After having Matt Miller visit our class, I took the time to read the 5 short stories on I-496 from the Lansing State Journal from July 12-16, 1964 that he distributed to us to see if they were any use to our project. Initially the first thing that struck me was that the series of 5 articles was written a whole 3 years before the construction even was to begin. This made me curious as to WHY this would be such a huge thing to be presented in the paper at such an early date and I came to the conclusion that it may have been that this was going to be a much bigger project that would affect more people than anyone would realize. As I kept reading some of that was answered in addition to focusing on both the positive and negative effects the new highway would bring to the city.
The first short excerpt dealt with a basic introduction of what the highway would look like and presented readers with the “basic facts.” The article stated that the construction of I-496 would, “provide direct rapid access to the Lansing downtown area from connecting routes on the east, west, and south of the city.” It was also mentioned what highway connections would become present and what interchanges would be included. Overall though the point was that this highway would be the best ROUTE and create EASY ACCESS, no mention at first was negative.
The second article looked at the 900 families that would be affected and have to be possibly re-located. This definitely answers one of our data questions that we brainstormed in class. It also noted how a sum of 815 parcels (of various types) would have to be purchased to construct over. In addition, note was given to how many white and black families the construction would affect being 400 and 300 respectively. One thing non-statistical that struck me while reading was that the NAACP stated that the construction and relocation “provided a rare opportunity for the city to make at least a start toward a model integrated community.” This was big to me because this shows no fight rather that NAACP and other groups thought it may be a good idea to construct such business through this particular community and break it up a little bit. I especially liked this article as well because the last section ends asking a majority of questions that we as a project group asked ourselves.
The third dealt with business relocation and the removal of tax base from the city. These seemed to be of less importance from other things. Article 4 dealt with schools and the uncertainties of staying open or having to close down. These two articles to me were definitely good information to read and to understand what was affected by the highway construction but to me did not seem as relevant to what we need for our project.
Lastly, article 5 dealt with how properties were appraised and purchased, including where to construct the highway and the process of how residential homes were purchased. I sort of already knew this information so was not surprised but it is good information as well but would be even better with detail, but like I said at the beginning, nothing had actually been done yet since this all was written 3 years prior to actual construction.
Anything left out??????? I thought it was interesting that no public opinion of residents was included in any of the articles. All of the comments made were either basic data facts or thoughts and opinions given by significant groups such as the NAACP and school officials. I would have been curious to know what George who lived on Walnut street thought about him home being possibly purchased and being forced to relocate or what big business Ben thought about having his family business demolished after being in business for such and such years.
Nikki,
ReplyDeleteGlad you were able to make use of the articles. I have a few suggestions, if you're open to them.
First, notice that one of the reasons given for the route was that it would save money by running through less expensive homes. Now ask yourself who lives in less expensive homes and why.
Second, ask yourself why the NAACP might have argued that this was a good opportunity to create an integrated community. Was it because they wanted the highway built through the city's largest black neighborhood? Or did they think they didn't have much chance of stopping the highway and hoped to make the best of a bad situation?
Finally, and you've hit on this a bit already in noting that there was no public opinion given in the stories, but I think it's good to ask yourself what blind spots a reporter in 1964 might have been working with. It's a question we won't be able to answer with certainty of course, but it's useful to think about what questions weren't asked and what perspectives weren't entertained.