458
MICHAel HARRINGTON
rather than to create, the preferences of their buyers and the social
infrastructure was built up after people moved in. But even though all
this is true, and not very Brave-New-Worldish, Levittown is one of the
important reasons why there is a crisis in the cities.
As Gans writes of Levitt: "His decision to build another Levittown
near Philadelphia with houses in a $12,000-$15,000 price range, deter–
mined the age, class and religious characteristics of the population, and
these in turn influenced - perhaps determined - the informal and for–
mal groups that developed in the community." But should the power
to determine, no matter how indirectly, the character of a new city be
left up to a private developer? This question becomes even more pointed
when two related facts are kept
in
mind: that Levittown, and suburbia
generally, could not exist without massive Federal support; and that
one of the social costs of thus governmentally favoring the private, un–
planned development of housing has been the deterioration of the
central city and the exacerbation of racism.
In its 1968 Report, the Council of Economic Advisers hinted at this
reality by admitting that Government policies "influenced" the distribu–
tion of population and economic activity. But it became agnostic and
whimsical when it asked itself if anything could be done to channel
social expenditures in a socially useful direction. That will not do at
all. Either there will be a marked increase in democratic planning in
this area of life or else the prevailing antiplan designed by private
priorities and subsidize'!d with tax dollars will continue to wreak havoc.
There are, to be sure, immense difficulties in such an undertaking.
As Gans points out, most of the members of ethnic and class groups
at the point of entry into the mainstream of society want to segregate
themselves. It would be preposterous to try to impose an ideal of inte–
gration upon them from the top down. But, as Gans also shows, there
are significant numbers who do want integrated communities and
Levittown proves that they can be created even in a suburban environ–
ment. But that will only happen, and decent housing will be built
back in the city for these who don't want to move, only if there are
profound institutional changes in American life.
The program which
The New York Times
urged in response to
President Johnson's "comprehensive but essentially conservative" message
on "The Crisis of the Cities" in February, 1968, will do for openers.
There must be, the
Times
said
(pace
the Council of Economic Advisers),
"a national migration policy to direct the flow of people which now
eddies haphazardly from rural backwater to city slum; a national land
policy to plan the development of future suburbs and new towns; a
national housing policy with much tougher controls over land specula-
