic whites. The U.S. census Bureau predicts that between 2055 and 2060, whites in the U.S. will no longer be in the majority. When there is no longer a majority, what does "minority" mean?

Hour Two Guests:

Mark Baldassare
Senior Fellow and Survey Director of the Public Policy Institute of California (based in San Francisco)

David Lee
Executive Director of the Chinese American Voters Education Committee (based in San Francisco)

Alice Huffman
President of the California Conference of the NAACP (based in Sacramento)

Maria Blanco
National Senior Cousel for MALDEF (Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund)

The Changing Face of America is an 18-month-long NPR series that tells the stories of regular, everyday Americans and the issues they face at a time of rapid and dramatic change in the U.S. This special series can be heard on NPR's Talk of the Nation, All Things Considered and Morning Edition.