Before Black History Month comes to a close, Saratoga Springs creatives and activists hosted a program discussing the impacts of urban renewal on the city.
Between 1962 and 1986, the federal urban renewal program provided funding to Saratoga Springs to clear out “blighted” areas of the city to allow for redevelopment.
The project in Saratoga Springs aimed to eliminate slums, strengthen the central business district, and improve infrastructure.
In a Zoom seminar, Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation Executive Director Samantha Bosshart explained that, like urban renewal initiatives across the country, Saratoga Springs was failing its residents.
“As the projects progressed, there was concern among the residents in the project’s areas that the project was not serving their needs. Many of those displaces by the urban renewal were not satisfied with the money they received for their property and the small amount given them for moving expenses. In addition, more citizens became concerned that the city was losing its historic character and efforts began to reverse the trend to whatever extent possible,” said Bosshart.
The effort in Saratoga Springs largely displaced the Black community, located in the city’s West Side neighborhood.
Joy King is a seventh-generation Saratogian and active member in the city’s Frederick Allen Lodge as well as MLK Saratoga. She says urban renewal decimated the neighborhood on and around Congress Street.
“For Blacks in Saratoga it was essential. It was the only place where we saw people like us, where we could congregate and meet, and we had a thriving business and thriving stores in that area and hotels and restaurants and churches and social clubs,” said King.
King said the city saw the neighborhood, which was across Broadway from Congress Park, as being too close to the central hotel and business district.
“I didn’t see blight and I still don’t see blight when I look back. The only time I see blight is after everyone moved out and the buildings were vacated, but not before that. So, my take on it is a whole different situation, I just think it was too close to downtown Saratoga and there was other plans to develop the tourism and bring Saratoga back to its vitality state when the big hotels were there,” said King.
C.R.E.A.T.E. Community Studios co-founder Julie Lewis presented “Erasing Spaces and Faces,” a documentary that explores first-hand accounts of the impact of Saratoga Springs’ renewal projects.
In the documentary, Cecelia Hayes described the West Side neighborhood that was paved over during renewal while she lived in Saratoga Springs in the 1960s.
“I felt very comfortable growing up here in Saratoga over here on the West Side. So, when I was living here in Saratoga, Congress Street was lined with Black-owned businesses. There was the Tally-Ho, Leroy’s Cigar Shop, Walczak’s Bar and Grill. And right behind Walczak’s— Walczak’s Bar and Grill stood right where Wendy’s is today. And right behind there, there was a little alley and on the opposite side of the alley was Hattie’s Chicken Shack,” said Hayes.
King narrates a portion of the documentary that interrogates the intentions of the city’s Urban Renewal Agency, which drove the upheaval of minority neighborhoods in prime locations throughout the city.
“Without irony, the city named an apartment complex built on the site of a demolished home Gaslight Square Apartments. Today, apartments in this complex can be rented for roughly $2,000 to $3,000 a month. Former homeowners were now forced to tenancy. That would become a feature of Saratoga Springs history. What really happened to those who were victimized by this program? No matter how bureaucratic the language, removing families from homes is violence. It's time to tell the real stories through the arts, through conversation as a community,” said King.
Speaking with WAMC after the program, Lewis said the documentary combines art and history through what she called “social practice.”
“And that is really when the art—and the social interaction is the art. And that is a very sensitive, you know, it requires a trauma informed approach because you’re often touching on very sensitive topics, as Joy mentioned, that can be really emotional for some people. So, you know, there is a restorative process in it and a really mindful process of constantly evaluating and assessing whether or not we’re doing more harm in the practice than we are hopefully providing some opportunities for healing and transformation,” said Lewis.
C.R.E.A.T.E. is aiming to release the final version of the documentary this summer.
