The Return Of Urban Renewal In New York

"Suddenly, however, the current mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg, and his deputy mayor for economic development, Daniel L. Doctoroff, have ambitions for remaking much of the city on a scale comparable to the remaking overseen by Robert Moses in the 1940s and '50s.

...This expansive view of the planning function and the role of government in directing it harkens back to the early years of urban renewal in the United States. It constitutes a rejection of the timidity that followed the downfall of the federal urban renewal program.(5) The question for planners and designers is whether to applaud this new vigor or to see in it all the pitfalls that ultimately led to the demise of the old urban renewal program, ultimately excoriated by neighborhood residents, progressive critics, business interests, and the U.S. Congress, albeit for different reasons."