The village of Silverton, Ohio, “a diverse, working class first suburb next to Cincinnati,” as Village Manager Tom Carroll describes it, is the focus of the December PM magazine article “A First Suburb Revitalized.”

Along with 185 other inner-ring suburbs—also known as first suburbs—Silverton had been identified as “declining” by a 2017 Manhattan Institute study. In their article, authors Carroll and Chloe Coleman show why a renewed examination of how to revitalize first suburbs is deserved. They agree that merging with a larger community is not always the best option.

They write that work in Silverton continues; however, the village is reversing decline by revamping the public service model, reinvesting savings, developing partnerships, redeveloping land, and maintaining property.

A property maintenance initiative, for example, with direct oversight by the village manager meant that property owners were issued citations or warnings if not maintaining their houses and land. The village also assembled land, including a former school site, to form a zoned and shovel-ready 10-acre site that was of interest to developers.

Find out specific details on what exactly is happening in Silverton in the December PM.