The Cavalier daily Tuesday, February 24, 1970 | ||
City Planner Seeks Reform
In University Low-Wage Policy
By Debra Kroner
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer
Paul Davidoff, the Father of Advocacy
Planning, stated yesterday that "the
University, and other universities, are
doing an injustice to honor when they
pay low wages to their workers."
In his speech in the Architecture
School, Mr. Davidoff continued by saying
that this practice was "astounding in
institutions dedicated to freeing men."
He stated that a $5,200 annual income
for University workers should become a
goal, one that should be realized soon.
Mr. Davidoff is concerned with the
plight of poor people in America today.
A city planner, he is trying to achieve a
degree of representation for those persons
most gravely affected by the city renewal
programs.
Planning Failure
The concept of advocacy was
developed in response to the failure of
planners and politicians to involve those who
are pushed around in urban renewal projects,
Mr. Davidoff explained.
Future city planners, he stressed, should be
more excited and committed, and they should
not only take the poor into account when
planning, but should also represent them.
The Yale professor stated that their "must
be a redistribution of power and wealth." As
the economic system now exists, he added, the
poorer people in America are not benefiting
from the society of which they too are a part.
"The primary issue of distribution of
economic wealth in society is a national one,
not only an urban one," Mr. Davidoff said.
Suburban Action Program
Through Mr. Davidoff's efforts, the
Suburban Action program has been initiated.
This program has as its focus the resources of
the nation, highlighted by the resources of the
suburbs.
If land and other economic dimensions were
properly utilized, he felt, the people who need
help so desperately could have it.
"America is a suburbanizing nation. The
suburbs are the preferred way of life and it is
here that industry is seeking to expand," Mr.
Davidoff explained.
Mr. Davidoff said that the nation is falling
behind the needs of its people. "It is wasteful
that we have used the suburbs to benefit only
the wealthy," he added.
When a man is forced to live in the ghetto
section of a city, he is automatically limited in
certain ways. Mr. Davidoff said that "Housing is
shelter, but beyond this, it is a location. This
location is of vital importance in regard to
employment and cultural opportunities open to
a man."
Mr. Davidoff concluded that the nation
must address the problem of possession of
property and who has the right to own it.
The moral role of today's planner according
to Mr. Davidoff is that everyone be made to
participate in the community. He said that
steps must be taken to "build an America open
to all and to provide for those who are left out
under the present system."
Paul Davidoff
The Cavalier daily Tuesday, February 24, 1970 | ||