Gregory Heller

Abstract
Push Them to the River explores the many forces that have shaped the development of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Specifically, the paper focuses on the conflict between community self-help activists in the community garden movement and the government’s redevelopment strategies over the last thirty years. The history of redevelopment in the Lower East Side has been a 70 year struggle between area residents and the local, state and even federal governments. Even as the ethnic and demographic composition of the area has changed, each new resident group has actively resisted the efforts of government and the real estate industry to “improve� the area. The tale of this resident-resistance movement is told here, using their perspective and voice to examine the question: What is the ulterior motive, if any, for the displacement of the poor and minorities from the Lower East Side district? Who stood to benefit from the displacement and redevelopment that has occurred? Did the government, at any level, assist in the process to achieve goals of social control, rather than social improvement?