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Green New Deal Talk: “New Deal to Green New Deal”
On October 30, Living New Deal Director Richard Walker, will speak about the Green New Deal at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. In 1932, at a Commonwealth Club address, President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced his vision for a radical transformation of American politics and for a New Deal for the American people. Looking at the decade that followed, Professor Walker makes the case that "A Green New Deal is possible because we have done it before.” In his writings, he has argued for looking to the original New Deal for guiding principles that can inform how the Green New Deal can achieve the transition to a low carbon economy and bring equitable growth. His talk examines how during the most devastating depression in U.S. history, the New Deal brought radical change in environmental conservation and public health, worker rights, income and regional equality, and public investment. The New Deal, he argues, offers a roadmap for how the Green New Deal can tackle the critical challenges the United States faces today. The talk will begin at 6:00 p.m. at the Max Thelen Boardroom. Find tickets and details here.
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Living New Dealer of the Month: Peggy Crane
New York-based writer and activist, Peggy Crane, is a valued team member of the Living New Deal. For the past year and a half, Peggy Crane, our New York Branch Coordinator, has teamed up with Grace ("Jinx") Roosevelt in an effort to build the Living New Deal’s NYC project. Under their leadership, our NYC branch has sought to revive the legacy of the New Deal across the city. Earlier this year, they organized a distinguished panel on the New Deal at the Center for Architecture. In spring, they plan to organize a panel on the Green New Deal in collaboration with Columbia University. Peggy and Jinx have worked together to create a working group made of dedicated people drawn from diverse fields including academia, architecture, urban planning, public policy, and the arts. The group meets monthly at Roosevelt House and is working on creating signage and gaining the cooperation of public officials to mark a series of New Deal sites. Peggy and the NY team are moving toward that goal, having created a prototype for the sign. They will start with the 11 public swimming pools built in the summer of 1936.
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Fort Lee NJ: New Deal Post Office and Mural Under Threat
Residents of Fort Lee, NJ and have been mobilizing to save their cherished historic Main Street Post Office from demolition. The USPS will close and relocate the post office in a new parking garage and the New Deal structure will be demolished, as part of the city’s downtown redevelopment plan. Built in 1938, the post office building houses a valuable example of New Deal artwork. The four post office murals were commissioned by the Department of the Treasury’s Section of Fine Arts and painted by Henry Schnakenberg. The residents have written to the Mayor, arguing that the building should be converted to an educational center for the community. The Main Street post office is an important landmark for Fort Lee residents. In a letter to the Mayor, Michael Joseph Puma argues that there are few historic buildings left in Fort Lee, and this one provides a “critical link with the town’s history.” The Fort Lee Office of Culture & Heritage Affairs and the Fort Lee Historical Society are attempting to save the murals.
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Where in the World is Evan: Virginia Beach
Postlandia, the brainchild of our Researcher at Large, Evan Kalish, is an expansive project focused on documenting post offices across the United States. Evan’s research has taken him to all corners of the nation—from small communities in rural America with post offices no larger than a toll booth to global cities with monumental post office buildings. His work is particularly valuable as he has documented post offices and murals that have disappeared, or are threatened with demolition. This month, Evan brings our attention to a Virginia Beach post office mural by John H. R. Pickett, now on display at the Princess Anne post office. Its original location, the Atlantic Station post office, was demolished in 2009 after being purchased by Walgreens. Despite an opposition campaign mounted by local officials, businesses and citizen groups, the structure was razed and the site was redeveloped. Many post offices across the nation face a similar fate as the United States Postal Service continues to face budget shortfalls and little support from Congress.
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