Table of Contents
Contributors
Sheila Dewan; George Greanias; Vincent P. Hauser; David Kaplan; Richard Longstreth; Barry Moore; Jeffrey Karl Ochsner; Barrie Scardino; Ann Walton Sieber; Phoebe Tudor; Drexel Turner; and Bruce C. Webb.
Cite 36: Follow the Money
Winter 1996
Editor’s Note
The issue behind this Issue is capital — money — the force that makes built projects happen. As political and social changes occur in this millennial decade, Cite thought it was time to look at projects around us, how they are funded, and in what ways they influence our community. With the help of four new writers to our pages, Cite 36 examines publicly and privately funded initiatives:
• Richard Longstreth and Drexel Turner reflect on West Gray and River Oaks Shopping Center, while David Kaplan explores the Rice University Village. In both cases private dollars have been plowed back in to make older retail developments economically viable.
• Vincent Hauser writes about federal dollars put to work to preserve our architectural heritage.
• Jeffrey Ochsner examines the expenditure of Metro tax dollars that hope to transform the downtown streetscape and challenge the pre-eminence of a formidable, well-financed private tunnel system down under.
• Ann Walton Sieber contemplates the Shrine of the Black Madonna and its African American utopian mission, philanthropically funded on the disadvantaged fringes of the Third Ward.
• And, in an introspective arc, George Greanias considers the framework of the city's infrastructure, the proper role of public tax dollars in influencing the development of the private sector, and how we should frame the dialogue about public-private partnerships that shape a city.
No one person, corporation, board, administration, or referendum has autonomous power to make decisions about how money is spent that effects our public environment. Awareness and discussion might raise the level of community involvement — so that what is built around us is an accurate reflection of the public will.
Barry Moore