# Tell me about living/working in Pruitt-Igoe, Cabrini-Green or any large public housing development..

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-living-working-in-pruitt-igoe-cabrini-green-or-any-large-public-housing-development/622785>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 23, 2012, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-living-working-in-pruitt-igoe-cabrini-green-or-any-large-public-housing-development/622785 "2012-05-23T03:09:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ecoaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/85e7bf/32.png) [@ecoaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ecoaster)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-living-working-in-pruitt-igoe-cabrini-green-or-any-large-public-housing-development/622785/1 "2012-05-23T03:09:22Z")

</div>

Just watched a [documentary](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1788461/) about the failure of Pruitt-Igoe and curious if any Straight Dopers grew up there or in any other large public housing developments during the 60s-80s…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-living-working-in-pruitt-igoe-cabrini-green-or-any-large-public-housing-development/622785/2 "2012-05-24T10:41:07Z")

</div>

I saw a documentary about a rash of murders in Cabrini Green; killed with a hook. Shocking really.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-living-working-in-pruitt-igoe-cabrini-green-or-any-large-public-housing-development/622785/3 "2012-05-24T16:01:18Z")

</div>

I lived in a housing project (Holly Park) in Seattle from 1967-1970. It was large, but it wasn’t a high-rise. It was one and two-story units, lots of green space. More congested than an ordinary neighborhood but not as congested as a high-rise. Holly Park started as military housing in the 40’s. The units weren’t bad – not fancy (no doors on kitchen cabinets) but the rooms were a decent size.

The population was nice mix of ages and ethnicities. Lots of college students, VISTA workers, senior citizens, a few singles but mostly families, some working, some on AFDC. There was a community center (Neighborhood House), day care (Seattle Day Nursery), a branch of Seattle Public Library, a newspaper (The Grapevine), and a community council. When Johnson’s War on Poverty started pouring in some funds, we got a free clinic, a Child Advocate program, another child care center, HeadStart, a free breakfast program, and a clothes closet – all accomplished by volunteers from the community.

Seattle Housing Authority built a high-rise (Greenwood) near Holly Park in the 70’s, but it failed miserably and most of it was torn down within a short time, and converted to senior housing.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-living-working-in-pruitt-igoe-cabrini-green-or-any-large-public-housing-development/622785/4 "2012-05-24T16:20:44Z")

</div>

> [@Staggerlee](#):
>
> I saw a documentary about a rash of murders in Cabrini Green; killed with a hook. Shocking really.

I saw the same doc.