Reinventing Cities: Equity Planners Tell Their Stories

273 Pages·1994·38.003 MB·English

by  Norman Krumholz

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REINVENTINCGITIES
EquityPlannersTellTheirStories
Copyrighted Material
CONFLICTINSURBANANDREGIONADLEVELOPME,NT
aserieseditedby
JohnR.LoganandToddSwanstrom
Copyrighted Material
NormanKrumholazndPierreClavel
REINVENTINCGITIES
EquityPlannerTsellTheirStories
IiiiiiJ
TempleUniversity Press
I!I
Philadelphia
Copyrighted Material
TempleUniversityPress,Philadelphia 19122
Copyright© 1994byTempleUniversity.Allrightsreserved
Published 1994
Printed intheUnited StatesofAmerica
Thepaper usedinthispublicationmeetstheminimum requirementsofAmerican
NationalStandard forInformationSciences-P ermanenceofPaper forPrinted
Library Materials,ANSI Z39.48-1984@
Library ofCongressCataloging-in-Publication Data
Krumholz,Norman.
Reinventingcities:equityplannerstelltheir stories/NormanKrumholzand
PierreClavel.
p. cm.- (Conflictsinurbanandregionaldevelopment)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN 1-56639-209-8(cloth :alk. paper).-
ISBN 1-56639-210-I(pbk :alk.paper)
I.Cityplanning-Un itedStates. 2.Cityplanners-U nitedStates
Interviews. 3.Urbanpolicy- UnitedStates- Casestudies.4.Socialjustice
Casestudies. I.Clavel,Pierre. II.Title. III. Series.
HT167.K75 1994
307.I'2'0973- dc20 93-42538
CopyrightedMaterial
Wededicatethisbook to thememory ofDaniell .Krumholz,
who died of AIDS in 1990.Dan wasagifted sonwho loved music
and literature and wasbeginning tomakehiswayasawriter.
He isremembered withjoyand love.
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CONTENTS
Preface ix
Chapter1 IntroductionP:rofessional Support for
Equity Planning?
Chapter2 JerseyCity 23
Interview with Rick Cohen 28
Chapter3 Dayto'nsMiamiValley,Ohio 43
Interview with DaleF.Bertsch 48
Chapter4 Chicago63
Interviewswith Robert Mier, 68
Arturo Vazquez, 83
and Kari Moe 95
Chapter5 PortlandO,regon113
Interviewwith Margaret Strachan 118
Chapter6 Boston127
Interview with Peter Dreier 133
Chapter7 Denver 151
Interview with BillieBramhall 156
Chapter8 Hartford169
Interview with Howard Stanback 176
Chapter9 SantaMonica 187
Interview with Derek Shearer 192
Chapter10 SanDiego 207
Interview with Kenneth Grimes 212
Chapter11 LessonLsearned225
Index 245
TheAuthorsand Planners 251
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PREFACE
T
his book is about professional urban planners who, in their day-to-day
practice, have tried to move resources, politicalpower, and political par
ticipation away from the business elites that frequently benefit from public
policy and toward the needs of low-income or working-class people of their
cities. We call these planners "equity planners" because they seek greater
equityamongdifferentgroupsasaresultoftheirwork.
Thisfocusonagroupofprofessionalscommittedtoequityalsoportraysan
underreported dimensionof urban politics.For decades, academics andjour
nalists have described cities as relentlessly driven to favor the rich over the
poor,thuscontributingto the unfortunateimpoverishment of neighborhoods,
neglectof infrastructure,andlossof services. Despitethis,from timetotime
there have been reports of vibrant community movements and neighborhood
organizations that are thriving. Here, we describe what we believe to be an
underreportedsetofcomplementaryprofessionaldevelopments.
Most of this book consists of a series of interviews with ordinary plan
ners from every part of the United States-so me inplanningagencies, some
in otherdepartmentsof government-w hose accomplishments havebeen ex
traordinary.The interviewscome fromdifferent citiesand different planners;
they also reflect different equity planning policy methods from fair share
plans for low-income housing to plans for a community-based economic de
velopment. We have tried to suggest how these planners thought about their
responsibilities, howandwhytheydecidedtodowhattheydid,andhowthey
succeeded.We hope our interviews explore some of the inner dimensions of
socialchange, somepersonalqualitiesnotordinarilyelaborated.Wealsohope
that other urban planners will be inspired by the examples we have selected
and "goanddolikewise."
The interviewees are white, black, and Hispanic male and female human
beings of dimension and flaw, who have tried very hard, often against great
odds, to inspire socialchange.Theyhave reaped some rewards, occasionally
achieved great success, and sometimes accepted the costs of failure. Their
work and the work of hundreds (we suspect) of other planners like them de
serve further analysis, research, andimitation, butwewillnot getanyof this
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