No. 184 ISSN 1559-9736 Summer 2010 The Magazine of Planners Network The Invisible Cyclists Mannos Allison by Photo Also In This Issue: 2010 Just Metropolis Conference Reports from Rio, Mexico City, New York and Youngstown, Ohio www.plannersnetwork.org “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions Summer 2010 Issue Contents: The Seventh on the next seven generations.” -From the Great Law of the The Seventh Generation Progressive Planning Leader Pat Rosenthal and Common Iroquois Confederacy Wealth Inc. of Youngstown, Ohio G e n e r a t i o n by Pierre ClAvel...........................................................................Page 20 Beyond Networking, Left Alternatives by Tom Angotti................................................................................Page 2 Did You Miss the 2010 PN Conference? by NORMA rAnTISI........................................................................Page 24 Feature Articles The Long Struggle for Community-Based Planning in New Beyond Networking, Left Alternatives The Invisible Cyclists of Los Angeles York City by omAri Fuller And edgAr BelTrAn....................................Page 4 by eve BAron......................................................................................Page 30 by Tom Angotti The 2016 Olympics in Rio: A Community Plays Against the Researching the “Just City”: A Study of Urban Revitalization in Real Estate Game Toronto, Canada by TheresA WilliAmson...............................................................Page 9 by Jed KilBourn.....................................................................................Page 33 Shortly after the Towards a Just Metropolis conference The U.S. Social Forum is dedicated to building a Mexico City Creates Charter for the Right to the City The Community Land Trust Reader in the Bay Area (see pp. 24 - 28), the U.S. Social “multi-racial, multi-sectoral, inter-generational, by Jill Wigle And lorenA Zárate..........................................Page 13 review by PIERRE ClAVEL..........................................................Page 36 Forum convened in Detroit. Between June 22 and diverse, inclusive, internationalist movement.” How to Join, Purchase Back Issues, etc..............................Page 38 26 some 20,000 people got together there, nearly It is a powerful but beginning attempt to start Social Currency: A Tool to Empower Migrant Workers doubling the attendance at the first forum in Atlanta dialogues and networks at a national level while by AlFonso morAles..................................................................Page 17 in 2007. remaining conscious of the formidable role of the U.S. in promoting war and unequal development While architects, planners, and community throughout the world. activists seriously networked at the Bay Area confab, the Detroit gathering was a gigantic But is this networking enough? At a recent report- networking extravaganza in comparison. Billed back from Detroit held at the Brecht Forum in New as “a movement-building process” and not a York City (which I moderated), seasoned activist conference, the U.S. Social Forum was filled with Rob Robinson of Take Back the Land expressed thousands of self-organized workshops, assemblies frustration that there were so many self-organized and plenaries. workshops on the same topics. Didn’t the organizers of these sessions talk to each other in advance? To some extent this apparent chaos was intentional. What does this say about the state of the progressive www.plannersnetwork.org In order to nurture political and social diversity, and left forces nationally? If people are not aware Planners Network Progressive Planning is published quarterly PLANNERS NETWORK the structure was kept fairly basic and efforts to of individuals and groups in other cities and states 106 West Sibley Hall by Planners Network, Inc., a non-profit STEERING COMMITTEE get people to commit to bigger political projects that share the same concerns and have similar Cornell University corporation in the State of New York. Tom Angotti, Nancy Campbell, Lee were minimized. Since the first World Social Forum experiences, isn’t organizing for a national conference Ithaca, NY 14853, USA Deuben, Ann Forsyth, Chester Hartman, in Porto Alegre, Brazil, that global enterprise, an ideal way to bring people together in a dialogue Ph: 607.254.8890 Copyright 2010 by Planners Network. Stacy Harwood, Marie Kennedy, Josh Fx: 612.626.0600 Lerner, Marilena Liguori, Richard dedicated to the proposition that “Another World that covers common themes? Wouldn’t this kind of Email: [email protected] Reprinting and distribution of portions Milgrom, Marla Nelson, Libby Porter, is Possible,” has had to deal with opportunistic organizing promote common action and solidarity Website: www.plannersnetwork.org of this magazine for non-commercial Norma Rantisi, Alex Schafran, Amy moves by some well-funded political groups and instead of reinforcing the isolation and fragmentation purposes are encouraged. Reprints Siciliano, DRU Williams-Clark MAGAZINE EDITORS for commercial purposes require organizations to impose homogenizing discipline so common in our movements? In other words, what Tom Angotti, Jason Blackman, Pierre Clavel, writtem permission from the publisher. PLANNERS NETWORK and stifle the voices of the most excluded. The good is a national conversation if everyone’s in a Michael Dudley, Ann Forsyth, Chester Progressive Planning is indexed in the ADVISORY COMMITTEE world forums confront even more serious barriers different room? Will this ever lead to action? Hartman, Kara Heffernan, Clara Irazábal, Alternative Press Index. Chester Hartman (Chair) Teresa Cordova, Marie Kennedy, Norma Rantisi, Amy Siciliano Dana R. Driskell, Ann Forsyth, Marie than the national and regional forums because Kennedy, Patricia Nolan, Ken Reardon, deep language and cultural barriers often prevent Networks, from small groups like Planners Network MAGAZINE LAYOUT Arturo Sanchez, Peg Seip, Ruth Yabes, basic communication, so English—the premiere to the much larger U.S. Social Forum, are really Donovan Finn Ayse Yonder language of the powerful—dominates. more complex than this, and cont. on page 29 E-NEWSLETTER EDITORS GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS Jason Blackman, Mandana Nouri-Nekoei Please see www.plannersnetwork.org 2 Progressive Planning no. 184 / sUMMer 2010 3 who put all those bike lanes in Santa Monica [a more On the road, immigrant cyclists face more challenges The Invisible Cyclists of Los Angeles affluent and less diverse neighboring city], but they when they have to deal with L.A. drivers. According did a good job, and we need that here!” to Adrian, a Latino student who is also active in the by Omari Fuller and Edgar Beltran burgeoning Los Angeles bicycle movement, “Older The dangerous biking conditions that result from Latino immigrants don’t know their rights. Due to crumbling pavement and no separation from car traffic language issues or being misinformed, they let cars Night has fallen and you’re driving through a gritty sub-standard bicycles and safety equipment, no in these older neighborhoods disproportionately affect push them to ride literally right next to the curb, urban center when you approach an intersection. knowledge of cyclist rights, more dangerous streets low-income people of color. Their affordable, second-rate almost pedal striking it.” (Pedal striking is bike lingo Just as you turn right through the crosswalk a dark with fewer provisions for safe bicycling, increased bicycles strain unreliably under these conditions. Bicycle and refers to the dangerous situation arising when figure materializes before you. You slam on the brakes danger of bicycle theft and robbery, police harassment, helmets, which should be indispensable for hazardous the pedal strikes something, which can cause the and stop just a foot or two away. Without pausing to lack of health insurance, minimal publicly available urban riding, are seen as expensive and optional. bike to swerve wildly and the cyclist to be thrown off acknowledge the near miss, the figure cruises to the far data on the aforementioned conditions and no political the bike into traffic.) Thus, although the California side of the street and disappears down the sidewalk in representation. We will look at these challenges in A further hazard is the high volume of truck traffic Vehicle Code states that bicycles have all the rights the murky glare of streetlights. detail to make a case for the need to address the that low-income cyclists encounter when traveling and responsibilities of vehicle drivers, including full particular oppression that this group faces. to and from work in industrial areas. According to use of the roadway, ignorance of the law contributes to You’ve just glimpsed an invisible cyclist. Allison Mannos, program coordinator at the Los We’ll rely on tenets from critical race theory (CRT) to Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, accidents between Thousands of working-class people use bicycles to help structure our arguments. A key CRT tenet considers cyclists and big-rigs are not uncommon. When injured, traverse cities and towns across the U.S. every day. racism to be endemic and pervasive in our society and cyclists and their families, many of whom lack health In the city of Los Angeles, this group of cyclists is institutions. We will note subversive effects that are insurance, may suffer the additional hardship of as dedicated as any other, riding through the wet of specifically directed against Latino