Expectation Vs. Reality, 3

What has become of the American City?

While on my last trip to New Orleans (Dec '07-Jan '08) it suddenly hit me that the atrocities and neglect that exist today in a post-Katrina New Orleans were problems that existed years before the flood. The complexity of the issues at hand today have deep roots. Katrina has put a spotlight on many problems that exist in the city, from public housing to education to the environment to a local economy, but these issues also reflect years of abandonment and urban decay, our nation has turned it back on cities for a long time. What was happening in New Orleans before and now after Katrina has been happening in many American cities for years. As we focus on the horrors that have occurred in New Orleans I hope that we also can look inward and at all of our cities, this isn’t just about New Orleans. I hope that is does not take the near destruction of another great American city to see what is happening.

Here are two must reads about what is happening in our cities, focusing onNewark and Camden.