Quote of the day

"The contrast between the conditions of the city of St. Louis and its vast suburbs is stark, and stunning."
-Ray Suarez, The Old Neighborhood (1999).

Quote of the Day

"There are no city plans for the South Bronx, for North St. Louis, or parts of the South Side of Chicago. There are no plans because cities don't talk much about the places they aren't sure they can do anything for."
-Norman Krumholz (Professor at Cleveland State University), quoted in The Old Neighborhood, Ray Suarez, 1999.

Quote of the Day

"Today we look back on it all in hurt and wonder. How did this happen? Where did that good life go? When an accidental detour or missed expressway exit brings us into contact with the world we left behind, we can still place all the blame firmly and squarely elsewhere. The shuttered factories and collapsing row houses, the cavant storefronts and rutted streets are regarded with the same awe reserved for scenes of natural disasters. We look out on a world that somehow, in the American collective memory, destroyed itself."
Ray Suarez: The Old Neighborhood (1999)

What I'm Reading Now

I'm currently reading The Old Neighborhood (1999) by PBS's Ray Suarez. It's a pretty fascinating look at what was lost when Americans left "the old neighborhood" for suburbia between the 1950s and 1980s. A lot of it focuses on the issue of "white flight." It's full of great information, and great quotes.