A lesson from the Trojan horse and the White Elephant.
The Central City a.k.a. Carousal project.
The fall of the Carousal Mall.
"Truth is a pathless land. Only when you inquire with your whole heart, mind, and whole being truth will approach." Deanna
"In the midst of chaos "truth" approached a man, full of insight, to speak to fools in power. His lone voice silenced and
after much laments and efforts a Trojan Horse appeared and gallop in fitful splendor for forty years." Deanna
San Bernardino seems to have fallen prey to at least three myths of downtown revitalization using condemnation as a tool.
1. "If we build it, they will come."
2. "If we demolish it, they will come."
3. "If we complete one major project, they will come."
Historic preservation often represented an unwanted roadblock, predicated on the myth that developers could not be induced
to return to the downtown unless were given a clean canvas on which to work.
This was the case most significant, in terms of major structures lost, was the Central City Project which had begun in
earnest in 1967.
The plan was implemented by Gruen Associates centered on a rival shopping mall to be built with public redevelopment funds.
Opposition to the plan came mainly from an association of business owners who assert the practice of redevelopment constituted
an attack on their individual rights. Proponents urged the council to act quickly or the area will sink
into further decay and said the downtown decay was affecting them and warned the council unless immediate action was taken
they would move out. Mrs. Irma J. Schulling, Ruth Haberkorn, and other League of Women Voters point out that revitalization
must occur for San Bernardino or it cannot remain a healthy, growing city. "We must do something about it soon," said Mrs.
Schulling. Mrs. Sutherland, a local business owner, a proponent of the North Lake project said "we need to be ready, we need
to start now, we are probably very late starting, and I urge you to adopt this project. I think it is a positive move, we
must move forward, not keep looking backward." The comments from Mrs. Schulling on February 10, 1965 and Mrs. Linda Sutherland
on April 25, 2005 declared an urgency to erase neighborhoods and local businesses because fearful the disease of blight
will blanket the City. Two women discuss two projects, forty years apart, both point out "blight" and "doing it soon." Further,
the women point out the area is infested "like a cancer" and may spread if not eliminated. The San Bernardino newspaper of
record, the Sun, threw its weight behind the mass demolition with a photo -feature in 1965 describing the existing downtown
as a drab-dreary" world full of "relic(s) of bygone Day (s) in which age was equated with blight." An accompanying editorial
rhetorically challenged the hold outs, asking "Do they Fight for the right to blight?" Victor Gruen point out the outmoded
structures, the dreary environment and the awkward and inconvenient system of parking the customer's substantially contributes
to business decline. This City has fallen prey to revitalization myth and like Grued elimination is the convenient way. Unfortunately,
the project of Central City has fallen prey and forty years later these myths are repeats because we fail to deal with realities.
David Earle Jordan branded the Victor Gruen's project as a "Trojan Horse," "Unuseable," and a White Elephant." He said it
was "incredible" the City would adopt the plan without considering alternative concepts. He conclude nothing in
Gruen's plan allows for retention of old historic buildings with their "natural charm and link to the past" which no other
plan could duplicate. The author is repeating the exact words of Mr. Jordan and the aim of the Gruen's plan as Milliken's
plan (municipal valley water district) is to get the people out and erase an entire neighborhood for profit. The Trojan Horse,
Unusable, and a White Elephant is a reality today; however, forty years ago the council dismissed Mr. Jordan as a lunatic.
Mr. Jordan, a lone voice, possessed keen insight to the Gruen's project and his insight is felt today looking at a Mall
vacant, empty parking lot, a Trojan Horse, Unuseable, and an White Elephant. The Sun depicted blight as a disease that
will spread on the entire city. The Sun claim eliminating blight (Blight Eats at Heart of San Bernardino, June 27,1965) will
resolve downtown problems, strengthen and build the community. There is no evidence eliminating blight, resolving problems,
strengthening, and building the community. The issues of Central City Mall and the North Lake are similar. Examine the myth
surrounding Revitalization using condemnation as a tool.
1. "If We Build It, They Will Come.........
2. "If We Demolish It, They Will Come.......
3. "If We Complete One Major Project, They Will Come.....
We must learn from myth and stop the insanity and develop without using condemnation as a tool. We have not resolved
issues forty years ago which need to be addressed today. The issue unresolved is "social" and revitalization using condemnation
is primitive, and an unacceptable mode of behavior. The anchor tenant of the Carousal Mall is the County Government. Montgomery
Ward, J.C. Penny, and Harris left the mall leaving the Mall without an anchor for other small stores to survive.
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