http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/blog/mary-turck/haight-ashbury-midwest
By Mary Turck
September 16, 2010
Randy Stoecker wrote a fascinating book looking at the struggles of
the 1970s, from the perspective of the early 1990s. Defending
Community: The struggle for alternative redevelopment in
Cedar-Riverside goes from the battles over the construction of
Riverside Plaza (then called Cedar Square West) in the early 1970s to
the rent strikes of the late 1970s, and community organizing in
Cedar-Riverside throughout the 20-year time span. Protests against
Cedar Square West stopped the project with the construction of
Riverside Plaza - the rest of the New Town in Town project was never built.
Writing about the early days:
Much of this ideology was developed by the hippies in the
neighborhood. But anti-war activists were also settling in the
neighborhood. The early ideological disputes between these factions
involved issues more than broad-ranging political programs. The
hippies mobilized to save their neighborhood, while the antiwar
activists focused their energies on stopping the war in Vietnam.
...And then HUD Secretary George Romney's plans to dedicate
Cedar-Square West gave material presence to the developing community
ideology beginning to understand the common role of the
military-industrial complex in domination and exploitation both at
home and abroad.
In the second period of the movement the cry for basic citizen
control of the neighborhood became the most obvious outward
expression of the community ideology.
Twenty years on, the neighborhood has changed substantially - but his
analysis of the "struggle between capital and community" still raises
important questions.
You can order the book from Temple University Press, which has a book
blurb saying that Cedar-Riverside was "nationally known for a period
as 'the Haight-Ashbury of the Mid-West." It appears that you can also
read large chunks of the book on Google, though I'm not sure how that
works with copyright laws.
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