Walkability Key to Urban Revitalization
by Randy Shaw‚
Jun. 20‚ 2013
The most popular neighborhoods and cities in the United States have one feature in common: they are walkable. From Jane Jacob’s West Village in New York City to Santa Monica’s oceanfront to San Francisco’s North Beach, Hayes Valley and Mission Districts, it is the vibrant street life driven by pedestrians not cars that makes the difference. Jeff Speck, a co-author of the classic Suburban Nation, describes how to create these thriving city environments in a new book, Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America One Step at a Time (the subtitle is misleading, as Speck focuses on cities and urban neighborhoods, not simply downtowns). Speck has taken his extensive experience to come up with “The Ten Steps of Walkability” that local governments should take to make their cities more vibrant and pedestrian-friendly. Speck pulls no punches in describing the chief obstacles to walkable cities, which include traffic engineers and traffic studies. His candor makes for a book that is both lively and persuasive; Speck also provides the research to support his conclusion that walkable neighborhoods are healthier, more enjoyable, and central to economic revitalization.
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Kids who grow up in prison: CA Senate Bill 260 offers chance for new lives
by Karin Drucker‚
Jun. 20‚ 2013
In the early 20th century, criminal justice reformers rallied behind the concept of juvenile justice, which recognized that children are different from adults. One hundred years later, we are starting to believe this again. Senate Bill 260, currently awaiting a vote in the California Assembly, would offer a vital chance to give judges an opportunity to reconsider the life sentences that courts doled out to children during the past several decades. SB 260 passed the California State Senate on May 29 of this year. However, it faces an uphill battle as it goes to the contentious California State Assembly. It needs your support. [more]->
FRAMELINE 37---“PIT STOP,” “BIG JOY: THE ADVENTURES OF JAMES BROUGHTON,” “WHITE NIGHT”
by Peter Wong‚
Jun. 20‚ 2013
Yen Tan’s keenly observed drama “Pit Stop” offers a poignant look at gay life in a land where the emotional distances to establish personal connection match the physical distances between human habitations.
Gabe (Bill Heck) and Ernesto (Marcus DeAnda) are two blue collar gay men living in emotional limbos in rural Texas. Gabe works in construction, and maintains ties with ex-wife Shannon (Amy Seimetz) and their daughter. Despite the end of his marriage-ending relationship with a male lover, he still pines for his ex. While Shannon accepts Gabe’s help in raising their daughter, his infidelity stands as a permanent divider between them. [more]->
Why are College Presidents Treated Like Wall Street CEO’s?
by Randy Shaw‚
Jun. 19‚ 2013
Two decades ago, this week’s report that NYU President John Sexton got a $1million loan from the school to purchase a Fire Island vacation home would have been a national scandal. Today, it is a sign of the times. As young people graduate college facing crushing debt, college presidents, even in public schools like the University of California, are living high on the hog. NYU alone has given over 100 faculty large loans, and its former law school dean got $5.7 million for a townhouse in the West Village and a 65-acre second home in rural Litchfield County.
This disconnect between economically struggling students and privileged college presidents is deplorable. Yet school’s governance by elite-dominated Boards perpetuates this staggering inequality. Activists need to find ways to prevent students from subsidizing these lavish administrator salaries, and legislation, civil disobedience and public shaming may all be necessary. [more]->
“I HEARD THAT:” JUNETEENTH CELEBRATION ON DA ‘MO!....
by ROCHELLE METCALFE‚
Jun. 19‚ 2013
TODAY, June 19th, African American Emancipation Day! From its Galveston, Texas origin in 1865, Black slaves received word of their freedom! The observance of June 19th has spread across the United States and beyond, in commemoration of freedom and equality. The day, known as “JUNETEENTH,” celebrates Black heritage, Black pride, Black consciousness, music.
The late successful businessman Wesley, Johnson, Sr., started the tradition of Juneteenth in San Francisco, read column @www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=7041, passed during the early 80s, BUT the tradition of the Juneteenth Festival and Parade continues every year in the Western Addition, once a thriving Black business community, now part of the Fillmore Renaissance district, BLACK Fillmore NO MORE!!! [more]->
IKEA’s race to the bottom
by John Logan‚
Jun. 19‚ 2013
Now a $20 billion per year company, IKEA is the world’s largest furniture retailer, and one of the world’s most recognizable retail brands. Worldwide, IKEA operates in approximately 40 countries and has almost 100,000 employees. On June 19th, IKEA employees in a dozen different countries will take part in protests against poor labor standards and management violations of freedom of association. In the past year, IKEA has been accused of committing labor rights violations in several countries, including the United States, Russia, Czech Republic, Ireland, Greece, Italy, Spain, France and Belgium. But Turkey stands out as an exceptionally bad case.
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RIP, American Dream? Why It's So Hard for the Poor to Get Ahead Today
by Matthew O'Brien‚
Jun. 19‚ 2013
High-income kids who don't graduate from college are 2.5 times more likely to end up rich than low-income kids who do get a degree
The American Dream isn't dead. It's just moved to Denmark.
Now, we like to think of ourselves as a classless society, but it isn't true today. As the Brookings Institution has pointed out, America has turned into a place Horatio Alger would scarcely recognize: we have more inequality and less mobility than once-stratified Europe, particularly the Nordic countries. It's what outgoing Council of Economic Advisers chief Alan Krueger has dubbed the "Great Gatsby Curve" -- the more inequality there is, the less mobility there is. As Tim Noah put it, it's harder to climb our social ladder when the rungs are further apart.
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Why Young People Have Deserted Obama
by Randy Shaw‚
Jun. 18‚ 2013
According to a new CNN poll, President Obama’s support among young people has fallen a whopping 17% in the past month. And while a single poll taken as college students are in finals or preparing to graduate has limitations, it’s hard to dispute that a constituency that twice voted for Obama in record numbers is disillusioned and demoralized over the President’s performance. GOP obstructionism is certainly a factor; Obama's base would be happier if Congress had enacted his campaign agenda.
But there’s a deeper problem. People have lost faith in Obama’s willingness to take a gloves off approach to political adversaries. That's why even when Obama directly addresses young people--- as in the president’s recent speeches about reducing student loan debt---he is not seen as going to the mat for the cause. Obama could regain young people’s support by lowering student loan rates, enacting immigration reform and rejecting the Keystone XL Pipeline, but time---and his political capital—is running out.
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Will IDEO's school meal experience fly?
by Dana Woldow‚
Jun. 18‚ 2013
I spent an hour recently at the offices of IDEO, the design firm hired by the Sara and Evan Williams Family Foundation to lead an initiative to reform the school meal experience in San Francisco. Those working on the project are spending the spring and early summer talking to a variety of stakeholder groups - students, parents, school staff, cafeteria workers, school meal experts - to get their input. The IDEO folks asked me not to leak any of their ideas before the initiative is finalized later this summer; that's an easy promise to keep, as my time with them was spent sharing my thoughts, not listening to theirs.
I wish I could say that my ideas are as cutting edge and innovative (or, as entrepreneurs like to say, "disruptive") as IDEO's are expected to be, but their ideas come out of a novel process they call "focused chaos", whereas mine spring from the more humdrum "see a need and fix it." Due to barriers posed by government meal program rules and lack of funds, many of my ideas have been getting stale waiting for someone to figure out how to implement them. I've written about most of them previously, sometimes repeatedly. Let's revisit some of those ideas. [more]->
Why Our Schools Are Broke: Five Years of Corporate State Tax Avoidance
by Paul Buchheit‚
Jun. 18‚ 2013
June 20, 2013
