Why Is the Mainstream Press Ignoring this Story?
July 2nd, 2009We have blogged recently about a proposal that evidently originated in Flint, Michigan, but has also spread to Detroit — namely, that it may be a good idea to bulldoze parts of failed rustbelt cities and let them revert to their original condition. Click on http://gideonstrumpet.info/?p=241 and http://gideonstrumpet.info/?p=239 You may think this is a good or bad idea, but the fact that it is being seriously discussed would seem to us to make it pretty significant. But guess what? Not much of a peep about it in the mainstream press, except for Michael Dudley, Should We Plan Cities to be Temporary, Christian Science Monitor, June 19, 2009.
The few stories on this subject that we have seen (including an item on the Drudge Report) trace back to an article in a British Newspaper, the Telegraph, with occasional references to a Brookings Institution report. Hmm. Wonder why? Why is this story with its huge implications being ignored by the American press? True enough, this may be an unrealistic scheme, but the fact that it is being seriously discussed should be of some significance to urban and land-use law mavens. Yes? No? What do you think?