For many American cities, the Great Recession is nothing more than a distant shadow of a troubled economic past. The longest downturn since the Great Depression officially ended five years ago, and cities across the country have more than fully recovered. Some in fact have even surpassed their pre-recession economic levels, thanks to lucrative industries that either sprouted from the ground post-recession or kept cities afloat through the crisis.
And yet the effects of the recession still reverberate in many towns, falling deeper into debt and leaving millions of Americans wondering whether the crisis has indeed been over for a while. Since 2008, a total of 13 municipalities — among them Westfall Township, Pa., Prichard, Ala., Stockton, Calif., and even Detroit — have declared Chapter 9 bankruptcy, a rare occurrence.
