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West Side?
After my Sunday story on Urban Renewal and its last effect on the city, there has been a strong response, albeit, only from one reader.
Someone, whose name I didn't get, called, and said that he was very upset with the article, because of the negative pal the story cast over the West Side, saying that it was "blighted" and a "slum." He contended that urban renewal only dealt with Congress Street, and therefore, the West Side should not have been dragged into it.
As I see it, this is a problem of political geography. Here in the newsroom, we commonly refer to anything west of Broadway as the West Side. Woodlawn Avenue? West Side. Congress Park Plaza? West Side. So on and so forth.
What's more, in Urban Renewal documents, the project that dealt with Congress Street and the former neighborhood that stood where the CVS plaza and Stonequist Apartments now are was referred to as the West Side Urban Renewal project. So, I think my use of that label in the story was justified.
But, the caller contends that the West Side does not start until South Franklin St., where the railroad tracks used to divide the city. Perhaps this is an example of neighborhood names changing over time. In any case, I hope you enjoyed the story, and feel free to weigh in on the neighborhood's real name.
Someone, whose name I didn't get, called, and said that he was very upset with the article, because of the negative pal the story cast over the West Side, saying that it was "blighted" and a "slum." He contended that urban renewal only dealt with Congress Street, and therefore, the West Side should not have been dragged into it.
As I see it, this is a problem of political geography. Here in the newsroom, we commonly refer to anything west of Broadway as the West Side. Woodlawn Avenue? West Side. Congress Park Plaza? West Side. So on and so forth.
What's more, in Urban Renewal documents, the project that dealt with Congress Street and the former neighborhood that stood where the CVS plaza and Stonequist Apartments now are was referred to as the West Side Urban Renewal project. So, I think my use of that label in the story was justified.
But, the caller contends that the West Side does not start until South Franklin St., where the railroad tracks used to divide the city. Perhaps this is an example of neighborhood names changing over time. In any case, I hope you enjoyed the story, and feel free to weigh in on the neighborhood's real name.
posted by The Saratogian City Desk at
5:05 PM
5 Comments:
Your story on Universal Preservation Hall was great. Take care.
Thanks Dan, AB
Political geography? This is not political geography, but historical accuracy. Just because the "documents" say "West Side Urban Renewal Project" didn't make that project a "West Side" thing in actuality...an equally large portion of Urban Renewal occured east of Broadway which your article did not make clear in the least. Some of the "east of Broadway" areas were more blighted than areas "west of Broadway." This is part of my contention with you wrote. It slanted the picture "against" the West Side. Furthermore, if boundaries have changed, as you argue in your blog, you should have used the boundary markers of the ERA of the projects, not the boundary markers of a latter time. You completely overlooked the fact that the Urban Renewal Projects in actuality occured in the "downtown or city center" area. I've sent a more lengthy commentary to the Saratogian which I hope will be printed regarding how the "West Side" gets treated in the press. If you had written, "a section located west of Broadway," I would not have reacted, but you used a generalization that blighted the whole area. Please be more scrutinizing and cautious in the future....and pay attention to the local historians...we're here for a purpose.
Neil,
Please understand that by "political geography," I am using the term in the way it is defined to use "polical map," a map that depicts artificial boundaries (definition: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-political-map.htmP
Anyhow, I'm sorry you feel that I slanted the article "against" the west side, but I have to tell you, that is completely ridiculous.
The point of the story was to illustrate how the federal program changed the face of the city. We had photos of the West Side, Broadway, and The Gut. All were effected by urban renewal, and all were called "blighted."
What I tried to convey in the story (and maybe I didn't do a good enough job), is that many areas called "blighted" or "slums" by urban renewal, really weren't
always deserving of that description.
Would you agree?
Andrew, thanks for the response. In your latest blog response you wrote, "We have photos of the WEST SIDE...etc." No, you don't have photos of "The WEST SIDE"...this is exactly my point. You have photos of locations in the Broadway corridor both east and west of Broadway.
"WEST SIDE" & EAST SIDE are terms that refer to two vast areas of the city. On the other hand, Broadway and the Gut are not vast areas but smaller zones or neighborhoods, if you will. Instead of the West Side, you should have written, we have photos of blighted areas on Congress Street, or Woodlawn Avenue. My argument is this, please use a more specific decriptor and not "THE WEST SIDE."
The GUT (or The Valley, which is its older reference) is a specific area on the EAST SIDE. Why did you not get specific about locations on the WEST SIDE? Do you see the discrepancy?
In your article when you described 'blighted area' it sounded as though the whole "WEST SIDE" was a blighted area. You needed to be more specific. Review your article again and how things were worded and you should be able to see that it wasn't a ridiculous comment to say the article was slanted against "the WEST SIDE."
Now, as to the value or disvalue of Urban Renewal - that is another subject altogether. I did not address my comments to that question.
Thank you.
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