http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2013/01/city-life-changes-how-our-brains-deal-distractions/4536/
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Class-Divided Cities: Los Angeles Edition
Following the pattern we saw in the first post in this series on New York, L.A. too is divided and segmented by class. But unlike New York's pattern, with its heavy creative class concentration at the core in Manhattan and surrounding parts of Brooklyn and Jersey City, L.A.'s creative class, much of which is no doubt affiliated with the film and television industry, is more spread out along the coast. That said, L.A.'s class geography does not conform to a typical urban-suburban pattern, with lower-wage service workers concentrated in the urban core and the more affluent creative class at the suburban fringe. The pattern of creative class clustering seen in New York does carry over but is expressed in different forms. There are creative class pockets in the city and its downtown as well as in coastal suburbs.
Detroit's Property Tax Black Hole, in Map Form
To get a handle on how bad of a tax mess Detroit is sitting in right now, look no further than this depressing map showing every property in the city suffering "tax distress."
What looks like a big hunk of moldy cheese is in fact the property-tax status of 84,861 properties, as logged by Wayne County's online tax portal. The lighter yellow boxes represent more than 59,000 distressed buildings where the owners haven't paid their taxes. Squished among them are a honeycomb of orange boxes, indicating that these properties have such a large backlog of delinquent taxes that they're now subject to foreclosure. (Count those up and you arrive at about 74,000 doomed properties.) The plots shown in red, meanwhile, are the 18,246 properties that have already been foreclosed.
On the bright side, gray areas mean those places don't have tax issues. Lucky!
The map is the creation of LOVELAND Technologies, a Detroit-based maker of "crowdfunding and social mapping systems." On the full, interactive version, you can zoom down to the level of streets to see who's behind on their payments on your block. Then, when you've selected an individual property, the map offers several ways to balance the tax debt – paying the fees online, for instance, or seeking a poverty exemption or financial assistance from grant-giving institutions. That means this bit of urban cartography isn't just neat to look at, but might help repay a little of the $444 million in taxes and penalties owed around Detroit.
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/housing/2013/01/detroits-property-tax-black-hole/4517/
Monday, January 28, 2013
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Murder and Freezing Temps... a connection I've been curious of
NYC Has 9 Days Without Murder, Thanks To Freezing Temps
“Some have argued that there is something about cold that actually inhibits aggression — literally the effect that cold has on the brain,” said Ellen G. Cohn, a professor of criminal justice at Florida International University. She added, however, that she believed cold reduced violence primarily for a different reason: fewer people are likely to be on the streets, which, she said, means “victims and offenders are less likely to come into contact with each other."
http://gothamist.com/2013/01/26/nyc_has_9_days_without_murder_thank.php
“Some have argued that there is something about cold that actually inhibits aggression — literally the effect that cold has on the brain,” said Ellen G. Cohn, a professor of criminal justice at Florida International University. She added, however, that she believed cold reduced violence primarily for a different reason: fewer people are likely to be on the streets, which, she said, means “victims and offenders are less likely to come into contact with each other."
http://gothamist.com/2013/01/26/nyc_has_9_days_without_murder_thank.php
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
From Prison to Paycheck: Grand Rapids' 30-2-2 Initiative
"Our experience is that people with criminal backgrounds make great employees,'' says Mark Peters, CEO of Butterball. "They found an employer willing to take a chance on them, so they're eager to prove themselves and grow with the company."
Cascade Engineering, a global manufacturer, has about 60 formerly incarcerated people among its 500 Grand Rapids employees. The company has an explicit anti-racism statement and a felony convictions policy that removes prior convictions as a bar to employment. It also supported a "Ban the Box" campaign to eliminate the standard question on job applications regarding prior convictions. At Butterball, nearly 30 of its 170 employees are former prisoners. Peters initially championed hiring them on grounds of fairness, but now he also recognizes their significant contribution to the company.
http://www.policylink.org/site/c.lkIXLbMNJrE/b.8526303/k.E5C6/Americas_Tomorrow__January_23_2013.htm?section=story1&msource=ESGM20130123#.UQBxAyfAfJY
Anti-Racism Statement
At Cascade Engineering, we believe in the values of diversity and inclusion. More specifically, we believe in the diversity of thoughts, ideas, beliefs, experiences, and the inclusion of people regardless of their race, color, sex, language, national origin, religion, orientation or age. In addition to supporting the principles of diversity and inclusion, Cascade Engineering is on a journey to be an anti-racism organization. Our statement defining our journey is as follows:
Cascade Engineering is an anti-racism organization. Cascade Engineering defines being an anti-racism organization as creating an environment where all employees regardless of race or the color of their skin know they are valued. We acknowledge that racism can be unconscious or unintentional and identifying racism as an issue does not automatically mean those involved in the act are racist or intended the negative impact. As an anti-racism organization we will purposefully identify, discuss and challenge issues of race and color and the impact(s) they have on the organization, its systems, and its people. We will also challenge ourselves to understand and correct any inequities we may discover within Cascade Engineering and gain a better understanding of ourselves during this purposeful process. Being an anti-racism organization is a journey and it is the learning along the way that makes this work worth all of our efforts.
Our goal is to create and maintain an environment where employees feel safe to discuss race and the importance it has on our organization and our lives outside of work. Cascade Engineering will continue to purposefully discuss and deepen our understanding of race and racism. As part of this journey, Cascade Engineering was audited by the Partners for a Racism Free Community (PRFC), non-profit organization whose purpose is “to achieve a standard of excellence in racial equality, choosing to become identified with others of a like mind in order to create the critical mass necessary for community transformation.” Cascade Engineering has been certified as a Full Partner by the PRFC, and is the only manufacturer certified in the State of Michigan. The next and highest level of certification is Credential Partner and we hope to be the first business certified in the state.
We are deeply committed to purposefully studying the impacts of race and racism throughout the organization. This work can be uncomfortable and even painful to some, but we have found that the greatest challenges bear the greatest rewards. By embracing the principles of diversity and inclusion our culture is strengthened and our workplace is more dynamic. We would like to recognize and thank our employees, suppliers and stakeholders for supporting our 2012 Diversity Calendar.
http://www.cascadeng.com/about/antiracism.htm
Cascade Engineering, a global manufacturer, has about 60 formerly incarcerated people among its 500 Grand Rapids employees. The company has an explicit anti-racism statement and a felony convictions policy that removes prior convictions as a bar to employment. It also supported a "Ban the Box" campaign to eliminate the standard question on job applications regarding prior convictions. At Butterball, nearly 30 of its 170 employees are former prisoners. Peters initially championed hiring them on grounds of fairness, but now he also recognizes their significant contribution to the company.
http://www.policylink.org/site/c.lkIXLbMNJrE/b.8526303/k.E5C6/Americas_Tomorrow__January_23_2013.htm?section=story1&msource=ESGM20130123#.UQBxAyfAfJY
Anti-Racism Statement
At Cascade Engineering, we believe in the values of diversity and inclusion. More specifically, we believe in the diversity of thoughts, ideas, beliefs, experiences, and the inclusion of people regardless of their race, color, sex, language, national origin, religion, orientation or age. In addition to supporting the principles of diversity and inclusion, Cascade Engineering is on a journey to be an anti-racism organization. Our statement defining our journey is as follows:
Cascade Engineering is an anti-racism organization. Cascade Engineering defines being an anti-racism organization as creating an environment where all employees regardless of race or the color of their skin know they are valued. We acknowledge that racism can be unconscious or unintentional and identifying racism as an issue does not automatically mean those involved in the act are racist or intended the negative impact. As an anti-racism organization we will purposefully identify, discuss and challenge issues of race and color and the impact(s) they have on the organization, its systems, and its people. We will also challenge ourselves to understand and correct any inequities we may discover within Cascade Engineering and gain a better understanding of ourselves during this purposeful process. Being an anti-racism organization is a journey and it is the learning along the way that makes this work worth all of our efforts.
Our goal is to create and maintain an environment where employees feel safe to discuss race and the importance it has on our organization and our lives outside of work. Cascade Engineering will continue to purposefully discuss and deepen our understanding of race and racism. As part of this journey, Cascade Engineering was audited by the Partners for a Racism Free Community (PRFC), non-profit organization whose purpose is “to achieve a standard of excellence in racial equality, choosing to become identified with others of a like mind in order to create the critical mass necessary for community transformation.” Cascade Engineering has been certified as a Full Partner by the PRFC, and is the only manufacturer certified in the State of Michigan. The next and highest level of certification is Credential Partner and we hope to be the first business certified in the state.
We are deeply committed to purposefully studying the impacts of race and racism throughout the organization. This work can be uncomfortable and even painful to some, but we have found that the greatest challenges bear the greatest rewards. By embracing the principles of diversity and inclusion our culture is strengthened and our workplace is more dynamic. We would like to recognize and thank our employees, suppliers and stakeholders for supporting our 2012 Diversity Calendar.
http://www.cascadeng.com/about/antiracism.htm
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Gun Violence in U.S. Cities Compared to the Deadliest Nations in the World
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The pattern is staggering. A number of U.S. cities have gun homicide rates in line with the most deadly nations in the world.
If it were a country, New Orleans (with a rate 62.1 gun murders per 100,000 people) would rank second in the world.
Detroit's gun homicide rate (35.9) is just a bit less than El Salvador (39.9).
Baltimore's rate (29.7) is not too far off that of Guatemala (34.8).
Gun murder in Newark (25.4) and Miami (23.7) is comparable to Colombia (27.1).
Washington D.C. (19) has a higher rate of gun homicide than Brazil (18.1).
Atlanta's rate (17.2) is about the same as South Africa (17).
Cleveland (17.4) has a higher rate than the Dominican Republic (16.3).
Gun murder in Buffalo (16.5) is similar to Panama (16.2).
Houston's rate (12.9) is slightly higher than Ecuador's (12.7).
Gun homicide in Chicago (11.6) is similar to Guyana (11.5).
Phoenix's rate (10.6) is slightly higher than Mexico (10).
Los Angeles (9.2) is comparable to the Philippines (8.9).
Boston rate (6.2) is higher than Nicaragua (5.9).
New York, where gun murders have declined to just four per 100,000, is still higher than Argentina (3).
Even the cities with the lowest homicide rates by American standards, like San Jose and Austin, compare to Albania and Cambodia respectively.
Yes, it's true we are comparing American cities to nations. But most of these countries here have relatively small populations, in many cases comparable to large U.S. metros.
The sad reality is that many American cities have rates of gun homicides comparable to the some of the most violent nations in the world.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Mind Over Mood
"We are not aware of the thoughts guiding our behavior because our actions have become routine. However, when we decide to change or learn a new behavior, thoughts can determine whether and how this change occurs.
Our expectations affect our behavior. We are more likely to try to do something and succeed if we believe it is possible" (Greenberger & Padesky 18).
Our expectations affect our behavior. We are more likely to try to do something and succeed if we believe it is possible" (Greenberger & Padesky 18).
Takin’ Over
By Brandon ‘Lil B’ McCartney
(Available now!) Rapper, songwriter and now author, Brandon ‘Lil b’ McCartney, writes from the heart about being BASED and POSITIVE and SHREDDING old concepts that rap music has to be about violence and anger.
TAKIN’ OVER is Lil b’s rap to the world – a world that that the San Francisco-based star says is about to be Takin’ Over with THE POSITIVE, THE LOVE and ALL POSSIBILITIES for everyone. Written in the form of text messages and emails to his thousands of fans and friends, it reveals his inner-most feelings about LIFE, LOVE, and MUSIC.
One reviewer of TAKIN’ OVER called Lil b, “A rappin’, philosophizin’, teenage Ben Franklin.” It’s possibly the most positive and insightful book to yet come out of the “Anything is Possible” generation.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Racism Still Exists
http://racismstillexists.tumblr.com/
Although public commentary describes the United States as "post-racial", racism continues to exert a very real and pervasive influence on institutional policies and processes, interpersonal interactions, neighborhood infrastructure, socioeconomic opportunities, media imagery, and more. RISE is a project designed to illuminate some of the ways in which racism operates in this country.
Although public commentary describes the United States as "post-racial", racism continues to exert a very real and pervasive influence on institutional policies and processes, interpersonal interactions, neighborhood infrastructure, socioeconomic opportunities, media imagery, and more. RISE is a project designed to illuminate some of the ways in which racism operates in this country.
Series of Brooklyn Billboards Put Racial Inequity on Display
Billboards are everywhere in New York City. They’re on subway trains and in stations, and on top of and inside taxis. But few, if any, have been anything like a series of anonymous billboards that have popped up on bus shelters in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. They’re not selling anything but a delcaration: that racism still exists.
That’s also the name of the appropriately titled campaign. At least half a dozen billboard sites have sprung up around the neighborhood since August, with each month dedicated to highlighting racial disparities that impact black people in America. So far, the billboards have touched on topics ranging from the entertainment industry, education, fast food, smoking, policing, and black wealth. Each month’s billboard is also accompanied by an detailed post on Tumblr that provides background information, news articles, studies, charts, and statistics to back up each claim.
A brief statement on the Tumblr page says, in part, that “RISE is a proejct designed to illuminate some of the ways in which racism operates in this country.” But who’s behind the project remains a mystery.
For the time being, the project seems dedicated to its anonymity. Both the Tumblr page and the billboards themselves are devoid of any contact information. Similarly, the private advertising company that’s contracted by New York City’s transit agency to host advertisments and billboards said that it does not give out information about who paid for the advertisements.
Even local activists who spend their time dedicated to working on racial justice issues can’t figure out who’s behind the billboards. Nonetheless, they’re intrigued by the campaign. This month’s billboard is dedicated to Stop-and-Frisk, the controversial NYPD tactic that’s drawn national criticism for its disproportionate impact on black and Latino men. The billboard’s provactive text reads, “Don’t want to get stopped by the NYPD? Stop being black.” On the heels of New York City’s 2013 mayoral race and the prominent role that critics of Stop-and-Frisk have taken in city politics, the billboards have become a meaningful part of local discussion.
“Bed-Stuy, and Brooklyn in general, is going through a very profound transformation and we gotta put that in context,” says Kali Akuno, an organizer with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement’s New York chapter, referencing the gentrification that’s drastically altered the borough’s demographics over at least the past ten years. “For many of the young yuppies and buppies, they see the police playing a positive role and trying to engage in a race neutral dialouge.
“What the billboard is doing is kinda opening up and exploding this myth that [stop-and-frisk] is taking place in a race neutral light — it’s making people confront it in a very real way.”
Akuno added, “I applaud the effort. If the intent was to shake things up, I think they did their job.”
It’s no accident that of all of New York City’s neighborhoods, the billboards have targeted this one. A historically black neighborhood, Bed-Stuy has become one of the most contested spaces in New York City. A 2012 study from the Fordham Institute found that Brooklyn is home to 25 of the country’s most rapidly gentrifying zip codes. That’s created a stark contrast between those in the neighborhood who have more upward social and economic mobility than others. Several high profile media accounts have recently noted Bed Stuy’s so-called “hip” transformation and “resurgence”, but the borough’s medium per capita income in 2009 was just $23,000, which was $10,000 below the national average.
The content of the billboard’s messaging may not exactly be news for most residents, but the presentation has nonetheless been powerful.
”I think it’s a different kind of communication than I think people are used to in this neighborhood,” says Mark Winston Griffith, the executive director of Brooklyn Movement Center, a community organizing group based in Bed-Stuy. “It tackles race very directly, even the way it has the conversation with an infographic.”
Despite the billboard’s powerful messaging, questions still remain.
“As someone who’s paid for billboards before, I know there was a significant cost to [the project], one that was clearly bankrolled and where no one claimed credit for it,” says Griffith. “All those different elements are what makes it really interesting.”
http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/01/bed_stuy_billboards.html
Words for My State
How I am with the ghetto...
Emotional contagion is the tendency to catch and feel emotions that are similar to and associated with those of others. One view developed by Elaine Hatfield, John Cacioppo, and Richard Rapson of the underlying mechanism is that it represents a tendency to mimic and synchronize facial expressions, vocalizations, postures, and movements with those of another person automatically and, consequently, to converge emotionally.[1] A broader definition of the phenomenon was suggested by Schoenewolf—"a process in which a person or group influences the emotions or behavior of another person or group through the conscious or unconscious induction of emotion states and behavioral attitudes".[2]
^ a b c Schoenewolf, G., (1990). Emotional contagion: Behavioral induction in individuals and groups.' 'Modern Psychoanalysis; 15, 49-61
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_contagion
Emotional contagion is the tendency to catch and feel emotions that are similar to and associated with those of others. One view developed by Elaine Hatfield, John Cacioppo, and Richard Rapson of the underlying mechanism is that it represents a tendency to mimic and synchronize facial expressions, vocalizations, postures, and movements with those of another person automatically and, consequently, to converge emotionally.[1] A broader definition of the phenomenon was suggested by Schoenewolf—"a process in which a person or group influences the emotions or behavior of another person or group through the conscious or unconscious induction of emotion states and behavioral attitudes".[2]
^ a b c Schoenewolf, G., (1990). Emotional contagion: Behavioral induction in individuals and groups.' 'Modern Psychoanalysis; 15, 49-61
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_contagion
Brooklyn's Affordability Crisis Is No Accident
If desirable neighborhoods don't start shouldering more of the burden of increased urban demand, American cities will soon end up like their counterparts in Europe, where everyone except the rich and the tourists are shunted off to the suburbs.
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/technology/2013/01/brooklyns-affordabilty-crisis-no-accident/4401/
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/technology/2013/01/brooklyns-affordabilty-crisis-no-accident/4401/
Michelle Rhee
Michelle Rhee has been working for the last 18 years to give children the skills and knowledge they will need to compete in a changing world. From adding instructional time after school and visiting students' homes as a third grade teacher in Baltimore, to hosting hundreds of community meetings and creating a Youth Cabinet to bring students' voices into reforming the DC Public Schools, she has always been guided by one core principle: put students first.
Each chapter of Michelle's story has convinced her: students of every background and ZIP code can achieve at high levels, and for our schools to become what children deserve, every educator is called to believe this. Even in the toughest of circumstances, all teachers are called to turn the incredible potential that fills their classrooms daily, into the achievements worthy of our children and country.
RADICAL: Fighting to Put Students First
In her new book, Radical: Fighting to Put Students First, Michelle Rhee draws on her own life story and delivers her plan for better American schools. Michelle's goal is to ensure that laws, leaders, and policies are making students - not adults - our top priority, and she outlines concrete steps that will put us on a dramatically different course. Informing her critique are her extraordinary experiences in education: her years of teaching in inner-city Baltimore; her turbulent tenure as chancellor of the Washington, D.C., public schools; and her current role as an education activist. Rhee draws on dozens of compelling examples--from schools she's worked in and studied; from students who've left behind unspeakable home lives and thrived in the classroom; from teachers whose groundbreaking methods have produced unprecedented leaps in student achievement. The book chronicles Rhee's awakening to the potential of every child blessed with a great teacher, her rage at realizing that adults with special interests are blocking badly needed change, and her recognition that it will take a grassroots movement to break through the barriers to outstanding public schools.
Teaching with Teach for America
As a Teach for America (TFA) corps member in a Harlem Park Community School in Baltimore City, through her own trial and error in the classroom, she gained a tremendous respect for the hard work that teachers do every day. She also learned the lesson that would drive her mission for years to come: teachers are the most powerful driving force behind student achievement in our schools.
Each chapter of Michelle's story has convinced her: students of every background and ZIP code can achieve at high levels, and for our schools to become what children deserve, every educator is called to believe this. Even in the toughest of circumstances, all teachers are called to turn the incredible potential that fills their classrooms daily, into the achievements worthy of our children and country.
RADICAL: Fighting to Put Students First
In her new book, Radical: Fighting to Put Students First, Michelle Rhee draws on her own life story and delivers her plan for better American schools. Michelle's goal is to ensure that laws, leaders, and policies are making students - not adults - our top priority, and she outlines concrete steps that will put us on a dramatically different course. Informing her critique are her extraordinary experiences in education: her years of teaching in inner-city Baltimore; her turbulent tenure as chancellor of the Washington, D.C., public schools; and her current role as an education activist. Rhee draws on dozens of compelling examples--from schools she's worked in and studied; from students who've left behind unspeakable home lives and thrived in the classroom; from teachers whose groundbreaking methods have produced unprecedented leaps in student achievement. The book chronicles Rhee's awakening to the potential of every child blessed with a great teacher, her rage at realizing that adults with special interests are blocking badly needed change, and her recognition that it will take a grassroots movement to break through the barriers to outstanding public schools.
Teaching with Teach for America
As a Teach for America (TFA) corps member in a Harlem Park Community School in Baltimore City, through her own trial and error in the classroom, she gained a tremendous respect for the hard work that teachers do every day. She also learned the lesson that would drive her mission for years to come: teachers are the most powerful driving force behind student achievement in our schools.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Intra-Urban Spatial Inequality : Cities as "Urban Regions"
This paper explores spatial inequalities within cities: how they are generated, what characteristics they have, and how these spatial inequalities become persistent and self-perpetuating, embodying serious economic and social problems. This conceptual frame views cities as agglomerations of 'urban regions'--which exhibit significant spatial intra-urban inequalities, and where trends towards equality are constrained predominantly by labor immobility and land-use policies. One of the meta-insights of this paper is that urban problems are often made worse when they coexist and overlap in space. It shows how spatial inequalities are a structural cause of their own perpetuation, and to suggest policies that go beyond neighborhood interventions.
“Kilroy, Austin. 2009. Intra-Urban Spatial Inequality : Cities as "Urban Regions". © Washington, DC: World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/9144 License: CC BY 3.0 Unported.”
https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/9144
“Kilroy, Austin. 2009. Intra-Urban Spatial Inequality : Cities as "Urban Regions". © Washington, DC: World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/9144 License: CC BY 3.0 Unported.”
https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/9144
UNICEF Wants Us to Talk About Urban Inequality
The conversation continues through the end of this week at “The World We Want 2015” site. It’s worth going over and taking a look at what people are saying there. In a globalized economy, the problems of these cities are everybody's business.
Online Discussion on Inequalities in Urban Areas
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2013/01/unicef-wants-us-talk-about-urban-inequality/4400/
Online Discussion on Inequalities in Urban Areas
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2013/01/unicef-wants-us-talk-about-urban-inequality/4400/
Monday, January 14, 2013
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Detroit Tops The 2012 List Of America's Most Dangerous Cities
“If you want to change crime at a place you have to change the nature of the place.”
Roman said urban homicides tend to come in four forms: Women killing their children, family members killing each other, people killing other people they know, and “stranger crimes,” such as killings committed during a robbery or a drug deal gone bad. This last category is dwarfed by the other three, he said, and getting smaller all the time. Better policing has a lot to do with it, plus inventions like the cellphone, which has reduced the number of affluent customers wandering into dangerous parts of town to buy drugs
Detroit, where mobsters brought in Canadian whiskey by the boatload in the 1920s, is now a major transit point for foreign-sourced Ecstasy and other drugs, Hakala said.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielfisher/2012/10/18/detroit-tops-the-2012-list-of-americas-most-dangerous-cities/2/
Roman said urban homicides tend to come in four forms: Women killing their children, family members killing each other, people killing other people they know, and “stranger crimes,” such as killings committed during a robbery or a drug deal gone bad. This last category is dwarfed by the other three, he said, and getting smaller all the time. Better policing has a lot to do with it, plus inventions like the cellphone, which has reduced the number of affluent customers wandering into dangerous parts of town to buy drugs
Detroit, where mobsters brought in Canadian whiskey by the boatload in the 1920s, is now a major transit point for foreign-sourced Ecstasy and other drugs, Hakala said.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielfisher/2012/10/18/detroit-tops-the-2012-list-of-americas-most-dangerous-cities/2/
Hip-hop Artists from Detroit
Esham
J Dilla
Big Sean
Black Milk
Danny Brown
Bei Maejor
The Cool Kids (based in Chicago and Detroit)
J Dilla
Big Sean
Black Milk
Danny Brown
Bei Maejor
The Cool Kids (based in Chicago and Detroit)
Rollin Detroit: Gangs, drug dealers, decline of the economy
Once upon a time, Detroit was the heart of the American Dream. Good jobs, big cars, and the world's most profitable companies placed the city at the heart of the global economy. But as this empire of cars began to crumble and the jobs evaporated, Detroit became the crime capital of America, and a new business, illegal drugs, took over the economy. Now the city lies in shambles: Detroit is the poorest and most violent major city in America. The heart of the American Dream has been shattered. From corrupt narcotics cop Henry Marzett to the infamous Young Boys Inc, White Boy Rick, and the Best Friends Murder for Hire gang: see the Kingpins and Killers that called Detroit home and became the Henry Fords and Lee Iacoccas of a new generation. What happens when the Ceo's and Politicians fail in their plans? It's called DETROIT.
Lose purpose, focus, no engagement in an institution, high school, college, unemployed.
Change your culture. Change your neighborhood. Because when you go back, you go back to the same dirt. Morale in the city is very low.
"Everyone is desperate."
Snowball effect of there not being a real economy in the city. By the time they're 19, they've already ruined their lives.
People need to build Detroit, not tear it down anymore.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
The Origins of the urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit, is the first book by historian and Detroit native Thomas J. Sugrue in which he examines the role race, housing and job discrimination played in the decline of Detroit. Sugrue argues that the decline of Detroit began long before the 1967 race riot. Sugrue argues that institutionalized and often legalized racism resulted in sharply limited opportunities for Detroit blacks for most of the twentieth century.
Friday, January 11, 2013
How Economic Segregation Spreads Crime Like a Virus
In my last blog post, I wrote about how much we may be able to learn about effective crime prevention by comparing experiences across cities. The following week, I had a fascinating exchange with Richard Florida about which elements of city life are most important in preventing crime.
Our discussion prompted me to take a step back and ask: “What is the most important element of a place with respect to crime and public safety?” To answer, I’d like to conduct a thought experiment showing that economic segregation leads to the worst crime outcomes and that the best way to reduce crime is to find ways for the rich and poor to live next to each other. This is not based on some utopian fantasy, but rather on logic.
Crime is contagious. Of that, there is little doubt. A central predictor of crime levels in a neighborhood is how much crime there is in the neighborhood next door. Communities that share borders share crime (technically, this is known as spatial autocorrelation).
Over the past few decades, criminologists have become convinced that places can make people more crime-prone than they otherwise would be. Fix the place, and the people will be safer. For instance, a place with lots of alcohol outlets will almost certainly have more violence than an otherwise identical place with few places to buy liquor.
The best analogy is the spread of a virus. Each individual exposed to a virus has some chance of getting sick, but those with weaker immune systems have a greater risk of falling ill. Places bear similar risks. Certain features—poverty, density, isolation—put some places at greater risk of more crime and violence.
Here is the thought experiment: Suppose we set up the worst-case scenario, one where cities have no recourse to reduce crime other than arranging where people live. And suppose a city was assigned a set number of high-risk (economically disadvantaged) places, a set number of low-risk (highly prosperous) places, and some in between. Now we ask, how should the city arrange those places to create the most safety and the least amount of crime?
The answer is surprising. While we know that isolating our poorest residents is really bad for them, it turns out that segregating the rich and poor leads to the worst outcomes for a city as a whole. Economic integration, where the rich and poor live side by side, leads to the safest cities.
To test this hypothesis, I have borrowed some Brookings Institution models describing the spread of viruses. Working with our D.C. Crime Policy Institute, the Brookings scholars determined that at least 70 percent of crime in Washington, D.C., is due to contagion (the spreading of crime like an epidemic).
How does that work? Below, I describe a city as a 10 X 10 grid. Each of the 100 cells in the grid is a neighborhood. The neighborhoods have some intrinsic ability to fight a crime infection. The dark shaded areas are the most isolated, poorest, densest neighborhoods—and for this very stylized model, I assume they are all infected with the crime bug. The in-between areas (the lightly shaded areas) have a 25 percent chance of becoming infected if they are "exposed" to a neighboring community with high crime. The prosperous neighborhoods (the unshaded areas) are far more resilient; they only have a 5 percent chance of being infected if exposed.
First, let’s consider a perfectly segregated city. All the high-crime neighborhoods are in the same part of the city. All the prosperous places are physically isolated from the high-crime places by the in-between neighborhoods.
Now, let’s explore how an epidemic spreads. Below, we look at a section of our city where the infected places interact with their healthier neighbors. Infected neighborhoods are identified with a number, the in-between neighborhoods with a letter, and the prosperous areas are blank.
I assume there is a one-in-four chance that a high-crime neighborhood will infect its next-door neighbor, and thus every fourth "in-between" neighborhood touching an infected neighborhood becomes infected itself. Place 1 touches place A and place B. Place 2 also touches place A and B, so place B is the fourth neighborhood touched, meaning it becomes infected. Following this pattern, the bold letters below indicate the neighborhoods that become infected.
Place 1—A, B
Place 2—A, B, C
Place 3—B, C, D
Place 4—C, D, E
Place 5—D, E, F, G, H. (Since place D is already infected, we’ll just mark place E as infected in the grid below to properly show the crime bug’s reach).
So, on our first pass, we see four new places infected with crime.
Now, places B, D, E, and H are sick, with a 25 percent chance of infecting their neighboring communities, and so on.
When you work through the entire epidemic, you find that the 25 infected neighborhoods infect an additional 17 neighborhoods. By segregating and isolating the most at-risk places, crime is not corralled, but rather spreads more effectively.
Now imagine that instead of surrounding the infected places with in-between places, we instead surround the infected places with the most prosperous places. Since only 1 in 20 (5 percent) of prosperous places is infected when exposed to the crime virus, then only one prosperous neighborhood is infected in this thought experiment.
Thus, having rich and poor live side by side means 26 of our 100 neighborhoods have crime problems. That is a vast improvement to absolute segregation, where 42 of our 100 neighborhoods are infected.
Of course, this thought experiment ignores the positive benefits of vaccinating places. Cities have many potential vaccines in their arsenal to prevent the spread of a crime epidemic. Identifying which vaccines are most effective is at the core of the discussion Florida and I began about which elements of city life are most important in preventing crime. But it is helpful to begin that discussion by framing it in terms of contagion, epidemics, and vaccines.
The bottom line is, just as we cannot arrest our way out of crime problems, we also cannot economically segregate and isolate our way out either. That approach is self-destructive and has led to many of the problems our cities face today. Figuring out how to fix those mistakes is at the core of creating prosperous places.
Our discussion prompted me to take a step back and ask: “What is the most important element of a place with respect to crime and public safety?” To answer, I’d like to conduct a thought experiment showing that economic segregation leads to the worst crime outcomes and that the best way to reduce crime is to find ways for the rich and poor to live next to each other. This is not based on some utopian fantasy, but rather on logic.
Crime is contagious. Of that, there is little doubt. A central predictor of crime levels in a neighborhood is how much crime there is in the neighborhood next door. Communities that share borders share crime (technically, this is known as spatial autocorrelation).
Over the past few decades, criminologists have become convinced that places can make people more crime-prone than they otherwise would be. Fix the place, and the people will be safer. For instance, a place with lots of alcohol outlets will almost certainly have more violence than an otherwise identical place with few places to buy liquor.
The best analogy is the spread of a virus. Each individual exposed to a virus has some chance of getting sick, but those with weaker immune systems have a greater risk of falling ill. Places bear similar risks. Certain features—poverty, density, isolation—put some places at greater risk of more crime and violence.
Here is the thought experiment: Suppose we set up the worst-case scenario, one where cities have no recourse to reduce crime other than arranging where people live. And suppose a city was assigned a set number of high-risk (economically disadvantaged) places, a set number of low-risk (highly prosperous) places, and some in between. Now we ask, how should the city arrange those places to create the most safety and the least amount of crime?
The answer is surprising. While we know that isolating our poorest residents is really bad for them, it turns out that segregating the rich and poor leads to the worst outcomes for a city as a whole. Economic integration, where the rich and poor live side by side, leads to the safest cities.
To test this hypothesis, I have borrowed some Brookings Institution models describing the spread of viruses. Working with our D.C. Crime Policy Institute, the Brookings scholars determined that at least 70 percent of crime in Washington, D.C., is due to contagion (the spreading of crime like an epidemic).
How does that work? Below, I describe a city as a 10 X 10 grid. Each of the 100 cells in the grid is a neighborhood. The neighborhoods have some intrinsic ability to fight a crime infection. The dark shaded areas are the most isolated, poorest, densest neighborhoods—and for this very stylized model, I assume they are all infected with the crime bug. The in-between areas (the lightly shaded areas) have a 25 percent chance of becoming infected if they are "exposed" to a neighboring community with high crime. The prosperous neighborhoods (the unshaded areas) are far more resilient; they only have a 5 percent chance of being infected if exposed.
First, let’s consider a perfectly segregated city. All the high-crime neighborhoods are in the same part of the city. All the prosperous places are physically isolated from the high-crime places by the in-between neighborhoods.
Now, let’s explore how an epidemic spreads. Below, we look at a section of our city where the infected places interact with their healthier neighbors. Infected neighborhoods are identified with a number, the in-between neighborhoods with a letter, and the prosperous areas are blank.
I assume there is a one-in-four chance that a high-crime neighborhood will infect its next-door neighbor, and thus every fourth "in-between" neighborhood touching an infected neighborhood becomes infected itself. Place 1 touches place A and place B. Place 2 also touches place A and B, so place B is the fourth neighborhood touched, meaning it becomes infected. Following this pattern, the bold letters below indicate the neighborhoods that become infected.
Place 1—A, B
Place 2—A, B, C
Place 3—B, C, D
Place 4—C, D, E
Place 5—D, E, F, G, H. (Since place D is already infected, we’ll just mark place E as infected in the grid below to properly show the crime bug’s reach).
So, on our first pass, we see four new places infected with crime.
Now, places B, D, E, and H are sick, with a 25 percent chance of infecting their neighboring communities, and so on.
When you work through the entire epidemic, you find that the 25 infected neighborhoods infect an additional 17 neighborhoods. By segregating and isolating the most at-risk places, crime is not corralled, but rather spreads more effectively.
Now imagine that instead of surrounding the infected places with in-between places, we instead surround the infected places with the most prosperous places. Since only 1 in 20 (5 percent) of prosperous places is infected when exposed to the crime virus, then only one prosperous neighborhood is infected in this thought experiment.
Thus, having rich and poor live side by side means 26 of our 100 neighborhoods have crime problems. That is a vast improvement to absolute segregation, where 42 of our 100 neighborhoods are infected.
Of course, this thought experiment ignores the positive benefits of vaccinating places. Cities have many potential vaccines in their arsenal to prevent the spread of a crime epidemic. Identifying which vaccines are most effective is at the core of the discussion Florida and I began about which elements of city life are most important in preventing crime. But it is helpful to begin that discussion by framing it in terms of contagion, epidemics, and vaccines.
The bottom line is, just as we cannot arrest our way out of crime problems, we also cannot economically segregate and isolate our way out either. That approach is self-destructive and has led to many of the problems our cities face today. Figuring out how to fix those mistakes is at the core of creating prosperous places.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
The Detroit Black Community Food Security network is a coalition of organizations and individuals working together to build food security in Detroit’s Black community. Our mission is to build self-reliance, food security and food justice in Detroit’s Black community by influencing public policy, engaging in urban agriculture, promoting healthy eating, encouraging co-operative buying, and directing youth towards careers in food-related fields. D-Town Farm is a seven acre farm on Detroit’s west side that features organic vegetable plots, mushroom beds, four bee hives, four hoop houses for year-round food production, and a composting operation.
Malik Yakini
Malik Yakini
URBAN AGRICULTURE AND COMMUNITY GARDENS
What Is It?
Urban agriculture/urban farms refer to many types of small and mid-sized agricultural operations designed to serve urban communities. This includes community gardens and farms located in urban areas, as well as those outside of urban areas that serve urban populations. This tool addresses urban agriculture efforts focused on serving low-income communities and communities of color. These urban agriculture projects can improve access to healthy, affordable food for low-income communities and improve residents’ health. They can also provide supplemental incomes and in some cases local jobs, build job skills and confidence for youth and people transitioning from homelessness or incarceration, revitalize neighborhoods, increase community economic development, reconnect communities with their cultural traditions and skills, and make productive use of vacant land.
The concept of urban agriculture in the United States is not new. In the 1940s nearly 20 million people planted “victory gardens” to lessen the strain placed on the U.S. food system during World War II. During this time, the government rationed food such as dairy, sugar, meat, coffee, and canned goods, but labor and transportation shortages made it difficult to harvest fruits and vegetables. Victory gardens were encouraged as a way for communities to provide for themselves and do their part on the home front. These victory gardens accounted for 44 percent of the fresh vegetables produced in the United States. Citizens planted these victory gardens in their backyards, empty lots, and even on city rooftops. Neighbors joined together to pool their resources, plant different types of crops, and exchange their food with one another. The victory garden program was a federal program that utilized state extension agencies to provide seed, fertilizer, and simple gardening tools for victory gardeners. When the war ended, government promotion of victory gardens did also. However, over the past several years an enthusiasm for urban gardening has been revived. In 2009, First Lady Michelle Obama planted a White House garden as part of her Let’s Move Initiative. See here for a video describing the White House garden.
Urban farms can be planted on private or public property including vacant lots, city parks, churchyards, schoolyards, and rooftops and on land owned individually, by a community group, institution, municipality, land trust, or other entity. This tool will help you understand the opportunities urban agriculture brings, the main challenges to starting an urban farm or garden, and how challenges can be overcome.
Urban agriculture/urban farms refer to many types of small and mid-sized agricultural operations designed to serve urban communities. This includes community gardens and farms located in urban areas, as well as those outside of urban areas that serve urban populations. This tool addresses urban agriculture efforts focused on serving low-income communities and communities of color. These urban agriculture projects can improve access to healthy, affordable food for low-income communities and improve residents’ health. They can also provide supplemental incomes and in some cases local jobs, build job skills and confidence for youth and people transitioning from homelessness or incarceration, revitalize neighborhoods, increase community economic development, reconnect communities with their cultural traditions and skills, and make productive use of vacant land.
The concept of urban agriculture in the United States is not new. In the 1940s nearly 20 million people planted “victory gardens” to lessen the strain placed on the U.S. food system during World War II. During this time, the government rationed food such as dairy, sugar, meat, coffee, and canned goods, but labor and transportation shortages made it difficult to harvest fruits and vegetables. Victory gardens were encouraged as a way for communities to provide for themselves and do their part on the home front. These victory gardens accounted for 44 percent of the fresh vegetables produced in the United States. Citizens planted these victory gardens in their backyards, empty lots, and even on city rooftops. Neighbors joined together to pool their resources, plant different types of crops, and exchange their food with one another. The victory garden program was a federal program that utilized state extension agencies to provide seed, fertilizer, and simple gardening tools for victory gardeners. When the war ended, government promotion of victory gardens did also. However, over the past several years an enthusiasm for urban gardening has been revived. In 2009, First Lady Michelle Obama planted a White House garden as part of her Let’s Move Initiative. See here for a video describing the White House garden.
Urban farms can be planted on private or public property including vacant lots, city parks, churchyards, schoolyards, and rooftops and on land owned individually, by a community group, institution, municipality, land trust, or other entity. This tool will help you understand the opportunities urban agriculture brings, the main challenges to starting an urban farm or garden, and how challenges can be overcome.
TOOLS FOR HEALTHY FOOD ACCESS
Improving Access to Healthy Food
Communities across the country are working to expand and improve healthy food access through grocery stores, small stores, farmers' markets, and urban agriculture. This series of tools offers concerned residents, policymakers, business leaders, and advocates ideas and strategies for improving access to healthy food in underserved communities, based on the wisdom and experiences of local communities.
Healthy Food Retailing
Grocery Stores
Corner Stores
Farmers' Market
Urban Agriculture
Communities across the country are working to expand and improve healthy food access through grocery stores, small stores, farmers' markets, and urban agriculture. This series of tools offers concerned residents, policymakers, business leaders, and advocates ideas and strategies for improving access to healthy food in underserved communities, based on the wisdom and experiences of local communities.
Healthy Food Retailing
Grocery Stores
Corner Stores
Farmers' Market
Urban Agriculture
Osborn Promise Neighborhood Zone (Detroit, MI )
Osborn Promise Neighborhood Zone (Detroit, MI )
About:
Our PN Revitalization Plan will address cradle to career pipeline gaps to achieving outcomes in these categories: early childhood education; school readiness; before-, after-, and summer school programs; dropout prevention; college/career readiness programs; jobs/economic development. The applicant, Black Family Development, Inc. (BFDI) is a 501©3 non-profit that has delivered highly effective social services and educational programs for Detroit. Since its founding in 1978, BFDI has significantly increased community and parent partnerships with area schools, increased neighborhood safety, and mobilized evidence-based systems for family and community support.
About:
Our PN Revitalization Plan will address cradle to career pipeline gaps to achieving outcomes in these categories: early childhood education; school readiness; before-, after-, and summer school programs; dropout prevention; college/career readiness programs; jobs/economic development. The applicant, Black Family Development, Inc. (BFDI) is a 501©3 non-profit that has delivered highly effective social services and educational programs for Detroit. Since its founding in 1978, BFDI has significantly increased community and parent partnerships with area schools, increased neighborhood safety, and mobilized evidence-based systems for family and community support.
A Growing Divide in Urban Gun Violence
The places way above the line for gun murders, like Detroit, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Newark, St. Louis, and Chicago, all have large, very segregated black communities with a history of disinvestment, outmigration, and, except for Chicago, not big immigration in recent decades. With the exception of the South Bronx, New York never had demographic collapse on the same scale. What the Detroit's and Baltimore's of American cities also had was extremely high concentrated poverty that mapped onto race.
There are quite a number of cities — Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Houston, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami, and others — which are far above the line.
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2013/01/growing-divide-urban-gun-violence/4328/
There are quite a number of cities — Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Houston, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami, and others — which are far above the line.
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2013/01/growing-divide-urban-gun-violence/4328/
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
A green roof is a kind of building roof that is covered in vegetation. There are two kinds of green roof, extensive and intensive, categorized by their intended use and the nature of planting. The intensive green roof is named as such because it requires intensive maintenance and care. Intensive green roofs are more similar to garden plantings, involve soil depths suitable for a wide range of vegetation, and are often intended for occupation by roof users.
Extensive green roofs are usually accessible only for maintenance, and use planting strategies that require limited care and upkeep. Both kinds of roof reduce energy demand on buildings by providing insulation and absorbing heat from solar gain, and both can be used to augment evaporative cooling strategies. Green roofs fit into the cool roof concept.
http://www.holcimfoundation.org/T1304/Green_roof.htm
A Blueprint for a Profitable Urban Farm
The analysis suggests that at least three to 10 acres of contiguous space would be needed to create a viable commercial farm.
Global Green USA projects that in that space a profitable farm could be built to support three full-time equivalent staff. Based on three different crop scenarios, the report suggests that revenues could top $160,000 and profits could be more than $10,000 per year. It's kind of like an abbreviated business plan for potential urban farmers in Youngstown, showing at least one way to turn this idea into actual jobs.
The organization has been working with Youngstown since 2009 to help develop a sustainable city plan and to turn the city into a model of recovery for other struggling Rust Belt cities.
The city has been losing population for the last 30 years, and its shrinkage has been compounded by a worsening economic situation. As jobs dried up and people left town, the city became home to large amounts of vacant property – 22,000 empty plots according to an official count. Like many other cities facing similar increases in vacant land, urban agriculture has been seen as an option for putting land back to use. It's also an official strategy. The city's 2010 plan emphasizes the importance of shrinking the city.
About 44 acres of formerly vacant land is now being farmed in Youngstown. Based on this report, an ambitious group of farmers could soon be adding another 5.5 acres to that total, as well as a few local jobs.
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2012/06/blueprint-profitable-urban-farm/2179/
Global Green USA projects that in that space a profitable farm could be built to support three full-time equivalent staff. Based on three different crop scenarios, the report suggests that revenues could top $160,000 and profits could be more than $10,000 per year. It's kind of like an abbreviated business plan for potential urban farmers in Youngstown, showing at least one way to turn this idea into actual jobs.
The organization has been working with Youngstown since 2009 to help develop a sustainable city plan and to turn the city into a model of recovery for other struggling Rust Belt cities.
The city has been losing population for the last 30 years, and its shrinkage has been compounded by a worsening economic situation. As jobs dried up and people left town, the city became home to large amounts of vacant property – 22,000 empty plots according to an official count. Like many other cities facing similar increases in vacant land, urban agriculture has been seen as an option for putting land back to use. It's also an official strategy. The city's 2010 plan emphasizes the importance of shrinking the city.
About 44 acres of formerly vacant land is now being farmed in Youngstown. Based on this report, an ambitious group of farmers could soon be adding another 5.5 acres to that total, as well as a few local jobs.
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2012/06/blueprint-profitable-urban-farm/2179/
Urban Agriculture June 2012 Feasibility Study for Youngstown,OH
A new report [PDF] from the environmental nonprofit Global Green USA argues that even a modest plot of land could potentially become a job creator and profit maker.
http://globalgreen.org/blogs/global/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Youngstown-Urban-Ag-Report-6.012-4.pdf
http://globalgreen.org/blogs/global/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Youngstown-Urban-Ag-Report-6.012-4.pdf
Mapping Urban Agriculture From the Sky
These types of backyard growers seldom figure into public discussion and policy debates about urban agriculture. We more often focus on community gardens. But these images suggest we might think instead about urban agriculture, food deserts and neighborhood sustainability with an eye toward a network of smaller growers rather than a few epicenters.
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2013/01/mapping-urban-agriculture-sky/4346/
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2013/01/mapping-urban-agriculture-sky/4346/
Monday, January 7, 2013
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
13 Resolutions to Change the Food System in 2013
Posted: 12/20/2012 1:49 pm
1. Growing the Cities: Food production doesn't only happen in fields or factories. Nearly one billion people worldwide produce food in cities. In Kibera, the largest slum in Africa, farmers are growing seeds of indigenous vegetables and selling them to rural farmers. At Bell Book & Candle restaurant in New York, customers are served rosemary, cherry tomatoes, romaine, and other produce grown from the restaurant's rooftop garden.
2. Creating Better Access: People's Grocery in Oakland and Fresh Moves in Chicago bring mobile grocery stores to food deserts giving low-income consumers opportunities to make healthy food choices. Instead of chips and soda, they provide customers with affordable organic produce, not typically available in their communities.
3. Eaters Demanding Healthier Food: Food writer Michael Pollan advises not to eat anything that your grandparents wouldn't recognize. Try eating more fruits, vegetables, and whole foods without preservatives and other additives.
4. Cooking More: Home economics classes have declined in schools in the United Kingdom and the U.S. and young people lack basic cooking skills. Top Chefs Jamie Oliver, Alice Waters, and Bill Telepan are working with schools to teach kids how to cook healthy, nutritious foods.
5. Creating Conviviality: According to the Hartman Group, nearly half of all adults in the U.S. eat meals alone. Sharing a meal with family and friends can foster community and conversation. Recent studies suggest that children who eat meals with their families are typically happier and more stable than those who do not.
6. Focus on Vegetables: Nearly two billion people suffer from micronutrient deficiencies worldwide, leading to poor development. The World Vegetable Center, however, is helping farmers grow high-value, nutrient rich vegetables in Africa and Asia, improving health and increasing incomes.
7. Preventing Waste: Roughly one-third of all food is wasted--in fields, during transport, in storage, and in homes. But there are easy, inexpensive ways to prevent waste. Initiatives like Love Food, Hate Waste offer consumers tips about portion control and recipes for leftovers, while farmers in Bolivia are using solar-powered driers to preserve foods.
8. Engaging Youth: Making farming both intellectually and economically stimulating will help make the food system an attractive career option for youth. Across sub-Saharan Africa, cell phones and the internet are connecting farmers to information about weather and markets; in the U.S., Food Corps is teaching students how to grow and cook food, preparing them for a lifetime of healthy eating.
9. Protecting Workers: Farm and food workers across the world are fighting for better pay and working conditions. In Zimbabwe, the General Agricultural and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ), protects laborers from abuse. In the U.S., the Coalition of Immokalee Workers successfully persuaded Trader Joe's and Chipotle to pay the premium of a penny-per-pound to Florida tomato pickers.
10. Acknowledging the Importance of Farmers: Farmers aren't just farmers, they're business-women and men, stewards of the land, and educators, sharing knowledge in their communities. Slow Food International works with farmers all over the world, helping recognize their importance to preserve biodiversity and culture.
11. Recognizing the Role of Governments: Nations must implement policies that give everyone access to safe, affordable, healthy food. In Ghana and Brazil, government action, including national school feeding programs and increased support for sustainable agricultural production, greatly reduced the number of hungry people.
12. Changing the Metrics: Governments, NGOs, and funders have focused on increasing production and improving yields, rather than improving nutrition and protecting the environment. Changing the metrics, and focusing more on quality, will improve public and environmental health, and livelihoods.
13. Fixing the Broken Food System: Agriculture can be the solution to some of the world's most pressing challenges--including unemployment, obesity, and climate change. These innovations simply need more research, more investment, and ultimately more funding.
1. Growing the Cities: Food production doesn't only happen in fields or factories. Nearly one billion people worldwide produce food in cities. In Kibera, the largest slum in Africa, farmers are growing seeds of indigenous vegetables and selling them to rural farmers. At Bell Book & Candle restaurant in New York, customers are served rosemary, cherry tomatoes, romaine, and other produce grown from the restaurant's rooftop garden.
2. Creating Better Access: People's Grocery in Oakland and Fresh Moves in Chicago bring mobile grocery stores to food deserts giving low-income consumers opportunities to make healthy food choices. Instead of chips and soda, they provide customers with affordable organic produce, not typically available in their communities.
3. Eaters Demanding Healthier Food: Food writer Michael Pollan advises not to eat anything that your grandparents wouldn't recognize. Try eating more fruits, vegetables, and whole foods without preservatives and other additives.
4. Cooking More: Home economics classes have declined in schools in the United Kingdom and the U.S. and young people lack basic cooking skills. Top Chefs Jamie Oliver, Alice Waters, and Bill Telepan are working with schools to teach kids how to cook healthy, nutritious foods.
5. Creating Conviviality: According to the Hartman Group, nearly half of all adults in the U.S. eat meals alone. Sharing a meal with family and friends can foster community and conversation. Recent studies suggest that children who eat meals with their families are typically happier and more stable than those who do not.
6. Focus on Vegetables: Nearly two billion people suffer from micronutrient deficiencies worldwide, leading to poor development. The World Vegetable Center, however, is helping farmers grow high-value, nutrient rich vegetables in Africa and Asia, improving health and increasing incomes.
7. Preventing Waste: Roughly one-third of all food is wasted--in fields, during transport, in storage, and in homes. But there are easy, inexpensive ways to prevent waste. Initiatives like Love Food, Hate Waste offer consumers tips about portion control and recipes for leftovers, while farmers in Bolivia are using solar-powered driers to preserve foods.
8. Engaging Youth: Making farming both intellectually and economically stimulating will help make the food system an attractive career option for youth. Across sub-Saharan Africa, cell phones and the internet are connecting farmers to information about weather and markets; in the U.S., Food Corps is teaching students how to grow and cook food, preparing them for a lifetime of healthy eating.
9. Protecting Workers: Farm and food workers across the world are fighting for better pay and working conditions. In Zimbabwe, the General Agricultural and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ), protects laborers from abuse. In the U.S., the Coalition of Immokalee Workers successfully persuaded Trader Joe's and Chipotle to pay the premium of a penny-per-pound to Florida tomato pickers.
10. Acknowledging the Importance of Farmers: Farmers aren't just farmers, they're business-women and men, stewards of the land, and educators, sharing knowledge in their communities. Slow Food International works with farmers all over the world, helping recognize their importance to preserve biodiversity and culture.
11. Recognizing the Role of Governments: Nations must implement policies that give everyone access to safe, affordable, healthy food. In Ghana and Brazil, government action, including national school feeding programs and increased support for sustainable agricultural production, greatly reduced the number of hungry people.
12. Changing the Metrics: Governments, NGOs, and funders have focused on increasing production and improving yields, rather than improving nutrition and protecting the environment. Changing the metrics, and focusing more on quality, will improve public and environmental health, and livelihoods.
13. Fixing the Broken Food System: Agriculture can be the solution to some of the world's most pressing challenges--including unemployment, obesity, and climate change. These innovations simply need more research, more investment, and ultimately more funding.
What City Skies Would Look Like Without Light Pollution
Ground Zero
Artist Thierry Cohen
http://thierrycohen.com/pages/work/starlights.html
Ground Zero
Artist Thierry Cohen
http://thierrycohen.com/pages/work/starlights.html
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Brooklyn the Game
rooklyn: The Game will allow people to explore these questions by using their smartphones to tour Downtown Brooklyn, one of New York City’s most rapidly changing neighborhoods. The game turns the city into an interactive learning space while engaging a wide variety of constituencies in virtual and real world conversations about development policy and projects.
Players start by downloading the app and picking a tour such as Brooklyn Undergrounds: From Hip Hop to Abolitionism, A Great Bargain: Shopping Then and Now, or Designing Downtowns: Architecture an Urban Planning. The game’s augmented reality feature allows them to juxtapose the past, present, and future of individual sites by bringing together an array of historic and contemporary materials including images, photographs, film footage, and interview clips. Players travel through layers of time while standing in the actual built environment, giving them a fresh and nuanced perspective on neighborhood change.
The game is also fun and competitive. By answering questions and finding clues, players receive discounts at local businesses, discover “geotags” on buildings that provide information about developer subsidies and public benefit, and are rewarded for sharing their opinions through online social networks, including Facebook and Twitter.
Brooklyn: The Game is a companion project to the feature documentary My Brooklyn. Together, these products are parts of a single package that will provide audiences with much-needed tools for understanding issues of race, class, and neighborhood change in historical context.
http://www.brooklynthegame.com/
Players start by downloading the app and picking a tour such as Brooklyn Undergrounds: From Hip Hop to Abolitionism, A Great Bargain: Shopping Then and Now, or Designing Downtowns: Architecture an Urban Planning. The game’s augmented reality feature allows them to juxtapose the past, present, and future of individual sites by bringing together an array of historic and contemporary materials including images, photographs, film footage, and interview clips. Players travel through layers of time while standing in the actual built environment, giving them a fresh and nuanced perspective on neighborhood change.
The game is also fun and competitive. By answering questions and finding clues, players receive discounts at local businesses, discover “geotags” on buildings that provide information about developer subsidies and public benefit, and are rewarded for sharing their opinions through online social networks, including Facebook and Twitter.
Brooklyn: The Game is a companion project to the feature documentary My Brooklyn. Together, these products are parts of a single package that will provide audiences with much-needed tools for understanding issues of race, class, and neighborhood change in historical context.
http://www.brooklynthegame.com/
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