Tax breaks for corporations lured into moving to Camden are back in the news. WNYC’s Nancy Solomon, who helped break the inside story of insider dealing that made the corporate moves possible, has now pointed to the poor record these companies have had in hiring Camden residents. As I reported in my book, The Paradox … Continue reading Camden Jobs Commentary: “Poverty Porn” or Revelation?…
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D.C.’s New Strategic Economic Plan will Need to Balance Downtown Revitalization with Residential Equity
Normally the announcement of D.C.’s five-year economic strategy would scarcely cause a stir as the stuff of bureaucratic necessity, in this case, fulfilling requirements for acquiring federal grants. But the “Comeback Plan” announced last week is different, as a test whether the District’s post-pandemic era will effectively address the profound effects both of Covid and … Continue reading D.C.’s New Strategic Economic Plan will Need to Balance Downtown Revitalization with Residential Equity…
Revisiting the Past, Yale ’64 Confronts the Future of Civil Rights Should Affirmative Action be Overruled
The December 1 Zoom exchange organized by and for members of Yale’s undergraduate class of 1964–now available by YouTube recording–had a hint of the divide I described in my 2015 book on the class, but mostly there was agreement that affirmative action for university admissions is on its way out and the job now was … Continue reading Revisiting the Past, Yale ’64 Confronts the Future of Civil Rights Should Affirmative Action be Overruled…
Proposed 76ers Arena Puts Philadelphia at a Crossroads
As has happened so many times in other cities, Philadelphia has been offered a great development opportunity, one that some critics see as a complete gamechanger in the upward trajectory of the city’s 21st century revitalization. And like other cities, the golden goose is a sports arena located in an underserved portion of the downtown … Continue reading Proposed 76ers Arena Puts Philadelphia at a Crossroads…
In Newark, A Test of New Affordable Housing Goals
A central question posed in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death is how far will cities go to assure equitable distribution of the benefits of new development. Newark, where Mayor Ras Barka has made inclusionary growth the cornerstone of his administration, offers a case in point. In 2019 a limited liability company based in New … Continue reading In Newark, A Test of New Affordable Housing Goals…
In Pittsburgh’s Oakland District, A Victory for Inclusion
Long viewed as a gritty industrial powerhouse that maintained its reputation as a Rust Belt disaster after the collapse of the steel industry in the early 1980s, Pittsburgh has become a beacon for post-industrial recovery in the twenty-first century. Praised by a Brookings Institution report of 2017 for its position “as a center of world-class … Continue reading In Pittsburgh’s Oakland District, A Victory for Inclusion…