At 12:38 AM 8/13/99 -0700, Sam Pawlett wrote: >In light of recent Pen-L threads on urban questions, I'd would highly >recommend an excellent new book called *Lockdown America* by Christian >Parenti which I've just finished. It reminded me a lot of *City of >Quartz * by Mike Davis except it covers all of America and has a bit >different scope. Parenti touches on the political economy of US urban >decay and gives a detailed,scathing and frightening account of >"Zero-tolerance policing", the social control of "quality of life" >campaigns, "Business Improvement Districts", disastrous urban >"renaissance" projects like convention centers, stadiums and theme parks >as well as the "broken window" criminology of James Q. Wilson and >others. Parenti goes into the policies of Giuliani and the effects they >have had throughout the nation. He also gives detailed case studies of >San Francisco, Indianapolis and Baltimore. Perhaps most frightening is >his account of the rise of private prison industry and paramilitary >policing. > He argues that, basically, poor urban neighborhoods have become >police states. The urban poor and homeless are obstacles in the path of >developers seeking to create "urban hip" areas of the kind so >effectively lampooned by The Baffler. Further, poor whites are the shock >troops for the creation of these neighborhoods who eventually become the >victims of them. The "scene" is created by poor students and >"counter-culture" types who are then forced to leave because of rising >costs (property values.) So urban development, gentrification or whatever you want to call it is bad. Then what's an alternative - urban ghetto, suburban gated community? I just returned from London where I spent a few days. Gee, if Baltimore had only half of London's amenities, it would be a truly wonederful place to live. So if you ask me to choose between borded up houses and a gentrified neighborhood, the choice is clear, at least for me. Fortunately, Europeans do not face the dilemmas American social engineers do - they know cities are viable. wojtek PS. I checked out amazon.com for parenti's book, it won't be out until september.
