Dead heroes, it seems, can be used by anyone. For example, George Bush who promotes war on Iraqis abroad and war on low and moderate income people here, praises the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King – who, had he lived, would be marching in Bush protest. (See a funny dissection of a Bush invocation of King here .) Similarly, NYC Planning(sic) Chair Amanda Burden, who facilitates such monster over-developments as The West Side Stadium, Ratnerville, Yankee & Shea Stadiums and Columbia U’s northward march into Harlem, hides Mr. Bloomberg’s destructive unplanning goals under the mantle of Jane Jacobs . (Norman Oder has made lots of good fun Ms.Burden’s rather appalling attempts to body snatch Ms. Jacobs work and life here.

Those of us who remember Jane Jacobs, her fights for people-sized development and against eight-lane urban expressways or who read “The Death & Life Of Great American Cities” as a guerrilla guide to saving our city, will love the Municipal Art Society’s heroic attempt to bring Jacobs and her work back to life: Jane Jacobs & The Future Of New York

The exhibit, which opens Tuesday September 25, 2007, at the Municipal Art Society’s Urban Center which is located in the remnants of the wonderful Villard Houses behind St. Patrick’s Cathedral, 457 Madison Avenue at East 51st Street. Subway: 6 to 51st Street; E, V to Fifth/53rd (Madison Avenue exit); B, D, F to Rockefeller Center.  read more »