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"Nothing but a bunch of mothers"

Jane Jacobs, the late community organizer and urban life theory extrordinaire, wrote an amazing letter to the City Council in support of the North Brooklyn community during our fight over the 2005 rezoning. One day I will find that letter in my archives and post here, but in the meantime, I thought this passage from a NY Times blog was very interesting:

Before her death in 2006 at age 89, Ms. Jacobs had told interviewers about the day she saw Mr. Moses at a city hearing and heard him dismiss opponents of the Lower Manhattan Expressway as "nothing but a bunch of mothers."

Much like how Rudy Guiliani and Sarah Palin professed ignorance of what a community organizer is, the idea that ordinary citizens cannot band together and make a difference is way too accepted in our society.