Category Archives: Infrastructure

semantics. mcshemantics.

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As I read accounts on the standoff between public union supporters and the governor of my home state, I kinda winced at a word: prosperity. In a write-up about the billionaire Koch Brothers, the NYT cites a letter sent by Charles Koch, appealing to conservative business leaders to engage in future political activism:

“If not us, who? If not now, when?” said the letter, which invited other conservatives to a retreat in January in Rancho Mirage, Calif. “It is up to us to combat what is now the greatest assault on American freedom and prosperity in our lifetimes.”

Prosperity. Defined as ‘a successful, flourishing, or thriving condition, especially in financial respects; good fortune.’ Here, culturally, we now have divergent views of what that even means in its total application. A billionaire writes to other million mcbillionaires beseeching them to engage in political activism against the greatest assault on American freedom and prosperity. What is that exactly? The passage of the health care reform act and subsequent extension of the Bush era tax breaks were key indicators of the end of American freedom and prosperity. The Dow is trading above 12,000 is an indicator, no? Walker has made certain tax concessions for business interests to operate within Wisconsin, concessions that have contributed to the budget shortfall the Dairy State now faces.

At this point in the conflict, we know that Scott Walker’s stance to shore up the state budget deficit does not require ceding the right for public unions to collectively bargain. It’s simply a political power move in a weak economy.

I’ve been thinking about work and quality of life for some time. Beyond my own struggles, but collectively, beyond the concept of the narrative of the American Dream. Balloon Juice’s E.D. Kain hits some major notes for me here:

“Do we want a ‘right to work’ for whatever big business dictates, or a ‘right to work with dignity’? Because that’s what’s being stripped from the American worker more than anything else. With every new round of layoffs and outsourcing, the dignity of the American worker is diminished.”

We’ve read stories about how American wages have stalled over the years, benefits reduced, and total number of hours the average American works (‘in 2005 annual hours worked in the US were 15% higher than the European Union (EU15) average’). We know that we’ve overleveraged our own resources to keep pace with tokens of American dream of prosperity (see: the housing market, credit card debt per household, etc). to maintain that myth of prosperity for the middle class/working class. We take our work seriously. Even when there’s high unemployment. We believe that it’ll lead us to the good life, the prosperous life. Can unionization guarantee that?

And I have complicated feelings about unions. I’ve been a member of a public union and I’ve worked for a corporation. Some unions (see: construction) have been known to be selective in bringing in new members (see: black men). Still, I don’t believe that public unions should be stripped of their right to collectively bargain. If business leaders can create organizations to advocate for their interests (see: Citizens United v. Federal Electoral Commission), why on earth would we not permit workers (public and private) to do the same? I’m seriously searching for an answer on some false equivalency tip (see: liberals, Jon Stewart). I’m loathed to find one. Continue reading →

speaking of real talk…

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Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy

While it seems like ages ago (as we’re all transfixed on natural disasters and the revolutions in the Middle East) I haven’t stopped thinking about the State of the Union Address:

What’s more, we are the first nation to be founded for the sake of an idea -– the idea that each of us deserves the chance to shape our own destiny… The future is ours to win. But to get there, we can’t just stand still. As Robert Kennedy told us, “The future is not a gift. It is an achievement.” Sustaining the American Dream has never been about standing pat. It has required each generation to sacrifice, and struggle, and meet the demands of a new age. And now it’s our turn. We know what it takes to compete for the jobs and industries of our time. We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world. We have to make America the best place on Earth to do business. We need to take responsibility for our deficit and reform our government. That’s how our people will prosper. That’s how we’ll win the future. And tonight, I’d like to talk about how we get there. The first step in winning the future is encouraging American innovation. None of us can predict with certainty what the next big industry will be or where the new jobs will come from. Thirty years ago, we couldn’t know that something called the Internet would lead to an economic revolution. What we can do — what America does better than anyone else — is spark the creativity and imagination of our people. We’re the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices; the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers; of Google and Facebook. In America, innovation doesn’t just change our lives. It is how we make our living.

The tone of the speech was mature, thoughtful, absent of detailed description of policy initiatives, but a clear lecture of Real Talk. In many ways, I felt like this conversation is about two years late. Sure, better late than never…

And not to sound too arrogant or self promoting, but some of the themes Obama covered reminded me of a blog post I wrote nearly two years ago. Some background: I used to work in one industry and now I am doggedly trying to secure sound employment in another. This is a personal choice, privileged in some ways yet, dare I say, brutally difficult.

I also feel it’s premature to declare the recession over. Yes, the Dow is trading at 12,000, a high we last saw in June 2008, but job growth/creation has not matched that enthusiasm. 9.4% unemployment still holds, and if we count the ‘underemployed’, those with a smattering of temporary, part time and freelance jobs, more than likely uninsured, that rate doubles. If you’re a woman or man of color, god help you. The private sector may be hiring, but it remains unclear what those jobs are. There are some of us in this economy grinding to find work in our respective fields with nil to marginal success. Some of those jobs were eliminated and if we’re to be honest here, those jobs aren’t going to come back. Some of us will have to retrain, learn new skills to be competitive with a generation of new jobs that are hyper-specific to trade and skill. Continue reading →

it is what it is.

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There’s a lot to talk about these days. The nightmare in the Gulf has consumed a lot of real estate in my brain. So while I was catching up on the state of world and American affairs, a recent New York Times article flagged a neglected aspect in our national discourse on our withdrawal from Iraq.

The American reconstruction authorities decided, however, that the first big rebuilding project to win hearts and minds would be a citywide sewage treatment system.

Now, after more than six years of work, $104 million spent, and without having connected a single house, American reconstruction officials have decided to leave the troubled system only partly finished, infuriating many city residents.

Additionally, The Prospect’s Courtney Martin raised another valid point:

Iraqi citizens shouldn’t be the only ones infuriated by our military’s half-assed effort to rebuild a nation that we so righteously destroyed not so long ago. Americans should also be outraged. We should be fuming. This war was fought in our names, and now shoddy infrastructure and broken promises will be our legacy. We should be calling our political representatives and demanding that the U.S. military finish what it started in Iraq and implement a long-term plan for incorporating nation-building practices effectively and ethically.

Still, I can’t help but weigh some critical path items that have prevented completion of these projects. Money isn’t everything. And yes, we should be upset about all of our over leveraged assets (personnel, lives, tax dollars) engaged in an ongoing effort that many of us questioned from its inception, but is anyone that surprised? Who recalls the details of a reconstruction and rebuilding plan once regime change occurred and the nation was secure? Our overstretched military  reduced troop presence in Afghanistan, while operating in a universe where they’ve had next to no civilian support. Their job? Secure the nation, defeat insurgents, protect the lives of Iraqi people and themselves, rebuild roads, build water/sewer treatment facilities, build/replace power grid, rebuild housing, train local militia, protect rising political leaders, deactivate IUDs, build checkpoints, conduct night patrols, repair and promote America’s image… During the Bush years, as we’ve all come to learn, the State Department was crippled by lack of funding and staff. That civilian force was critical in working with the Iraqis to build capacity to manage their local and national governments. And since Obama’s taken office, we’re slowly seeing a reversal of that stance, only to be stymied by Republican opposition in appointments. Whereas the Bush Administration’s tact to  rebuilding Iraq was blind faith in the efficiency of the military and the holy competency of private corporations. Continue reading →

#gentrification.

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cross-posted to postbourgie.com

”This is the spiritual capital of the African diaspora. Something had to be done.”

IBO BALTON, the housing department’s planning director for Manhattan, on Harlem. February, 2001

Ibo wandered in my office and was flattered that I had a photocopy of his NYT Quote of the Day taped to my wall when I worked for the city’s housing agency back in 2001. I remember telling him that I needed to have it there to remind me why we do what we do. He had come to ask me for a copy of the Bradhurst Negative Declaration (he was always asking me for a copy of the Bradhurst Neg Dec) but instead, he posed a question that clearly had been weighing on him, “Maybe we really are gentrifying Harlem?”

To be clear, we asked ourselves this question frequently.

Manhattan Community Board 10 is probably the regional equivalent to everyone’s idea of what Harlem is.  Bounded to the south by 110th Street, to the north by West 155th Street, to the west by Morningside Avenue and to the east by Fifth Avenue, Community Board 10 covers roughly 60 city blocks. Maybe more. And in 1998, the Community Board asked the City of New York to fight to bring middle class residents back into Harlem. One of the oldest residents and members of the board who had lived in Harlem all of her life, and was fortunate to own her home, knew that to make her community remain sustainable, meant that those acres of vacant lots along Frederick Douglass Boulevard and across West 116th Street, on the east end of Marcus Garvey Park (Mount Morris) needed the middle-income families.  She had already seen her share of public investment in her community, which unfortunately included a heavy saturation of low-income housing. And while there were a disproportionate amount of African-Americans who’d benefit, the black middle class had all but disappeared. Where were their housing opportunities? The best and brightest who were born and raised in Harlem leave and then return to see their community remain stagnant? Property taxes pay for infrastructure. Infrastructure supports communities. When wealth disappears from a community, how will it pay for itself? Public safety, street repair, all things that makes communities run? A mixed income community spends cash in their neighborhoods, creates and sustains jobs for local residents, spurs investment in open spaces and parks. It means that there’s a tax base to support the services the community demands.

So when an elder and owner of Harlem brownstone curses you out and tell you to make sure 55,000 square foot vacant property contain affordable AND market rate homeownership apartments because it brings an influx of stakeholders to her community, regardless of what color they look like, you do it.

All of this comes to forefront of my memory in reading the recent Times article about greater Harlem’s shifting demographics and the subsequent reactions to it. Many folks were offering compelling narratives of housing’s discrimination past, a history of institutional and economic racism. I get that and don’t dispute that legacy. However, I know and have been active participant in a different story. Continue reading →

green the cities, create the jobs, save the planet…

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Or something like that. I think about sustainability a lot. In a previous life, I worked on the development of new construction residential buildings, and very slowly, applied green building practices and materials to those buildings.

I’ve also been thinking about the intersection of green job creation and sustainability in cities. Very quietly, I follow stories about urban gardening/agriculture movements. In 2007, President Clinton was the keynote speaker for an awards dinner at ACORN (yeah, I know… whatever) that I attended and flagged two major issues that we’ve now seen come to pass: job crisis and credit burden. To a crowd of affordable housing professionals, the 42nd President of the United States teased out practical solutions to these problems.  In 2007, 38% of US greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings. As some of us who were awares that the housing bubble would inevitably pop and create a crisis in jobs, Clinton talked to this small crowd about the link between green jobs and affordable housing, specifically pointing to jobs modernizing the existing housing stock with by making them more energy efficient beasts (high-efficiency boilers, energy efficient lighting and appliances, smart building technologies, green roof replacement, etc.) Even then, you could tell that some of these ideas came from folks like Van Jones and Majora Carter, because they’ve already witnessed how these incremental changes created benefits to individual and community.

I could geek out even further on this; water waste in multi family buildings has a solution too. For every flush, 5 gallons of potable water is wasted. The first luxury rental building in NYC to get a gold LEED certification, uses a gray water reclamation system, a very expensive system in its upfront costs. However, if it is an idea we mandate, then we’d be able to eliminate millions of gallons potable water waste.

I might be a little OCD in my interest in sustainability. But it’s nice to know I have noble company.

From GOOD:

“I made this trip,” explained Matt Victoriano, a Marine who served in Iraq, “because it became painfully aware to me that our current energy policy is a direct threat to our national security and the troops.” Marine General Anthony Zinni, former head of U.S. Central Command, takes it a step further: “We will pay to reduce greenhouse gas emissions today, or we will pay the price later in military terms. And that will involve human lives. There will be a human toll.” In other words, to best support our troops, support a clean energy future.”

And this post from TAPPED:

Often these are people returning from prison, people who have lived in generational poverty, or returning combat veterans – some fit all three of these demographics. Each group commonly suffers from, among other things, a deep sense of social isolation that inhibits their participation in the marketplace, increases their social services footprint, and negatively affects the health and educational outcomes of both themselves and the people around them. Typically, these places are the environmental sacrifice zones that make our dirty-energy economy possible.

They have been creating expensive and ever-widening cost vectors for decades – if one looks at how many people are coming out of our prisons, going into poverty, and coming back from multiple deployments for wars with no end in sight. We need to turn those cost vectors around as soon as possible using the tools we can control on regional and community levels.

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Horticultural infrastructure work is highly therapeutic for certain psychological barriers to full participation in society. It’s more cost-effective than pharmaceutical methods too, so this can contribute to public heath savings.

Projects like these, on a massive scale throughout our cities, shorelines, and over-stressed water management systems, can turn some of our most expensive citizens into some of our most productive in three important ways.

Do you see that?  The connection in building a sustainable future could also mean jobs for veterans and under/unemployed in communities of color.

And then there’s my favorite word again: infrastructure.

Catch A Fire

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, originally uploaded by mousavi1388.

I don’t know about you, but I’m riveted by the events in Iran since the weekend. If you’ve been living under a rock, Twitter has emerged as the critical source for following the events in Tehran. The Atlantic’s Andrew Sullivan has masterful coverage. A must read. Print media as it lives online has in-depth accounts, images, and analysis. Television has failed. Perhaps today we’ll see a difference in the type of coverage that the cable news and major networks will show than the pallid interest it had displayed over the weekend.

I can’t help but think if we had Twitter in 2003 during the height of the antiwar protests, would we have had a larger impact on the mainstream media coverage? Would that have stopped the invasion of Iraq? Hindsight remains fuzzy. But now? We have this technological infrastructure to support digital communication. And that communication supports civic engagement and action. Perhaps a revolution.

I’m watching these events very closely. We’re getting information in real time. This is the future of journalism. The future is now.

Go-Go Gadget Train!

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Yay!

I’ve wanted this for a very, very, very long time.

A modern and fast moving inter-rail system in the US? Cutting my travel time between New York and Chicago, or Milwaukee to just a few hours? Perhaps reducing my out of pocket travel costs and carbon emissions associated with car or airplane travel? Relieve congestion in the air and on the ground? This will make my grandmother love a little more. Many of my planner geek friends and I have long lamented the fact of how easy it is to travel through Europe because of high speed train service, than it is in the US. Our reliance on cars has been prohibitive for a high-speed rail system to develop.

The Europification of the United States of America. I think we’re finally growing up, defining a society that can live sustainably. My carbon footprint is starting to look a lot cuter.

How To Build A Better Robot, Part I

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I’ve been thinking a lot about infrastructure lately.

I hear the word thrown around a lot, but I’m not sure if it’s resonating with everyone. If some of you are faithful viewers of the Rachel Maddow show, you hear her geek out about it. I must admit, I do too. I was glad that I was not alone in the obsession about it. My former coworkers in the construction industry found my obsession odd too. It’s not like I had ever got my hands dirty in any actual trade to care about joists, masonry, weepholes or footings, the shaping of the physical universe. To them, I was administrator, bean counter, be it a “marketing person.” I dealt in a universe of fluff, and they did the real heavy lifting. No pun intended. But as the weeks wore on and the job reached its logical conclusion and the work slowed down, I thought about all of us in how we’d fit into the next job. Would there be a next job? The market conditions and tea leaves last fall suggested an end.

Ah, Endings. They make you think. When the site supervisor and I sat down for our weekly chat to cover the work that’s been done on the project, I had this odd moment of lucidity. “Do you think that the American population realizes that we’re going to have retrain the entire labor force to be able to meet the challenges of the 21st century?” I asked. He gave me a quizzical look, but then he understood and said, “I don’t think they have a clue.” I used our building as an example, a residential building with green building systems atypical in the existing housing stock in the New York Area. New York City has a plan campaign to decrease its carbon emissions and footprint (33% of greenhouse gas emissions comes from buildings). They soak up power, water, and air, then send out some very bad juju out into climate. Not to mention construction materials themselves that contaminate ground and water due to its inability to breakdown into a simple or complex sugar or something. You get the point.

The challenge I found in this experience is that while some of us are becoming better educated about how materials we use to shape our world have in fact harmed us, we are still challenged to invest time and resources to do more to minimize these impacts. With the growth of green building as a movement and reality in some places, the maintenance begins with the workforce population understanding the fundamentals of how to maintain the thing we’ve created to coexist with our ecosystem. If the porters and superintendents don’t understand how to run a high efficiency boiler or an air purification system and fix it breaks down, what good have really done to better our city? If plumbers don’t learn how to install a blackwater reclamation system for a building so that it reduces water waste when we flush toilets, then how are we contributing to preserving our most critical resource? How does reducing water waste support our reservoirs? Potable water wasted for toilet water doesn’t do the world any good.

The ending of the boom in the housing industry presents us with a beginning. An opportunity, even. Building McMansions and condos across the lower 48 seemed like a grand idea at the time because it created wealth and jobs to mitigate the bust of 2000-2001 from the internet boom, but it also paved the way for the excesses that led to our current downturn. And all the homes that we were building didn’t necessarily factor in sustainability. Fiscally or ecologically. How could it? The labor force was not schooled in the ways of mitigating impacts on the environment.

So this brings me to my current thinking about infrastructure. Infrastructure is more than the physical universe of roads, bridges, schools, power grids, levees, dams, reservoirs, trains, subways. Think of them as veins and vessels within the body. The body cannot live without the mind. Teachers, firefighters, police officers, servicemen and women flow through that universe. So do you and I. And all of us need to be a bit more educated about how we all are connected in this life. How do we individually complement the stimulus package that was just signed? Infrastructure, beyond the jobs and economic stability it can create, includes you, me and a dose of intellectual curiosity.

America is a young nation with old systems in play. All that American ingenuity we’ve been taught about has laid fallow for too long. It’s time to build a better robot.

Are you ready?

Future Shock

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I’m not sure if they get it.

The debate over the economic stimulus package is ideological. Most economists say that we need massive, sweeping and deep intervention in the American economy from the American government. What I remember quite specifically from freshmen year econ: To spend is to beget demand which increases supply which begets production which begets jobs that beget growth in the economy for many generations to come. Amen. To quote the President, “That’s the point.”

What is the point of government if it’s not there to intervene at time of crisis?

The ideologues of the conservative movement is still singing the gospel of Reaganism. The revisionist version.

Last night’s press conference was crucial. My mom is a pharmacist tech in Wisconsin. She’s not the most sophisticated American when it comes to charts, Keynesian Economics, derivatives and the ilk, but what she said to me over phone was that she likes that Obama takes the time to explain things. The President’s campaign to market the stimulus package to the public seemed to work from what I was hearing on the other end of the phone.

The other significant point from the President that seems to be buried underneath chatter of post partisanship, spending, stimulus, Keynesian, is infrastructure. I highlighted the point for my mother. “There are a string of events that occurred over the past 8 years that haven’t necessarily been connected in an obvious way,” I said to her. “We treat them as separate events. Katrina and the levee failure in New Orleans, the Mississippi River Bridge collapse in Minneapolis, the episodes of train derailments on the east coast, the 2003 blackout, the rolling blackouts in California, the drought conditions last year in Atlanta… I could go on. Infrastructure is critical. Nationally, we haven’t invested in these areas in years. If we expect to move forward into the 21st century, we need to modernize.”

On the other end of the phone, I could imagine my mother’s face. A startled look of comprehension and a frown, “Well, when you put it like that, that makes a lot of sense. You writing about that yet?”

Sort of, I said.