alternative hippopotamus

progressive cyberdadaism from our nation’s capital

August 21, 2008

Community Spaces and Class

by AltHippo @ 10:23 am. Filed under Uncategorized

This was from yesterday’s WaPo, but thought it was worth pointing out. While Pearlstein is talking about Central Park, he could just as easily have been talking about the Mall and environs in Our Fair City:

The first is a reminder of the importance of creating and sustaining public facilities that are accessible to everyone and nourish a sense of community. Over the past 20 years, the tendency has been for those who can to abandon public schools, public transportation, public recreation, with the result that American society has become increasingly segregated by class and polarized by political ideology. In Central Park, I found hints that Americans were eager to reverse that trend.

I can’t really say whether the growth of shared spaces has increased in my lifetime. When I go down to the Mall it appears to be a thriving metropolis of the democratic spirit. Yet, not to the extent that I saw in Belgium or London or Israel. I can certainly say in my lifetime the stratification of class in the US has increased while it has decreased in, for example, London. The rich have indeed become richer, the poorer have become poorer. It has been at the expense, I would argue, of our experiment in self-government. I am sure that this bothers not a bit those who delight in the notion that their place, materialistically speaking, is secure. Put another way, there are real people alive today who are nostalgic for the feudal system.

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