America's Changing Suburbs

Urban Problems Migrate Out of the Cities

People went on a rampage. They threw rocks, smashed windows and fought with the police. There was, by all accounts, a complete breakdown of social order. A decade ago, it might have been identified as an expression of big city frustration. This particular uprising, however, began as a protest against high gasoline prices. That it took place in June in Levittown, Pa., once a synonym for suburban tranquility, suggests a troubling new sort of discontent may be brewing in the nation.

Long seen as a place to escape to, suburbia has been invaded by the outside world. Suburbanites, in one sense at least, are having to pay the price for the comfortable distance they've been keeping ...