Author D.J. Waldie on Being a 'Partisan of Suburban Places'

"Lakewood is not really a suburb anymore, it's a particular kind of urban place that looks suburban superficially but which is netted fully in an urban fabric," says author D.J. Waldie who is most famous for writing Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir, set in 1950s Lakewood, California.

Waldie sat down with Reason Magazine Editor in Chief Matt Welch, who also grew up in Lakewood, to talk about city planning and the unique issues affecting suburbia in 2011. For 34 years, Waldie served as the Public Information Officer for the city of Lakewood and still lives in the house he grew up in.

The film rights to Holy Land were bought in late 2010 by actor James Franco for a possible movie.

Waldie is also the author of the book Where We Are Now: Notes from Los Angeles, blogs at KCET.org and is a contributing editor to the Los Angeles Times.

Topics include: Why contract cities pinch every penny; the effects of a recession on suburbia; and why residents are leaving California.

Aproximately 10 minutes.

Camera by Paul Detrick, Alex Manning and Tracy Oppenheimer. Edited by Detrick

Go to http://www.reason.tv for downloadable versions, and subscribe to Reason.tv's YouTube Channel to receive automatic updates when new material goes live.

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[catothewiser]

@Moragauth - ever heard of economic warfare? Ever hear of dumping as a practice economically. It is the way Japan wiped out US industries. But you see nothing wrong with that, I guess?

[Moragauth]

@catothewiser All you've offered are assertions to the effect that trade is like warfare, that (for whatever reason) govt's are meant to protect "us" from this evil (then by all means, lets practise protectionism WITHIN countries too) and moronic ad homines arguments. Please hold your tongue until you've got something of interest to add on the topic rather than the same tired conservative tirades. No one spoke of selflessness, but you dimwitted conservatives only view things as war

[catothewiser]

@Moragauth - protectionism works - it is the basic principle of government. Why form a government to protect from foreign armies sacking cities while impotent about economic warfare. "Free Trade" is the hobgoblin of college student dopers living off their parent's dwindling wealth (gained under protectionism) and government largesse (paying for the institutions.) It is the ultimate new form of hippie mindset - that foreigners are going to participate in making us wealthy selflessly

[Moragauth]

@catothewiser I like how you keep on with your protectionist religion. The reason manufacturing was exported is because of your quasi-socialist gov't. Please, grow up.

[Shonenut213]

@catothewiser you're a dumbass fuck off you stupid troll

[catothewiser]

I love how the devastating effects of exporting manufacturing is writ large here....but you guys will keep on with your nutty "Free Trade" religion despite it being proven wrong.

[catothewiser]

@lockdown260 - legal or illegal immigration makes little difference. Race of the immigrants means everything. If you thing illegality is the problem then Amnesty would solve the problems. No, these people will be incompatible with our society regardless of legal status.

[TrueEmergence]

Yea I'm from an area in NE Ohio that has loads of townships that do the same

[CurtHowland]

@jtbpnw I'm not talking about now. I'm talking about in a competitive environment for security services.

[vonGleichenT]

Who wants to do business in that type of environment. I rather move my business into an low-taxation environment. States such as Nevada, Texas, Delaware, Arizona and etc.