there is always my favorite, the labor unrest. -- neighbor unrest. they are having people go in the area and using it for various purposes. imad the voice of broadway. they have been -- i met the voice of broadway. they have instrumental getting together and creating a dialogue and tackling some of these issues. and then i have a few of these recommendations from a community standpoint and through this research that i am going to spend the bulk of my time with now. community patrols. the community patrol, usa has offered to help start a community patrol in this area. there's a lot of complaints by neighbors but there is no neighborhood organization creating a community patrol to help empower themselves. and work toward a better solution. the neighborhood night out on broadway, i am working with kehl -- ggailail gimlin. i am creating a neighborhood night out. m.p. storefronts, we have been in contact with -- i do not know if you know artspan. they have talked to me several times about being able to put in some art-related installments in the windows. t

. >> host: how much was reported in the united states about the labor unrest or death in the canal zone. did you find evidence that there was fair reporting? was it a pretty wild ride? .. >> early on there was an expose of what was happening in the canal zone by a man named billelow -- bigelow who traveled through the canal zone. and he charged that there was a lot of graft and corruption, and he charged that the united states was importing prostitutes to service the skilled men in particular. and this was, this really raised alarms, um, partly because the french construction project had been infamous for scandal and corruption. so there was suddenly this sense that in the canal zone scandal and corruption was taking over. um, theodore roosevelt decided immediately that he needed to go to the canal zone to answer these charges. and so it was actually the first time in the united states history that a sitting president had left the territory of the united states. he got on a ship with his wife, went to the canal zone to tour everything, sat in the steam shovel, the famous one, one of the

. >> host: what would you say was the level of labor unrest in the building of the canal? am thinking about the auto strikes of the 30s, founding of the uaw. anything of that level? >> not really. it was an orderly zone. goebbels was very strategic and effective that using thing like deportation and arrest and imprisonment to enhance productivity. an executive order was passed by president roosevelt which gave goebbels complete authority to deport everyone not contributing productively to the construction project. generally speaking, workers found other ways to the -- except for those pesky spaniards of the day struck and rioted. they were causing trouble throughout the construction era but that was the key exception. >> host: where they needed? >> guest: the more they rioted and protested, the less the government felt they were needed. by 1911-1912 the u.s. government stopped bringing in the spaniards and let the go, more troubled. >> host: we're talking to professor julie greene about her book "the canal builders," making america's and higher at the panama canal. you tal