My experience gained from interviewing both proponents and opponents of
the Campus Inn, taught me that Karen's comments about Tom are mistaken
and unjust.
Tom is a man who has thought long and deeply about the nature of urban
building. He disagrees in principle with Karen, who disagrees in
principle with him. Nothing wrong with that. He works for a project that
revolts Karen. Both are being true to their principles.
To my knowledge, Tom has never disparaged Karen's personal motives and
professional credentials in public, despite their dispute. He comes
across better for that.
Defamatory personal abuse is a perennial part of rough-and-tumble
politics, so it's silly to say it should never be employed. But my
instinct is to step back from it as soon as one can catch oneself.
That's especially true when both persons are on the same listserve.
Opponents of the Campus Inn understandably try to portray their
adversaries in the worst possible light. But important conflicts often
take place between adversaries each of which is to some extent honorable
and to some extent sneaky. That's what I've seen in this case.
-- Tony West
Karen Allen wrote:
I had to revisit this post from last year. It's still relevant...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: kallena...@msn.com
To: glen...@earthlink.net; univcity@list.purple.com
Wait a minute....Tom Lussenhop TEACHES???!!!
I can see it now:
"OK Class,
Welcome to Urban Development 101. I'm Tom Lussenhop, and I will be
your instructor.
Please open your books:
Step One: Get in cahoots with a Deep-Pockets Entity (DPE) that has
(or at least thinks it has) a lot of political power so that they can
throw a lot of lucrative work your way, and can ram your projects down
everyone else's throat. Universities usually fit this bill really well.
Doing nothing is de facto community planning in Philadelphia.
It didn't start that way. In the 1960s neighborhood groups
were empowered to promote their own ideas. But what began with
strong democratic credo has evolved in so many cases into a
rigid NIMBY "No!" As a result, according to *Tom Lussenhop,
who teaches urban development at Princeton and *who hopes to
build a Hilton Homewood Suites hotel near the busy trolley
portal on 40th Street, "Nothing good has been built in some
neighborhoods since the Great Depression."
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