archplanbaltimore.blogspot.com/2013/11/john-f-kennedy-and-urban-policies.html?goback=%Egde_1961663_member_580950988750326989890#%21
Hello Everyone:
Today is Giving Tuesday, the day designated for people to give to the charities of their choice. Personally speaking, I think everyday should be an opportunity to commit an act of charity no matter how large or small. Sometimes, just giving a homeless person the loose change in your pocket can have a profound impact. Be that as it may, I'd like to draw your attention to three worthy causes promoted on this blog: Road Recovery
(http://www.roadrecovery.org), the Hungerthon
(http://www.hungerthon.org), and the National Trust for Historic Preservation
(http://www.preservationnation.org). These are all wonderful organization that are dedicated to making a difference in the lives of people and places. Thanks
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John F. Kennedy
en.wikipedia.org |
In all the recent gauzy tributes to President John F. Kennedy, in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of his assassination, it's hard to remember that he was actually the President of The United States. As such, part of his job as chief executive was to make policy could be turned into action. One such type of policy making involved the cities. With all the current excitement about people returning to the cities, alternate forms of transportation, the walkability of the cites, and all the other things that go along with the resurgence of the urban core, we tend to regard everything before as "the dark ages." The late fifties, early sixties, the "Mad Man" era, was a time when suburbia swelled and cities emptied. The industrial nucleus of America, Detroit, fell from its exalted position into an abyss and has now been approved for bankruptcy. Other American cities stumbled and fell. However, 1963 is far back enough in time to makes all nostalgic for the "happy times" when streetcars still trundled down some streets, department stores lined the boulevards, and urban renewal was an abstract idea.. In his blog post "John F. Kennedy and Urban Policies," Klaus Philipsen offers a reality check on the president behind the myth. What were President Kennedy's urban policies and are they still relevant today? Mr. Philipsen begins with his own recollections of November 22, 1963 and what it meant to him.
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Dallas, 1963
m.theatlanticcities.com |
Those of us, myself included, who were not born in 1963 or too young, could consider the fetishization of all things Kennedy as just another form of idolatry, un-historic, or just plain sentimental. Horror and suspense novelist Stephen King's book
11/22/63, offers a look at what the world would've been like if the President lived, might disagree. Of course we sit around all day, consider this hypothetical, and never arrive at the answer. The protagonists in the book assume that neither Martin Luther King, Jr. or Robert Kennedy would've had to die if the President had lived. From there, they begin to consider how other events during the decade would've unfolded. As a thirteen year old boy in Germany, Mr. Philipsen had a framed day calendar sheet of 11-22-63 pinned next to his desk. He understands Dallas as having a profound impact on the emerging baby boomers. The promise of emergence from the stifling post-World War II society never happened. Although President Lyndon B. Johnson devised a "Great Society, it appeared to be a break with the Kennedy inspired momentum which manifested into a global semi-revolution in the late sixties. Had Kennedy lived, who knows how events would've unfolded. Would there have been a semi-revolutionary state in the streets of Berlin, Paris, New York, or elsewhere?
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A drawing of the "perfect suburbia"
cm401a.blogspot.com |
Klaus Philipsen uses quotes from the Democratic National Committee and the Urban Policy Conference in 1960 to highlight how contemporary these thoughts still are. Mr. Philipsen believes that they were an indication of how forward thinking the Democrats and then-Senator Kennedy were and how little has changed between then and now. Yours truly will let you read the quotes for yourself and will try my very best to analyze them. The first quote comes from the President's inaugural address on January 20, 1961. In it, he says, "...If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich." This sounds like something that might've been said by former President Bill Clinton or current President Barack Obama. In an address to the League of Municipalities in Ocean City, Maryland on June 16, 1961, then-Senator Kennedy pointed out that there were 13 million substandard housing units, unsafe or unsanitary. Almost 5 million urban homes that lacked any plumbing and 7 million units that needed to be completely replaced. He called for a new attitude, a recognition that these problems were not confined to the cities by affected everyone in the country. The then-Senator declared that the future of the American city must rank at the top of any 1960 presidential campaign agenda. He believed that the federal government must step up and take the lead in grant and aid programs. In hindsight, we can see that this call for government intervention has been echoed by the current administration.
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New York City, 1963
ametsoc.com |
On October 10, 1960, then-candidate for president Senator Kennedy held a Conference on Urban Affairs in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The report released by the conference was a far-reaching and comprehensive study on the most pressing issues of American cities at the time. Yet, in reading through it, one cannot help by think how very little has been resolved. The report declared, "The greatest challenges of our times is the challenge to rebuild our cities and cope with explosive suburban growth." Currently, eight out of ten families live in cities or the surrounding suburban areas. However, millions of urban dwellers do not have access to the quality of life or opportunities available in those communities. This will increase in the years to come. "The cities and their suburbs provide much of our national wealth and employment, much of our culture, learning, and traditions. But there are unpleasant facts about life in many cities which Americans cannot tolerate in conscience." Forty million Americans live in slums and social cost is enormous. The slums and blight are the shame of a nation. This is only part of the story, the rapid decay of once good neighborhoods is also critical because of the depletion of good quality moderately priced housing.
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The cover of Los Angeles magazine
November, 1963
laobserved.com |
American cities are facing a critical shortage of decent affordable housing for low- and middle-income individuals and families, who comprise the majority of people. In many cities across the nation, families and individual from minority groups suffer much worse housing conditions then their counterparts in other demographic groups. Urban schools are another source of challenges. The United States has always prided itself in offering the very best in public education. Yet, inner city schools are often antiquated, lack appropriate books and supplies, play space, computers, and infrastructure. Downtowns and urban-industry are the primary source of America wealth, power, and employment. The majority of our wealth and productivity is based in the urban areas but large parts of the cities are run down and clogged with traffic. Cities and the suburbs are facing mounting problems of traffic congestion and commuter transportation. Simultaneously, mass transit still remains inefficient, unreliable, and expensive. Environmental issues still need to be dealt with. Although our air and water is cleaner than it was fifty years ago, we still have organizations and individuals who would like to see our environmental regulations weakened or done away with in the name of doing business. Finally, city parks are an asset. Jane Jacobs called them "the lungs of the city." Cities like Los Angeles are park poor. Open recreational space is a must
The 1960 Democratic Program For Cities And Suburbs looks the same now as it did then. Rebuild the cities with a long-term Federal commitment to [smart] urban renewal. Create decent affordable housing for every American family. Invest in mass transit. Mass transit is what binds the suburbs and cities together. Lack thereof denies a person access to work and educational opportunities. While air and water pollution are currently being held in check, we must find a way to smartly invest in more sustainable forms of energy. Regarding parks, we need to encourage cities to build more open spaces for recreation. What would federal and local action look like? The key to successful urban renewal is a comprehensive and integrated program of development. At the federal level, the administration and coordination of Federal aid and assistance should be based in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Federal government should share the burden of leadership in urban program because it is in the national interest to rebuild and maintain our cities. The government should also share the cost of planning and execution of these planning and development programs. It is vital that a cohesive and comprehensive program provide the best quality of life to our cities and suburbs.
Through local and federal action such a program can provide every American with a brighter future.
When you read through the paper, posted in the link provided to you at the top, you will notice that the more things change, the more they remain the same. As for the urban policy that could've been, it fell to President Lyndon B. Johnson to implement it. In a series of "let us continue" steps, President Johnson began to put in motion the programs that were in the works when President John F. Kennedy was killed. The Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965, built on the 1964 Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Act, included provisions that failed the previous year and introduced low-income rent supplemental programs, which the Federal Housing Authority was working on during the aborted Kennedy Administration. The third law, ratified in 1965, created a cabinet level position for housing and urban development, that some want to do away with.
Looking back, we can see the historic context of President Barack Obama's urban policy. It shows us that not everything up for discussion at the time was about the car or subsidizing white middle class families in the suburbs. The ability to shift Great Society policies has diminished as more of the burden is being shouldered by the cities, even though the problems are not the same. Some of these challenges have grown despite the back to the city trend.
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