Love the above quote.
Some in power in this great town think they are the ONLY one who gets to make the grand decisions, like when it comes to Indoor Pools or Administration buildings.
In this Documentary, Jane Jacobs takes citizen activism to her city, NY, on a large scale;
Citizen Jane is a timely tale of what can happen when engaged citizens fight the power for the sake of a better world. Arguably no one did more to shape our understanding of the modern American city than Jane Jacobs, the visionary activist and writer who fought to preserve urban communities in the face of destructive development projects. Director Matt Tyranuer (Valentino: The Last Emperor) vividly brings to life Jacobs’ 1960s showdown with ruthless construction kingpin Robert Moses over his plan to raze lower Manhattan to make way for a highway, a dramatic struggle over the very soul of the neighborhood.
Jane shows that you can make a difference on a local level, and take on the ‘big wigs’ and win.
As I was growing up in the New York area, Jane Jacobs was in the news a lot. There were many discussions of what urban life was to be. Our family went to the 1964 Worlds Fair to see what the future was to be. As we traveled the USA we saw the building of Chicago’s Cabrini Green, the huge high rise housing projects of New York, the wiping out of neighborhoods in the name of progress. The loss of warmth and civic pride because a planning department started a perfect plan not allowing anyone to realize families were being destroyed. The name of progress caused by an egocentric building designer’s crane is not a civilized life. Diversity is the key to positive growth.
Jane Jacobs fought Robert Moses, an urban planner’s hero to this day. He wanted us to be in our cars leaving the city center to the planned suburbs are among his many other destructive ideas. We see the effects and affects of this destructive mentality in Sioux Falls. The urban renewal planning started in the 1960’s led to the need to destroy the character of our downtown. Parking lots and buildings to park cars in. Let’s not walk, let’s not bike, let’s drive our cars to the front of our stores or just expand out into the suburbs…
This article is a classic, in the 1970’s we studied it as part of a sociology class. How do people work together and succeed? Organize. Jane Jacobs was a hero to people like me.
This concept worked 1960 thru about 2000 because media reached the people who became activists and/or voters. With the internet and cable TV, it’s hard to reach local populations. Sure, we watch CNN but we hardly ever view local network news. Newspaper, what newspaper? The Argus lost circulation and could fail.
If residents knew how much liberty they’ve lost and how corrupt local government has become, there’d be activism. Most are busy with two jobs, kids, and barely making ends meet. It was a perfect opportunity for greedy narcissist politicians to get rich quick without transparency and opposition. Strong Mayor Charter took away checks and balances. Ignoring 6400 petitioners and vetoing a majority council vote has become usual. It’s Huetherism at its finest.