Proof that Urban Renewal didn't work

Shulman Market, Southwest DC, sometime in the late 1930s. Photo by Louise Rosskam, Farm Security Administration.

Waterfront Mall, Southwest quadrant, Washington, DC.

Lies in the fact that Southwest DC, the original demonstration project for urban renewal, is desperately seeking renewal plans for "Waterfront" Mall.

Something I wrote today on another list:

Places like Georgetown and the Southwest were significantly impacted by Federal action; the SW in particular was one of the first demonstration projects for urban "renewal."

The fact is that historic preservation laws were written in response to these virtually unchallengeable actions. Fortunately, times changed.

And the fact is that the City of Washington is one of the few center cities that is resurgent. This is due to the retention of attractive neighborhoods of historic residential building stock. Whether designated or not it's the historic neighborhoods that are the building blocks of the revitalized city.

On the other hand, Southwest DC, 50 years later, is looking for another "urban renewal" because the last one didn't take. Meanwhile, the neighborhoods of historic residential building stock continue to be attractive places live and are in high demand, a demand that like urban renewal, threatens to change neighborhood character in significant ways.

To equate urban renewal (demolition, displacement) or similar acts such as the Georgetown Reclamation Act with historic preservation is a serious misreading of history and the place of ordinary citizens vis-a-vis the power of the Federal Government.