While I understand Andy Driscoll's sense that we can't win in the face of powerful monied interests, I think he is wrong. Roads and projects have been stopped before around the world.
Perhaps the most famous case is in New York City, when a rather mild-manned individual by the name of Jane Jacobs, a 45 year old mother and journalist, published a book called THE DEATH AND LIFE OF GREAT AMERICAN CITIES and led a movement. Robert Moses was a "visionary" that believed in "access" in the form of big expressways for all areas of New York. For decades, he had rammed through project after project, destroying neighborhoods with ill-considered road and housing projects. He was undefeated when he decided that Greenwich Village was a slum in need of "renewal," or "revitalization," to use the parlance of our times. Moses decided that what was required was an expressway, an eight-lane monster called the Lower Manhattan Expressway, to smash through this eyesore. What he didn't consider was that Greenwich Village had a history of activism, and he didn't anticipate Jacob's quiet power to mobilize folks with her phiosophy of the VALUE of cities and neighborhoods for the RESIDENTS AND SMALL BUSINESSES WHO LIVE THERE. Jacobs was also one of the first individuals to recognize the damage caused by automobiles and their supporting infrastructure. . . . So against all odds, Moses plan was defeated in 1962, saving Greenwich Village. While no one in STRIDE claims to be a Jane Jacobs, her story is certainly an inspiration to us. And before you think we are--uh--too strident, you should know that Lower Manhatten Expressway activists once rushed the front of a public meeting where a vote hadn't gone their way, ripped up the ballots, and claimed that since no ballots existed, no vote had been taken. . . . Different time and a different place, I know. However, no one but the Greenwich Village residents and business owners thought that they could possibly win against the powerful Robert Moses, and they did. We face long odds to stop this project; we know that, Andy. Call and email your council people, and tell them to stop the 35W Access project. If you do nothing, then it is literally a done deal. If we can stop this boondoggle, then maybe, just maybe, "the powers are under a real threat of losing that power," as Mr. Driscoll puts it. Russell Raczkowski Bancroft REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
