Saving America's Cities

by Lizabeth Cohen

    92. Orlebeke, New Life at Ground Zero, 61–65; Logue, interview by Bray, on use of Section 235, 9, 37; Amy Alson, “Broken Promises in the South Bronx,” Crain’s New York Business, November 5, 1985.

    93. On Section 8, Orlebeke, New Life at Ground Zero, 34–36, 71, 104; Affordable Housing in New York, 198.

    94. Neal R. Peirce and Carol F. Steinbach, Corrective Capitalism: The Rise of America’s Community Development Corporations; A Report to the Ford Foundation (New York: Ford Foundation, 1987), 57; Roger Biles, The Fate of Cities: Urban America and the Federal Government, 1956–2000 (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2011), 255. Also on housing cuts, see Alice O’Connor, “Swimming Against the Tide: A Brief History of Federal Policy in Poor Communities,” in Urban Problems and Community Development, ed. Ronald F. Ferguson and William T. Dickens (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1999), 112–15; on Urban Development Action Grant and Community Development Block Grants, see Orlebeke, New Life at Ground Zero, 74–75, 193–94; Lynne B. Sagalyn, “Public/Private Development: Lessons from History, Research and Practice,” Journal of the American Planning Association 73, no. 1 (Winter 2007): 7–22.

    95. Jonnes, South Bronx Rising, 397; Camilo Jose Vergara, “A South Bronx Landscape,” Nation, March 6, 1989, 305; Meanwhile, in the South Bronx…, 15, 19.

    96. Logue, interview, Jones, Tape 5:1; Logue to Peter L. Bray, November 20, 1984, with SONYMA agreement of October 2, 1984, attached, EJL, 1985 Accession, Box 113, Folder “MH SONMYA, 1983–”; “State Funds Come to Aid of S. Bronx Renewal,” New York Tribune, December 10, 1983. A full summary of the funding tapped to underwrite Charlotte Gardens is in Sandorf, “Crotona South/Mid-Bronx Homeownership Demand Study,” February 1985, Bray, 5.

    97. Logue, “New Directions for National Housing Policy: Remarks by Edward J. Logue, President, SBDO, Inc.,” July 8, 1983, Washington Athletic Club, Seattle, National Housing Conference, sponsored by the Center for National Policy, D.C., and City of Seattle, 1.

    98. Edgar J. Driscoll, Jr., “Edward Logue Is Dead: Gave Boston a New Face,” BG, January 28, 2000.

    99. On LISC, see Karen Ferguson, Top Down: The Ford Foundation and the Reinvention of Racial Liberalism (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013), 210–12, 242–54, 260; Peirce and Steinbach, Corrective Capitalism, 61, 75–77; Kathleen Teltsch, “Activist Making Switch to Academia,” NYT, December 29, 1985; Glynn, “Interview with Anita Miller, a Warrior for the South Bronx,” 34–37; Anita Miller, interview by Alexander von Hoffman, December 7, 2000; Manson, interview by von Hoffman; Jonnes, South Bronx Rising, 378, 394.

  100. Miller, interview by von Hoffman.

  101. Manson, interview by von Hoffman; Bray, “Charlotte Gardens: Planning a New Community in the South Bronx,” 17; “LISC, South Bronx Program, Summary Status of Program Actions, for Period January 1, 1981 through December 1, 1981,” Ford, Microfilm Reel 5488, three entries for SBDO ($150,000 loan, $40,000 grant, with reference to previous $10,000 grant). Correspondence between Logue and LISC was filled with SBDO requests for additional grants and loans to tide it over and meet costs of required services; see, for example, related to financing for South Bronx Manufactured Homes Program, from Bray: “South Bronx Homeownership Program Manufacturing Homes Feasibility/Marketability,” November 22, 1981; Logue to Anita Miller, February 18, 1982; Logue to Miller, March 9, 1982; Logue to Miller, October 29, 1982; Sol H. Chafkin (Executive Vice President, LISC) to Logue, October 25, 1983; Logue to Mitchell Sviridoff, December 27, 1984.

  102. Von Hoffman, House by House, 15; Jonnes, South Bronx Rising, 378. Sviridoff explains the importance of developing technical capacity in local CDC leaders in Inventing Community Renewal: The Trials and Errors That Shaped the Modern Community Development Corporation, ed. Sviridoff (New York: Community Development Research Center, Milano Graduate School, New School University, 2004), 241–46.

  103. Paul Goldberger, “James W. Rouse, 81, Dies; Socially Conscious Developer Built New Towns and Malls,” NYT, April 10, 1996; Peirce and Steinbach, Corrective Capitalism, 77–81.

  104. Nicholas Lemann, “The Myth of Community Development,” NYT Magazine, June 9, 1994; Ellis Henican, “Urban-Zone Plan Meets Skepticism,” Columbia Graduate School of Journalism publication, January 29, 1982.

  105. Logue, interview by Jill Jonnes, May 18, 1983, quoted in South Bronx Rising, 377. He also said, “In retrospect, building Roosevelt Island, tramway and all, seems easy”; in Alan S. Oser, “Lessons from One-Family Housing in the South Bronx,” NYT, April 21, 1985.

  106. Stewart, “Market’s Nod to a Rebirth.”

  107. Bray, interview.

  108. Gliedman went so far as to tell a prospective contractor for Charlotte Gardens that “if you sign that contract, you will never do any work for the City of New York again”; Bray, interview. On the corruption at Pierce’s HUD, Biles, Fate of Cities, 279–83; Philip Shenon, “Samuel R. Pierce Jr., Ex-Housing Secretary, Dies at 78,” NYT, November 3, 2000; Robert L. Jackson, “Samuel R. Pierce, Jr.; Reagan HUD Chief Was Investigated but Never Charged,” LAT, November 4, 2000.

  109. Gerald M. Boyd, “H.U.D. Won’t Renew Grant for Agency in South Bronx,” NYT, February 24, 1984; “Reneging on the South Bronx,” editorial, WP, April 28, 1984.

  110. Logue, interview, Jones, Tape 5:7; Dan O’Grady, “4 Groups Share U.S. Grant,” NYDN, June 11, 1984; Mayor Edward I. Koch to Hon. James A. Baker, III (Chief of Staff, White House), March 6, 1984, EJL, 1985 Accession, Box 92, Folder “Funding March 1–14, 1984,” with attachment of “Why Sabotage the South Bronx,” editorial, NYDN, February 28, 1984. On Velez’s support of Reagan, Owen Moritz, “Is HUD Dancing to a Latin Beat in the Bronx?,” NYDN, March 11, 1984; George Arzt, “Top Hispanic May Bolt Dems for Reagan,” New York Post, March 27, 1984; Owen Moritz, “Departing Ed Logue Sees Hope for South Bronx,” NYDN, October 7, 1984; Logue thought he might have offended Pierce when he criticized him in testimony to Congress, prompting Pierce to enter a “cabal with [Stanley] Friedman, [Stanley] Simon, [Robert] Garcia, and Mario Biaggi,” all Bronx politicians who would end up serving time in prison. Logue, fearing the worst by late February 1984, started lobbying everyone he could think of—elected officials, journalists, and business leaders—touting the SBDO’s accomplishments and attaching comprehensive surveys and clippings that documented SBDO activities and investment in the South Bronx.

  111. Logue to Hon. Edward I. Koch, May 16, 1984, Bray; “Planning Chief to Leave in Fall,” NYDN, May 23, 1984; “Topics: Shaping the Future—City Builder,” NYT, May 24, 1984.

  112. Lawrence Chandler, Charlotte Gardens buyer, handwritten letter to the editor complaining about lack of HUD support, sent to NYT, NYDN, New York Post, Hon. Robert Garcia, Hon. Mario Biaggi, and Hon. Alphonse Demato [sic], March 15, 1984, EJL, 1985 Accession, Box 92, Folder “Funding March 1–14, 1984”; Henry Hylton, President, Charlotte Gardens Homeowners/buyers Association, to Mayor Koch, December 20, 1984, EJL, 1985 Accession, Box 108, Folder “Homeowners Association,” reiterating that “we demand completion with Edward Logue in charge”; Logue to Robert Esnard (Deputy Mayor for Physical Development), January 3, 1985, EJL, 1985 Accession, Box 111, Folder “CG–Esnard.”

  113. On SBDO after Logue’s departure, Office of the Mayor, City of New York, press release, January 4, 1985, released February 1985, announcing the appointment of Jorge L. Batista as president of SBDO; Bray, interview; Robert Esnard, interview by Lizabeth Cohen, February 19, 2010, New York, NY; Gould, interview; John Lewis, “Batista Replacing Ed Logue,” The Bronx, January 14, 1985. On ties between Batista and Velez, see Wayne Barrett, “A Bronx Cheer for Ethics,” Village Voice, December 31, 1985; Philip Shenon, “South Bronx Development Agency Is Target of Investigation by City,” NYT, February 4, 1986; Jorge L. Batista to SBDO Staff, March 3, 1987, “RE: Closing Down of SBDO,” Bray; Bray, “MIT Thesis Outline,” 10; Sam Howe Verovek, “After Heated Debate, Vice Chancellor Is Selected to Lead Regents,” NYT, November 16, 199
1, announces that Batista was named vice chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents.

  114. Logue, interview by Bray; Logue, interview by Jonnes, August 9, 1984, in Jonnes, South Bronx Rising, 388.

  115. On Mayor Koch’s ambitious ten-year plan and its resemblance to the SBDO’s approach, see Jonathan Soffer, Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010), 290–304; Affordable Housing in New York, 273–76; Orlebeke, New Life at Ground Zero, 117–21; “Housing Policy in New York City: A Brief History,” Working Paper 06-01, Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy; Abraham Biderman, interview by John Metzger, August 20, 1992, COH, 1–14; Robert Esnard, interview by John Metzger, April 7, 1995, COH, 2/55–57; von Hoffman, House by House, 48–51; Bray, “Rebuilding the South Bronx,” 24.

  116. Koch, interview by von Hoffman.

  117. Lloyd Ultan and Barbara Unger, Bronx Accents: A Literary and Pictorial History of the Borough (New Brunswick, NJ: Rivergate Books, Rutgers University Press, 2000), 276.

  118. Miller, interview by von Hoffman.

  119. Stewart, “Market’s Nod to a Rebirth.”

  120. Sandorf, interview by von Hoffman.

  121. Jonnes, South Bronx Rising, xv.

  122. Jonnes, South Bronx Rising, 396, on Nehemiah, 66–67; Glynn, “Interview with Anita Miller, a Warrior for the South Bronx,” 37, on low density.

  123. Yardley, “Clinton Praises Bronx Renewal as U.S. Model”; Manny Fernandez, “In the Bronx, Blight Gave Way to Renewal,” NYT, October 5, 2007; Clinton visit described in Jonnes, South Bronx Rising, 405.

  124. Jim Yardley, “A Master Builder’s Mixed Legacy: Forgotten by the Public, ‘Mr. Urban Renewal’ Looks Back,” NYT, December 29, 1997; Herbert Gans, email message to Frank Barrett, September 13, 2007, shared by Barrett in email message to author, September 14, 2007; also Herbert Gans, interview by Lizabeth Cohen, February 18, 2010, New York, NY; Raab, interview, for similar view.

  125. Michael Lawson and Kat Aaron, “Promoting Home Ownership Through the Years,” Investigative Reporting Workshop, American University School of Communications, July 21, 2011.

  126. Litke, interview.

  Conclusion: The End of a Life and an Era

      1. On Logue’s Vineyard activities: Logue, interview, Jones, Tape 5:41–44; “Edward J. Logue Rebuilt Cities,” Vineyard Gazette, February 4, 2000; “Ed Logue, R.I.P.,” editorial, Martha’s Vineyard Times, February 3, 2000; “Ed Logue and the Vineyard,” biography prepared for County Commissioner Election, October 1994, MDL; Logue, “Affordable Housing: An Urgent Need,” guest editorial, Martha’s Vineyard Gazette, August 20, 1999; Logue, “$7.5 Million Is a Lot of Money,” letter to the editor, Martha’s Vineyard Times, n.d., 1999; Eric L. Peters, Chairman, Vineyard Land Foundation, to Margaret Logue and Family, February 11, 2000, MDL.

      2. Rebecca Lee, interview by Lizabeth Cohen, March 9, 2010, Boston, MA. Logue’s communications with his friends and former associates were prolific. Of particular note was a celebratory lunch that colleagues gave him in Washington, DC, in May 1995. Details, including guest lists, are in EJL, Accession 2002-M-001, Box 23, Folder “EJL, Bill Slayton’s Party.” A birthday gathering in May 1994 with the old New Haven gang is documented in the same box.

      3. There were actually two companies—Logue Development Company, Inc., revived from the 1970s, and Logue Boston Limited Partnership, which he founded with John Ryan, John Bok, and David Place as a development company that focused mostly on the State Service Center project. For Logue’s consulting projects, see Linda Corman, “Former BRA Head Takes Another Look at the City He Helped Plan,” Banker and Tradesman, October 21, 1987, 1, 3, 6, 9; William Tuttle, interview by Lizabeth Cohen, March 6, 2010, Belmont, MA, touches on most of his Boston projects; Anthony Pangaro, interview by Lizabeth Cohen, June 24, 2009, Boston, MA, on the failed Emerson College effort; Anupreeta Das, “Out of the Shadows,” BG Magazine, November 12, 2006; Jerry Ackerman, “Time Catches Up with the New Boston, Government Center Faces Many Changes,” BG, December 24, 1989; David Nyhan, “When Politics Clash with an Affordable-Housing Plan,” BG, June 26, 1990, on the BU Law School plan; Matt Carroll and Jerry Ackerman, “Lots and Blocks,” BG, April 12, 1992, on the Worcester project. For Logue’s work in Atlanta, see interviews by Alexander von Hoffman with Clara Axam, August 1, 2000; Randall Roark, August 3, 2000; and Robert Begle, August 3, 2000, all in Atlanta, GA. Also, Alexander von Hoffman, House by House, Block by Block: The Rebirth of America’s Urban Neighborhoods (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 174.

      4. Tuttle, interview.

      5. Jim Yardley, “A Master Builder’s Mixed Legacy: Forgotten by the Public, ‘Mr. Urban Renewal’ Looks Back,” NYT, December 29, 1997.

      6. Lawrence Vale, interview by Lizabeth Cohen, November 23, 2005, Cambridge, MA.

      7. Robin Berry, interview by Lizabeth Cohen, September 19, 2007, by telephone.

      8. A good example is Logue, “Former BRA Director Logue Issues a Report Card,” BG, June 8, 1986.

      9. John Stainton, interview by Lizabeth Cohen, May 30, 2007, Jamaica Plain, MA.

    10. For ex amples of conferences Logue attended and addressed: Charles A. Radin, “Boston Architects’ Conference Yields Consensus for Growth,” BG, April 11, 1987; Jim Miara, “Real Estate Experts View the Past as a Guide to the Future,” Boston Business Journal, November 7, 1997; invitation to “A Reception for Friends of Edward Logue, Winner of the American Planning Association’s Distinguished Leadership Award,” April 7, 1998, Tavern Club, Boston; and Larry Koff to Sarah Polster (American Planning Association), September 12, 1997, nomination of Logue with seventeen letters of support from colleagues over the years; MDL.

    11. Tuttle, interview.

    12. Frank Barrett was doing research on Jerome Lyle Rappaport; Barrett, interview by Lizabeth Cohen, July 25, 2007 by telephone; Barrett, email to Kim Heath and Family and Friends of Edward Logue, January 28, 2000.

    13. Program for “Memorial Service for Edward J. Logue, February 2, 1921–January 27, 2000, Faneuil Hall, Boston, Massachusetts, Saturday, April 22, 2000, 2:00 p.m.”; MDL.

    14. Logue, Schussheim interview, 39.

    15. Logue to Herbert A. Tessler, memorandum, March 19, 1984, EJL, 1985 Accession, Box 113, Folder “MH Tessler 1983–”: “Our new friends cannot have an all white set of subs either here or anywhere else they expect to do publicly assisted housing in the City of New York.” On persistent segregation of schools, Fred Harris and Alan Curtis, “The Unmet Promise of Equality,” NYT, March 1, 2018.

    16. For Logue’s continued call for greater federal involvement in housing: Logue, “Housing as a National Responsibility,” Oculus, April 1989, 4–5, special issue of the publication of New York Chapter of the AIA, “Can New York Afford Affordable Housing?”

    17. Quoted in “‘New Boston’ Planner Comes Back for More,” BH, January 12, 1988.

    18. “‘New Boston’ Planner Comes Back for More”; Tuttle, interview.

    19. On Logue’s architectural ambitions for the UDC, Housing New York: Ed Logue and His Architects, brochure from the exhibition presented by the Architectural League and the Municipal Art Society, Urban Center, New York, NY, February 5–April 14, 2001.

    20. Logue, “Could Growth Kill Boston’s Boom?,” Boston College Citizen Seminars, May 19, 1987, 2, 3, 5, MDL; Logue: “The public sector created the New Boston and the public sector must control it,” n.d., MDL; Logue, “The New Boston—Can the City Control Its Future?,” Boston Observer, c. 1985, EJL, 2002 Accession, Box 22. Also see the tribute to Logue after his death by the NYT architecture critic Herbert Muschamp, who argued that what began as a repudiation of “large-scale, top-down urban renewal associated with the likes of Logue” had the unintended consequence of fostering “the capitulation of city planning to the private sector and its market-driven pressures”; “From an E
ra When Equality Mattered,” NYT, February 20, 2000.

    21. A tremendous amount has been reported on the shortage of affordable housing of all sorts. See, for example, Conor Dougherty, “Tax Overhaul Is a Blow to Affordable Housing Efforts,” NYT, January 18, 2018; Glenn Thrush, “With Market Hot, Landlords Slam the Door on Section 8 Tenants,” NYT, October 12, 2018; Aaron Schrank, “It’s a Long Wait for Section 8 Housing in U.S. Cities,” Marketplace, NPR, January 3, 2018; Laura Sullivan, “Section 8 Vouchers Help the Poor—but Only if Housing Is Available,” All Things Considered, NPR, May 10, 2017; Emily Badger, “These 95 Apartments Promised Affordable Rent in San Francisco. Then 6,580 People Applied,” NYT, May 12, 2018. Every year since 1988 the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University has issued a report, “The State of the Nation’s Housing,” which documents the difficulties low-income families face in securing affordable housing; http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/state-nations-housing-2018. Also see Susan Saegert, interview by Lizabeth Cohen, February 19, 2010, New York, NY, on limited capacity of CDCs, the problems with Hope VI, and the increasing unmet demand for vouchers and public housing.