ABSTRACT
With electoral issues out of the way for another two years, and with many of the major downtown rebuilding issues more or less settled, the battles over growth and development shifted momentarily to other parts of the city. Progressives now faced the difficult question of whether they could develop a viable progressive economic development strategy while continuing to ensure that the use values of neighborhoods would be protected. Working within the context of the fiscal crunch caused by the combination of the earthquake, a recession, and a decrease in intergovernmental transfers of funds, their first new test came in January 1991, just one month after they assumed office. The result was bitter acrimony within the progressive majority, some of which had not abated when we did follow-up interviews in 2007.
