I disagree. That empty field is only nicer if it's covered in greenery, not concrete, and it wasn't merely decay and crime - or even mostly decay and crime, though in some areas it didn't help. Many of those buildings (if not most) were not decaying or falling apart either. Just because they weren't the prettiest part of town it doesn't mean the people that had lived there for generations should have their properties seized for a highway - and put into government-subsidized housing, creating a state dependency cycle - which could've been built around the city with feeder roads leading into and not
through it. There are hundreds of before and after shots that show the near immediate destruction of huge historic sections of American cities in the construction of the highway systems. We shattered our own heritage for corporate big box stores, strip malls and soulless modern glass towers.
The right side does not look better.
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Those decaying buildings would have been restored and become prime historic real estate like Over-the-Rhine in Cincinnati which looked like (and practically
was) a warzone 20 years ago and is a completely restored and safer district today.
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