Comment by camgunz
1 day ago
Hey I think she was basically right (I think her ideas on local control are applicable way beyond building neighborhoods). But we have to admit the ability to get up at some board meeting and veto stuff was her idea. It wasn't perverted by people who came after. Jacob's herself used these veto points in her time in Toronto. I'm not saying she was wrong to oppose the stuff she opposed, but the ability to obstruct in this way was her idea.
yeah that is true.
It's a challenging thing to come down on in a clear cut simple way because there were a lot of things that that generation did fight against with grass roots neighbourhood democratic protest that are agreeable, such as fighting against razing neighbourhoods for freeway expansion.
The problem is that along the way somehow local citizens having a voice in how their city changes became a veto over development, and that veto became one dominated by those that had the most time to participate and dominate discussion, which were older, established wealthy, landowning residents. We didn't and still haven't developed systems for genuine real equitable participatory city making though I would like to think in recent years we are slowly making progress.
Oh I think it's getting way better. It's wild how fast this is all happening. People are alive today who remember when there were no highways and no commercial air travel. We're in extreme early days and iterating fast; I'm optimistic here actually.