The American: Bulldozing the American Dream

In the American, writer Timothy B. Lee argues that eminent domain is not a good strategy for urban renewal.

Using the McRee Town neighborhood in St. Louis as an example, he says that "slum clearance" merely shifts poverty to adjacent neighborhoods.

He claims that major problems with the typical urban renewal approach are the net loss of affordable housing units, the clear signal that low-income neighborhoods are no place to start a business, and the tearing of social fabric that makes renewal from within impossible.