I'm fascinated by the rise and fall of Pruitt-Igoe

Interesting documentary. I love the old footage.

And of course:

I’m fascinated by it too. And don’t forget the mysterious “bug spray” aimed from the roof by helpful government employees.

That’s a great documentary.

[quote] If the St. Louis Housing Authority had 1) taken fewer shortcuts during construction 2) not used skip-stop elevators 3) kept up maintenance and 4) employed security, I don't think Pruitt Igoe would have failed. Or at least failed as spectacularly.

I don't disagree but you kind of have to get a much more macro look at the situation.

"Urban renewal" was supposed to clear slum areas where poor people lived, many of them people of color, and give them much nicer new homes.

The slums may have been run down, but in some cases, people owned property there. It was self sustaining to a degree. City planners planned and built these projects thinking that a combination of rent proceeds and local/state/federal money would ensure its upkeep, and when most of that money disappeared, the buildings fell into accelerated disrepair.

With the slums cleared, poor/black/brown/foreign people had no places to go back to, and realized that for any good intention a "new" building might have had, it also served the purpose of ghettoizing and essentially imprisoning people in their own little corner, away from people who were richer. Or whiter. When upkeep wasn't done, they became prisons of disrepair.

It's a shame American public housing gained this horrible reputation, but so many of these cities and buildings repeated the same mistakes. There are more public housing success stories in Europe, where a mixture of people and income levels live together, and where a level of government investment and support stays steady.

Agreed, the Pruitt-Igoe Myth is a wonderful documentary.

[quote] Of course other public housing high rises met a similar fate (Cabrini-Green, Robert Taylor, etc)

Robert Taylor started a housing project?

My mother who lived in St. Louis said the copper plumbing was quickly ripped out and sold by residents

East Lake Meadows in Atlanta was another public housing disaster.

We have Mayor Wright Housing in Honolulu. Needs Vegas Hotel style demolition. Dangerous, drug filled, rotting. No kid deserves to grow up there.

You can build lush garden apts with marble floors,high end finishes ,etc and move in public housing tenants and within a very short time it WILL be a blasted out shit hole. Thats a fact that will never change until the people themselves change. I dont know why that is,but its the truth. Here in my city weve got so many neighborhoods that 10-20 years ago were firmly middle class and well established and now they are crime ridden cesspools. As soon as hud and section 8 housing hits an area,its guaranteed to decay within a short time.

Spot on r11. EVERY time.

r11 = Miss Dave Chapelle

Large developments like this worked in other countries. They weren't ideal but people made the best out of it.

It worked in other countries because their tenants were not mostly African Americans. Not that it's entirely their fault they're like that but still....

Harsh but true.

[quote] East Lake Meadows in Atlanta was another public housing disaster.

There's also a documentary on East Lake Meadows, if anyone is interested.

[quote] As soon as hud and section 8 housing hits an area,its guaranteed to decay within a short time.

In some cases. In my experience, section 8 that is devoted to senior housing doesn't end up this way.

All they need is space heaters!