Show Me a Hero: A Tale of Murder, Suicide, Race, and Redemption

Amazon.com

"The pipe bomb was small as pipe bombs go, but the explosion could be heard from several blocks away--a sharp bang as rows of factory-fresh ceramic tiles shattered into a pile of razor-edged rubble. Neighbors who were drifting off to sleep sat upright, awake. Family members who were preparing for bed looked at each other first with questions, then with certainty they had the answer. 'I guess somebody is trying to blow up the new housing,' one man joked to his wife. But it wasn't a joke. That's exactly what someone was trying to do."

In 1988, when a federal judge ordered the city of Yonkers, New York, to integrate more thoroughly its low-income housing throughout the city, it set off a bitter dispute that would consume the town for the next five years. Among those caught in the controversy was the city's 28-year-old mayor, Nicholas Wasicsko, who had used the issue to his advantage during his campaign and found that he would never be able to escape it, either during or after his administration. Veteran New York Times journalist Lisa Belkin focuses not on the abstract "sides" of the integration debate, but on the people who take those sides. It's that personal perspective that makes her account most worth reading.

Book Description

In the grand reportorial tradition of J. Anthony Lukass's Common Ground, SHOW ME A HERO is a tale of one city, divided by fear and racism, murder and politics, and notions of home and community.

When Nicholas Wasicsko was growing up, he knew he was going to be mayor of Yonkers. The other kids teased him about his dream, calling him "The Mayor" on the basketball court. But on November 3, 1987, when he was only twenty-eight years old, Nick did indeed become mayor - in fact, the country's youngest.

It turned out to be less than a dream job. The city had just been slapped with a court order demanding that it build public housing on the white, middle-class side of town in order to right what the judge saw as intentional, decades-long pattern of segregation. Shortly after taking office, and after careful deliberation with the city's lawyers, Nick agreed to comply with the court order. This decision would lead to a virtual civic meltdown, and the shattering of his own hopes and dreams.

SHOW ME A HERO is about the battle between the judge and Nick's city, and also about what happens after - after the lawyers have gone, the protesting has stopped, the townhouses have been built, and the newcomers have moved in. It's about Alma Febles, a magnetic young mother desperate to move her three children into a real home. It's about the nearly blind Norma O'Neal, who couldn't get home health care in the projects. It's about Mary Dorman, an activist-first, against housing; then, gradually, for it - for the first time in her life. And it's about Nick Wasicsko and his wife, Nay, trying to build a life amid the political rubble.

SHOW ME A HERO is riveting tale, made more urgent by the fact that the hard lessons Nick had to learn are ones that countless cities will face in the future. Across the country, monolithic housing projects are being demolished and replaced by scattered-site public housing built in middle-class neighborhoods. One by one, these cities will learn, as Yonkers did, as Nick did, what this means for a nation whose people preach, diversity but who are most comfortable when surrounded by others like themselves.

Customer Reviews:

nonfiction that reads like a narrative.......1999-07-07

This is a well written book that encourages thinking about important social issues. The City of Yonkers was forced by the courts to desegregate housing after years of discriminating against minorities. The decision was made to have small groups of cluster homes scattered throughout white neighborhoods. All hell broke loose in the white communities after the court decision. Whites feared a minority presence and a decline in property values and fought viciously against the homes. Poor families hoped for a safer, better place to live and raise their families. A balanced and complex story, well wrought, with an interesting cast of characters from politicians to single mothers desperate to move their families to safer neighborhoods. All the answers about the future of public housing aren't here, but certainly a clearer concept of the issues involved, from personal to political, can be gathered from this fascinating story.

A Non-Fiction Novel About Yonkers.......1999-04-16

Lisa Belkin does a wonderful job weaving a narrative about Yonkers's desegregation struggle (or at least part of it). In her effort to achieve more than a dry rendition of the crisis, which paralyzed Yonkers for several years she left a few things out. Among them are the following: the Black and Hispanic communities in Yonkers in whose name the case was brought; the Yonkers school system (yes it did start as an education case); the political structure, including former Mayor (and now Republican leader) Angelo Martinelli; the moderate citizen groups, including Canopy and the Fair Housing Council; the court's monitor Joe Pastore, etc. Reading it, one is left with the impression that the collision (or cataclysm) was inevitable. It wasn't. As in Kosovo, political leaders played on people's ethnic fears and racial divisions for narrow political gain.

Yet, the impossiblity of having a true narrative is well documented in Janet Malcolm's recent book, The Crime of Sheila McGough. As in Rashomon, it depends on what you are looking at, and, perhaps, what you are looking for.

Sensational. A true slice of what it was it was really like.......1999-03-29

I've never written one of these before, but I just read that reader from New England and I had to respond. I think we read two different books. The one I read captured the chaos and heartbreak of the city I have lived in all my life. I was at a lot of the meetings and clashes that fill this book, and reading Belkin I felt like I was there all over again. More important, I learned so much about the behind the scenes wrangling that I didn't know. One dimensional? No way. She peered into people's souls. Did she streamline? Yes. And as a reader, I thank her. The point was the essence of a city in chaos, and she painted that portrait in gritty and riveting detail. It wasn't her job to make sure everyone in town got their name in her book. As for Hollywood, I don't think they'll have the guts to make this movie. There are no pat happy endings here and no easy answers. Just a story that I couldn't put down.

Facts Shave and Omitted to Fit Movie Script Story Line.......1999-03-28

Book grossly fails to lay groundwork that led to period covered which, as a result, fails to offer appropriate and needed perspective to explain the story she tells. Also, many elements of book appear to reflect superficial research relying on sole sources (many with axes to grind or self-serving aims to rewrite city history). The real tragedy is that if this becomes only book to try to capture terror and turmoil suffered in Yonkers for more than a decade and a half (twice the period covered in her book), it will be a serious disservice to all those who lived through it, and will sadly miss the mark in alerting other communities to the numerous missed opportunities and misjudgements that needlessly plunged the city of 200,000 into a truly lost 15 year period of chaos and hell. While there is much blame and fault to go around, author's omissions unfairly causes some to shoulder too much of the blame for what went wrong, glorifies others far beyond their actual contributions, lets others who should significantly share the blame off the hook by either no mention or minimal, and ignores many unsung behind the scene community leaders whose deeds kept the city together. Somewhere. it would seem the author went from pursuing a fact based assessment about a city when confronted with the ultimate test in facing its darkest reaches almost self-destructed to a slick story line fit for a movie script.

Excellent--Truly a "nonfiction novel".......1999-03-26

An engrossing, "I cannot put it down" book. Belkin takes facts and turns them into one of the best stories yet. I would recommend it without qualification. A MUST

The Housing Divide: How Generations of Immigrants Fare in New York's Housing Market

Average customer rating:

The Housing Divide: How Generations of Immigrants Fare in New York's Housing Market
Emily Rosenbaum , and Samantha Friedman
Manufacturer: NYU Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Discrimination & Racism | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Urban Planning & Development | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Emigration & Immigration | Administrative Law | Law | Subjects | Books

Housing & Urban Development | Administrative Law | Law | Subjects | Books

Social History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 081477590X
Release Date: 2006-12-01

Book Description

View the Table of Contents. Read the Introduction.

"An excellent and timely volume, very well written, clearly organized, and cogently argued."
—Douglas S. Massey, author of Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Mexican Immigration in an Era of Economic Integration

" The Housing Divide brilliantly transforms the Big Apple into a crystal ball for glimpsing the racial and ethnic future of 21st century America. The core finding--that, just as in the past, racial discrimination keeps Americans with African ancestry from taking advantage of opportunities used by the newest immigrants and their children to get ahead--portends a troubling future in which American society may cleave between blacks and non-blacks. This book is a wake-up call to America to finally address racial discrimination in housing."
—Richard Alba, co-author of Remaking the American Mainstream: Assimilation and Contemporary Immigration

" The Housing Divide takes a hard look at housing and neighborhood quality in the nation's largest and most diverse city. It exposes longstanding features that are found in most American cities, including the potential for upward mobility by some immigrant newcomers, the traps that others fall into, and the continuing reality of racial discrimination that limits progress for too many New Yorkers."
&3151;John R. Logan, editor of The New Chinese City: Globalization and Market Reform

The Housing Divide examines the generational patterns in New York City's housing market and neighborhoods along the lines of race and ethnicity. The book provides an in-depth analysis of many immigrant groups in New York, especially providing an understanding of the opportunities and discriminatory practices at work from one generation to the next. Through a careful read of such factors as home ownership, housing quality, and neighborhood rates of crime, welfare enrollment, teenage pregnancy, and educational achievement, Emily Rosenbaum and Samantha Friedman provide a detailed portrait of neighborhood life and socio-economic status for the immigrants of New York.

The book paints an important, if disturbing, picture. The authors argue that not only are Blacks—regardless of generation—disadvantaged relative to members of other racial/ethnic groups in their ability to obtain housing in high-quality neighborhoods, but that housing and neighborhood conditions actually decline over generations. Rosenbaum and Friedman's findings suggest that the future of racial inequality in this country will increasingly isolate Blacks from all other groups. In other words, the "color line" may be shifting from a line separating Blacks from Whites to one separating Blacks from all non-Blacks.

Barrio Dreams: Puerto Ricans, Latinos, and the Neoliberal City

Average customer rating:

El Barrio
Marketing as a Lethal Weapon
Davila Takes a Jab at Neoliberalism and Gentrification
Brilliant Scholarship!

Barrio Dreams: Puerto Ricans, Latinos, and the Neoliberal City
Arlene Dávila
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0520240936

Book Description

Arlene Dávila brilliantly considers the cultural politics of urban space in this lively exploration of Puerto Rican and Latino experience in New York, the global center of culture and consumption, where Latinos are now the biggest minority group. Analyzing the simultaneous gentrification and Latinization of what is known as El Barrio or Spanish Harlem, Barrio Dreams makes a compelling case that--despite neoliberalism's race-and ethnicity-free tenets--dreams of economic empowerment are never devoid of distinct racial and ethnic considerations.
Dávila scrutinizes dramatic shifts in housing, the growth of charter schools, and the enactment of Empowerment Zone legislation that promises upward mobility and empowerment while shutting out many longtime residents. Foregrounding privatization and consumption, she offers an innovative look at the marketing of Latino space. She emphasizes class among Latinos while touching on black-Latino and Mexican-Puerto Rican relations. Providing a unique multifaceted view of the place of Latinos in the changing urban landscape, Barrio Dreams is one of the most nuanced and original examinations of the complex social and economic forces shaping our cities today.

Customer Reviews:

El Barrio.......2005-12-06

"What's in a name? History! The African American community has their community in Harlem; the Dominicans are beginning to carve out a space for their people...Spanish Harlem is the soul and heartbeat of the Puerto Rican people...groups survive by controlling space and maintaining a viable and visible presence..." (p. 73). This statement, made by an activist and poet during a debate on the use of the term "El Barrio" to reference East Harlem, touches on one of the main issues that Arlene Davila so brilliantly expresses in her book, Barrio Dreams: Puerto Ricans, Latinos, and the Neoliberal City. This rich ethnography focuses on the issue of space, particularly in the neighborhoods of El Barrio, or Spanish Harlem, located in the East Harlem district. She brings to light the cultural politics involved in the definition of space and its subsequent appropriation, as well as the commodification and marketability of ethnicity and race. Through extensive research, that includes interviews with local neighborhood residents, observations and participations at community meetings and organizations, and public hearings, Davila is able to put together a magnificent work that documents the complex effects of culture, space, commodification, representation and gentrification of space and the residents in El Barrio. In doing so, she is able to call "attention to the symbolic and representational processes that have tied race, ethnicity, and place in East Harlem within the public imagination...account[ing] for the value of these representations in the symbolic economy of contemporary cities" (p. 24).
El Barrio, a growing urban, Latino community is the foreground for Davila's examination of the politics of culture, urban space, gentrification of neighborhoods, and "the neoliberal policies that favor privatization and consumption" (p.2). Davila raises important questions in her work by focusing on the increasing attempts to create social change in urban communities through the introductions of new developments, businesses, museums, charter schools and tourist sites. In the chapters in her book, she devotes much time analyzing the complexities surrounding such gentrification issues, brining in to play the resistance of the local residents against developers. One particular impressive aspect of Davila's work, touches on the difficulties local residents face when they buy into the developer's ideas of programs that include home ownership and museums. Many residents agree that the image of Spanish Harlem as "poor, crime-ridden, and underdeveloped" sheds a negative light on their community (p.115). Developers, craftily pointing to the lack of value and marketability of Puerto Rican heritage or "Puerto Ricanness" reinforce the existing stereotyped image on El Barrio as unpopular (p.114).
Yet as Davila shows, the support of local residents of new projects can sometimes in fact lend a helping hand to the process of gentrification, resulting in residents jeopardizing their stake and claim in their own neighborhoods. In other words, "by supporting consumption and entertainment projects, such as museums and home-ownership programs, residents are furthering gentrification and increasing prices in East Harlem, thereby hindering their own future claims to the area" (p. 4). The Edison Project that Davila describes in her fourth chapter highlights the attempts of private organizations to claim stake in the urban communities of El Barrio, telling residents that "the project would educate residents about their own common heritage" while creating avenues "that would provide jobs and place the neighborhood on the map" (p. 129). But the price of these incentives was not free. Developers used culture as "the bait for a larger project for privatizing social services and further commodifying place in El Barrio" (p.129). Arlene Davila does an excellent job in bringing to light the complexities involved in the processes of gentrification and culture consumption and the desires of residents to reclaim their neighborhoods through highlighting their cultural values.
Another fascinating aspect of Davila's work touches on the issues of the relationships between the Puerto Rican residents of El Barrio and African Americans. Davila points out that both African Americans and Puerto Ricans share a common history, yet the introduction of a cultural space and the desire for "local control of resources" and "local electoral politics...has polarized the groups' relationship since the start of urban renewal projects and still mediates debates over space and development in the area" (p. 19). The advancement of African Americans in the political sphere is another point of tension between the two groups, as well as the dominant leadership roles of blacks in the urban development sectors. Additionally, Davila describes the tensions that exist between Puerto Ricans and Mexicans. The rapid growth of the Mexican population in El Barrio is causing the "rapid transformations in the area's demographics and landscapes" resulting in "tensions between Mexican and Puerto Rican populations, raced to their different histories, citizenship status, and/or self-conception as residents, racialized minorities, or temporary immigrants" (p. 21). While illuminating, the relationships and tensions that arise between the Puerto Ricans, African Americans and Mexicans alike can sometimes be messy. Their fight for control over space and their commonalities as minorities, whose culture is being commodified by developers and outside organizations, all tie in and relate to one another in a complex web of defining space and cultural values. As a results, the neighborhoods in which they all reside are slowly changing, reflecting the backdrops of multiculturalism, neoliberalism and globalization that form a common thread between the various issues and projects that Davila discusses in her work.
Barrio Dreams is an exceptional piece of work that illuminates the debates and issues surrounding the ever increasing urbanization and gentrification of one of New York's most well known neighborhoods. Arlene Davila is truly a genius at work!

Marketing as a Lethal Weapon.......2005-12-05

Various historical points reveal where the redefinition of culture took place due to economically driven motives, which have proven pivotal for empowering as well as defining cultures. From the Pledge of Allegiance to the current war in Iraq, the lines drawn around the essence of one's culture have been exploited by money-driven entrepreneurs and politicians. Arlene Dávila exposes this phenomenon in East Harlem, and more specifically in el Barrio, in her new book Barrio Dreams: Puerto Ricans, Latinos, and the Neoliberal City. She is "concerned mostly with the specificity of current racial, ethnic, and spatial conflicts in the area" which, "become exacerbated by the cultural bases of many contemporary development initiatives at the very time that intraethnic and racial alliances among minorities are most impending and most needed." (5) Her book displays the reality of the struggle in El Barrio where "ethnic" groups have been battling for a place at the same time the "Latin" community as a whole has been fighting for a political position in order to gain control of the definition of their culture.
Culture, contrary to Dávila's belief that there was a time "when cultural demands commanded economic resources and political valence," (2) has almost always been advanced for economic reasons. Countries in the Arabian Gulf have attracted workers from all around the world to work in the oil and gas fields to an extent where now the citizen is a minority due to the influx of these workers-citizens of these countries have yet to object to the increasing number of workers. Surely when one's culture becomes the minority culture it will have a great impact on the shape it takes.
Dávila, author of Sponsored Identities: Culture, Politics in Puerto Rico and Latinos, Inc.: The Marketing and Making of a People, has done extensive study on the issue of politics in the marketing of the "Latin" identity. The use of "Latin" or "Latinidad" implies homogeneity-it is a remarkable how the author is sucked into this normative stereotypes constructed for categorization purposes. The author herself argues that the "Latin" community is not homogenous in any way, thus "these groups differ in mission and objective." (157) Hence we have El Barrio as an area where various groups are fighting for various ends-using the word "Latin" inevitably hinders our vision concerning the diversity of the "Latino" culture.
Nevertheless, it is not simply about homogeneity among the Puerto Ricans, Mexicans and Dominicans. It's about hierarchies within hierarchies; "the relations are mediated by existing racial and ethnic hierarchies that are shaped by racialist processes in the United States and in Latin America and also have particular manifestations that are historically and regionally situated" (171). Hence the "ethnic" groups are placed into hierarchies according to the basic social class and political participation in the United States, which finds El Barrio (in general) in the lower middle-class. But hierarchies exist within this hierarchy, which leads to the divide between the "Latino" groups. Their stance in this category revolves around several classifications such as devotion to work, crime rate, longevity in the community and other such ingredients. The "stereotypes of Mexicans as less educated or unsophisticated" (173) have been a catalyst for Mexicans to attempt to present themselves in a picture they believe suite their community most and thus they have considered themselves as "hard working, and ethical Mexicans" (173). But other than the competition between the "Latino" groups, in the one specific group there is a hierarchy. The example of Puerto Ricans "with a longer history in El Barrio, criticized Puerto Rican newcomers just as forcefully, despite their Puerto Rican nationality and pro-Puerto Rican leanings." (79) The complexity of these levels and allegiances causes conflict in the group, which ultimately leads to the dismantling of the "greater community"-the "Latin" one.
How does Dávila define culture? She states that culture is an "ethnic or racial identity" as well as an "object of entertainment." (10) Culture is almost always associated with tradition and history and it is ironic how modern means can reshape our concept of culture in addition to molding the minds of `outsiders' in regards to their perception of a community's culture. Culture is man-made and it is "imagined." It is interesting to note the use of Benedict Anderson's "imagined community" in Dávila's study of El Barrio. She throws it in on page 65 whilst talking about Puerto Ricans and their creation of their community. It is a shame that this notion of "imagined community" is not introduced earlier in her work. That is the foundational base of conflict in any society where various communities live and fight for elements of their own culture so as to proclaim its exclusivity to them.
But what is especially ironic is the fact that culture is not tangible and Dávila seems to miss a step between providing us with her definition of culture and the various problems that have taken shape in El Barrio due to gentrification, which ultimately means the exclusion of some communities-the exclusion from political representation in New York City is center to Dávila's study. She argues that the "Latin" communities are losing grip of the fate of El Barrio due to the lack or representation in organizations that decide the final outcome of El Barrio. Her argument is clear and impressive because of the depth of her research in the politics of representing a community; the author provides us with several examples of how tenants are defined by race and social class, and thus reshape the community.
Overall, the study is extremely interesting in seeing the impact of marketing and politics on culture and vice versa. El Barrio is not a unified force and culture-Dávila proclaims, "sure El Barrio continues to be "de todos." Which is obviously a partial todos." (96) The complexities that the author examines is impressive and brings to light the power of marketing and advertising that are politically motivated in a society. She is an anthropologist and it is a study that presents us with extensive examples and theories but leaves the door open, as anthropologists tend to observe and not interfere.

Davila Takes a Jab at Neoliberalism and Gentrification.......2005-11-10

It is no secret that our society continues to thrive and grow out of the economic structure of capitalism. Globalization provides more opportunities for free trade, and in the process our economy becomes increasingly privatized. These concepts of neo-liberalism, which require less government intervention, have been expressed through policies that deregulate 'big business' and further the gap between the affluent and the impoverished. Although many are bearing the fruits of this growing interconnection of trade and exchange, it comes at the expense of those who remain indefinitely at the bottom of the economic pyramid. Through her book Barrio Dreams, Arlene Davila uncovers many repercussions concerning the growing competitive housing development market in El Barrio or East/Spanish Harlem. Davila discusses the process of gentrification that has resulted in a pauperized community within New York City. The book aims to characterize the cultural and political interactions between different groups of Latinos as well as between those within the greater community. Their attempts to shape the future of their barrio while understanding their own cultural capital are also constantly revealed. Davila portrays the politics of marketing ethnicity as culture, and how it is treated as industry to further the process of gentrification. This book highlights the increasingly significant role of Latinos in American society and their struggles to gain power and authority in their communities.
In areas such as New York City, where property value only has the ability to grow with time, impoverished neighborhoods such as East Harlem are susceptible to development from outside private companies. Government policies have further contributed to the gentrification in the Empowerment Zone in NYC and have opened the door for private development. Davila states, "Since the 1980's, similar policies involving tax incentives to the private sector, as in today's EZs, have consistently replaced publicly financed community-based development strategies as the dominant urban development strategy (pg 9)." In compliance with the philosophies of neo-liberalism, governmental organizations have shifted the responsibility of social housing onto private development organizations, which are solely driven by profitability. Unfortunately, this has rapidly decreased the amount of affordable housing in East Harlem. Local businesses and residents have been displaced and neglected as a result of this rapid gentrification. "East Harlem's real estate is not advertised in El Diario or other Latino and local newspapers...many believe, (they) intend to keep Latinos out of the area (pg 54)," said one the area's residents. This process is a result of the lack of representation from Latinos and residents of the community. Even those Latinos from the area who have shown upward mobility have been consequently displaced outside of East Harlem and thus do not intend to return. Spanish Harlem symbolizes the romanticized version of Latino culture and will unlikely relinquish its reputation of being underprivileged. Roberto, a union leader Davila interviewed, describes why he can not live in El Barrio: "I saw a lot of brutality...El Barrio will always be El Barrio, not the Puerto Rican Barrio, but the barrio of immigrants and the poor (pg 38)." Roberto's comments shine light on the fact that this neighborhood is not able to develop without providing outlets for upward mobility and representation.
Part of reshaping the marginalized perception of El Barrio is being provided by activists in order to "secure the identity of (their) place (pg 24)." The current commercialization and outside marketing contradicts attempts and assertions that are being made to redefine the associations to the Latino identity. Many of the residents that reside in East Harlem are not a homogenous culture or ethnicity. Specifically, Puerto Ricans have struggled to assert their identity as a community in American society. As a group, they have attempted to downplay the stereotypes and negative associations that are being exaggerated by cultural marketers. In attempting to understand the own accurate identity, Puerto Ricans must be able to understand their significance in El Barrio. Puerto Ricans have been commonly linked with other ethnic groups such as African-Americans, who reside in West Harlem. Davila discusses the movement of Puerto Ricans to differentiate themselves as a functioning and successful ethnic group. Mexicans, who are the fastest growing immigrant population in the United States, experience similar struggles of re-signification in East Harlem. They have tried to establish themselves as "worthy and hard-working immigrants," and separate themselves from the marginalized reputation of other Latinos in the area (pg 156). Davila cites one man who commented, "We Mexicans are hard workers and don't depend on welfare as do Dominicans...many Mexicans are deported because they are illegal. Each month, Dominicans are deported because they've been jailed for selling drugs, committing robberies, crimes and fraud (pg 172)." The US depends on Mexicans to fill the lowest positions in the workforce - those jobs that require extensive manual labor for very little pay - but our government and policies prevent these immigrants from gaining rights and representation in their communities. The Mexican Day Parade was one example of a culturally-specific event that was marketed and organized by non-Mexicans for corporate interests. Davila emphasizes that the control of such cultural events by marketers who do not represent the Mexican community actually undermines the purpose of such ethnic celebrations. Further, she stated that the outrage of Mexicans in such situations "asserted ethnicity over industry and challenged the inequities in the production and consumption of ethnic events (pg 167)."
Artists have become catalysts for publicly marketing the real Latino identity with images that represent both the past and present. This initiative contradicts the growing commercialization of Latino culture geared toward economic gains in the EZ. The author adds, "Heritage is ancillary to tourism, put in the service viable tourist districts containing cultural, entertainment, dining, and recreational attractions (98)." The various cultural projects in East Harlem that would further allow the appropriate exposure of Latino heritage, such as el Museo del Barrio and the Edison Project, were centered around tourism, economic interests, and employment. This only furthered the process of gentrification in East Harlem. To inhibit this process, artists began to show an effort to represent Latino aspirations and dreams through non-profitable murals and graffiti. Their actions signify that ethnicity is more than just a business venture. Davila posits, "The fact is that current ethnic and cultural identifications are being concurrently fueled by a variety of political and commercial interests, and are thus not about to fade, as long as they are profitable, politically marketable, and viable (pg 214)." Thus, the need for further artistic expression of the actual Latino ethnicity is vital.
Through her book, Arlene Davila clearly represents the position and role of many Latinos in American society today. Neoliberal policies further prevent these groups from taking hold of their community and ethnicity, and allowing private companies to consolidate affordable housing. This book can only shine light on the rapid gentrification of all cities around the country. It is difficult not to think of the re-urbanization process going on in Durham over the last five years, and in doing so I hope those involved think of places like East Harlem. Many of the same efforts to improve the image are fueled by economic interests, however without considering the history and diversity of this culturally-rich city, the future of Downtown Durham will continue to be tainted.

Brilliant Scholarship!.......2004-07-15

Arlene Davila's BARRIO DREAMS is simply amazing. It grapples with the diversification of New York's Latino population, asking important questions about community solidarity and alliances. The final chapter on Mexican immigration to El Barrio is especially informative. Professor Davila is a stellar scholar whose ground-breaking work is helping shape the future of Latino/a studies. A must-have book indeed!

Average customer rating:

A History of Housing in New York City
Richard Plunz
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Social History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

Housing & Urban Development | Administrative Law | Law | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0231062974

Book Description

The French architect Le Corbusier once described New York as "a magnificent catastrophe." Since its emergence in the mid-nineteenth century as the nation's "metropolis"' New York has faced the most challenging housing problems of any American city, but it has also led the nation in innovation and reform. The horrors of the tenement were perfected in New York at the same time that the very rich were building palaces along Fifth Avenue; yet public housing for the poor also originated in New York, as did government subsidies for middle-class housing. A History of Housing in New York City traces New York's housing development from 1850 to the present in text and profuse illustrations. Richard Plunz explores the housing of all classes, with comparative discussion of the development of types ranging from the single-family house to the high-rise apartment tower. His analysis is placed within the context of the broader political and cultural development of New York, a city which in many ways summarizes in microcosm the evolution of urban housing in the United States.

Plunz examines the multiple tensions among builders, government planners, housing reformers, and architects which have affected the course of housing development. He explains how the first high-rise apartments were built for the wealthy who preferred the security of living "above it all," and he looks at the technology which made them possible. The author examines the effect of the urban economy on development. He describes how the rising cost of Manhattan real estate and the growth of transportation networks have contributed to the departure of the middle class from the inner city, leaving it with little except luxury housing and slums. He offers fresh material on the creation of "garden apartments" which proliferated throughout the outer boroughs and remain among the finest models of urban housing. Plunz also offers insight into how and why modernist "tower in the park" designs of architects such as Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius were adapted into the design of much of New York's public housing, and the recent return to low-rise publicly subsidized housing, such as new "suburban cottages" set amidst the abandoned buildings and rubble strewn lots of the South Bronx. More than 300 illustrations are integrated throughout the text, depicting housing plans, neighborhood changes, and city architecture over the last 130 years. A History of Housing In New York City is a pioneering study of a largely unexplored realm of United States urban development, as well researched as it is well written.

Homesteading in New York City, 1978-1993: The Divided Heart of Loisaida (Contemporary Urban Studies)

Average customer rating:

Homesteading in New York City, 1978-1993: The Divided Heart of Loisaida (Contemporary Urban Studies)
Malve Von Hassell
Manufacturer: Bergin & Garvey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Housing & Urban Development | Administrative Law | Law | Subjects | Books

Social History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0897894596

Book Description

This is an ethnographic study of predominantly Puerto Rican low-income people on the Lower East Side of Manhattan who have been involved in the rehabilitation of abandoned buildings through sweat-equity urban homesteading from 1978 to 1993. The study combines a portrait of homesteading in a contemporary urban environment with an analysis of homesteading in the context of economic and political developments at the local, state, and national levels. As participant-observer of the rehabilitation efforts, von Hassell was impressed with the ingenuity and initiative of poor and working-class people. She came to the conclusion that housing as a central factor in poverty amelioration must be interpreted with other factors such as labor, education, and health care, and that despite internal conflicts the project could have been more successful if it had received local political, governmental, and social services support.

Jackson Heights, a garden in the city: The history of America's first garden and cooperative apartment community

Average customer rating:

Jackson Heights, a garden in the city: The history of America's first garden and cooperative apartment community
Daniel Karatzas
Manufacturer: Jackson Heights Beautification Group]
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Real Estate | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Slums and housing,: With special reference to New York City: history, conditions, policy,

Average customer rating:

Slums and housing,: With special reference to New York City: history, conditions, policy,
James Ford
Manufacturer: Negro Universities Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Slums and housing,: With special reference to New York City; history, conditions, policy. Volume One

Average customer rating:

Slums and housing,: With special reference to New York City; history, conditions, policy. Volume One
James Ford
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Take Charge!: The Complete Guide to Senior Living in New York City

Average customer rating:

Take Charge!: The Complete Guide to Senior Living in New York City
John Vinton
Manufacturer: New York University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Gerontology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Aging | Aging Parents | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books

Consumer Guides | Reference | Subjects | Books

Directories | Catalogs & Directories | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | New Age | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books