April 11-July 31 — exhibition 1:
Blue Book, Silver Book: preserving income equality in Skid Row through urban design.
After Bunker Hill was clear-cut, Skid Row was headed for a similar “redevelopment”, as proposed in “The Silver Book Plan”. Community activists intervened and presented an alternative plan that saved the single room occupancy hotels and committed resources to renovating and augmenting this housing and locating social services in the area. The plan, “The Blue Book Plan” was adopted, in part because some people hoped that the plan would “contain” poor people and keep them out of the rest of downtown. But, it also had the reverse effect of preventing upscale development within Skid Row. As a result, the primary stakeholders of the area are its low-income residents and their interests are increasingly represented as they create a viable neighborhood.