Tuesday, July 31, 2007

NYC, Communist China a lot alike

To house the new arrivals, the government is increasingly slapping eviction notices on low-rise apartment buildings and small houses in the central areas, with the goal of freeing up land that can be used for high-rise apartment blocks.

Meanwhile, the ancient neighborhoods of Beijing, including the old courtyard houses in the hutongs, or narrow cobbled alleys, radiating outward from the Forbidden City, are rapidly vanishing. Residents mention rumors that those who refuse to sell old homes are evicted or beaten by the agents of property developers. The official newspaper, called People's Daily, has reported that courts have begun to refuse to hear cases brought by evicted residents. According to the newspaper, court officials feel their calendars are too crowded.

"The soul of this city is diminished when little features like the Spirit Screen Wall … are torn down to make room for some generic apartment complex," mourned a columnist in That's Beijing, a monthly English-language magazine. The erasure of old Beijing, he argues, "represents … a sort of myopic megalomania."


'4 Manhattans a year'

Photo from MSN

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

As China is becoming more "capitalistic" NYC (maybe the rest of the USA) does seem to be leaning more towards a real estate developers' form of "totalitarian" gov't .

i.e. Whatever (commissar) Ratner wants.....Ratner gets .

And "Party" chief Bloomberg approves of this....most heartily !

Anonymous said...

Ever been to a Queens cultural event?

Frozen smiles going through their paces? Scripted speeches full of platitudes we all know by heart? A gushing press for the latest non-entity that is 'fearless leader'?

Typical one party state.

Anonymous said...

What is the name of the Willits Point developer?

"developers' agents beating" reluctant owners? Sound familiar?

What's the difference between being beaten to have you sell, and being beaten by the government (called Eminent Domain) to have you surrender your property to a developer?

Anonymous said...

"Enema Domain"
is the way that Commissar Bloomberg plans to flush out reluctant property owner holdouts in Willets Point !