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Q&A
The complex historical interplay of race and land use politics in NYC
1:43:17
·
3 min
Commissioner Shams DaBaron asks Jacob Anbinder about the role of race in NYC's land use history. Anbinder describes a complex history where different systems negatively impacted communities of color, noting that both urban renewal and the subsequent community control era had racially disparate outcomes, sometimes driven by reactionary forces opposing integration.
- Anbinder cautions against simple narratives, stating urban renewal disproportionately harmed communities of color.
- The move towards community control had progressive proponents but also gained support from racist opposition to projects like public housing in Forest Hills.
- He stresses that the politically powerless often suffer most under any system (pro- or anti-growth).
- Reforms should prioritize safeguarding vulnerable communities.
Shams DaBaron
1:43:17
I may be way off with this one.
1:43:20
But there was something that you said, and it could be and I'm always humble with this, my lack of understanding.
1:43:28
Do is there a racial dynamic when we look at the past, coming up to the present, that we have to also factor in when we're making these decisions?
1:43:47
A lot of it my humble understanding, there was always a racial dynamic here in New York City when it came to city planning and all of these things that affect how we develop housing in various communities.
1:44:05
I don't know if you covered that or or or if you articulated that, but what are your thoughts on that?
Jacob Anbinder
1:44:12
Yeah.
1:44:13
It's a it's an excellent question.
1:44:14
And the politics of race as they relate to this history in New York City are are complicated.
1:44:20
And what I mean is it's hard to point to you know, when you talk about the era of sort of the master builder, Robert Moses, moving into the era of community control, moving into maybe the next era of a sort of more pro housing New York.
1:44:35
One of the constants is that there have always been sort of political coalitions, agreements where some sides have believed that the system the new system that's being put in place will serve communities of color better.
1:44:56
And it's almost never really been the case that that that actually pans out.
1:45:01
So so I'll I'll be more specific.
1:45:04
You know, obviously, I think the the ways in which the era of urban renewal disproportionately harmed communities of color.
1:45:11
Those are well studied, well known, and and and have been well documented in everything from history books to fiction to movies.
1:45:22
When you talk about moving into the sort of community board era, the era of you, you had your sort of, do gooders, people who genuinely in their heart of hearts believe that devolving power to the community boards was necessary to affect their vision of social progress.
1:45:40
But we can't overlook that at the same time, a considerable part of the political support in favor of implementing that that, that framework that exists today was also made up of reactionary racists.
1:45:55
So you think of the extremely controversial plan to put public housing in Forest Hills in the early seventies.
1:46:01
I talk about this in my book, and, there were many politicians in New York City in the seventies who directly attributed the growing interest in among their constituents in serving on a community board to wanting to oppose public housing in the same way that people opposed it in Forest Hills.
1:46:18
And that was a sort of semi successful opposition where they cut the amount of public housing in half, and they, gave preference to people who already had roots in the neighborhood.
1:46:27
And so 70% of the public housing tenants in Forest Hills when that project ended up opening, were white.
1:46:33
And so, you know, it's hard for me to I think we should avoid sweeping claims that one system or another, will necessarily create better conditions when we talk about the effects of development on vulnerable urban communities.
1:46:48
I think it's important to remember that people with the least political power in the city, bear, bearing the brunt of these changes, whether they be in favor of development or against development.
1:47:00
That's been a constant throughout the city's history, and it's important to keep those in mind and think about ways to safeguard that and remedy that as we move into a sort of post EULIRP era, if that's what indeed we're doing here.