Interview with Lee Shostak
Lee recalls that the initial idea for Homeworld came from David Parker. David was working in the States for the New York State Urban Development Corporation and had a lot of experience in building new towns and working with new developers. And so, David was recruited to provide opportunities for different developers, to showcase their houses and put Milton Keynes on the map. And so, the energy efficiency side of design was secondary to that. He also mentions David Crewe’s and Brian Brookman’s involvement in the early stages.
He also recalls the trip to America to take inspiration from new towns and that Paul Shephard was hired to create inward investment target marketing on the West Coast. He thinks that David Parker’s real value was in helping to formulate the City’s marketing programme. He states how he is mostly responsible, alongside David, for the urban legend of Milton Keynes. And praises David for being politically shrewd, working closely with Fred and Jock, to navigate local and national politics, and what would sell to investors. Although Lee mentions that David was not always a popular man, he was responsible for marketing Central Milton Keynes.
His last mention is of Thatcher’s government at the time, that even though Milton Keynes was established to help meet London’s housing needs, when Thatcher was Prime Minister, that agenda was cancelled and the original plan of a third of jobs would be in manufacturing changed when the focus changed to the development of the City Centre.
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