Previous story: Electoral College Compromise
Next story: Jay Bartell Reads His New Book At Rust Belt Books

Artvoice Weekly Edition » Issue v7n35 (08/27/2008) » Letters to Artvoice

I am happy to join with the editor of Governing magazine, a native Chicagoan and, like me, a former Chicago beat reporter, in reading Census data correctly and in reporting on public transit investments correctly.

I am chagrined that I misstated the name of Logan Square as Logan Park, and for that error I am truly sorry.

The Census numbers are, I think, not political cant or angry interpretation (“Letters to AV,” Artvoice, August 21, 2008). They just are what they are. And the Census data report on the absolute number of in-migrants to Chicago, and the household income, marital status, gender, race, and other characteristics of in-migrants. Neither I nor the editor of Governing magazine, whom I quoted in my article, are making this stuff up.

I was one of the very few Caucasian reporters in the 1970s and 1980s who went to the Robert Taylor Homes and the Ida B. Wells projects on the South Side, as well as to the Cabrini Green projects on the North Side. I know firsthand the devastation of the neighborhoods there, and also can attest to the brilliance of Chicago’s planners in having kept the 21-mile-long green space along Lake Shore Drive accessible, un-commercialized, and un-privatized for the past century.

The fact is, the facts are as I stated them. Chicago is one Great Lakes city that has rebounded from deindustrialization. Prosperous neighborhoods are expanding, and formerly un-prosperous neighborhoods are gaining in market value, which means that formerly poor people are becoming better off. Smart public policy, of the kind that I and others advocate, had a role in helping these positive developments happen. Other Great Lakes cities can benefit from Chicago’s example, notwithstanding the continuing existence of great poverty, which I not only reported on for 13 years while I lived in Chicago, but which I also cited in my recent article in Artvoice.

Bruce Fisher
Director, Center for Economic and Policy Studies. Buffalo State College

---

Artvoice reserves the right to edit letters for content and length. Shorter letters have a better chance at being published in their entirety. Please include your name, hometown, and contact number. Email letters to: editorial@artvoice.com or write to: Artvoice Letters, 810 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14202

---

blog comments powered by Disqus

Current Issue

Music  •Community Events  •Artviews
Movie Times  •Theater Listings

Post Resume  •Post a Job Listing