landscape of exclusion

Lawyer Takes on Homeless Mom Schooling Case

A homeless mom was charged for sending her son to school.

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/120688444.html

I've been working on some school projects so I haven't had time to post anything here for a month but rest assured that there is plenty of juicy content coming this way. In the mean time I'd like to briefly comment on this link that caught my eye.

I'm not extremely familiar with Norwalk Connecticut but I did spend some time in nearby Fairfield Connecticut which is also in Fairfield county and is more well off than Norwalk. In Fairfield, like many places, home owners aren't allowed to redevelop their properties into more dense development. They aren't even allowed to subdivide existing properties and take on renters. Both of these measures have the intended effect of keeping out lower income folks. Unfortunately these kind of rules are the norm for American planning. The American landscape is a landscape of exclusion because we make it that way. People such as the mom in this case who violate this exclusion get prosecuted.