From both the “Origins of Public Health Collapse in New York City” by Rodrick Wallace and the chapter in Angotti’s book, it is clear that many changes and events that materialized in New York City in the 1960s and 70s were interwoven. The research by Rodrick Wallace is essentially a commentary on what were the major consequences of the city’s cutbacks on vital services in the early 1970s, and how the subsequent abandonment of services like fire extinguishment (50 units between 1972 and 1976 to be exact) relentlessly afflicted the poorest neighborhoods in the region; namely South Bronx, East Harlem, East New York, Brownsville and Bedford-Stuyvesant. The so-called “burnout” of such communities didn’t only cause the forced migration of helpless families to other regions of the city, like West Bronx and central Brooklyn, but also the accompanying stress and frustration paved the way for numerous health problems such as tuberculosis, STDs like gonorrhea and syphilis, drug abuse and numerous mental illnesses. The “. . . destruction of housing and community”, as mentioned by Rodrick Wallace, was again elaborated by Angotti who focused more on the political landscape in America during that time. Moreover, many topics addressed in Wallace’s research made more sense through the lens of Angotti’s book. For example, the 20 firefighting companies that were opened by the city in impoverished neighborhoods where fires were rampant (Wallace) materialized as a result of the “War on Poverty” initiative propelled by president Lyndon Johnson in 1968 (Angotti). It also was no surprise that such positive initiatives were quickly abandoned with the election of Richard Nixon, the longevity of the costly Vietnam War and the principle of austerity adopted by subsequent presidents. The chapter in Angotti’s book also described a key topic of what happened to those who resisted eviction from abandoned communities like South Bronx. Not only did tenants begin forming organizations like UHAB and Union of City Tenants essentially to fight off the city’s policy of privatization, but also were the pioneers of community development corporations (CDCs) which successfully pressured the city to invest in the rehabilitation and management of “some 80,000 units of housing” in the poorest areas of the city (Angotti, 2008).
A concept vivid in both readings is that effects of urban decay were far more complicated and emotional than the mere relocation of families. The stress and depression that was inevitable from losing a home, along with overcrowding and being emotionally ostracized from the new neighborhood, rendered individuals anything but immune to diseases like tuberculosis. And the fact that most of these relocating families were African American didn’t help their situation at all considering the civil rights movement was just beginning. This reminded me of the article in New York Times about the talented girl named Dasani who also relocated to a new neighborhood and faced numerous difficulties adjusting to her new school and unwelcoming peers. Furthermore, since my group project is on homelessness and housing, both readings offer solutions to neighborhoods that are at risk of decaying. As Wallace describes for instance, “. . .adequate municipal services, particularly fire extinguishment, can act as a kind of immunization against some mechanisms of contagious urban decay, and, conversely, that service cut can synergistically accelerate the phenomenon.” (Wallace, 1990).
References
Wallace, R. and Walace D. (1990) “Origins of Public Health Collapse in New York City: The dynamics of Planned Shrinkage, Contagious Urban Decay, and Social Disintegration”.
Angotti, T. (2008) “From Dislocation to Resistance: The Roots of Community Planning” from New York for Sale: Community Planning Confronts Global Real Estate, p 94-109.
