Making the Ghetto Part 1 – Ghetto Code: Racial Zoning and Spatial Isolation in American Cities

In far too many cases, zoning is being used to protect the narrow self-interest of a particular community without regard to the health, safety, and welfare of the community and the nation as a whole. 1971 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights excerpt (Keeanga-Yahmahtta Taylor, Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry UnderminedContinue reading “Making the Ghetto Part 1 – Ghetto Code: Racial Zoning and Spatial Isolation in American Cities”

American Planning Association “People Behind the Plans” Podcast 11/14/2019

Originally published by the American Planning Association 11/14/2019 Certain concepts in the planning sphere can be hard to make tangible for residents, but property taxes is not one of them. Kelwin Harris knows this reality well. As the director of outreach and engagement for the Office of the Cook County Assessor — which is responsibleContinue reading “American Planning Association “People Behind the Plans” Podcast 11/14/2019″

My “South Side”: Reflections on Natalie Moore’s memoir and the nearby neighborhood I grew up in.

I recently read Natalie Moore’s The South Side and found some striking similarities in our upbringing and experiences.  I grew up in Chicago in between St. Leo High School and St. Sabina in Auburn-Gresham: a virtually all-black neighborhood on the South side of Chicago – about three miles west of where Natalie Moore lived in Chatham.  We actuallyContinue reading “My “South Side”: Reflections on Natalie Moore’s memoir and the nearby neighborhood I grew up in.”