THE POLITICS OF GROWTH-CONTROL - STRUGGLES IN PASADENA, CALIFORNIA

Growth and growth controls are some of the most contentious issues facing California, raising issues of equity, of housing, of jobs and of the environment. This case study analyzes the opposition to growth controls in Pasadena, California by the Chamber of Commerce and black leaders of the City It delves into the question of who benefits from growth and the types of ideologies that find themselves in conflict when cities face the pressures engendered by growth. It suggests the need to confront these ideologies and go beyond the images they evoke to understand the changing material conditions on the ground. In Pasadena the regime of growth, formulated by the business community and implemented by the City through its planning functions, largely bypassed the African-American and increasingly Latino neighborhoods where conditions continued to deteriorate. While prominent African-American leaders opposed growth controls, the support for controlling growth spanned race and class categories, receiving substantial voter support in African-American and Latino neighborhoods.