Archives Project Essay

Lismilda Paula

April 2011

English 103.

There were many problems going on in the 1970s. One of them was planned shrinkage. Back then there was an economical crisis that was beating Americans on their soles. We came out of Vietnam war to just get hit with an unemployment increasing rate. Roger Starr being the Housing Administrator is being looked at as one of the negative examples who are infiltrating the decrease in housing amongst minorities.

  The streets were filled with sex, drugs, and crime and this plagued the areas in where the minorities were settled in. The down fall of one agency affected the other. Since 13.7% of cops which are 4,879 were laid off, the streets became more dangerous. There were less cops protecting these neighborhoods. This led to the increase in crime rates. A perfect example as to how NYC looked in the 1970s is the movie Taxi Driver. In this movie there are shots in which the main character is in his car and there are prostitutes on the streets. Back then it was called Red  Light District. The subways were a disaster and there was nothing but junkies doing drugs out in the open. One could say that this was one of the most horrible times in NYC. Many people believed that President Ford wasn’t doing anything to meet with these matters at hand. 

 Slums are places in which poor people reside due to lack of a stable economical income. The slums were filled with minorities and this is where classification was more brutal especially with housing. Though slums are just a derogative term that’s what Roger Starr considered these places.

Planned Shrinkage wasn’t always good. Even if today, someone would try to do a planned shrinkage it wouldn’t benefit the people. Not then and certainly not today. The idea of moving people from one neighborhood  into another neighborhood seems uncomfortable and this was the problem back in 1970s. Removing all of the necessities of a city was intolerable. Eventually, Roger managed to deduct all the major resources a city needs to survive. Resources such as Police Officers, Fireman, Department of Social Service, and many other agencies. This plan only benefitted the rich people. Poor people were being hoodwinked into other places that were considered not worthy of living. Even worse, their pocket would rot due to lack of money. Roger Starr, the head of the City Housing and Development Administration, went with the idea of removing people from South Bronx and Brownsville into other neighborhoods (most of the time it would be buildings in bad conditions). 

Destroying where they once lived and renovating everything completely. Demolishing everything wasn’t a debacle, it was raising the rent so that the people that were once there could not come back. This is why many people were against this idea. Giving these luxurious apartments to the rich folks. Providing himself with a great deal of money. What it took for Starr to renovate could be replaced with the amount of rent money the upper class would be paying monthly. This idea was mainly used as a mean to discard the minorities from living in the city.  As previously mentioned, there are many pictures of how the 1970s really looked in NYC. That being stated, Starr along with the Republicans believed that minorities were the ones who were responsible for such destructions in the city. 

The representative of the Harlem District, Frederick Samuels (chairman) mentioned the planned shrinkage idea being the worse. He stated it was a “genocidal, inhumane, arrogant, and irresponsible” idea. It doesn’t consider nor favor the people. It seems like a hoax to trick them out of their long time homes and placing them into places that was very slum-like. People also suggested the “bridge ban” and this idea was turned away by the Republicans. In 6 Councilmen Demand Starr Quit HDA Post, March 05, 1976 a letter was put out. This letter portrayed the disgust people were feeling towards this idea. Many demanded that Starr wasn’t thinking about the people. Samuels was strongly confirming for his  pullout due to Roger Starr taking advantage of the fact that these people were minorities. It would be obvious as to why he defends the minorities. Samuels being chairman of the Harlem District, he sees these people struggle for a living. He recognizes the engagement of struggling for survival. 

In the article Joint Statement by Governor Carey and Mayor Abraham D. Beame on Thursday, May, 15, 1975 it was declared that “ We call upon them to reconsider, and we call upon the President, in the great tradition of the President before, not to abandon the people in a time of economic crisis.”  People were begging for President Ford to stick by them, and to try to make everything better. It was said that Ford was attending to foreign matters rather than recognizing what was going on in the City. Meanwhile cuts were being made, the balance of the budget was being handled properly and there was a liquidity problem in the city. Though the idea of planned shrinkage was helping the economy somewhat, there was still an increase in unsanitary conditions in the City. People were being chaotic and didn’t know how to behave. It was easier to commit a crime because there were barely any Police patrolling these neighborhoods. Drugs were taking over along with poverty. In other words, people were placing themselves at danger’s feet before the economy got to them first.

Roger Starr didn’t believe in the Brooke Amendment. In 1937 Edward Brooke imposed the law of low income tenants to pay a specific low percentage of rent in order to accommodate their living. Starr felt that it made the “good tenants move out..”  Because it didn’t provide his own percentage of payment, Starr maybe disagree on this Amendment. Paying a lot of money for rebuilding buildings to then rent it to low income families didn’t provide him with his profits. He believed that it didn’t help the economy because people may not be giving enough. Also Starr made a statement that made an impact to how he felt about certain people. In an interview with Robert Fitch, Roger Starr mentioned “ Problems that became important, which was how to keep people from going up on the rood and doing drugs...” This is the reason why he didn’t want low class tenants living in these buildings. He explained how people were assumed to be “respectable looking like the ideal family” therefore they were forced to bring these people in. Again, using loaded words to discriminate and stereotype.  Starr was aware of the economical crisis yet he knew there should be a higher demand on rental, “I mean, we have to take care of people who can’t take care of themselves” in a way it is very degrading how these people can’t care for themselves. The way he worded that made it seem like he felt obliged to care for those who can’t care for themselves. 

It seems like Roger Starr is thinking more of the people of his standards. In order to be in his position he must think in every aspect and spectrum. To make a decision that only benefits rich people can bring a lot of controversy and demeaning words to your name. Which is exactly where he placed himself. This plan for the time was a complete failure. New York City was already at its worse times, to then bring more of a hard time upon those less fortunate can be very hard. I’m sure good intentions came from wanting to better the economy but then again stepping on other peoples’ toes to get there isn’t the correct way of doing things. Planned shrinkage should’ve been thoughtfully delivered and altered in other ways that wouldn’t affect other people.