• Wallace, R. and Wallace, D. (1998) “Benign Neglect and Planned Shrinkage” and “A Plague on Houses” from A Plague on Houses: How New York was burned down and national public health crumbled, p. 21-77.

Today we talked about what happened in NYC after 1968 (what Angotti called a “pinnacle year of revolt and reform”) as the federal government and capital abandoned cities in favor of suburban sprawl, and poor communities of color (in the Bronx, Harlem, Lower East Side, etc.) were displaced yet again or left to stick it, carry on…

and even to play through…

It was a Decade of Fire, resulting from the deliberate (“benign”) neglect and actions (“planned shrinkage”) of government officials towards poor communities of color.  It as based on “pseudo-science” from the Rand Institute and its implications were far reaching (i.e. the authors demonstrate links to the AIDS crisis and Tuberculosis).

In class we talked about how hard it is to believe that this happened, and that so many people were complicit.  But we also discussed the lack of justice that has come to these communities and the similarities between this situation and more recent policy trends (i.e. broken windows policing).  Let this be a lesson for us at the very least.