Cities Dreaming and Believing

Mayoral Control – School Governance Discussion

Kevin — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 14:13:42 +0000

On Wednesday afternoon, I attended a brown bag lunch seminar at Milano where Hunter College Professor Joseph Viteritti discussed School Governance. In general, the professor favors Mayoral Control and he was involved in the development and implementation of the process from the beginning. While he does propose modifications to the current system such as term limits to the central school board and more public hearings, it wasn’t very clear to me if the changes added up to stronger accountability. One community member asked if it’s enough accountability if the Mayor is elected only once every four years. Another asked about the metrics used to measure the success of Mayoral Control. I asked what other accountability measures there are. The response was that the new system is better than the old system, that it’s not about any single metric and the voices need to be heard, and that the issue of accountability may be larger than just this issue due to a relatively weak city council.

The Battle for Gotham Book Reading

Kevin — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 02:17:09 +0000

On Tuesday night, I went to McNally Jackson to hear Roberta Grantz read her new book called the Battle for Gotham. Subtitled New York City in the Shadow of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs. Gratz read from her intro and a lot of it I had a sense for but there were some themes that helps to illuminate the issue of urban renewal and community engagement. Too often, we rely on the words and theories of experts instead of real observations. Truth does not belong to one side and not the other and experts don’t always base their recommendations on evidence. Take for example, the theory of build the space and they will come. Observations will tell you that the building has to fit the community and if you take a stroll through New York City and see a shiny new building with no occupancy for months or even years, it’s really because it doesn’t work. Like Jane Jacobs would say, we focus too much on the oven and not enough on the labor to actually make the loaves. Last, Gratz ended with a powerful message that this is not about NIMBY. Evidence shows that all of the community organizations that approach the government and developers with community-based alternatives. They don’t say No, they work to come up with a different way of doing things that work better for the community.

Education Reform Webcast with Arne Duncan

Kevin — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:50:00 +0000

On this Tuesday morning, I tuned into the OFA’s webcast with Arne Duncan on Education Reform. I liked the fact that it was in an interview format, where questions could be submitted via a webform. However, it did seem very scripted in order to touch on the various topics that they did. It was like a smörgåsbord of all the of education reforms.

I particularly like the Income-Based Repayment (IBR) reform, where those of us with student loans are capped at paying up to 10% of our income. It sweetens the deal that there is complete loan-forgiveness after ten years for those who go into the nonprofit or public sector.

Mr. Duncan also answered a question on college tuition affordability by saying that students will vote with their feet. But I would say that most students have to pay very high college tuitions regardless of where they go. That is if they stay in the private schools. Of course in New York State, there is SUNY and CUNY but that is at the state and city level. We could talk about that but it would open up another can of worms. I just think that there needs to be something more done about making college affordable instead of saying that students can go elsewhere if it’s too expensive. He also mentioned making lending direct but he did not go as far as saying that his agency will work on capping interest rate. To Mr. Duncan’s credit, he is increasing pell grants and other funding to colleges. But I would say that there is no accountability in assuring that colleges hold their tuitions flat within the next five years.

Another investment being made is that of pouring funds into community colleges. That is a great idea but I remember reading an article or study that says that people with just an Associates degree have a harder time finding a job than somebody with a high school diploma. This is because they are over qualified for the minimum wage jobs and under qualified for the jobs with decent and fair wages. If the plan is that community colleges is just a foot-in-the-door to getting a Bachelors degree, then that should be spelled out or the expectations should be set at least.

Congratulations to OCA-NY and Qing Wu

Kevin — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 02:30:24 +0000

Back in January, I learned about the story of Qing Wu. I remember reaching out to OCA to see if there was any way I could help, even if it was in a small way. I wrote letters to the District Attorney and the Governor. And thanks to the collective efforts of so many people, Qing Wu was pardoned. The full story is below in the NYTimes Article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/nyregion/07pardon.html

Tonight, I went to the OCA/Qing Wu’s fundraiser and I am just ecstatic. It was quite wonderful to hear Qing Wu and his fiancée speak. I am glad that we live in a place where the people believe in second chances. I just had to post this and say congratulations!

Kevin

Power and Love

Kevin — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 04:28:11 +0000

“Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.”
— Martin Luther King Jr.

beautiful February spring day

Kevin — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:48:00 +0000

…but of course this picture is no help. I just like the old columns. It’s either old or just really dirty.

KJL’s List of Office Miseries

Kevin — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 17:58:21 +0000

In no particular order, I give you the short list on cubicle unfortunates:

Data entry assignments by the googol. That is entering data by the rows of 10 raised to the power of 100
Full cubicles where I am closed in by four walls – three cubicle walls and my computer screen
Candy dishes that’s add up my dentist bill. Shouldn’t HR put a ban on them?
HR
Favoritism over meritocracy and I’m not the favorite
CCing the entire world on my e-mails
Lack of a candid working environment
Formality
Blocks on personal e-mails, facebook, twitter, and blogs. How else are people going to read blog entries like this?
When not enough work is assigned

F is for Frank

Kevin — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 06:46:02 +0000

F is for Frank

Orange line F in New York City is a local train that takes itself too seriously. Local doesn’t need to mean the most number of stops to get from A to B. I take the F train most of the time because it’s closer to where I live and to the computer labs. It’s also great because the train cuts through all different neighborhoods in the city. But F is for frank, frankly the train could be better. This weekend, the F will run shuttle bus from Church Ave to Jay Street. It’s somewhat inconvenient but the express shuttle actually makes it better depending on traffic. Now, I just ask that the bus drive on an HOV lane or if there isn’t one that people make way for the bus. Somehow I don’t think this will happen.

Fox in a Box

Kevin — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:39:17 +0000

The clever fox couldn’t outsmart the box, when it came to making money for lox. According to Mcsweeney’s issue 33, Panorama,

“Corrugated boxes – cardboard boxes with an arched lining between two smooth sheets – are one of the most common types of packaging manufactured worldwide. In 2008, the United States produced 374.28 billion square feet of corrugated boxes, bringing in $26 billion in revenue.”

Boxes have a way of delighting us that we usually wound’t expect from something so boring. When I get a package in the mail, I am exuberant because of that sense of mystery. It reminds me of daytime TV game shows where the host asks the contestant “do you want to keep the million dollars you just won or trade it all in for that box with a big question mark?” Of course, I would be tempted to choose the box but the conservative me would probably take the million dollars and invest it. Maybe I would start a company that sold mystery boxes that ranged from $10 to $1,000. Can you imagine the work it would save the gift-giver and the delight/disappointment of the receiver? Maybe customers can specify that the object(s) inside have attributes like “orange”, “electronics”, “anniversary”, and so on.

But whatever is inside usually doesn’t matter so much. It’s the box that delights us. This is true in real life and in the Simpsons. In one episode, baby Maggie gets a gift and she just ends up keeping the wrapping instead of the actual content. Most of us who gets a box are typically disappointed about what’s inside because it doesn’t meet our wildest imagination. Like this one time, when I wanted lox but instead got socks.

I am usually pretty awful at wrapping boxes and I find it amazing that there are professional wrapping services out there. I like to use duct tape and newspapers for wrapping my boxes. My recipients usually don’t appreciate this, which is why I just end up taking it to a friend or family member to do the job.

To recap, boxes are 1) great for game shows, 2)better than its content, and 3)difficult to wrap. The best boxes are the ones that are left untouched. Once a box is opened, it means that you have to give another gift. So I urge you to convince your loved ones to not open your gifts. If that fails, it means that you have to keep giving boxes or make more meaningful gifts.

Have a foxful or boxful day!**

**foxful is not a word but it’s catchy, isn’t it?

You run, I run, we all run for pancakes!

Kevin — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:32:08 +0000

Happy Pancake Day! While I did not have pancakes this morning, it is snowing in Brooklyn. In some ways, I can imagine the snow or powdered sugar sprinkled lightly on a flat Earth or pancake. Yes, the earth is round but Thomas Friedman showed us that it’s flat again. Funny to think that our planet is edible but it is. How else would we get our vegetables and fruit? Don’t say the G word — genetic engineering. That’s like frozen pancakes out of a box in the back of my refrigerator.

For those of us with a sweet tooth and ordered ice cream on pancakes, we’ll have that soon enough once the snow builds up. Indulgent but it’s really quite a tease because school and work won’t be closed tomorrow. We can also add syrup but that would make our snow yellow and we don’t want that. Maybe some fruit like strawberries or pineapples would do. Better yet, I will top it off with apples from New York state. They would have to be warm and dipped in warm brown sugar.

I will even bring my own utensils – my own fork and salt container. Yes, just imagine taking that first bite of that scrumptious pancake. Then the second bite, third bite, and then it’s all gone like voila! Now I have an empty plate but I won’t order seconds because the law of diminishing return says I should know better. I may just sprinkle some salt on my plate to say that I’m full and happy**.

**Please be courteous to your neighbors and shovel the snow from your sidewalk. I don’t want to slip when I’m running for pancakes.