All posts by Murphy Institute

Arts and Culture, Books, Home, Urban Studies

Yuppies Invade my House at Dinnertime: A Classic!

By Kafui Attoh

yuppiesRoughly two years ago, I came across a really great book that I think deserves a plug: Yuppies Invade my House at Dinnertime: a tale of brunch, bombs and gentrification in an American City. Published in 1987 and edited by Joseph Barry and John Deravlany, the book offers a compelling look at Hoboken’s transformation in the late 1980s.

Most compelling is the book’s format. The book is little more than a collection of letters printed in the editorial page of The Hoboken Reporter. Written by locals, displaced “yorkies,” gentrifiers and the begrudgingly gentrified, the letters are impassioned, angry, spiteful, nostalgic, triumphant, cringe-inducing and often deeply amusing. More than anything, they give the reader a visceral sense of both the promise and the costs of the city’s so-called “renaissance.” Continue reading Yuppies Invade my House at Dinnertime: A Classic! →

CWOP, Home, Labor Studies, Urban Studies

Coop Event at Murphy Draws Large Crowd

On March 30th, the Murphy Institute hosted “Building a Worker Coop Ecosystem: Mondragon Meets the Five Boroughs,” a public conversation featuring Frederick Freundlich of Mondragon University and moderated by Stephanie Guico.

The conversation began with an explanation by Freudlich of the Mondragon network of worker coops in the Basque region of Spain. The network includes approximately 120 cooperatives and 130 affiliates or subsidiaries, all working across four broad areas — manufacturing, retail, finance, knowledge — and creating a livelihood for approximately 74,000 people. Freundlich discussed the history of the Mondragon system, tracing its origins back to the Spanish Civil War and describing the emergence of ancillary institutions, such as the cooperative bank, that have provided resources and support to the cooperative network throughout its development. Continue reading Coop Event at Murphy Draws Large Crowd →

Home, Murphy News, Urban Studies

Prof. Eve Baron Quoted in City & State Article on Community Planning

With pledges and rhetoric from city officials circulating about better integrating communities into the planning process, some questions remain: what does a community planning process entail? And, given the current state of New York City politics, is it reasonable for communities to expect rhetoric to translate into a truly inclusive process?

Last week, City & State ran an article examining these questions and more. The article features perspectives from respected planners and academics in the city, including Eve Baron, Academic Program Manager for the Urban Studies Program here at Murphy. From the article:

Eve Baron, an expert in community development, advises taking a wait-and-see approach to the new administration. But she notes that a salient feature of a true community-based plan is that it’s “first and foremost one that originates in the community. Not government meeting the community, but the community reaching out,” she said.

For the full article, visit City & State.

Photo by Dan Reed via flickr (CC-BY-NC).

Home

News Round-up

Heroes in our midst and historical commemoration. Some highlights from the week…

  • This past Wednesday marked the official commemoration of the Triangle Factory Fire by the Workmen’s Circle. The fire took place in March 1911 and was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of NYC, causing the deaths of 146 garment workers.
  • One of our alumni, Richard Singleton, saved a man from a stabbing in a subway station. Amazing.
  • Some questionable comments from a New York City Councilwoman regarding NYCHA. Meanwhile, the housing authority is apparently looking at a $400mill deficit by the year 2025. And, the Cuomo administration is proposing to keep control of $100mill in state funding for NYCHA, adding layers of bureaucracy to the authority’s ability to access the funds.
  • Wikileaks released a chapter from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations. The Teamsters, like the rest of the labor movement, aren’t into it.
  • Missouri police will restrict the use of tear gas after a settlement that determined police need to warn protesters and give them time to disperse before using it (via Time).
  • Swarthmore students launched what’s being called the first indefinite occupation for fossil fuel divestment (via Waging Nonviolence)
  • As Seattle’s $15 minimum wage heads into effect, some question as to whether university and airport workers will be left behind. (via Next City)

Photo by Alexander Rabb via flickr (CC-BY-NC-ND).

Alumni Spotlight, Home, Murphy News

Murphy Alum Saves Man From Stabbing

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Joseph S. Murphy Institute alum and MTA worker Richard Singleton successfully intervened in an attempted assault at his subway station at 28th Street and Park Avenue South on Sunday, March 22nd.

Richard has served as an MTA worker for almost two decades. He has graduated from the Murphy Institute with Masters of Arts in Labor Studies and Urban Studies.

Read more from the Daily News on this act of heroism.