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Richard Gendron

The Leftmost City: Power and Progressive Politics in Santa Cruz 1st Edition

by Richard Gendron (Author), G. William Domhoff (Author)

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Almost all US cities are controlled by real estate and development interests, but Santa Cruz, California, is a deviant case. An unusual coalition of socialist-feminists, environmentalists, social-welfare liberals, and neighborhood activists has stopped every growth project proposed by landowners and developers since 1969, and controlled the city council since 1981. Even after a 1989 earthquake forced the city to rebuild its entire downtown, the progressive elected officials prevailed over developers and landowners. Drawing on hundreds of primary documents, as well as original, previously unpublished interviews, The Leftmost City utilizes an extended case study of Santa Cruz to critique three major theories of urban power: Marxism, public-choice theory, and regime theory. Santa Cruz is presented within the context of other progressive attempts to shape city government, and the authors' findings support growth-coalition theory, which stresses the conflict between real estate interests and neighborhoods as the fundamental axis of urban politics. The authors conclude their analysis by applying insights gleaned from Santa Cruz to progressive movements nationwide, offering a template for progressive coalitions to effectively organize to achieve political power.

ISBN-10

0813344387
ISBN-13

978-0813344386
Edition

1st
Publisher

Routledge
Publication date

December 30, 2008
Language

English
Dimensions

6 x 0.58 x 9 inches
Print length

258 pages
See all details

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The Leftmost City is a wonderful contribution to urban political theory as well as a concrete guide for how to exploit new opportunities for moving urban America forward. Without cynicism or romantic illusion, the authors use Santa Cruz to show the possibilities for community groups to exert effective local action against entrenched business interests. Thanks to their keen ethnographic eye and fast-paced narrative style, Santa Cruz becomes a laboratory for understanding how to take and hold power, and for seeing what local power can and cannot do.” —Harvey Molotch, New York University; Coauthor of Urban Fortunes“The Leftmost City is an exceptional book and a pleasure to read. It is built on 25 years of careful research and written in a way that is clear and lucid, free of posturing and jargon. It is a piece of inspirational literature that offers…both a rigorous case study on the politics of the community and a critical analysis of urban political theory.” -City & Community

“In most US cities, the growth coalition controls local government. Santa Cruz, California, is one of the few exceptions to this rule, which is why Gendron and Domhoff’s analysis of its politics is of particular interest. … [They] use their case study to evaluate the effectiveness of competing theories of urban politics and end up arguing that a modified version of growth coalition theory does a superior job of explaining urban politics. Highly recommended.” —Choice

"This is a terrific book that shows how cities can chart a course between self-destruction at the hands of the ‘growth at any cost’ advocates while maintaining the tax base to provide social services and preserve neighborhoods. It’s a lively case study of two decades of progressive government, carefully documented, reads like a novel. And along the way, Gendron and Domhoff provide a theoretical underpinning that suggests how this experience can be repeated elsewhere." —Pierre Clavel, Professor of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University; Author of The Progressive City "The Leftmost City provides cogent insights on the opportunities for and persisting barriers to progressive politics at the local level. From a rigorous case study of Santa Cruz and critical analysis of urban political theory, this book offers essential reading to anyone who wants to understand and change the quality of life along with the opportunity structure in the nation’s metropolitan areas." —Gregory D. Squires, Professor of Sociology andPublic Policy and Public Administration, George Washington University; Coauthor of Privileged Places: Race, Residence, and the Structure of Opportunity

“A well-written and jargon-free book that is pitched at an appropriate level for advanced undergraduates and master’s-level students. . . . This book represents an important new addition to the arsenal of books that can be used to teach courses in urban or political sociology. It is theoretically informed, well organized, has an interesting case, and is written in a way that most undergraduates and new graduate students will find approachable.” —Teaching Sociology "The Leftmost City gives the reader lively prose, provocative arguments, and a fresh stream of ideas. Advocates of progressive politics will find this book a rich resource to draw on. Across the political spectrum, all will learn from the extraordinary politics of Santa Cruz, thanks to the lucid and down-to-earth instruction by authors Gendron and Domhoff." —Clarence N. Stone, Research Professor, George Washington University; Author of Regime Politics

About the Author

Richard Gendron

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Routledge; 1st edition (December 30, 2008)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 258 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0813344387
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0813344386
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.58 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,843,738 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #298 in Local U.S. Politics
- #514 in Political Ideologies
- #732 in Political History (Books)

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4.8 6 ratings

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Frank Foreman Kindle Customer

Excellent

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 20, 2016

Verified Purchase

The book is excellent and should be read by anyone interested in Santa Cruz politics. However, I never got the book and have been too busy to complain.

One person found this helpful

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K. Elena Gellepis

Just another reason to LOVE Santa Cruz...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 29, 2011

Verified Purchase

Thank God the Progressive "Intellectual Elite" (code name for those who think knowledge and wisdom trumps ignorance and superstition) stopped the Oligarchs from trashing this California Coastal Treasure. This book could be used as a primer for concerned citizens of any city/county anywhere who feel their small-town way of life is worth preserving.

3 people found this helpful

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C A Smith

Nice seller. Glad I ordered this book for my ...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 11, 2017

Verified Purchase

Nice seller. Glad I ordered this book for my move to the Santa Cruz area.

One person found this helpful

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Mc1844

A cautionary note

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 28, 2010

A cautionary note for budding "progressives" trying to understand urban issues:

I read the authors' website on political views that informed this book and can say that this is a book from the NIMBY (not-in-my-backyard) neighborhood activist perspective rather than a sustainability perspective. The authors assume opposing urban growth in order to further "quality of life" is in and of itself always "progressive." This camp increasingly finds itself at odds with groups such as the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, advocates for affordable housing, and indeed the entire modern sustainability movement. At the same time, this camp finds itself increasignly akin to the east coast conservatives who try to limit development in upper-class suburbs. They tend to celebrate small towns and suburbs, which no dobut will appeal to a certain part of the population.

It has been established beyond a doubt that denser developments, supported by walking and public transit, are sustainable. This is realized in cities such as Vancouver, BC and Portland, OR, and of course all of Western Europe, which have increased urban densities in centers and near transit, allowed smaller lot homes to be built throguhout urban areas, practiced balanced growth management, protected open space and farmland, and increased transit, walking and cycling. A key part of the successful approach is that it is regional in nature.

This contrasts to the "neighborhood activism" paradigm the authors advocate, where all intensification of land use is seen as greed by "real estate developers and their buddies" that damages "quality of life;" the only people seen as deserving of land value increases are the owners of (single-family) homes. Hence the author cites opposing downtown development as a "left wing" approach.

Yes, the activist perspective gets a few things right - opposing new highways and protectiong environmentally sensitive lands, for instance - but even in these cases, the concern seems to be about the home values and "quality of life" of a few neghborhoods rather than the sustainability of a community or region.

The reality is that the neighborhood activist paradigm leads to increasing home values for those who bought homes a generation ago (the new "haves,") while damaging the environment by forcing sprawl and commuting by car; and disadvantaging moderate-income folks because workers must then live far away and spend money on transportation. The neighborhood activists may then respond with limited affordable housing programs that fall far short of need.

The neighborhood activist approach is therefore not progressive, and I am not sure what they mean by it being left-wing or Marxist, but I'll leave that to them. The approach is at its heart anti-urban, and reflects the same underpinnings that drove suburban sprawl, auto-dependency, or the anti-urban policies of Ronald Reagan. It finds bedfellows in upper-class suburbs that want to keep out the riff-raff.

In opposition to this, I believe the future of the sustainability movement lies with those striving to create livable cities and regions where many of us would choose to live, work, bike or take transit, and reduce our carbon footprints while celebrating diversity and community. The future of the sustainability movement does not lie with neighborhood activists who hunker down in small, exclusive communities ...

24 people found this helpful

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