For those who have only seen them from the highway, they are the “crack stacks.” But for an idealistic group of planners and developers in the 1970s, Riverside Plaza was the imperfect result of a utopian vision. Legal battles and funding shortfalls prevented the residential complex from reaching its planned size of 12,000 units, and the apartments that were finished never attracted the mix of ages, ethnicities, and income groups the developers imagined. Today, the brutalist buildings with colored panels are a landing pad for East African refugees and other recent immigrants. In this radio documentary, we talk to past and present residents and urban planning experts about the controversial towers. More…