My involvement in the politics of Cedar Riverside, the West Bank, was extensive. It is an incredibly complex and interesting period of housing history, where an environmental impact statement and neighborhood activism reclaimed a neighborhood from Cedar Riverside Associates. It was a time of great heroes and great villains where each side thought of the other as total scum. Consider that Cedar Square West- now called- Riverside Plaza, was one-seventh of the uncompleted plan, making this a very large housing and planning debate.
I am far too close even 10 years later to have an unbiased opinion. But if someone wanted material for a fascinating novel this period of time and cast of characters, this would be it. There is a doctoral thesis that documents many of these events.
West Bankers had a motto: We never sleep. We know where you live.
To say there was animosity would be an understatement.
I think that some of that history is part of the current discussion about for profit versus non profit developers.
Thanks, Scott Vreeland, future novelist, Seward
