0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Some Good Some Bad, 2007-05-11
This book is very much an academic book. Some of the recommendations are very mainstream that cities are doing already. Many cities are dedensifying the inner cities to spread the poverty around. (I think that is likely a good thing--it has a good chance of reducing spatial mismatch.) However, their plan for diversifying suburbs with minorities and women who will likely vote democratic because more people in the suburbs vote than in inner cities . . . and therefore congress will be predominantly democratic and voting for those policies favorable to cities . . . is not exactly absurd, but it is a bit forced.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent, 2006-06-21
This book details in stark clarity the dilemma facing our urban environment today. We ignore it's lessons at our peril. Place Matters shows how we have systematically set up a system of the haves and have nots. Literally a tale of two cities. It is crucially important that we involve ourselves in the electoral process because who we elect most definitely determines how wealth and power are distributed in the United States of America. This book is a cogent coherent collection of mind blowing data about discriminatory social engineering against our urban environment.
10 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
Place Matters: A Policy Disaster, 2003-10-11
The policy recommendations put forth by the authors of Place Matters are the most absurd thing that you will ever read. It doesn't matter where you are on the political spectrum. This is frankly the stupidest idea that you will ever hear to help solve the problems of inner city America. In order to "Deconcentrate Poverty," the authors want to move people from areas of high concentration of poverty into more affluent areas. They also want to take more affluent people and move them into the areas of high poverty. Absurd isn't it? This is problematic on several fronts.
First of all, this is completely not feasible. Residents of more affluent areas would never allow poorer people to move into their neighborhood. This is especially true today, with the slow growth movement stopping this same kind of plan in its tracks. Home owners associations continue to be successful in stopping the construction of low income housing in their neighborhoods. They don't want their property values to go down, and they will mobilize to stop this before it can happen.
Second of all, moving more affluent people into poorer neighborhoods will hurt the poor, not help them. Look at the example of Harlem today. After Bill Clinton moved to town, the rents have skyrocketed and the area is becoming more gentrified now.
Third, this is a racist liberal argument which believes that people of color cannot have effective political, social, or economic institutions unless accompanied by whites. Given that the vast majority of residents of the inner cities are people of color, liberals like Dreier et al have mounted a movement to validate people of color as a biologically inferior group in order to achieve parity with whites. In utilizing that strategy to achieve that goal in a society of endless discrimination, people of color must eventually certify themselves as inherently inferior and therefore have to resort to living in white communities in order to have a livable environment and functioning institutions. Why can't the inner cities have institutions that function well such as quality schools and safe communities? Why should inner city residents have to move to a predominately white neighborhood to receive these benefits?
As anyone can see, this is the most absurd book on solutions to inner city problems. As you can tell by now, this book is a complete waste of your time and money. You could honestly better spend your time starting an ant farm then reading through Dreier et al's nonsense.
5 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
i.e. How Progressives Think, For Dummies, 2003-07-25
This book is beneficial to both Progressives, and their arch-enemy, the Conservatives
For Progressives ---
the book is a Bible of Progressive politics. It gives readers a backround and a full instuctional book on how to create the policy-jewel of the Progressive movement, which is merging counties so that everyone shares the same tax duties (in other words, a contemporary form of Socialism)
Aside from tax-base sharing, the book offers other Progressive arguements that are very in tune with the Progressive movement --- a great book for anyone aspiring to become a Progressive Poseur
For Conservatives ---
Do you ever watch Progressives debate on Fox News and think to yourself, "What the heck is their logic??? What planet are they coming from??" If you would really like to get INSIDE the mind of a Progressive, and finally see what they truly think, their logic behind their thinking, and the ways that they reach their conclusions, then this is the book for you!
The book is a roadmap of all Progressive policies, allowing Conservatives to truly dissect their policy approaches, in a manner that would allow them to have the upper hand in a debate after thorough analyzing.
Conclusion ---
Many of the policy recommendations in here are far-fetched and are not very likely to occur anywhere in America ---- but nonetheless, it serves as a great Bible for Progressives, and for Conservatives, as an excellent reference to a Progressive cause that is extremely difficult to comprehend.
Think of the book as 'American Progressivism for Dummies'