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September 28, 2005

A New Reason to Oppose Urban Renewal

This morning, on NPR's Morning Edition, I heard a piece on the development of part of downtown Los Angeles that just boggled my mind. (I can hear Rammage now - "NPR? Those liberal weenies? Why weren't you listening to Elliot?" Well, I like to keep tabs on how apolitical they can keep themselves - as discussed previously - and I am impressed and astounded at their ability to find a pessimistic slant on every happy story.)

A part of the city is being cleaned up and made livable, attracting residents to live downtown who might otherwise commute an hour from the suburbs. This sounds to me like a liberal's dream. It reduces urban sprawl, reduces gasoline consumption, and increases the city's tax revenue. Is there any downside?

Of course there is - the poor homeless people who used to live in this abandoned part of the city are being displaced as the heartless developers stuff these new lofts full of soulless, cookie-cutter, latte-sipping yuppie jerks.

It's not that I don't give a damn about the homeless, but the whole tone of the story blew me away. Urban renewal is GOOD, people. It's a good thing, and it should be celebrated.
You can listen to the story and be mind-boggled yourself, here.

Wulf Posted by Wulf on September 28, 2005 at 10:25 AM

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Comments

Hehe, you would talk about NPR. Dork.

Posted by: Laurel at September 28, 2005 10:51 AM

If NPR really cared about the homeless, then perhaps they could house the displaced L.A. homeless in their office in downtown DC:

635 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20001

I would be willing to contribute money to aid in the transportation of the L.A. refugees to NPR's DC office building.

Posted by: rammage at September 29, 2005 6:13 PM

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