Quote:
Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark
This is probably not worth a lengthy debate as it's now ancient history in the political/development world. However, while most certainly some of the cases fall under the category you presented, it's improbable that 100% of the properties located within those boundaries were unsafe and non-repairable - especially in light of the fact that this was a wholesale clearing of neighborhoods in order to to make land available for a large project being pushed by the government.
One can also question why, if the properties were actually unsafe, did the city wait to act on only after it had a large project that it wanted to move forward? It certainly raises some ethical questions about forcing their will upon the very part of society least able to defend themselves from it.
Regarding businesses, those who didn't own the businesses would not have been responsible for the maintenance of their buildings - that would have been the responsibility of their landlords. Additionally, it's not obvious that all of those buildings were unsafe or uninhabitable - in fact there is a large percentage of them that appear to be in reasonable condition from the photos.
Lots of questions here, and none have been answered. Likely none will be as I'm sure most of the people who were involved are no longer with us, aren't talking about it, or have some vision of the past that is skewed by their personal prejudices...
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My thoughts:
http://halifaxbloggers.ca/builthalif...to-collection/.
Slum clearance and removal of blighted areas was actually done as a progressive social movement, with the thought that it would improve health and education outcomes, reduce crime, and welfare cases, all of which were funded by the city at that time. Uniacke Square, Mulgrave park, and the Bayers road housing development were all projects built to rehome the displaced in appropriate safe and healthy housing - unfortunately they displaced more people then they provided space to re-home.
this was done in the best interests of the citizens and to help take care of people who were unable to take care of themselves.
also consider that a portion of the rundown state could be attributed to the war - materials shortages and rapid population growth hampered maintenance, and led to inadequate housing stock remaining in service.