In the 1981 cult movie classic, Escape from New York, the city is so devastated by crime, corruption, and mismanagement that Manhattan Island is turned into a prison colony. The bridges to the city are mined and police guard the shoreline to keep criminals from escaping.
The movie’s abandonment of the city was just ahead of reality. Many thought New York could not survive. In 1975, the city was virtually bankrupt, and the state took over much of the city’s day-to-day operations; the mayor was pretty much a figure head. The state didn’t do any better running the city than local government. So much of the city was in disrepair from neglect and arson that a German film crew, shooting a movie on the fire-bombing of Dresden during World War Two, used New York City as a backdrop.
This theme of giving up on cities has continued. Escape from New York was followed by the 1996 movie, Escape from L.A. If we were remaking the movie today, it would probably be called Escape from Detroit. Sequels would follow on St. Louis, Cleveland and Milwaukee.
But in 1977, Ed Koch became New York’s mayor, and the city began the slow road to recovery. Jonathan Soffer’s new book, Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City, chronicles Koch’s rise to power, the policies he enacted, and his fall from grace with the voters.
Koch often makes both lists of the best mayors and the worst mayors depending upon who is doing the calculating. Koch made wild swings between liberal and conservative positions supporting politicians of both parties. Koch may have engaged in political opportunism, but no one can accuse him of not trying to remake his city.
What is important to realize is that history did not follow the fictional account of the movie. New York City came roaring back. The city got its finances in order, rebuilt blighted areas, added to its populations after years of decline.
There is no reason to believe that rustbelt cities like Milwaukee can’t do the same. But when I look at the reactions of so many in this community, I figure they probably have seen these old movies one too many times. Instead of solving our problems, people just want to flee and throw up barriers between themselves and the city’s problems.
When teenagers ran through Mayfair Mall, some people reacted with, “What can we do to fix these problems?” But too many others simply said, “I’m not going to shop at Mayfair anymore.” Will Mayfair follow the declines of Grand Avenue and Northridge malls?
We see this in our educational system as well. People have fled Milwaukee Public Schools for suburban schools through open enrollment. But they find themselves in South Milwaukee and Oak Creek running into Racine natives coming from the other direction.
At some point, we have to stop running. It is not entirely the public’s fault. This community lacks leadership at the highest levels. I would like to write the book, ??? And the Remaking of Milwaukee. I just don’t know whose name to fill in for all those question marks.
