Paul Bass and Douglas Rae: "Eminent Disdain"

Op-Ed contribution from Paul Bass and Douglas Rae on last month's ill-conceived recent Supreme Court decision. The City of New London is being allowed to re-develop a 90-acre neighborhood, removing current residents and shopkeepers to make room for office space, hotel, and conference center. This brings back bad memories for those who lived through New Haven's "urban renewal"in the 1950s. Meant to improve the city's quality of life, the long-term consequences were catastrophic. According to the authors, "In 1970, as urban renewal ended, the census ranked New Haven the 38th-poorest city in America. Ten years later, it was ranked seventh, with 23.2 percent of its population living below the poverty line. Today, more than a quarter of the city's families live in subsidized housing. So much for combating poverty."