LMS Post Reponse to Reuters: Japanese Water Powered Car

This was my response to this video:



The conversation then moved towards electric cars, etc.

When I lived in the SF Bay Area, a few of the East Bay BART stations were outfitted with electric plug sources for hybrid cars. Since I did not have said car, I overlooked them, however, there was always grumbling that there were not enough spaces for this process. I think that means the demand is certainly there, at least in CA, which tends to be on the front foot with this sort of thing.

It also touched on a point of my transition presentation about upgrading existing cars. The concept that all of the cars on the roads now should be chucked for new models is absurd and unrealistic. Fitting cars out piece by piece (especially engine components to increase efficiency) is a far more reasonable quest for the majority of people who cannot get new cars, especially in this economy. Not to mention that there need so to be a sharp 180 away from this culture which has become so disposable.

Recently I was reading about a piece being added to the exhaust pipe to trap CO2...the location of which of course now eludes me. I will have to find it and post it...

Either way, that water car is wicked cool. Hopefully, people will be bright enough not to use drinking/potable water to run it. The water in the ocean is rising, so let's grab some of that to use.

Pratt Mimi Meets Poppy McKee

This is soooo school related. Or not. Anyway, Mimi and I went to the 50th Annual NY 7s Tournament on Randall's Island yesterday. When I woke up at 6:30am to go play I quickly decided that I had in fact, not lost my damn mind, and promptly went back to sleep. We did go later to watch the finals and took little Poppy McKee with us. These photos are disturbingly cute, but I feel that might be what my blog is lacking right now, some positive cuteness.

From My Lips to God's Ears aka To Register or Not to Register?

It is really starting to get messy down here, and I don't actually believe in God, however.... When people are being trampled in WalMart stampedes, my stocks are not as useful as toilet paper, international airports are being blocked off by rebels, and god knows how many people don't have a damn thing to eat or drink.... This makes for a really hot mess and something's got to give.

I feel like literally all I am doing in my classes is sitting around discussing more sitting around. No one ever seems to answer any of my questions concerning actually acting, which is frustrating. People are pinning all their hopes on this president elect who I really think will come up short on his many promises (they all do, but his rhetoric is lost on me), rather than say doing something themselves.

I am really rethinking spending another semester of time and money on "discussing" but not gaining the technical skills I thought I would be getting from what is billed as a science program. My version of science must be very different, and trust that I already know global warming exists and that there is a crisis going on, hence why I am back in school. One of my classmates keeps lamenting that he is "buying a degree" and taking "science light," but frankly, this is pretty expensive to only get that additive to my resume. I hope he's wrong.

A little positive guidance might be nice....

Go Give Blood, It Might Save You from the Next Plague

About a week ago in Science of Sustainability we were talking about toxins and vectors and pretty much how we're all going to die of bird flu in a Twelve Monkeys sort of scenario before we ever hit peak oil. And we were discussing this article from National Geographic ("The Pollution Within," by D. Duncan, October 2006) in which the author had his blood analyzed and found this whole mess of toxins and metals and chemicals.

This made me recall an interview I had seen on The Daily Show well over a year ago on blood letting ridding the body of chemicals and how I use that as an argument for giving blood today. No one really ever listens to me about it, but it makes me feel like I am getting some of the nasty junk out. This also reminds me that I am due to give some blood...Monday, maybe? But I digress. This is the author on video, Dr. Sharon Moalem, talking about his book, Survival of the Sickest. I could not buy it at the time (I cannot hold hardcovers due to an old rugby thumb dislocation injury), but just now remembered the entire class exchange and found a cheap used copy online to put in the pile of books I keep meaning to read.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Dr. Sharon Moalem

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

LMS Post ~ Recycled Subway Cars Turned into Studios in London

This article was originally posted on Inhabitat's webpage. Anyone who is into container architecture, here is another version using subway cars in London. I doubt I would want to use a hollowed out F train for shelter or studio space, but you get the reuse idea. The photos are quite good, showing the cars mounted on rooftops and transformed.

Recycled Subway Cars Turned into Studios in London by Jorge Chapa

Enterprising young artists in the London scene are usually presented with the dilemma of having to rent extremely expensive studio space in order to be able to work. This led furniture designer Auro Foxcroft to a rather ingenious and environmentally conscious solution. What was it? Take old subway cars, mount them on a rooftop, and use them for office space! A bit sparse? Sure! But these recycled subway cars are sure to inspire other green-minded, socially conscious artistic efforts.

Located on top of an old brick warehouse in Shoreditch, London, Village Underground provides affordable studio space for young artists (around 15 pounds per week). The subway cars act as working spaces for the artists, while a lower-level restored warehouse is used to host events and exhibit the artists’ works.

The four subway vehicles that make up the village were purchased for a grand total of 200 pounds each. They were then moved on top of the warehouse, and retrofitted to create a working space. The seats inside the carriages were removed, but everything else remains as is (one can even go into the cabin to play around with all the buttons and levers).

The best bit? There are plans to expand this concept to Berlin, Lisbon, and Toronto. Needless to say, we love it.

LMS Post Response to The Pardoning Begins

This was my response to the pardoning of 14 individuals by lame duck boy, Bush, outlined here.

Basically, I said: I am in no way shocked. I think if anyone were shocked they have been living in leprechaun party land with rainbows and unicorns and unlimited oil for the past 8 years. However, I would pay good devalued American money to see S. Swanston's reaction to of all of this, since so many seem to be environmental in nature.

On the latest pardon list were:

—Leslie Owen Collier of Charleston, Mo. She was convicted for unauthorized use of a pesticide and violating the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

—Milton Kirk Cordes of Rapid City, S.D. Cordes was convicted of conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act, which prohibits importation into the country of wildlife taken in violation of conservation laws.

—Richard Micheal Culpepper of Mahomet, Ill., who was convicted of making false statements to the federal government.

—Brenda Jean Dolenz-Helmer of Fort Worth, Texas, for reporting or helping cover up a crime.

—Andrew Foster Harley of Falls Church, Va. Harley was convicted of wrongful use and distribution of marijuana and cocaine.

—Obie Gene Helton of Rossville, Ga., whose offense was unauthorized acquisition of food stamps.

—Carey C. Hice Sr. of Travelers Rest, S.C., who was convicted of income tax evasion.

—Geneva Yvonne Hogg of Jacksonville, Fla., convicted of bank embezzlement.

—William Hoyle McCright Jr. of Midland, Texas, who was sentenced for making false entries, books, reports or statements to a bank.

—Paul Julian McCurdy of Sulphur, Okla., who was sentenced for misapplication of bank funds.

—Robert Earl Mohon Jr. of Grant, Ala., who was convicted of conspiracy to distribute marijuana.

—Ronald Alan Mohrhoff of Los Angeles, who was convicted for unlawful use of a telephone in a narcotics felony.

—Daniel Figh Pue III of Conroe, Texas, convicted of illegal treatment, storage and disposal of a hazardous waste without a permit.

—Orion Lynn Vick of White Hall, Ark., who was convicted of aiding and abetting the theft of government property.

Bush also commuted the prison sentences of John Edward Forte of North Brunswick, N.J., and James Russell Harris of Detroit, Mich. Both were convicted of cocaine offenses.

Forte, a well-known hip hop artist, worked with the Fugees, Wyclef Jean and Herbie Hancock.

Bush has been stingy during his time in office about handing out reprieves.

Including these actions, he has granted a total of 171 and eight commutations. That’s less than half as many as Presidents Clinton or Reagan issued during their time in office. Both were two-term presidents.

Reading Comments for Science of Sustainability Week 9

OK, I loved The New Yorker article and will mainly make my reading comments on that article for that reason, but I could have been largely swayed by the comments on obesity early on (page 2). The author (Specter) even used the "f" word - fat - that we (dietitians) are demonized by acceptance groups not to use despite it being an accurate medical term. However, it's true about larger footprint. Obese people do have more carbon-laden diets, they consume greater quantities of all foods, and they certainly have an aversion to walking. Everything has to be bigger for them, and it takes more fuel to cart their heft than it does for the average person. I could write tomes on this, and likely should, however, there were some other facts in the article that I found compelling as well.

I would like to research this Forum of the Future in Britain as well as their governmental Carbon trust. I personally shop at Tesco when I am in the UK. I used to shop there exclusively due to their stock of large 2 liter bottles of Strongbow, which amazes me, but now I have a better reason and I am truly eager to check out their labeling systems. Why is it so hard for large grocers in the U.S. to adopt some sort of carbon system? They are really lazy and backward and it is an unfortunate side effect of American culture in general, both on a consumer and a corporate level, to really not do things until they become mandated or so trendy that they are then profitable. This reminds me of how WalMart is going hunting for huge tax breaks making promises of greening in the form of solar, only to take the tax incentives and only install one of the proposed roofs. And that is part of what I almost find detestable in the green movement; that "Green is the new black." Everyone wants a piece of the pie and I for one am not the type to decry why a person, group, or corporation does something positive as long as it gets done. However, green washing is becoming all too commonplace, allowing the American public to subscribe to a new form of consumerism once again without solid direction or ideology. We are all to quick to jump on the bandwagon regardless of our often complete lack of education about what said bandwagon's tank runs on.

Also, another factor that came after the publishing of the article is how this new economic freak show is going to set back the movement. Yes, it is heralded to be the time for a Green Revolution, however, in the very McDonough way of cradle-to-cradle trade, it is a revolution that may quickly lose it's funding because it is simply not accessible to a majority of the market. "Green" living is something that is becoming a marketing ploy and in a recession of this magnitude, there will be diminished funding and consumers will certainly not be able to provide the base needed to swing a revolution out of the gates especially when the predecessors and purveyors of it seem to be focused solidly on charging top dollar for technology, products, etc. If this trend does not reverse or diverge into green luxury and green necessity soon, it will certainly miss it's mark and also it's window of time it could be meaningfully effective rather than a last ditch effort.

Tricky Law Quizzes Abounding ~ CERCLA and RCRA

This time the quizzes were at least take home. However, this means nothing as the questions are often so poorly written that you could argue out several theoretically correct answers which just ends up in arguments and fights in class and we never really learn the answer.

However, now I (and you) know that if the moving party (party asking for the judgment) petitions for summary judgment (the trial to be decided in total prior to jury trial)... and loses... The trial then proceeds as normal litigation would. The case is not dismissed, it simply means there is not enough evidentiary material to be judged on prior to presentation before a jury.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why I quit law school in 2001. If I wanted to read law tomes akin to stereo instructions, I would not have amassed so many head injuries.

LMS Post Response to The MTA and Sustainability in Times of Crisis

In response to this hot mess of MTA fare increases and service cuts...from the NY Times...

I agree, this is a nightmare in the making.

Please go sign this: MTA Petition

I know petitions are not tremendously activating, however, you should do it anyway and pass it on. Perhaps the pretty colors will help some people to find it compelling. Personally, I don't support any taxes of stocks (perhaps property...) and think that the federal government should be at least tapped in several different ways via loans, relief, etc. I need to go read some more about this before I go off about it, but I think this is a vital part of the city infrastructure that simply cannot be avoided or junked.

LMS Post ~ Council Limits Developers from Towering Over East Village and LES

Some word on zoning changes for the LES... I like this change. I used to live down here and played rugby at the East River Park for a number of seasons and despite the nasty hipster infestation they have going on, I like the low rise ambiance that would lose it's identity forever if built out.

Council Limits Developers from Towering Over East Village and LES
By Billy Parker, November 19, 2008

This afternoon, City Council has approved a measure that will place height limits on new buildings in the East Village and the Lower East Side. The plan will rezone over 111 blocks from Delancey Street to East 13th Street, and east of the Bowery to Avenue D. Developers, who were previously only limited by how high they could build the front wall of new buildings (taking advantages of setbacks that let them build higher in the backs of lots), will now see a cap of 120 feet, no matter how far their lots go back (There's also a restriction of 80 foot heights on smaller streets.)

The plan may significantly curb the rampant development in the trendy downtown neighborhoods. Had it been effect just a few years ago, it would have made a significant dent into the plans of new buildings, like the Blue Condos on Norfolk which tower over the area at 181 feet. Buildings under construction with completed foundations can skirt the new regulations, while those that have permits and have just put down a substantial foundation merely have the right to apply for extension from Board of Standards and Appeals.

The mayor's office says that the plan will pave the way for more housing on wider blocks like Houston and Delancey with as many as "1,670 additional housing units over the next ten years, including 560 units permanently affordable to low- and middle-income families." The City Planning Commission will now turn their attention to Chinatown, where some had protested the proposal for fear that it would simply shift the burden of development onto them.

LMS Post ~ Daschle to Be Nominee for Health Post in Obama Cabinet

This is the first real big position thrown out there for the new cabinet:

Personally, I had hoped this would go to Senator Hillary Clinton, however, time to read up on this guy....


Daschle to Be Nominee for Health Post in Obama Cabinet

By HELENE COOPER and PETER BAKER

Published: November 19, 2008

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama will nominate former Senator Thomas A. Daschle of South Dakota as secretary of health and human services, and is leaning toward former Deputy Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. as attorney general, people close to the transition said Wednesday.

....

Democratic sources said Mr. Daschle has accepted the job. But aides to Mr. Obama said a formal announcement would not be made until after the national security and economic teams were unveiled. Mr. Obama’s transition team did announce Wednesday that Mr. Daschle will oversee the new president’s health policy working group.

Mr. Daschle was initially considered for White House chief of staff, but Mr. Obama chose instead to name Representative Rahm Emanuel of Chicago. If confirmed, Mr. Daschle could end up being the point man on any efforts to overhaul the country’s health care delivery and insurance system, a tall order, health policy experts say, because of the current economic situation.

....

Reading Comments for Science of Sustainability Week 8

Here are my reading comments, they might be a little depressing, but the articles were depressing, so.... Please to enjoy:

I had the luck of going over "The Pollution Within," by Dan Duncan with you in my Sustainable Design class and I remember being equally as thrilled about my thoroughly toxic modern life then as I am now. These comments might be shortened by the fact that I will start looking around and cleaning my office frenetically of items which are suspect and look toxic, despite the fact that even the ones that look innocent are likely coursing through my veins with a grand chemical vengeance right now. I will likely be calmed by the fact that at least I don't eat meat so there is extra room in that bloodstream for toxins to move since my cholesterol is low. Congratulations to me! As a dietitian, I am regularly asked by people how to get less chemicals in their food; they all think that organic is the yellow brick road to a cancer-free life. Now I can give them this article and tell them that it may only be a minute fraction of the puzzle, but still to stay away from predator fish on menus across NYC since no one knows where the fish came from and it was unlikely clean water anyway. What disturbs me more is that many people think that a modern (read: convenient and sleek) life is worth the risks of having so many chemicals in mix. It seems like playing Russian roulette with your brand of vinyl shower curtain: which morning will the whiff of chemicals finally get you? And even more curious, what will they do to you and where will they do it?

Reading "High-Tech Trash," by Chris Carroll makes me want to take a shower. It is like reading a matched piece to a Burtynsky gallery show and feeling like of all the toxins I read about in the last article, this one makes me feel like the real choking toxin is shame. Seriously, e-waste is so incredibly despicable and damaging on so many levels. I recall when I was a small child, living on a rural farm where I would chase after my father to help him burn the trash. It is a tiny fraction of what Third World e-waste disposers deal with to be honest, it disturbed my breathing and gave me a slight headache and this was 20 years ago. I can only imagine the amount of toxic disturbance e-waste causes for mere pennies to the people disposing of it. And that would not even take into account the seas of e-waste leaching down into the water supplies of said people. Or the fact that for our millions of pounds of off cast electronics each year, most Americans don't know where the waste goes, what is done with it, who does it, or even care in the slightest past having a replacement for said off cast item. The page listing all the chemicals involved in the computer's life, the flame retardants, the cadmium, the lead, kind of make me feel like my eye strain might not be caused by what I think it is, and conversely, that I should be thankful that I am just rubbing my eyes instead of burning off rubber coatings to copper wires to make a dollar.

In "China's Children of Smoke" by Dan Fagin, I immediately thought about the soaring levels of Bronx (largely) and other NYC city kids who have staggering levels of asthma. Neonatologists are quick to point out that the certain areas which are hit the hardest in NYC also show the highest numbers of maternal disregard for prenatal care and diet leading to premature births (and therefore, often underdeveloped lungs), but...the air is still very polluted and i believe it is a direct correlation to the persistent asthma. However, I find molecular epidemiology fascinating and think that there are many merits to the findings. The concept that what a mother breathes translates into the health of the child is not new news. The fact that China is increasingly a coal culture is also not new. What would be new is if the Chinese as a culture attempted to lessen their plight by creating a safer environment, putting down the cigarettes, etc., and/or considering a child with delayed development, retardation, or a smaller head worth a cultural overhaul.

LMS Post Responses to GM Auto Thread

Wow, did this forum post become one long mess.... I basically argued that the fall out affect of letting the Big Three automakers collapse would be a terrific mistake for a number of reasons. I am once again frustrated by the lack of realistic thought that comes from some people in response to these situations. There really is only so much lesson-teaching to corporate America you can do in this situation (it should have been done much earlier, obviously)and I don't believe a single penny should be awarded without serious strings attached. That said, I don't think they should just be scrapped. Perhaps this would be something that could be nationalized and cleaned up...but not scrapped for the sake of teaching stockholders a lesson.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008, 06:14 PM That would be hideous for the entire country and the world economy, not just a lesson for the "very rich" and Wall Street. There is a lesson to be learned from all of it, but frankly, teaching people a lesson by letting the market fail is far easier a statement than an idea of a balanced penalty. Yes, the corporations will hurt in their coffers, but it will be a pittance compared to all the people who will march to the unemployment lines, all the fixed income seniors watching their small investments die, the college kids relying on their parents, small families barely making it on the jobs in those industries who will then be hitting up unemployment and welfare, etc. etc. etc. The concept of "Oooh, bad corporation, bad investors, you should pay for this, ha ha," is not going to work. Every time I hear someone say this, I seriously question how far they have thought it out because you know what, these industries may be flawed, but a lot of people depend on them for many things, and when I sell out my GM stock and stick that money in McDonald's before Obama jacks up the capital gains tax, I am not going to lose nearly as big as the child who is relying on his father/mother's auto plant health insurance. I'm just goig to bank on the fact that people have to buy cheap value meals to not starve. In reality a move like that would just make the chasm between the top and bottom bigger, readjusted for inflation.

Thursday, November 13, 2008, 01:14 PM
Yes, but you are basically cutting off the nose to spite the face in your theory here. And Geoff is right, this is not sheer money for nothing, it will be loaned and likely with extensive strings. It's like you personally hate corporate America so much that you are willing to see all the fallout happen which is far more of an issue (as referenced in my earlier post: unemployment, shelters overflowing, children without food or health care, etc.) than whether the people at the top get a Christmas bonus this year, which they likely will still give themselves anyway.

Thursday, November 13, 2008, 01:10 PM
Actually, the estimate is more like 3 million jobs directly lost (in the industry) and another 25 million jobs effected as the fallout of the first 3 million....

Thursday, November 13, 2008, 01:49 PM
I agree with your last sentiment. This bailing out of the agriculture industry, then AIG and friends has certainly made a slippery slope of what businesses feel they can ask for and someone needs to be made an example of on how this needs to stop, I just think that it should be a weighed decision more than just a "get bent" to any specific industry/corporation.

At that point, I decided to tap out. I guess I am far too conservative for those in this forum argument, but that's what pays my bills.

LMS Post Response to Charge on Plastic Bags

In response to comments on this article posted on the LMS:

I agree with you, Meryl. We as a culture really only respond when a surcharge is tacked onto things we otherwise take for granted. This is also something many states already do for other recyclables, so it really should be fair game with plastic bags. This is already the practice in some San Francisco stores.

Also, Tim, no store has ever hung back on handing out plastic bags due to the price of oil. For the past year oil has been up and down and all over the place and 4 out of every 5 times I am in lines with my cloth bags at whatever store, either the cashier or another customer make a snide comment when I say I have my own bags. Last week a checker at Fairway called me a hippie. And it is even worse when you leave NYC...

Also, as for the trash bag scenario, maybe that will caution people to create less trash or take the time to put more of what they perceive as trash in the recycling bins. Or perhaps max out their trash per bag, or dump their trash from a wastecan bagless. That might take them another trip up their steps, but I figure we can all burn a few calories that way.


Original Article:
6 Cents is 6 Cents, But Time? That's Something

By SUSAN DOMINUS

Published: November 9, 2008

I once lived in rural France for half a year, in a region of southern Burgundy known to epicures for its fine cattle and wine. It was also known for being the French boondocks — we got the feeling from Parisian friends that they thought we were living somewhere vaguely akin to a suburb of Binghamton. Indeed, driving to the closest supermarket took close to half an hour, sometimes longer on the occasions when my husband and I realized, 10 minutes into the drive, that we’d forgotten our plastic bags and had to turn right around to get them.

My husband and I weren’t particularly green at the time, which was seven years ago. Nor was anyone else in that rural part of France, as far as we could tell. What they were was frugal. “Everyone has porcupines in their pockets,” a neighbor there once told me — in other words, it really hurt to reach for their wallets. That mattered when it came to plastic bags, because you had to pay for them at the store.

The store, E.Leclerc, was a sprawling emporium that sold household goods along with groceries — think Kmart, only with an entire aisle devoted to 23 varieties of yogurt. The store bags were plastic, but a thickish plastic, with sturdy handles. We always intended to put the empty ones back in the car for the next trip, but every once in a while, they were left behind in the pantry, and then we’d find ourselves in a bind.

The bags were maybe 30 cents each, but it wasn’t just the financial hit that made us waste all that time turning around to go home. It was shame.

You’d start loading your groceries onto the conveyor belt, and then would have to explain to the clerk that you’d forgotten your bags. She would grimace. For some reason, the bags had to be paid for in a separate transaction. This was slightly more laborious for her, and checkout time at E.Leclerc was a precise, even tense, exercise in speed.

Our neighbors timed their grocery shops to the minute: By 11:45, the store was empty, with everyone at home cooking up whatever they’d just bought for lunch. So not only was the store clerk irritated, but the people in back of us were too. Tell the clerk you need to buy bags, and you would get the same reaction that people in New York do when they announce, in some grocery store express line, that they have to pay by check. Groaning, shifting of feet, loud, deliberate sighing.

But it was not just the extra time it took that made those sighs so loaded, those groans so embarrassing. It was the knowledge that most likely, in that entire store, we were the only ones foolish enough to be shelling out $3 for bags that we had sitting around at home, empty, in some pile in the pantry. These were a frugal people, respectful of the porcupine. And we — well, we were Americans.

None of the tsk-tsking was about the landfill. It was about common sense, and the absurdity of the uselessly new. Our neighbors had 100-year-old armoires in their homes, not because they were exquisite antiques, but because someone in their family had bought them around then and they still worked just fine. One neighbor used to come by our house with what we’d call roadpear: pears, some a bit rotting, that he noticed by the side of the road on his way over. He would peel them and sauté them in butter, and we’d all be in roadpear heaven.

Critics of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s recently announced plan to charge a 6-cent fee for plastic bags have argued that the charge could not come at a worse time, now that people are counting every penny with care. But from a green point of view, it could not have come at a better time — even the city’s more affluent shoppers, who once might have considered 6 cents per bag a bargain for the convenience, might quickly change their habits.

So much of the green movement seems to be one big push to upgrade responsibly — in other words, to shop: for green makeup, green clothing, green carpeting. Charging for plastic bags may seem to be adding one more item to the shopping list, but with useless spending going far out of fashion, the opposite might be true.

If the mayor really wants to stop people from using plastic bags, he might consider requiring that the transaction take a few minutes longer. New Yorkers have gotten used to wasting money, but they’ll never put up with wasting time. Especially if you’re standing in front of them, wasting theirs.

Proof of Global Warming: Meet My New Dog/Fox

I will soon be living alone due to the Dubai Notice, so I begged/bribed my landlord to let me get a dog. In this economy that extra $500 deposit could pretty much get you just about anything it seems as long as that thing doesn't bark. So I went to the 92nd Street ASPCA and got this teensy little white scrumpy white 6+ year-old mutt whom I named "Poppy McKee." Getting a dog that cannot travel via subway or bus in NYC is kind of not sustainable...

She is a special needs dog with breast cancer who will need surgery(s) and tons of attention. But she genuinely just looks like a cross between a small white terrierish dog and an arctic fox. I guess they're migrating from the poles now too a la global warming...or at least that's what I am telling all the terribly gullible people who are always trying to touch her in public (rude).

I might get less work done now, but it's for a good cause.

Policy Proposal Group Project

Group work makes me cranky like a kindergartner who needs to be diagnosed with OCD and given a nap space with no other children snoozing within earshot. But I digress, for some reason forgotten to me now (likely OCD), I volunteered to choose the template and compile everyone's slides for our class this Tuesday to make them cohesive, so here are the two unique slides I made. Those that I edited, compiled, or created for others and as the title page are not included.

Originally I had done policy proposals for an newly elected NYC official, but I have since changed it to a closer look at Obama's energy policies surrounding the automotive industry and alternative fuels. What he had to begin with is certainly a great start and very ambitious, however, if you are going to push for better, best to overshoot in your demands, in my opinion. Corporations have historically shown that by and large they will achieve the lowest common denominator.

LMS Post ~ Renter's Rights in NYC Damaged By Foreclosures

I posted this news bit because while many are claiming to victims of the mortgage crisis who knowingly extended themselves, in NYC it is often their tenants who end up screwed.

Evictions soar as banks foreclose on landlords during credit crisis

The staggering rise in foreclosures and home evictions across the outer boroughs has created a new group of innocent victims - renters.

A Daily News investigation shows that from Staten Island to South Jamaica, renters have been given just weeks to find new digs, while unscrupulous landlords collect rents for homes they no longer own.

"There are a lot of innocent people being hurt by the foreclosure crisis," said Vicki Been, director of the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York University.

The center analyzed 2007 foreclosure numbers and estimated at least 38,000 people in foreclosed homes were renters.

These are people who, unlike their landlords, didn't get in over their heads by taking out loans they couldn't repay.

Housing Court calendars - especially in Queens - are clogged with eviction petitions from banks on foreclosed properties.

Alarmed by the ever-increasing number of foreclosures, court officials last spring began counting evictions - tallying 1,538 since mid-April in the outer boroughs. Manhattan only has a few.

"We've certainly seen increases, especially in Queens and Staten Island," said Louise Seeley, executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group, the City-wide Task Force on Housing Court.

Queens remains eviction central. Banks there have filed 871 foreclosure-related evictions between April 21 and Oct. 17 involving 480 properties, records show.

Some Queens neighborhoods have had frequent visits from city marshals slapping eviction notices on their doors.

The hardest hit areas include Rochdale Village in South Jamaica (41 evictions), Far Rockaway (38) and South Ozone Park (32), court records show.

Brooklyn placed second with 351 foreclosure-related evictions filed between the end of April and Oct. 27, followed by Staten Island with 195 in the same period.

The Bronx had 121 evictions between the end of April and Oct. 23. Only a handful occurred in Manhattan, where a vastly different housing stock has been largely unaffected by the foreclosure virus.

Foreclosure-related evictions have kept city Marshal Edward Guida, a 19-year veteran, busy. He's done 608 such evictions this year, compared to 279 in the same period last year.

None of the other 44 marshals in the city has done as many.

Guida said 80% of the foreclosed homes he takes possession of are empty - and many have been trashed.

"Actually today [when] you're finding them, they've removed a lot of the cabinets, the boiler, the pipes," he said. "You're finding animals left behind."

Guida said evictions can be dangerous. He was shot at once several years ago, and six months ago a woman grabbed a knife and tried to stab him. Neither incident involved a foreclosure.

"It's part of the job; you have to be very careful," Guida said.

These days the term "eviction" comes up frequently in Queens Housing Court. The other day, Deutsche Bank moved to evict tenants of four apartments at a foreclosed building on Astoria Blvd.

When the case was called, the occupants of three of the apartments stood up. They included two couples, two brothers and three small children.

Tenant Maria Perez, 34, told the judge she and the others weren't aware the house was in foreclosure or that Maria Inga no longer owned it.

She said they paid$1,700 rent for September to Inga, who told them she would keep their security deposits as payment for October rent.

The judge instructed them not to give Inga any more money.

Outside of court, Deutsche Bank lawyer Eileen Lin told Perez the bank had bought the house at auction and was selling it to recoup its money. To do that, they needed it to be empty.

"You're pretty much the innocent people here," Lin told them.

Perez's husband, Carlos Hernandez, 34, said he did not know what they would do. "We have two children," he said. "I don't want to lose my apartment."

And Again California? Could You Get Nothing Right?

As an aside, I lived in San Francisco for 4 years directly after undergrad, hence my interest. I won't say I left my heart there, but it remains the only place where I get off the plane and feel like I am home. Can't say that about NYC, Las Vegas, Philly, or Ohio...

But then, this hot mess happened...

California Voters Reject Well Meaning But Poorly Drafted Renewable Energy Ballot Initiatives

by Matthew McDermott, Brooklyn, NY on 11. 5.08

A quick post-vote update to some of the renewable energy ballot initiatives in California: With over over a third of votes counted, approximately 60% of voters have rejected both Proposition 7 and Proposition 10. Prop 7 would have raised California’s renewable portfolio standard for utilities to 50% by 2025; while Prop 10 would have have provided funding to help offset the costs individuals would pay in purchasing alternative fuel vehicles.

While both sound like laudable goals, opposition to Prop 7 spanned a spectrum ranging from utility companies themselves to environmental groups who argued that had it passed the measure—often described as well meaning (no one is arguing that more renewable energy is a bad thing) but poorly drafted—would have both raised the rates customers paid for electricity, but at the same time put small renewable energy companies out of business.

Opponents of Prop 10 said that the $5 billion in bonds that a yes vote would have authorized would simply move more money into the coffers of T. Boone Pickens' Clean Fuel Energy Corp, a natural gas fueling company that would no doubt benefit from more natural gas vehicles driving on California’s roads.

California’s current renewable portfolio standard for utilities is 20% by 2010. Utilities are expected to fall short of this goal.


Also, Proposition H in San Francisco seeking renewable energy was defeated.

WHAT IS GOING ON OUT THERE????!!!!????! How can the rest of us be progressive when the giant state of progress refuses to move its wheels? Damn.

Thank You, Michigan. This One's For You, Dad.

This is somewhat of an ironic entry. Eleven years ago today, my father passed of a long and trying battle with lung cancer. I cannot explain that statement much more unless you have lost a parent to such circumstances when you really aren't even out of your teens, allowing you to fully comprehend it yourself. That said, it reminds me of a conversation I had with my father about 5 weeks before he passed. He was fighting with the dilemma of giving me some money to get him some marijuana. Knowing it was illegal he decided against it, not because it was illegal, but because he did not want me to potentially get in trouble for it. By the time I made enough money at my job to go get some on my own back at school, he was back in the hospital and the point was moot. No other child/person should have to deal with that frustration, pain, or guilt, especially in light of a terminal disease. So good on you, Michigan.

What The Hell, California? And Arkansas, You're on Notice!

SPOILER ALERT: This is going to be a rant.

Why in the name of all that is logical and ethical did Prop 8...????? When will religion be taken out of these legislative equations? I know that it is "up to the people to decide," etc. etc., but if you are going to vote to give chickens more legroom (Prop 2), how are you going to give humans less rights?

I understand, every individual has their own right to vote their own way, to have any logic behind their choice, blah blah blah... But really? Is this Constitutional? Because the Bible says it's wrong? Really? Frankly, I don't care if you want to marry a goat, a man, a woman, a man who dresses like a woman, a woman with a beard and a pegleg, a man trapped in the body of a game show host... I just don't see why anyone cares at this point. But then again, my philosophy tends towards "as long as you don't shoot/stab me or try to take away my rights and you pay your taxes...I'm fine with whatever...as long as it's ethical!!" If I have to suffer through marriage, everyone should be able to, and if someone is not allowed, I don't think I should be allowed either. Equality, it's pretty simple.

And as for Arkansas, what a bunch of limitless twits. To say that a child is better off with no parents than two who happen to have like genitals, but happen to love the child? Really? Of course, this seems like a group who think individuals choose to be gay. Yeah, cause that seems like so much fun to deal with. Yes, please, I'd like to be treated like a second class citizen for the duration because I just can't get down with social norms! That's ridiculous and I am ashamed to even be blogging about this atrocity.

I am sure I will come back later and think this entry was curtailed by my suspicion that I would be in trouble for cursing in a school assignment, or maybe by the sleeping pill fog from last night trying to sleep within the 10026 zip code.... Whatever it is, the following video will make it all seem logical because it is said by someone who rants far better than I do.

Lewis Black, "Red, White & Screwed"

I Wish This John McCain Had Campaigned

Whatever the opinion of John McCain or the Republican party he represents, this was an excellent speech and no one can fault him for it.

11pm, I Live in Harlem. It Is Far Too Loud To Blog Further

Like the World Series this year, the election returns went quickly.

LMS Post ~ It is Done: Bloomberg Signs Term Limits Extension

The outcome of the term limit discussions...

It is Done: Bloomberg Signs Term Limits Extension

After hours of hearing from the public, Mayor Bloomberg signed the controversial term limits extension bill. The bill was passed by the City Council a week and a half ago, in a vote of 29 to 22. It allows elected officials, including himself and City Council members, to run for a third term.

Most of the unhappiness about the bill is due to the fact there was no opportunity--aside from two days of hearings--for the public to participate, given that voters had decided in two separate public referendums in 1993 and 1996 to limit terms to two terms. There were quite a few people who praised Mayor Bloomberg and urged him to sign the bill, too.

City Room reported on the hearing and noted the words of Upper East Side resident Danny Shapiro, "You’ve ignored us, instead speaking only with either those who are influential or with those who have influence. You say you want to give voters more choice, but not the choice to keep term limits as is." City Room also though the Mayor "seemed subdued, tired and perhaps a bit humbled as several members of the public berated and even yelled at him." Still, he signed the bill after saying:

This is New York City, and you get a diversity of opinion. I’ve thought long and hard about this, and you know that I have, over a period of time, fundamentally changed my opinion in terms of how long somebody should be in office. I have not changed my opinion in terms of the value of term limits. I’ve made a commitment that I will appoint a Charter Revision Commission to look at the issue of whether two or three terms is appropriate, and to put on the ballot the ability for the public to either reaffirm what we have today or to change it.

There’s no easy answer, and nobody is irreplaceable, but I do think that if you take a look at the real world of how long it takes to do things — we live in a litigious society, we live in a society where we have real democracy, and lots of people have the ability to input their views and approve or disapprove projects — I just think that three terms makes more sense than two.

He also pointed out he hasn't been re-elected yet.

LMS Post ~ 21st Century Street Designers Reimagine 4th Ave & 9th

This article shows an intersection in Brooklyn in need of a facelift. Many of the designs remind me of the Hayes Valley remodel in San Francisco.

I have about zero creativity in rethinking existing cityspaces for some reason, but some of these (photos can be seen at link), are really quite interesting.

21st Century Street Designers Reimagine 4th Ave & 9th

Transportation Alternatives announced three winners today in their "Designing the 21st Century Street," competition, which sought new visions for the heavily-trafficked intersection of 4th Avenue and 9th Street in Park Slope. The intersection is notoriously dreary and annoying, with pedestrians coming from the east forced to cross several lanes of traffic to get to the shabby elevated F station, which will be renovated someday maybe, the MTA swears.

According to Transportation Alternatives, more than 100 submissions from 13 countries tried to tackle the intersection, "a crossing that exemplifies car-first design by encouraging speeding and reckless driving while all but ignoring the walking and biking environment. Submissions ranged from the esoteric (a giant mirror placed in the center of the intersection, slowing cars with the illusion of a head-on collision) to the fine-tuned weaving of dedicated bike, car and transit lanes."

The jury included artists, architects, and local residents, as well as Commissioner David Burney of the Department of Design and Construction and Alex Washburn, Chief Urban Designer for NYC. Each winner got a $4,000 cash prize and bragging rights, but the competition was not part of any official city plan, and the goal of turning Fourth Avenue into "a grand boulevard of the 21st Century" to rival Park Avenue is still just a pipe dream.

"Streets Come Alive" by team LEVON, Philadelphia, PA.

Finale of the Election 2008

This election is causing myself and countless others a whole batch of anxiety and I am ready for it to be over.

A group of my best friends have a gmail circle and our votes have been tallied:
McCain ~ 2, (1 absentee from abroad)
Obama ~ 3 (all in SF)
McKinney ~ 1
Foreigner Who Pays Taxes But Gets No Vote And Is Not Just A Little Pissed Off About It ~ 1

We all voted today or earlier, with the exception of our token foreigner. Hopefully he can get a free cup of coffee anyway. He does pay an assload of taxes...it should be worth some caffeine. However, we can all agree that this constant bombardment of election commercials, propaganda, facebook statuses (Don't event get me started), SNL, etc. is a little much. Anyone who enjoys this sort of thing as part of the process clearly has a secret stash of Xanax.

Barack Obama is currently forecasted to win. And while I will be happy to see many of my friends happy about this, I doubt I will ever support him as a president due to his fiscal policies and his tax platforms. Granted, I would never have accepted Palin as a V.P. with her religious platforms and lack of choice for women. Such is the plight of the moderate voter. But I did vote, which gives me the option of criticizing whomever wins for the next four years.

In summary, Hillary 2012!

LMS Post ~ Your Guide to Voting Tomorrow and the NYC Ballot

I posted this because some people may have not been ready to vote...and not shockingly, I got an email response from someone saying thank you, that they really needed this info. I wish I had been more informed about the NV elections and ballot.

November 3, 2008

Your Guide to Voting Tomorrow and the NYC Ballot

The polls open at 6 a.m. statewide tomorrow, and given the recent concern about whether the NYC Board of Elections is prepared for an anticipated massive voter turnout, you might want to consider voting early. Polls close at 9 p.m., and you can check your voting location here or by calling 1-866-VOTE-NYC. In New Jersey, polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 8 p.m; you can look up your polling place here. Polls in Connecticut are also open during the same hours as Jersey.

If you registered to vote for the first time via mail, you may be asked to provide identification at the polls. If you don't have a driver's license, you can also present a copy of a current utility bill, a valid photo ID, a bank statement or any government document that shows your name and address. If for some reason a poll worker insists you are not on the list, you have the right to ask an inspector to verify that you are at the correct polling location. And if you still believe the poll workers are wrong, you can vote using a paper or affidavit ballot that will be counted later if your registration is verified.

As always, there are a whole lot of other decisions you'll have to make in the voting booth tomorrow besides choosing between Obama or McCain. Gotham Gazette, which is published by the watchdog group Citizens Union, has taken a complete look at what's on the ballot tomorrow. 13 members of congress from New York are up for reelection, but Gotham Gazette says only one race is really competitive, the seat now held by the city's only Republican U.S. representative, Staten Island's Vito Fossella, whose career ended in scandal.

And in the state legislature, Democrats are vying to wrest control of the Senate from Republicans. Two races in NYC districts are seen as competitive: Queens Republican incumbents Serphin Maltese and Frank Padavan are believed to be in a tight race with Democratic challengers. And one city council seat is on the ballot for Queens voters: Councilmember Anthony Como (R) is again facing Elizabeth Crowley (D) after a previous special election in June came down to just just 41 votes.

Read more about the judicial races that will be decided tomorrow, as well as a special ballot proposal affecting disabled veterans who want to take the civil service exam. And Starbucks locations will be giving out free coffee to voters tomorrow!

Las Vegas, That's P!nk Country

If I could get my mother to sit still long enough to watch this, I would. But she's too busy watching Fox News making lists of ways to retire in her lifetime if Obama gets into office and potentially jacks her daughters' taxes. Man, I hate Bill O'Reilley. He has my mother, a woman who holds a master's in math and school admin formerly capable of rational thought in a tizzy about terrorists and aliens. Damn.