FinalTake-Home Exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

FinalTake-Home Exam - Essay Example This urban phenomenon is actually the effect of the larger American policies of relating the nation’s economic structure with the global economy. In the decades following the 1970s, huge corporate owners and multimillionaires have encouraged the fall of â€Å"Fordist-Keynesian model of accumulation† and have witnessed the growth of â€Å"neoliberal-globalization† model (Arena, 2012, p.xx). In order to cope with increasing globalization, the ultra rich class has used the tactics of stripping the urban areas of poverty and low-income classes. The idea was to shift the base of production to low wage areas in the south of the U.S. In these areas, business activities are not dictated by labor unions and also there are close ties between state and local governments. Thus, the brunt of gentrification has been endured by the worker class since wages have declined sharply. On the other hand, the benefits fell on the affluent population of American cities. Gentrification h as essentially hindered the growth of production center as the focus was on expanding the service sector. During the second half of the twentieth century, the industrial areas of American cities were transformed into centers of urban amenities like hotels, restaurants, malls and so on. Thus, wealth began to get accumulated in the hands of the ultra rich making them even richer at the expense of poorer urban community. The author has explored the political struggles in New Orleans that occurred as a result of privatization of public housing. From 1960s onwards the U.S. federal government played a vital role for providing housing provisions at affordable rents, and for this the government promoted strategies that encourage financial sponsorship of the private owners of rental housing sectors. Contrary to the properties that are publicly owned, houses that are constructed solely for the purpose of providing housing at affordable rents were construction by support from federal programs like Low Income Housing Tax Credit launched in 1986, and home funds from National Affordable Housing Act of 1990 (Arena, 2012, p.4). Such subsidization of private housing has been supported by the political opponents since it was an appropriate process for delivery low rent housing provisions. It has been claimed that historically U.S. government has failed to provide quality public services at low price because of inefficient bureaucracies. Failure of the government encouraged private sectors to enter public service sector in order to provide quality services at affordable prices. This also enhanced the financial interest of the private sectors. The two housing projects, St. Thomas and Iberville were identified as lucrative areas by political and economic elites, especially the areas inhabited by the African American community. The area surrounding St. Thomas which was predominated by the Blacks was particularly regarded as a hindrance to tourism. The idea was to evict this communi ty in order to transform the cities’ factories, warehouses and low income housing to promote tourism. Struggle ensued when the responsibility of removing the Blacks fell on the black political elite. In the year 1986, two black candidates participated in the mayoral race. William Jefferson who was an Angle- African American became the mayor that year. The losing candidate, Sidney Barthelemy befriended the low