It seems as though we're damned if we do and damned if we don't, in terms of urban renewal. What do you do with a slum that is decaying and unfit to live in on one hand, but a close and tight-knit community on the other hand? Does one renovate the area to be rid of the decrepit and unsafe housing? Or does one leave it alone to preserve the community inside? It's a tough call, but I think I side more with renovation, but I think it should be done much differently. I think the renovation should only be done if the people in the neighborhood personally appeal to the city to have it done, not the other way around. City governments forcing people out of their homes to make way for commercial space is morally crooked to me, but leaving them to rot as they are also seems just as incorrect. Some neighborhoods need to be reconstructed; others don't. Some neighborhoods want to be reconstructed; others want to hold on to the sense of community they grew up with. The mistake that seems apparent to me is that city governments don't bother to discern one from the other and just bulldoze everything anyway. I feel that, if the people decide to change their neighborhood, they are giving their neighborhood up to the city, fully knowing the fact that the city can do with it whatever it pleases. If the people know and consent to this idea, then the renovations should be allowed to take place. Or, another idea could be that a law should be enacted that the amount of housing structures demolished should be equal or lesser than the amount of housing structures built in their place. This would be in place purely to avoid a housing crisis similar to the one experienced in the 60's with the advent of major city reconstruction. A lot is said about 'progress' in the article, but how could one still call a major renovation progress if it leaves a massive housing crisis and a growing slum in its wake? It can be very painful and emotionally stressing to leave a community you called home your entire life. But it can also be very unpleasant to have to live for your entire life in deplorable living conditions. If the Americans had more control over what was being built, I suppose, then the urban renewal would have ended up more like the one in Paris and not overburdened the poor. At the same time, some communities, though poor, do not wish to be renovated because of the fear of losing their community ties. I think renovations can still occur in these neighborhoods, but a specific design plan must be implemented to allow for closeness of community. Perhaps following the French plan of immediate construction after deconstruction would help, though I can't think of any communities that would be willing to test that out...
On a side note, the tiny bit about Robert Moses on page 69 caught my eye. Although there wasn't much said about him, I'm personally familiar with some of his sponsored renovation work. I live on the east end of Long Island, but I'm very familiar with a highway on the west side called the Robert Moses Parkway, which is something he personally designed and had commissioned to be built. It's a long, leisurely road with lazy turns and curves, which starkly contrasts most other highways on Long Island. I always drove around on that road growing up but never gave much thought about it until my mother explained to me one day about the realities of the parkway. While we were driving, she pointed at the bridges as we passed under them and asked me if I ever noticed how low they were. She told me that they were as low as they were because Robert Moses, in designing the road (and also in being extremely racist), built them so that truck drivers would not be able to use the road. The truck drivers, which were a part of the working class, were almost exclusively African American, and Robert Moses wanted to reserve the road exclusively for wealthy, white, car-owning families to enjoy the scenery of the winding, leisurely road (because, at the time the road was being built, only the rich white families could afford automobiles).
In any case, here's a cute puppy!
