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Biweekly Discussion - Is "Urban Planning" Rife With Conspiracies?

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Brian B.
Biweekly Discussion - Is "Urban Planning" Rife With Conspiracies?

Details

We're currently hosting our discussions at Café Walnut, near the corner of 7th & Walnut in Olde City, just across the street from Washington Square Park. The cafe's entrance is below street level down some stairs, which can be confusing if it's your first time. Our group meets in the large room upstairs.

Since we're using the cafe's space, they ask that each person attending the meetup at least purchase a drink or snack. Please don't bring any food or drinks from outside. If you're hungry enough to eat a meal, they have more substantial fare such as salads, soups & sandwiches which are pretty good and their prices are reasonable.

The cafe is fairly easy to get to if you're using public transit. With SEPTA, take the Market-Frankford Line & get off at the 5th Street Station (corner of 5th & Market), and walk 2 blocks south on 5th and then turn right on Walnut Street and walk 2 blocks west. With PATCO, just get off at the 9th-10th & Locust stop and walk 3 blocks east & 1 block north. For those who are driving, parking in the neighborhood can be tough to find. If you can't find a spot on the street, I'd suggest parking in the Washington Square parking deck at 249 S 6th Street which is just a half block away.

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IS "URBAN PLANNING" RIFE WITH CONSPIRACIES?

INTRODUCTION:

In this meetup, we'll address a variety of historical claims about conspiracies that often pop up whenever urban development is discussed.

In the first section, we'll discuss the demise of most streetcar (a.k.a. trolley) systems in major American cities by the 1950s and whether this was a natural result of the rising affordability of cars or a deliberate conspiracy by General Motors, along with oil companies & tire companies, to buy up & scrap the streetcars to force Americans to abandon mass transit, buy more cars & tires, and burn more gas. As we'll see, a lot of this debate hinges on economic arguments about the relative costs & transportation efficiency of cars vs trolleys. We'll look at how this debate has reemerged in cities like DC where the local officials have tried to revive streetcars.

In the second section, we'll discuss the urban planning of Robert Moses and the effects it hand on New York City from the 1920s to the 1960s. While he transformed the city by building more roads, bridges & public works than any city planner before or since, his heavy-handed top-down planning methods were heavily criticized in Jane Jacob's famous book The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961), and Robert Caro's Pulitzer-winning biography The Power Broker (1974), which highlighted Moses's lust for power and racist tendencies.

In the third section, we'll discuss "The Plan", a conspiracy theory in Washington, D.C. that since the District of Columbia Home Rule Act in 1973, white people have had a plan to take back the black-majority city and the offices of the local government. It appears that Lillian Wiggins, a columnist for the Washington Afro American newspaper, was the first to "articulate" the conspiracy theory in 1979, and it's attracted more believers as the city's demographics have shifted over the past 40 years. Believers note that the Federal City Council, an organized group of civic and corporate leaders, mostly white, meets in secret and uses its power to influence the city's direction. The theory asserts that the decline of low-income black residents and their replacement by wealthier whites from outside of D.C. is intentional through the calculated use of urban renewal programs, efforts to improve DC public schools, and unfair criticism of DC's black leaders who oppose gentrification.

In the fourth section, we'll discuss the conspiracy theories about Agenda 21, a non-binding action plan of the United Nations with regard to sustainable development. which came out of the UN Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, back in 1992. Agenda 21 was frequently cited by some right-wing activists at the John Birch Society during the 1990s as a purported blueprint for implementing the "New World Order" and population control, but their interest in it faded by the 2000s. However, in 2012, Glenn Beck did an "exposé" of Agenda 21 on Fox News and even put his name on a ghostwritten dystopian novel entitled Agenda 21, and this led to Tea Party activists showing up at many local planning meeting and vociferously opposing any measures associated with "sustainable development" or "smart growth" such as environmental land use regulations or mass transit expansion.

As with previous meetups where we addressed conspiracy theories, it's necessary for us to consider alternative hypotheses. We can probably sort theories about government wrongdoing in natural disasters into 5 general categories, the first 3 being real conspiracies and the latter 2 being situations that may look like conspiracies but are not:
(1) Active Conspiracy: those in charge either intentionally created the problem or worked to make it worse for some sinister purpose.
(2) Passive Conspiracy: those in charge did not intentionally create the problem, but they knew it was coming and let it happen for some sinister purpose.
(3) Retroactive Conspiracy: those in charge didn't create the problem or let it happen, but there was some intentional wrongdoing in the aftermath.
(4) Policy Failure: those in charge neither created the problem nor let it happen nor took advantage of it afterwards, but they mishandled it for a variety of reasons ranging from prediction errors to logistical incompetence to under-funding.
(5) Pseudo-Scandal: those in charge acted responsibly, but much of the general public feels they acted irresponsibly or with malice because the news media either made factual errors or were biased in reporting, or pundits & politicians saw an opportunity to whip up their base.

RELEVANT MATERIAL FROM PAST MEETUPS:

In our last discussion, entitled "Are 'They' Poisoning Our Water?", we discussed the Flint water crisis and how the switch from Detroit's water to the Flint River and ensuing concerns about lead levels in the water were magnified by the political struggles between the Republican governor Rick Snyder and local Democratic officials in Flint who disagreed about how to alleviate the city's severe budget problems. The political dynamics of this fight are typical of many urban political struggles over infrastructure, such as the fight over LA & DC's streetcars we'll discuss in Section 1, and the NYC freeways & transit system we'll discuss in Section 2.
https://www.meetup.com/Philly-Skeptics/events/rgrhxqyzkblc/

Back in June, we had a meetup entitled "Hurricane, Hypes & Hoaxes" where we discussed how the chaos & destruction caused to cities by hurricanes can often spark viral rumors & conspiracy theories about government wrongdoing before, during or after the hurricane. We mostly focused on Hurricane Katrina which flooded New Orleans in 2005. The way these allegations - some unlikely & other unsubstantiated - tie in with the corruption & racial tensions of New Orleans is similar to the allegations of Robert Moses's racism influencing his NYC projects and the DC race gentrification conspiracy we'll discuss in Sections 2 & 3 of this discussion.
https://www.meetup.com/Philly-Skeptics/events/rgrhxqyzjbnc/

Back in October of 2018, we had a meetup entitled "Do Bankers Rule the World?" and in Part 1 we discussed some conspiracy theories about the Rothschilds banking dynasty. Conspiracy theories about the Rothschilds' shady banking deals date back to the early 1800s, but they came back into the news in March of 2018 when D.C. city council member Trayvon White, Sr. claimed that snowfall in March was part of a “climate control” conspiracy orchestrated by the Rothschilds. As it turns out, White is affiliated with the Nation of Islam which has a history of spreads anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about the Rothschilds & other influential Jews, so that may be where he got some of his misinformation. However, several journalists pointed out that White's conspiracy theories also resembled "The Plan" - i.e. a long-standing conspiracy theory in the black community about a covert plan fo race gentrification which we'll discuss in Section 3 of this discussion:
https://www.meetup.com/Philly-Skeptics/events/255695734/

Back in May of 2018, we had a meetup entitled "Who's Behind the New World Order?" where we discussed conspiracy theories about powerful groups like the Bohemian Club, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Bilderbergers and the
https://www.meetup.com/Philly-Skeptics/events/nfbkqqyzhbqb/

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DIRECTIONS ON HOW TO PREPARE FOR OUR DISCUSSION:

The videos & articles you see linked below are intended to give you a basic overview of some of the major debates over urban planning. As usual, I certainly don't expect you to read all the articles & watch all the videos prior to attending our discussion. The easiest way to prepare for our discussion is to just watch the numbered videos linked under each section - the videos come to about about 49 minutes total. The articles marked with asterisks are just there to supply additional details. You can browse and look at whichever ones you want, but don't worry - we'll cover the stuff you missed in our discussion.

In terms of the discussion format, my general idea is that we'll address the topics in the order presented here. I figure we'll spend about 30 minutes on each section.

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I. THE GM STREETCAR CONSPIRACY THEORY IN LA & THE CURRENT DC STREETCAR DEBATE:

  • WERE POPULIST CRITICS IN THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY LIKE WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST WHO PORTRAYED STREETCAR COMPANIES AS CORRUPT "TRACTION INTERESTS" JUSTIFIED?

  • IS IT TRUE THAT STREETCAR LINES IN LOS ANGELES WERE INITIALLY BUILT BY DEVELOPERS & RUN AT A LOSS AS A WAY TO MAKE CONNECT THE SUBURBS WITH THE URBAN CORE & MAKE LAND MORE VALUABLE?

  • DID GENERAL MOTORS & STANDARD OIL BUY UP & DESTROY LA'S STREETCARS TO FORCE MORE AMERICANS TO DRIVE? IS IT TRUE THAT THIS SCHEME ONLY ACCOUNTS FOR ABOUT 10% OF THE DECLINE IN STREETCARS?

  • HOW MUCH OF THE DECLINE OF THE STREETCARS WAS DUE TO ECONOMIC INEFFICIENCIES FORCED ON THEM, LIKE HAVING TO MAINTAIN THE ADJACENT ROADS, UNIONS INSISTING ON TWO CONDUCTORS, AND THE PUBLIC & LOCAL GOV'T FORCING THE STREETCARS TO MAINTAIN THE 5 CENT FARE?

  • ARE STREETCARS A GOOD TYPE OF CLEAN ENERGY MASS TRANSIT SOLUTION FOR 21st CENTURY CITIES, OR ARE THEY TOO SLOW & TOO COSTLY?

1a) City Beautiful, "Did GM really kill the streetcar in Los Angeles?" (video - 6:28 min, listen to 5:30)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnFVBfhpprU

1b) ReasonTV, “The Secret Scam of Streetcars” (video - 5:04 min.)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VpUQ_EMV23c

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II. ROBERT MOSES AS THE TYRANNICAL "POWER BROKER" OF NYC & THE CRITICISMS OF JANE JACOBS & ROBERT CARO:

  • ARE STORIES ABOUT ROBERT MOSES'S BIGOTED REMARKS GOOD EVIDENCE THAT HIS PLANS WERE DESIGNED, IN LARGE PART, TO HURT MINORITIES? OR WERE MOSES'S REMARKS MERELY INCIDENTAL & AN UNFORTUNATELY COMMON AMONG WHITE PEOPLE IN HIS TIME, AS SOME OF HIS DEFENDERS HAVE ALLEGED?

  • IS IT TRUE THAT ROBERT MOSES PURPOSELY MADE THE SOUTHERN STATE EXPRESSWAYS BRIDGES TOO LOW FOR BUSES TO KEEP THE URBAN POOR FROM ACCESSING THE BEACHES?

  • IS IT TRUE THAT ROBERT MOSES PURPOSELY DESIGNED PUBLIC POOLS IN BLACK NEIGHBORHOODS TO BE TOO COLD BECAUSE HE THOUGHT THIS WOULD DETER THEM FROM USING IT?

  • IS THERE ANY WAY TO DETERMINE IF THE RESIDENTS OF NYC ARE, ON AVERAGE, BETTER OFF OR WORSE OFF DUE TO THE NET EFFECTS OF ROBERT MOSES' VARIOUS URBAN PROJECTS? FOR EXAMPLE, DID HIS PROJECT INCREASE THE POVERTY RATE OR CRIME RATE, INCREASE INCOME INEQUALITY OR DECREASE ECONOMIC MOBILITY?

  • TO WHAT EXTENT DO THE PLANNING DECISION THAT ROBERT MOSES MADE IN THE 1920s-60s INFLUENCE THE CURRENT LAYOUT OF THE NYC? WOULD MASS TRANSIT BE BETTER &

2a) Democracy Now w/ Robert Caro, "How Robert Moses infrastructure projects fueled discrimination" (video - 3:09 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uOWDFIVqS0

2b) ReasonTV, “The Tragedy of Urban Renewal: The destruction and survival of a New York City neighborhood” (video - 6:23 min.)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mWGwsA1V2r4

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III. WASHINGTON D.C. & THE ALLEGED "PLAN" FOR RACIAL GENTRIFICATION:

  • HOW DID URBAN RENEWAL EFFORTS & EVICTIONS IN THE LATE 1970s LEAD TO THE INITIAL CREATION OF THE CONSPIRACY THEORY ABOUT
    "THE PLAN"?

  • TO WHAT EXTENT DO FEARS ABOUT "THE PLAN" TIE INTO BLACK VOTERS' ANXIETIES ABOUT THE RACE OF DC'S MAYOR? DID BLACK VOTERS INTERPRET CRITICISMS OF MARION BARRY & HIS 1990 DRUG ARREST AS PART OF "THE PLAN"?

  • HOW MUCH HAVE THE ECONOMIC & RACIAL DEMOGRAPHICS SHIFTED SINCE THE 1990s? IS "THE PLAN" JUST A LAYPERSON'S WAY OF ANTHROPOMORPHIZING THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC FORCES BEHIND GENTRIFICATION, OR ARE THEY CORRECT THAT THIS IS AT LEAST PARTLY INTENTIONAL?

  • ARE DC COUNCILMAN TRAYVON WHITE'S CONSPIRACY THEORIES ABOUT THE ROTHCHILDS CONTROLLING THE WEATHER IN DC & THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION'S "RESILIENT CITIES" INITIATIVE RELATED TO FEARS IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY ABOUT "THE PLAN", AS SOME JOURNALISTS SUSPECTED, OR ARE THESE FRINGE THEORIES MOSTLY LIMITED TO THE NATION OF ISLAM?

  • IS D.C. EXPERIENCE AN UNUSUALLY HIGH RATE OF DISPLACEMENT OF ITS POORER RESIDENTS DUE TO GENTRIFICATION? IF SO, WHY?

  • IN GENERAL, IS GENTRIFICATION A NET POSITIVE FOR POORER URBAN RESIDENTS BECAUSE IT INCREASES THE TAX BASE THAT FUNDS SOCIAL SERVICES, OR IS IT A NET NEGATIVE DUE TO DRIVING UP RENTS & OTHER LOCAL COSTS OF LIVING?

3a) DC Direct, "Gentrification and the Changing DC" (video - 7:57 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s2k-WgWqGU

3b) NowThis World, "The Pros And Cons Of Gentrification" (video - 2:56 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nyDbHi1YQE

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IV. U.N. AGENDA 21 & THE DEBATE OVER "SMART GROWTH":

  • ARE NON-BINDING RESOLUTION LIKE AGENDA 21 MOSTLY JUST "FEEL GOOD" INITIATIVES AS SOME OF ITS DEFENDERS HAVE CLAIMED? IF SO, IS IT PERHAPS IRRATIONAL BUT HARMLESS FOR LOCAL ANTI-SMART GROWTH ACTIVISTS TO BLOCK THEM?

  • TO WHAT EXTENT HAVE "SMART GROWTH" INITIATIVES BEEN ENACTED INTO LAW IN THE U.S. SINCE 1992? IS THE ALLEGED "WAR ON CARS" & "WAR ON THE SUBURBS" PARTLY TRUE?

  • IS THERE A REAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A LEGITIMATE "DELPHI METHOD" FOR OBTAINING A GROUP CONSENSUS & A MANIPULATIVE "DELPHI TECHNIQUE" FOR ENGINEERING A FALSE CONSENSUS AROUND PRECONCEIVED PLANS, OR IS THIS JUST A RIGHT-WING CONSPIRACY THEORY?

  • IS THE ECONOMIST SANDY IKEDA RIGHT THAT SMART GROWTH ACTIVISTS HAVE GOOD INTENTIONS BUT ARE MISGUIDED & BLIND TO THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES, SUCH AS EXACERBATING THE SHORTAGE OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING?

  • IS SANDY IKEDA RIGHT THAT ANTI-SMART GROWTH ACTIVISTS WHO SEE HIGH-DENSITY & MASS TRANSIT AS INHERENTLY "STATIST" ARE BLIND TO HOW DEPENDENT THE LOW-DENSITY SUBURBS ARE ON STATE SUBSIDIES OF ROADS & INFRASTRUCTURE?

4a) City Beautiful, "How did smart growth become politically divisive?" (video - 6:40 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgC4yWiM0ng

4b) Mackinac Center w/ Sandy Ikeda, "The Unintended Consequences of 'Smart Growth'" (video - 12:08 min.)
https://vimeo.com/8060498

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Cafe Walnut
703 Walnut Street · Philadelphia, PA
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