The Reader‘s archive is vast and varied, going back to 1971. Every day in Archive Dive, we’ll dig through and bring up some finds.
“You don’t,” he told Aschman, “drop a parachute into an area completely surrounded by the enemy. You can’t survive in a wagon completely surrounded by angry Indians. And you can’t build an urban renewal project in an area completely surrounded by blight. You have to have easy access to the area, be able to get in and out of it. You have to do ‘missionary’ work in the community you’re renewing, and you have to have a strategy for the whole area, not just the project you’re building.”
Cordwell and Aschman agreed that military strategy was called for in city planning. If Chicago were to be saved from the onslaught of deterioration, force would have to be mustered and renewal marched systematically against the blight. There would have to be a stronghold in the renewal area, an anchor from which the offensive could be launched. The Cabrini Homes could not stop the spread of blight on the near north side—the area was surrounded by the same poor, dilapidated housing that had been cleared for the project. Cordwell and Aschman decided that they had to start from an area of strength and move systematically outward. They had to invade an area, capture it, and fortify it before moving on. They had to create something strong enough and vital enough to set the renewal urge spinning off on its own. They had to, in fact, choose an area—an objective—and destroy it, level it, and begin anew.
Thus began the siege of Sandburg Village.
But DeClue makes it clear she doesn’t agree. She describes how entire blocks were demolished in order to create this stronghold, which would be occupied by young white professionals. The people who lived in those demolished buildings were banished farther north and west.
That’s a lot of money for security, but security is very important to Sandburg residents. They know the blight is out there still, and that even if the siege of Sandburg Village is over, the war continues.
