MovieChat Forums > Show Me a Hero (2015) Discussion > What really happens in low income housin...

What really happens in low income housing

posted 9 years ago by eljefe320
16 replies | jump to latest

I grew up in the projects, which at one time were a wonderful place to live. They were originally designed for lower middle class people who worked but didn't make much money. No welfare/unemployed were accepted. And where I lived it was 90% white. Then the powers that be decided that they would use public housing for "urban renewal" which meant moving in all of the *beep* from the ghettos of Brooklyn and The Bronx. Within 3 years the housing development was turned into a crime ridden hellhole with piss in the staircases and elevators. Schools became horrible and the entire neighborhood and eventually the whole town turned to crap. I'm sure none of this will be depicted in this miniseries and will just show the poor minorities trying to live in a better place, not what they turn the better place into once they get there. And the mean, prejudiced white people who don't want them moving in, not the white people of all ages who are attacked, beaten and robbed by the lovely poor folks.

[–] President_Ackbar_Impeached 9 years ago

I used to be a social worker, and, unfortunately, this 100% true.

[–] mom2joshua 9 years ago

I read a post on Facebook from someone who was one of the tenants in the buildings shown in the mini series in the 1950's. She said the tenants mopped the floors of the hallways and the stairs, they cleaned the sidewalk outside and took care if the property because they were grateful to have homes and they cared about where the lived.

Unfortunately once those tenants moved out, the new tenants and those who followed didn't see the need to maintain the buildings which is probably why we see graffiti on the walls, garbage in the stairwells and I'm sure people used them as toilets as well.

[–] greatwareagle 9 years ago

I don't think it's any big shock that early affordable housing plans eventually resulted in "ghettos" that became dens for drugs and prostitution and frequent violent crime.

I'm by no means extensively educated on this matter, but isn't that why, after much trial and error, affordable housing plans over time became more scattered, as opposed to tightly concentrated?

I don't know how the show will conclude, but it does already acknowledge the criminal activity of some of the minorities that reside in the projects.

I don't think that anyone will be fooled into thinking that crime does not happen in these housing projects, just because this series doesn't focus on it.

While the series does shed some light on the people who live in these developments, its more about the complex politics and tricky legislative process.

[–] mammamia1216 8 years ago

Although the series doesn't focus on it, in my opinion it doesn't shy away from it either. It does a good job showing how difficult the living situation was/(is?), even for the likable characters. The show is way more eye-opening in terms of the politics. For example, I am absolutely shocked that our system of government is said up that some judge can make a unilateral decision about another city and, even though its citizens are opposed to it, they have no choice but to comply. That sounds like an awful lot of power concentrated in the hands of a few who are *not* answerable to the people. Bob Balaban's character and the Sussman guy seem to be the biggest jerks on the show.

There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly west

[–] ThreeIn10 8 years ago

He was a federal judge, overseeing a federal case. The NAACP filed a lawsuit claiming that the city of Yonkers had been violating both the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment of the Constitution since 1949. This was not some rogue judge on a personal mission, or picking on a city out of spite.

"Sand...had to figure out why Yonkers, consisting of twenty-one square miles and 188,000 people, had all its minority citizens living within one square mile."

(http://www.uncoveringyonkers.com/the-controversial-federal-case.html)

[–] monkierench2000-1 9 years ago

I grew up in the projects, which at one time were a wonderful place to live. They were originally designed for lower middle class people who worked but didn't make much money. No welfare/unemployed were accepted. And where I lived it was 90% white. Then the powers that be decided that they would use public housing for "urban renewal" which meant moving in all of the *beep* from the ghettos of Brooklyn and The Bronx. Within 3 years the housing development was turned into a crime ridden hellhole with piss in the staircases and elevators. Schools became horrible and the entire neighborhood and eventually the whole town turned to crap. I'm sure none of this will be depicted in this miniseries and will just show the poor minorities trying to live in a better place, not what they turn the better place into once they get there. And the mean, prejudiced white people who don't want them moving in, not the white people of all ages who are attacked, beaten and robbed by the lovely poor folks.

I am sorry that happened to you but I think you are projecting your childhood on a show that is just trying to tell a story of a Mayor in a major crisis. I am surprised you see a "tilt" to this show, but I guess racial issues charge you up.

I can see why the white citizens of Yonkers are upset about public housing being built and I empathize with them, so its funny to me that you see a certain "tilt" to the show.

Are you afraid viewers like me, who just want to watch actors like Issac Oscars and Jim Belush, take the social issue to heart and become a bleeding heart liberal? lol grow up man. Most of the viewers just want to watch this because they wanted to get the bad taste of True Detective 2 out of their mouths.

[–] Theblob900 9 years ago

I love D.S. - but he can have some skewed views

[–] courts0 9 years ago

Well The Wire certainly didn't take the stance that "all black people are good and all white people are evil", so let's hold off judgment on that point until this series is over.

And while I don't disagree with what you're saying, as you obviously have more direct experience in this arena, there are still four more episodes left to finish this story, so let's see where it goes.

Game of Thrones - Best Show on TV

[–] greatwareagle 9 years ago

I honestly dont understand the issue here.

Is it because the show does have some minority characters that are struggling and arent involved in crime and are trying to get by in life?

Why is that so strange?

[–] JimmyTwoTimes914 9 years ago

I've lived down the street from one of the public housing project presented in this show for 20 years. It has yet to descend into a crime infested hell hole.

[–] monkierench2000-1 9 years ago

I grew up in the projects, which at one time were a wonderful place to live. They were originally designed for lower middle class people who worked but didn't make much money. No welfare/unemployed were accepted. And where I lived it was 90% white. Then the powers that be decided that they would use public housing for "urban renewal" which meant moving in all of the *beep* from the ghettos of Brooklyn and The Bronx. Within 3 years the housing development was turned into a crime ridden hellhole with piss in the staircases and elevators. Schools became horrible and the entire neighborhood and eventually the whole town turned to crap. I'm sure none of this will be depicted in this miniseries and will just show the poor minorities trying to live in a better place, not what they turn the better place into once they get there. And the mean, prejudiced white people who don't want them moving in, not the white people of all ages who are attacked, beaten and robbed by the lovely poor folks.

Dude, they told your story this episode!

The red headed old lady told Keener's character's after the meeting after it used to be a vet base and all white. It was just like your experience. lol

You still think they are trying to push an agenda?

[–] papageorgioq-1 9 years ago

Get over yourself.

[–] JuliusAgricola 9 years ago

You're an idiot. Post something of substance.

[–] anand-perala 9 years ago

Interesting, I grew up around rich white people and their kids totally trashed the neighborhood, got into fights, did an insane amount of drugs, were just general all around pieces of crap. But being rich, their parents could just hire other people to clean it up and use their influence to avoid ever facing legal consequences.

[–] noonelikesthetunahere 9 years ago

So in other words in your opinion/view/experience there is very little difference between an affluent neighborhood and one in the inner city?

[–] ThreeIn10 8 years ago

Yeah, me too. Same levels of crime, just quieter. And better lawyers.