The City: A Private Subway

The businessmen of Fort Worth—like those in many another U.S. city—watched in dismay as traffic congestion clogged downtown streets and customers fled to the suburbs. At their behest the city hired Architect-Planner Victor Gruen to redesign the downtown area, but Gruen's elaborate plan proved to cost more than the city fathers were prepared to pay. Then a downtown mall was tried, but planners failed to provide enough convenient parking space; in the Texas long hot summer, the few potted trees they installed did little to shade the wide concrete expanse, and business declined. But Marvin and Obediah...