I’ve been pleased to see the discussion of “small city/small town” urban renewal on the listserv, but I think it is inappropriate to speak of the age of urban renewal or its implications in the past tense, as communities throughout New York State continue to make poor decisions regarding irreplaceable architectural resources in their downtowns.

Catskill, in Greene County, for example, recently lost a full block of National Register-listed buildings for the construction of a new County Office complex and parking on Main Street, rather than seeking a better integrated design. Schenectady continues to lose significant architecture and Main Street commercial density to block clearing exercises in “new is better.” While none of this is on the scale of the classic 1960s urban renewal efforts, it is just as appalling to lose the resources to shortsightedness and the presumption that newer is better.

Daniel Mackay