Doug Henwood Talks

Marvin Gandall wrote:

In particular, is there disagreement with respect to the Supreme Court ruling in Kelo which upheld the right of expropriation and which sparked this discussion?

I have to confess that whenever I hear the words “Supreme Court” I want to take a nap. But my position on the politics of this is that the right is polemicizing and organizing over a real problem. And that by siding unequivocally with the SC , the liberal left is (once again) ceding the ground of real grievances to the right, and allowing itself to be cast as out-of-touch elitists. And by tying it to “urban planning,” the liberal left is making things worse.

This reminds me of the rezoning/redevelopment of the Williamsburg and Greenpoint sections of Brooklyn. People in the neighborhoods have put together a popular plan for modernizing the area. But the city planning authorities will have none of it: they want waterfront highrises and gentrification. And if anyone stands in their way, well there’s always eminent domain. That’s how urban planning is really practiced in the US.

Doug

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