In a flagrant act of journalism, Journal Sentinel Tom Daykin takes a look at the myths surrounding workforce housing, the sort of affordable housing that's slated for New Berlin's failed City Center. His finding:
But there's scant evidence that such projects in other communities have caused property values to drop, or crime to increase, based on a check of public records and interviews with elected officials and neighborhood residents.
Predictably, Daykin's work triggered howls of outrage from the ignorati who see workforce housing as the second coming of the Cabrini Green towers. Daykin, who shows an admirable willingness to engage readers in comments weighed in:
Finally, the point of the story was to make clear the differences between Section 8 and Section 42 housing, and why most of Section 42 projects [note: the type of project proposed for New Berlin] draw little opposition while a few proposal draw high-profile protests. This is not an attempt to tell you what to think. It's just an attempt to provide some facts about the situation.
One has to wonder if he had coworker Patrick McIlheran in mind when he wrote this, given Patrick strenuously tried to connect the New Berlin development to Section 8 during a bout of predictable fearmongering.
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