Clik here to view.
May the (work) force be with you: Part 2, Facing death by delay
[Continued from yesterday’s Part 1.] By: David A. Smith In yesterday’s Part 1, property owner George Lucas, like his contemporary Steve Jobs, had discovered that in California, no matter what a rich...
View ArticleClik here to view.
May the (work) force be with you: Part 3, Fearful bigots oppose extraordinary...
[Continued from yesterday’s Part 2 and the preceding Part 1.] By: David A. Smith As established in yesterday’s Part 2, George Lucas’s ‘neighbors’ (term used in its geographical sense, not in any sense...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Folly or catalyst? Part 1, “I bought strong locks”
By: David A. Smith A dying downtown is unspeakably depressing. Property’s decay and death is painfully slow and painfully visible: fading signs, drawn blinds, leaves and scraps huddled in doorway...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Folly or catalyst? Part 2, “With bankruptcy being over”
[Continued from yesterday’s Part 1.] By: David A. Smith As we saw yesterday, the economic decline of downtown Stockton has spanned several decades, and as the city’s finances worsened, the downtown –...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Folly or catalyst? Part 3, “Something Downtown Stockton can be proud of”
[Continued from yesterday’s Part 2 and the preceding Part 1.] By: David A. Smith As we saw yesterday, Stockton’s economic decline became possible to arrest only with bankruptcy and its slashing of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Still blighted after all these years? Part 1, Decades of negative history
By: David A. Smith More than 58 years ago, you were established and given plenipotentiary powers – to approve, as the sole decision-maker, all property development decisions over the most important...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Still blighted after all these years? Part 2, It doesn’t make much sense
By: David A. Smith [Continued from yesterday’s Part 1.] Yesterday’s Part 1 introduced the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s charm offensive to persuade its authorizers – the Boston City Council and then...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Still blighted after all these years? Part 3, Open to change … just down the...
By: David A. Smith [Continued from yesterday’s Part 2 and the preceding Part 1.] As explored in yesterday’s Part 2, after Marty Walsh became Boston’s mayor in 2014, succeeding Tom Menino, who over the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Month in Review, October, 2015: Part 1, The impossibility of starting
By: David A. Smith Nine years ago, I formulated the production paradox: Whatever a developer wants to do, the neighbors will oppose – and it has, I now realize that it has a curious further consequence...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Month in Review, October, 2015: Part 2, The impossibility of stopping
[Continued from yesterday’s Part 1.] By: David A. Smith Yesterday’s Part 1, retrospectively reorganizing October’s posts, all of which in one way or another concerned Boston, dealt with the obstacles...
View Article
