While I sympathize with Dr. Rotenstein's plight up in Pittsburgh, I would
have to say that there is no "precedent" being set there with regard to the
lack of appreciation for historic preservation.
This is happening across the country, and is part and parcel of the way
archaeology (especially CRM archaeology, but university and museum
archaeology as well) is practiced in the United States, and increasingly in
the U.K.
One could cite dozens of examples. Pick just about any Indian reservation
you care to name, or to keep it within an "urban" context, the destruction
of Allen Parkway Village in Houston (a public housing complex) or Techwood
Homes in Atlanta are two prime examples of how much of a joke the Section
106 "process" is, especially when race is thrown into the mix.
flm