The Nation - News from Aug. 18, 1989

Authorities in Newark, N. J., agreed to scale back drastically the amount of public housing to be demolished under a slum clearance plan and committed themselves to replacing the razed apartments. The agreement between the Newark Housing Authority and housing activists provides for the demolition of eight apartment buildings containing about 1,900 units, with 1,500 new apartments to be built and hundreds of others renovated. Tenants in buildings being demolished will be given a place immediately in a new building or a renovated apartment. The program is the biggest demolition of public housing by an American city. It is aimed at getting rid of what critics call “high-rise slums.”