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ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Early in my research for this book, one of the Housing Authority residents who generously sat for several interviews gestured to the neighbor-filled playground in front of her development and said—riffing off the African proverb popularized by Hillary Clinton’s 1996 book—“It takes a courtyard to raise a kid right.” The same, I’ve learned, goes for writing a book right. And I’ve had the best of courtyards, filled with colleagues whose generosity bordered on the absurd at times. Betsy Gitter, Gerry Markowitz, and Carol Groneman read far more drafts—and corrected far more gaffes—than friendship calls for in this life. Ellen Noonan at the American Social History Project brought order to my chaotic prose when it was needed—and it often was. But the assistance started long before I wrote the book’s first line. At the La Guardia and Wagner Archives, Steve Levine and Douglas DiCarlo largely tolerated my expansive and noisy research style and, far more importantly, shared their encyclopedic knowledge of New York City history and the quirks of the archives’ vast holdings. Richard Lieberman, without whom there would no archive and so no book, deserves special thanks. The anonymous readers at Rutgers University Press proved how inaccurate the poor reputation of readers’ reports among some academics can be. The readers’ probing criticisms nudged the text just where it needed to go. Thank you. Evan Mason, Kate Wood, and Arlene Simon at Landmark West! added immensely to this project with their dedication to preserving the Amsterdam Houses for their residents. New York is a far better place because of such community activists who leverage shoestring budgets to achieve neighborhood miracles. At various junctures, John Jay College freed me from other responsibilities—a generosity without which this book might never have been written. A grant from the City University of New York’s Professional Staff Congress helped defray the cost of transcribing oral histories at a critical stage in the research, underscoring the key role a faculty union can play in the scholarship of its members. Eli Faber and Allison Kavey provided ample doses of firm chiding and good cheer when I needed it most. Ed Paulino shared beers in Santo Domingo, conducted oral histories in Brooklyn, and helped me think about public housing and Latinos in New York in ways that have powerfully shaped this book. Zaire Dinzey-Flores, similarly, generously shared her insightful research into security and public housing in Puerto Rico. Dara Byrne was an inspiring and dedicated teaching partner as I was wrapping this book up. Pat Sinatra and Jane Bowers pioneered the service-learning course that helped launch this book; they represent the best of the City University of New York and in the process taught me what sort of colleague I want to be. My biggest debts at John Jay, however, are to its students. Sheyla Celin was the model of a diligent and thoughtful research assistant—any graduate school would be lucky to get her. Maria Jimenez, Melissa Lopez, Maria Figueroa, Christian Nunez, Brittany McGee, Agrona Selimaj, Rasheda Denny, and Caswell Mclean all helped the residents of the Amsterdam Houses tell their stories in ways I might never have been able to. And every semester, John Jay students—with their humanity and independent spark—make me a better a historian. Writing this book required gathering the perspectives of a number of impressive police officials. Former Housing Authority Police Department assistant chief of department Joe Keeney, who quietly undermines the many stereotypes of police chiefs that circulate outside the law enforcement community, often took calls at odd hours to respond to questions only he could love or answer. Former Housing PBA president Joe Balzano generously shared his deep knowledge of a police force he loyally shepherded through some dark years. Gary Nash of FOP Lodge 997 helped make possible interviews with former housing officers at the Florida HAPD reunions. Chief Joanne Jaffe of the Housing Bureau granted me several interviews and could probably give even hardened critics hope for the future of policing in urban America. I’ve accumulated a lot of debts among NYCHA residents and HAPD officers; Rutgers University Press’s preference that I keep my informants’ names confidential prevents me from properly thanking them all here. I can only hope that I’ve done justice to the experiences they shared. Their inspiring stories of creative tenacity pushed me to write even when the project seemed stalled. My parents, who had a...

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