WHAT WE TORE DOWN Troy NY is still known for having an amazingly intact 19th century downtown. But it’s upsetting to know how much we tore down, pretty much in the service of automobiles, frankly. The city leaders who delivered these vast empty lots called it “progress” but I don’t see it that way. Here are two aerial photos of downtown Troy, the first is historical, the second from Google Earth. I’ve tried my best to line them up as closely as possible. The historic photo belongs to my friend Tom Flynn. It doesn’t have any information on it, but I’m going to guess the photo is from the 1950s but I’d welcome a more educated guess. Identifiers: the bridge over the river collapsed in the 1970s. There is no Collar City bridge to Rt. 7. But there are cars shown in the streets. (Don Rittner maybe you could help pinpoint the date more closely) The sad thing about the modern photo is that quite a few of the large structures you see are not productive mixed-use buildings, but rather parking structures and a “dead mall” that partially serves as office space. Can you see how tight the former urban fabric was? Imagine how vibrant these streets were. And you could access all your needs without a car. We’ve got to get back to that, and yet so much talk is still about creating accommodations for the car. I don’t get it. Simply put: that is a campaign to sustain the unsustainable. Some of my friends who were here in Troy when the great demolitions began still have a form of what I can only describe as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder when it comes to talking about what we tore down. Note: Click on the images to enlarge to full screen.
Posted on: Wed, 21 May 2014 11:40:38 +0000
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