"A brilliant combination of logic and empirical data, Clearing the Way shows how the promise of poverty deconcentration actually works for those in the urban trenches. The result should be more clearheaded thinking about how to improve American cities. This is a timely and trenchant analysis that deserves the widest possible readership."
—Todd Swanstrom
Public Policy Studies, Saint Louis University, and co-author of Place Matters: Metropolitics For The Twenty-First Century
"Edward Goetz's Clearing the Way is a needed addition to the parallel literatures of poverty analysis and public housing redevelopment. His discussion of the discourse centering on concentrated poverty is even-handed and wide-ranging. His analysis of the Twin Cities region's efforts to deconcentrate public housing populations reveals the complexities of turning a public policy consensus into humane, effective government action."
—Larry Bennett
Department of Political Science, DePaul University
"Edward Goetz has produced a fascinating study of what happens when abstract planning concepts meet the contingencies of politics, culture, and resource competition within real human communities. This book is ideal for use in courses in urban theory, planning, and history. It is highly recommended for practitioners involved in implementing housing programs, and it is must-reading for activists and public officials serious about easing the problems of urban poverty."
—Susan Greenbaum
Professor of Anthropology, University of South Florida
"Professor Goetz employs Minneapolis' experience as an archetypical lens through which the messy reality of efforts to deconcentrate low income households can be clearly seen. Clearing the Way raises powerful issues with which advocates and implementers of poverty deconcentration programs must grapple. It is a timely, compelling and, ultimately, sobering book."
—George Galster
Clarence Hilberry Professor of Urban Affairs, Wayne State University
Clearing the Way: Deconcentrating the Poor in Urban America, by Edward G. Goetz, is available in paperback from the Urban Institute Press (6" x 9", 313 pages, ISBN 0-87766-712-8, $29.50).
