The South Bronx of America

Mel Rosenthal suggests that the Bronx is affordable as well as the ideal space for growth of a business; is this even true? The passage accounted different newspaper articles that discussed the amount of deaths in the Hunts Point section, more that occurred from drugs and homicides, not the environment and atmosphere. With racism filling the streets, a person in the article claims there are not many neighborhoods they would feel safe in, besides the South Bronx because she knows everyone. What struck me most was Roger Starr's comment in the New York Times on November 14,1976, "These people come by, and stop, and take pictures. We are not animals. We are suffering. There is nothing to look at here. This is serious, this is people's business." With burnt down buildings, no
housing was provided for these people. They didn't want it either in the South Bronx. Instead they designed what they wanted for their neighborhood; casitas.
"Casitas can create an are of relaxation and quiet against the strains of the city. At the same time, they are a public display of the cultural and political loyalty to the island." (Rosenthal 292) These Casitas Projects, seem like a well-designed public yet private spaces for the people of the community, interpreted by artists, architects, and designers that use their memories and feeling of a "sympathetic space". But in fact, I don't find them that way at all. They tend to look worn out and messy from the pictures, which I don't find as appealing as their description. It seems these people of the Bronx don't want to feel like an eye sore or draw attraction because they look in need, however these casitas only offer reassurance to themselves, not New York.