“A Lot of Investment, a Lot of Roots”

This chapter examines two neighborhood-based movements that challenged redevelopment: Morningside Heights and Cooper Square. It considers how the two areas became policy battlegrounds in the early 1960s as tenants mounted a second round of struggle against urban renewal schemes in New York City. Tenant mobilizations in both areas shared some features with the strike movement, namely tangible contributions from Old Left activists and complicated relations among left and liberal players. But Cooper Square and Morningside Heights tenants employed different ideological tools. They articulated a concept of urban community rights based on social bonds among diverse neighbors. The chapter shows how tenants' assertion of community rights against owners' prerogative challenged a pillar of postwar American ideology, namely, citizenship based on homeownership.