New Geography

Category: Urban Issues

  • Getting Real About “Green” Jobs

    Over the past year, Economic Modeling Specialists, Inc. (EMSI) has been fielding questions from local planners (workforce boards, community colleges, and economic developers) on how to look at green jobs, particularly at the regional level. Perhaps nothing has been more hyped, or misunderstood, than the potential impact of this sector on local economies.

    In order to wade through the rhetoric and often overblown expectations, we’ve been doing our best to link labor market data to potential green sectors so people can gain an understanding of trends, earnings, education levels, and skills associated with “green occupation clusters”. So far, we have made three general observations:

    1. Many of these jobs are going to fall within the construction and manufacturing sectors (e.g., welders, roofers, HVAC installers, etc.),
    2. Based on a lack of understanding, concrete information, and large scale demand, green jobs pose a very difficult development mission for local planners, and
    3. It is vital to speak “from the data” as much as possible.

    Such realism is necessary. Given the recession, job loss, and our nation’s otherwise dismal financial condition, many are now questioning the continued emphasis on green jobs, climate change, and cap-and-trade legislation. In recent months we have seen a sizable pushback against some of this policy from groups ranging from the American Farm bureau and even the educational community. Recently, for example, Inside Higher Ed wrote about how “some leaders in workforce development are concerned that more traditional skill trades within the manufacturing and construction fields are being deemphasized by community colleges looking for federal dollars to support newfangled programs.”

    The public is also getting skeptical. A Gallup poll indicated that the recession has dried up some of the support for increased environmental regulation. Similar surveys by Rasmussen and Pew suggest a similar trend in popular opinion.

    None of this suggests that most Americans, or most business, oppose environmental protection. It’s just that that economic growth and environmental protection should not be mutually exclusive.

    Increasingly we find ourselves at a crossroads between two competing points of view – one that thinks that we need to restore economic stability before we deal with environmental issues, and one that believes that if we fail to address environmental concerns aggressively right now, we are forfeiting our future.

    Chasing Trends vs. Being Demand Driven

    The promise of “green jobs” has the allure to square this circle, and reconcile the needs of the economy and the environment. This causes a kind of thinking reminiscent of that associated with the ‘90s dot-com boom. In that era, software and information was the next big thing. Many regional developers tried to get into the game, and some failed miserably. When the bubble burst, many were left empty-handed and embarrassed that they had essentially just wasted a lot of the public’s time, energy, and money on something that they frankly didn’t understand or have any real reason (in a regional context) to be pursuing.

    Given this experience, it’s not surprising that green is being met with skepticism by some local planners, who can and should be rigorously dedicated to spending their dollars wisely and only on things that will advance their region’s businesses and people. This seems to come from an understandable concern that economic development should essentially be “demand-driven” and in touch with needs of the local community.

    At the same time, regional development can be traced back to the needs of local industry. The activities, interests, and employment of local industries directly and indirectly drive much of the employment and earnings in an area (the concept of an economic base). This leads some loath to invest resources into an emerging sector or a new policy, such as green, where there is little demand, enough jobs, or the background to justify the efforts.

    “Policy” vs. “Environment”

    Right now, the primary struggles with green development come from: (1) actually understanding what “green” is and (2) knowing which industries people need to be prepared/trained for. Some of the problem stems from the fact that green is happening according to a top-down, policy driven approach rather than an industry driven one.

    In the U.S. we often see industry development happening from the ground up (e.g., from the local level and up to the national level). Industries develop hubs of production (e.g., Silicon Valley, the Research Triangle, and Hollywood). Regions benefit from this and become specialized and competitive at producing and exporting something that is demanded by the larger economy. This gives rise to specific skill and knowledge sets which further enhance the development of a region. Green jobs don’t really work this way. The “greening” of our economy has sprouted from a particular ideological point of view (global warming, overpopulation, etc.), that drive the initiatives, many of them associated with the stimulus.

    As is often the case, it is not particularly easy to translate the broad rhetoric, concepts, and policy (things like “clean tech”) into local industries, impacts, skills, training programs, and demand. At the local level, it is also incredibly difficult to project future trends of what jobs and industries will begin to thrive or fail. Those who try to use only national predictions to implement new regional training programs or to develop local policies could find their new programs may not result in tangible benefits to the region. In a recession folks need and want jobs (in some cases, any job will do), and discussions about how something like clean tech is going to be the next big thing can be really frustrating (think “dot-com” bubble).

    Finally, a big part of the frustration around green jobs actually comes down to semantics. Politicians and news anchors often refer to green jobs as some sort of new “industry.” Yet in reality green is much less about “what” is being produced than “how” things are produced.

    In this sense, in order to have “green” industry, you first need to have an industry that can be, if you will, “greened”. Here is an illustration that points out the nuance: let’s imagine you have two tire manufacturers. One produces tires using traditional “non-green” methods and the other uses recycled materials and can be classified as “green.” At the end of the day are they both manufacturing tires? Well, yes of course. Are they part of different industries? No. Both companies also likely employ the same sort of people, use the same sort of equipment, and have similar sales and supply chains. Also, from a training/workforce development perspective these industries are going to look pretty identical – with maybe a few minor skills differences.

    Seen from this angle, green is not actually about creating a new industry sector in either a general or specific sense. Rather, it’s more about changing and retooling all existing industry sectors to make them operate differently.

    It Needs to Be Data-Driven

    In the United States, we have a huge amount of data at our disposal for development decisions. Our nation has over 1,800 (and counting) well-established industry codes (NAICS codes) that are standardized for the entire country. The 20 big industry sectors that compose our economy exist because of broad, long-lasting, nationwide demand. But right now, local developers cannot take such a well-researched, data-driven approach to green. There are a lot of people who are highly in favor of green, but in many ways, they don’t bring the sort of objectivity needed to hash things out for the sake of the local workforce. What if green actually isn’t a good idea for a specific community? Something like Biotech is great if you can have it, but if it’s not the right fit for the community, forcing it can be a bad thing.

    Final Remark

    For green to work at the local level, it needs to be demand-driven. It needs to be harmonized with local development efforts, and it must complement and not fight against regional economies. This means helping and not hurting local industries with too much regulation, and allowing regional developers to stay focused on longer-term efforts as opposed to short-term trends.

    Do we want green to succeed? Well, sure. However, as the polls show, we will not have these things at the expense of economic growth. All this is to say that people are going to be more supportive of the green movement if it embraces another aspect of sustainability – economic sustainability. The green movement and economic considerations are not mutually exclusive. If the economy continues to suffer, the green movement will suffer as there will be no money or opportunities to invest in green technologies. Only a broad based economic recovery – based in the revival of productive industry – can make green industry not only desirable, but practicable.

    Rob Sentz is the marketing director at EMSI, an Idaho-based economics firm that provides data and analysis to workforce boards, economic development agencies, higher education institutions and the private sector. He is the author of a series of green jobs white papers.

    Illustration by Mark Beauchamp

  • Numbers Don’t Support Migration Exodus to “Cool Cities”

    For the past decade a large coterie of pundits, prognosticators and their media camp followers have insisted that growth in America would be concentrated in places hip and cool, largely the bluish regions of the country.

    Since the onset of the recession, which has hit many once-thriving Sun Belt hot spots, this chorus has grown bolder. The Wall Street Journal, for example, recently identified the “Next Youth-Magnet Cities” as drawn from the old “hip and cool” collection of yore: Seattle, Portland, Washington, New York and Austin, Texas.

    It’s not just the young who will flock to the blue meccas, but money and business as well, according to the narrative. The future, the Atlantic assured its readers, did not belong to the rubes in the suburbs or Sun Belt, but to high-density, high-end places like New York, San Francisco and Boston.

    This narrative, which has not changed much over the past decade, is misleading and largely misstated. Net migration, both before and after the Great Recession, according to analysis by the Praxis Strategy Group, has continued to be strongest to the predominately red states of the South and Intermountain West.

    This seems true even for those seeking high-end jobs. Between 2006 and 2008, the metropolitan areas that enjoyed the fastest percentage shift toward educated and professional workers and industries included nominally “unhip” places like Indianapolis, Charlotte, N.C., Memphis, Tenn., Salt Lake City, Jacksonville, Fla., Tampa, Fla., and Kansas City, Mo.

    The overall migration numbers are even more revealing. As was the case for much of the past decade, the biggest gainers continue to include cities such as San Antonio, Dallas and Houston. Rather than being oases for migrants, some oft-cited magnets such as New York, Boston, Los Angeles and Chicago have all suffered considerable loss of population to other regions over the past year.

    Much the same pattern emerges when you look at longer-term state demographic patterns. A recent survey by the Empire Center for New York State Policy found that the biggest net losers in terms of per capita outmigration between 2000 and 2008 were, with the exception of Louisiana, all blue state bastions. New York residents lead in terms of rate of exodus, closely followed by the District of Columbia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and California.

    An even greater shock to the sensibilities of the insular, Manhattan-centric media, the report found that most of the movement from the Empire State was not from the much-dissed suburbia, but from that hip and cool paragon, New York City. This can not be ascribed as a loss of the unwanted: According to the report, those leaving the city had 13% higher incomes than those coming in.

    How can this be, when everyone who’s smart and hip is headed to the Big Apple? This question was addressed in a report by the center-left, New York-based Center for an Urban Future. True, considerable numbers of young, educated people come to New York, but it turns out that many of them leave for the suburbs or other states as they reach their peak earning years.

    Indeed, it’s astonishing given the many clear improvements in New York that more residents left the five boroughs for other locales in 2006, the peak of the last boom, than in 1993, when the city was in demonstrably worse shape. In 2006, the city had a net loss of 153,828 residents through domestic out-migration, compared to a decline of 141,047 in 1993, with every borough except Brooklyn experiencing a higher number of out-migrants in 2006.

    Of course, blue state boosters can point out that the exodus has slowed with the recession, as opportunities have dried up elsewhere. True, the flood of migration has slowed across the nation. Yet it has only slowed, not dried up. When the economy revives, it’s likely to start flowing heavily again.

    More important, the key group leaving New York and other so-called “youth-magnets” comprises the middle class, particularly families, critical to any long-term urban revival. This year’s Census shows that the number of single households in New York has reached record levels; in Manhattan, more than half of all households are singles. And the Urban Future report’s analysis found that even well-heeled Manhattanites with children tend to leave once they reach the age of 5 or above.

    The key factor here may well be economic opportunity. Virtually all the supposedly top-ranked cities cited in this media narrative have suffered below-average job growth throughout the decade. Some, like Portland and New York, have added almost no new jobs; others like San Francisco, Boston and Chicago have actually lost positions over the past decade.

    In contrast, even after the current doldrums, San Antonio, Orlando, Houston, Dallas and Phoenix all boast at least 5% more jobs now than a decade ago. Among the large-narrative magnet regions only one–government-bloated greater Washington–has enjoyed strong employment growth.

    The impact of job growth on the middle class has been profound. New York City, for example, has the smallest share of middle-income families in the nation, according to a recent Brookings Institution study; its proportion of middle-income neighborhoods was smaller than that of any metropolitan area except Los Angeles.The same pattern has also emerged in what has become widely touted as America’s “model city”–President Obama’s adopted hometown of Chicago.

    The likely reasons behind these troubling trends are things rarely discussed in “the narrative”–concerns like high costs, taxes and regulations making it tough on industries that employ the middle class. One clear culprit: out of control state spending. State spending in New York is second per capita in the nation (anomalous Alaska is first); California stands fourth and New Jersey seventh. Illinois is down the list but coming up fast. Over the past decade, while its population grew by only 7%, Illinois’ spending grew by an inflation-adjusted 39%.

    The problem here is more than just too-large government; it lies in how states spend their money. Massive public spending increases over the past decade in California, New Jersey, Illinois and New York have gone overwhelmingly into the pockets and pensions of public employees. It certainly has not flowed into such basic infrastructure as roads, bridges and ports that are needed to keep key industries competitive.

    The American Association of State Highway Transportation, for example, ranked New York 43rd in the country and New Jersey dead last in terms of quality of roads. Some 46% of the Garden State’s roads were rated in poor condition, compared with the national average of 13%, even as the state’s spending reached new highs. The typical New Jersey driver spends almost $600 a year in auto repairs necessitated by the poor conditions of the roads.

    In contrast, states in the South and parts of the Plains tend to pour their public resources into productive uses. Cities like Mobile, Ala., Houston, Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga., have been investing in port facilities to take advantage of the planned widening of the Panama Canal. The primary goal is to take business away from the increasingly expensive, overregulated and under-invested ports of the Northeast and West Coast. Similarly, places like Kansas City and the Dakotas are looking to boost their basic rail and road networks to support export-heavy industries.

    Even in the face of the Obama administration’s strongly urban-centric, blue state-oriented economic policy, these generally less than hip places appear poised to grow as the economy recovers. Virtually all the top 10 economies that have withstood the recession come from outside the “youth-magnet” field: San Antonio; Oklahoma City; Little Rock, Ark.; Dallas, Baton Rouge, La.; Tulsa, Okla., Omaha, Neb.; Houston and El Paso, Texas. The one exception to this rule, Austin, also benefits from being located in solvent, generally low-tax Texas.

    This continued erosion of jobs and the middle class from the blue states and cities is not inevitable. Many of these places enjoy enormous assets in terms of universities, strategic location, concentrations of talented workers and entrenched high-wage industries. But short of a massive and continuing bailout from Washington, the only way to reverse their decline will be a thorough reformation of their governmental structure and policies. No narrative, no matter how well spun, can make up for that reality.

    This article originally appeared at Forbes.com.

    Joel Kotkin is executive editor of NewGeography.com and is a distinguished presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University. He is author of The City: A Global History. His next book, The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050, will be published by Penguin Press early next year.

  • Lost City

    We agreed, last time, to meet at the corner of Yonge & Bloor – Toronto’s busiest subway stop.

    Presumably you’ll arrive by subway. There are two main lines: one east-west along Bloor-Danforth, from Kipling Ave. in Etobicoke to Scarborough Town Centre. The intersecting north-south line is actually double. One branch runs almost the entire length of Yonge St., from Finch to Union Station. From there it doubles back, heading north again under University Ave and Avenue Road, finally ending near Downsview Airport. They intersect at three stations, all along Bloor Street: Bloor & Spadina, Bloor & Avenue Road (St. George), and Bloor & Yonge. The latter is where you want to get off.

    The Toronto subway is clean, quiet, convenient and runs on time. It is also very slow; I doubt top speed is much over 30 mph. You can get most places you need to go, but you won’t get there quickly.

    Another way to get close to Yonge & Bloor is by street car. Actually, the best you’ll do is Yonge and College, and then you’ve got a few blocks to walk. Tourists and Americans love the street cars – they are fun. For the commuter they are a pain. Mostly they share right-of-way with cars. This slows down the street car, and worse, slows vehicle traffic to the same pace (they’re almost impossible to pass). The result: traffic down Queen St. rolls by at a solid 15 mph. This is not an efficient mass transit method, but tourists love it.

    Metro Toronto consists of six boroughs: Toronto, Scarborough, North York, Etobicoke, York, and East York. The latter two are very small – I have never actually “been” to either; I’ve just driven through. I’ve stayed over night in all of the others. Metro Toronto resulted from city-county consolidation of York County in 1954. (Toronto was originally founded as York, but changed the name shortly after, presumably to avoid confusion with New York.)

    Skipping the two little ones (directly adjacent to Toronto proper), Toronto City is the original city. It is bounded by the lake to the south and very roughly Eglinton Ave. in the north, the Don Valley to the east, and the Humber River in the West. Scarborough is east of the Don Valley, Etobicoke is west of the Humber, and North York is north of Eglinton.

    So here we are at Yonge and Bloor Streets. Let’s go east. Bloor ends within a mile at Parliament St. and then becomes Danforth. Danforth crosses over the Don Valley in a most dramatic way. Given that Toronto cannot effectively use its lakefront, the most prominent natural landmark in the city is the Don Valley. This is a deep gorge cut by the Don River, which flows south to Lake Ontario, east of the city centre. The gorge is a park traversed by the Don Valley Parkway – an expressway that runs along the bottom of the gorge from the Gardiner Expwy to the northern city limit. The Don Valley also marks the approximate boundary between Toronto City and Scarborough (the actual boundary lies to the east at Victoria Park Ave.).

    Crossing the Don Valley, especially near the southern end where the gorge is deepest, requires a significant bridge. And this is what happens on Danforth – probably the most spectacular view in the whole city. It’s even nice on the subway, which crosses the same bridge on a lower level. Across the bridge (not yet in Scarborough) is Toronto’s vibrant Greek community. Once in Scarborough, Danforth veers northeast so as to parallel the lake. It will eventually take you to Scarborough Town Centre.

    My first impression of Scarborough was British. The place is full of typical Toronto bungalows that look very much like typical suburban London bungalows (think Keeping Up Appearances). But in the meantime appearances don’t mean much: Scarborough has become one gigantic Chinatown. The predominant language at the corner of Midland and Finch (where I have spent a lot of time) is Chinese. The primary commercial street, Kingston Road (the continuation of the Gardiner Expwy along the lake) is mostly Chinese. Now Chinese are likely a bigger share of commercial life than population, but without a doubt, Scarborough has a large Chinese community. It’s very vibrant, and it makes for good food.

    The main street of North York, on the other hand, is the 401 expressway. This is the longest expressway in Canada, going from Windsor to Montreal. In Toronto it runs from Pearson Airport in the west through Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough and points east, roughly along Lawrence Ave. On my most recent visits, North York struck me as at best lower middle class – it is definitely the poorest of the six boroughs (at least the bigger ones). Immigrants are from all over: Russia, India, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean. It is not as lively as Scarborough, but it still has very good food.

    I haven’t been to Etobicoke since the early eighties. Then it was mostly Italian and solidly middle class. The eastern boundary of the borough is the Humber River, a much less dramatic counterpoint to the Don Valley.

    Starting at Bloor and heading north on Yonge, one comes first to St. Clair – about a mile away. Yonge & St. Clair is called Midtown, and is an elegant residential neighborhood. A mile north of St. Clair brings you to Eglinton, which (apart from the expressways) is the major E-W traffic thoroughfare. It is the first street north of Danforth to cross the Don Valley; it spans the entire city from Pearson Airport to eastern Scarborough.

    Continuing north puts one in North York – Wilson (which doesn’t go through), the 401, Lawrence (a shopping street in North York), Sheppard, Finch and Steeles (the northern city limit). The latter three cross the Don Valley, which is much smaller that far north. All of these are about a mile apart.

    Recall the history of Toronto: founded as the cultural capital of British North America, dedicated to British rule, Good Government & Good Order. When I first visited Toronto in the 1970s it lived up to that ideal. Since then the city has become one of immigrants, lots of good food, but not very British. What does that mean for British North America? Is Good Government & Good Order a sufficiently stirring rallying cry to create a civic life from all the ethnic groups? Where is the unum amidst all that pluribus? Canada is betting its future on multiculturalism. They really have no other choice, but will the city maintain its original soul throughout these changes?

    Daniel Jelski is Dean of Science & Engineering State University of New York at New Paltz.

  • Report from Orlando: The Spirit Rocks On

    By Richard Reep

    “In hard times, people turn to God or alcohol” jokes Bud Johnson of Constructwire, a database that tracks planning and construction projects nationwide. Johnson, 50, is an industry veteran and has never seen a recession like this in his career. “This is an exceptionally broad-based downturn,” he says, “and Orlando has been hit harder than most in the South, what with your only real industries being housing and tourism.” Both industries have been trapped like mammoths in a glacier as the credit market stays stubbornly frozen in a modern banking Ice Age.

    At the bottom of the glacier, however, the meltwater continues to flow, and bars and liquor stores seem to be thriving. With 10 new ABC stores open this year, this privately held Orlando-based liquor retailer is doing just fine, enabling many of us to stay sane, if not sober, while waiting for The Recovery. The alchoholic spirits are not the only mood-shifting business doing well in these hard times. Sacred space may not be exactly booming, but religious buildings are being built at a more comfortable pace than nearly any other building type in Central Florida.

    “Ecclesiastical architecture is falling at a rate close to that of a paper airplane, while my other building types have the glide ratio of a rock,” says Peter Kosinski, the architect responsible for the renovation of St. James Cathedral in downtown Orlando. With most other projects on hold, including a share of churches, Kosinski Architecture has still seen most of his religious work proceed, despite the Great Recession. Funding largely comes from donations, and for secular not-for-profits cultural outfits like United Arts, giving has evaporated. Spiritual needs, however, seem to be drawing a steady stream of money to expand or add to temples, churches, synagogues, and other sacred spaces to meet a growing demand in the Central Florida area.

    If the credit Ice Age is a part of a great karmatic rebalancing, it was long overdue and has hit especially hard in our overheated, consumer-driven culture. The cynics, who knew the cost of everything and the value of nothing, drove sacred space largely underground as new subdivisions engorged Orlando with not a square inch reserved for community worship. Religious uses simply don’t fit the profit model of late capitalism, and while our older neighborhoods are dotted with small, walk-to churches, not a cross can be found in the landscape of most newer developments. To the development industry, collective religious worship represents someone else’s unprofitable land sale.

    Cobbling together 15 or 20 acres therefore became a new art form for many evangelical pastors as the late 20th century saw the rise of the megachurch. These huge, Sunday-traffic-nightmares offer sophisticated audio/visual Christian themed entertainment in an arena setting, a perfect way for many to fulfill their spiritual needs. Others, stuck in these vast residential tracts devoid of sacred space, use the house-church method, gathering in groups of 8 or 10 at a member’s residence, taking heart in what Pope Gregory the Great (an early leader) stated: “The real altar of God is the mind and the heart of the just.” And some do both.

    Either way, the religious needs of the people of Central Florida are expanding, and the sanctuaries, temples, synagogues, and mosques are noticeably busier. The 2-year-old Guang Ming Temple, housing the local Renzai Humanist Buddhists, is experiencing a surge in attendance locally. Temple Director Chueh Fan confirms that there is a strong need for a communal spiritual facility. “We feel the hardship of people right now,” she states. “Although the Asian community here is stable, we have been growing over the last 2 years. And we are a middle-sized temple; there are some much bigger in other states.” Guang Ming offers Dharma classes in Spanish, English, Vietnamese and Chinese, and class enrolment is growing quickly.

    Other clerics, such as Reverend Reginald Dunston, also see a need for more religious-based education, and are planning new schools as well as sanctuaries. “Agape Word Ministry is planning a bible-based school,” he explains, “as an alternative to the schools in the area.” Other pastors, such as Jeff Cox of Salem Lutheran Church in Bay Hill, agree that it is important to expand their offerings to include a religious-based education. Education is the one tangible asset that a community is willing to purchase from a house of worship, and while most religions in America struggle for relevance, their schools remain in demand.

    Christianity, exploding in a pluralism not seen since the Reformation, is especially sensitive to its status as the dominant American religion. While over 4,000 new churches open nationwide annually, another 3,700 close, according to David T. Olson in his 2008 book “The American Church in Crisis.” This is near status quo, despite population growth, suggesting a shift away from collective religious worship for many. Hispanics, traditionally more observant, are building megachurches at a far faster clip than non-Hispanics, pointing to a loss of interest in collective Christianity for the majority of the population.

    Locally then, the house of worship is entering a phase of experimentation as new forms, such as megachurches, are tried; it is discarded altogether by the house-church movement; and it is growing in some religions such as Buddhism, with their new temple, and Judaism, with the construction of the new JCC South Campus on Apopka Vineland Road. The mainline Christian denominations that dominate downtown’s skyline serve less and less as a model for new buildings as malls are repurposed, warehouse buildings are adapted, and more novel programs and designs are tried.

    Hindu, Jain, and Muslim traditions are also represented in Orlando, and generally playing to full houses. The Masjid Al-Haqq mosque on West Central Boulevard on a Friday afternoon was brimming full, with more worshippers arriving by car and by foot. Collective spiritual worship of all forms is clearly a rising force within Orlando, and space on pews, benches, chairs and prayer mats are at a premium.

    Missing from many lives, crucial to others, religion is at an odd crossing in Central Florida’s history. To balance empty pocketbooks, some people are filling their cups with booze but others are also imbibing a perhaps long-delayed return to spirituality. This return, however, is marked by a mosaic of multiple religions, rather than a return to the few mainstream denominations that characterized early Orlando’s growth. If Bud Johnson is right, and this surge in spirituality lasts through The Recovery, Orlando will see a boom in new religious architecture that might make up for lost time, creating a revival in sacred space in the Central Florida landscape.

    Richard Reep is an Architect and artist living in Winter Park, Florida. His practice has centered around hospitality-driven mixed use, and has contributed in various capacities to urban mixed-use projects, both nationally and internationally, for the last 25 years.

  • Property Owners Pay for City’s Dysfunction Under L.A.’s New Graffiti Ordinance

    Graffiti is a bane of urban life, a form of vandalism that demoralizes entire neighborhoods and invites worse crime.

    Graffiti is an art form and an outlet for expression amid the jumble and obvious strains of urban life.

    You’ll hear arguments from both of those viewpoints, depending on who you talk to about graffiti.

    The Garment & Citizen is of the firm opinion that anyone is free to consider graffiti an art form – but all should be mindful that such status doesn’t give anyone the right to express themselves by painting, etching or otherwise tagging someone else’s property. Pablo Picasso himself would not have had any right to create his “Guernica” on the side of someone else’s building, as far as we’re concerned.

    It would have been a loss to the world, of course, if Picasso had gone through life with no canvass for his genius. The world needs Picassos, and it’s important to remember that such talent sometimes grows on tough corners.

    It would be an ideal situation if we had a school system that could consistently engage such talented individuals…and parents with the time to nurture youngsters inclined toward art…and an overall outlook as a society that values art as something more than a commodity to be marketed.

    We’re lacking to some degree or another on each of those counts.

    Consider what goes on before some kid decides to emblazon graffiti on someone else’s property.

    First, there’s been some breakdown in the family unit. Sometimes it’s a parent or parents who don’t care enough to warn their children off such behavior. Other times they are too busy trying to feed and clothe their kids, leaving little time to teach them right from wrong.

    You can bet that many cases also involve a school that has failed to engage and educate the youngster.

    There’s probably a lack of after-school resources, too, leaving kids to find camaraderie with mischief makers while their parents are still working.

    All of these factors come into play on graffiti in our city. They all point to the dysfunction that has found a cozy spot in Los Angeles for decades.

    We live in a city where the minimum wage is $8 an hour, which will bring $320 for a 40-hour week – hardly enough for rent. Is it any wonder that folks at the bottom end of the pay scale might have to spend more time working and fewer hours on their child’s upbringing?

    Everyone knows that the drop-out rates at Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) campuses are sky high in general, and higher still as you move down the socio-economic ladder. Yet not much ever changes when it comes to expectations of how well the organization teaches our children.

    Then there’s the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), which recently came close to a roster of 10,000 officers, the highest mark in the agency’s history. Compare that to other major cities in the U.S. and you’ll see that we still don’t have enough cops. We have never had enough cops. And now there’s talk of trimming staffing levels for LAPD because the city is short on money.

    These are the pillars of the dysfunction that we have lived with for years in Los Angeles. How does a city go so far down a path of ignoring all these problems and allowing the ground for graffiti vandals to grow so fertile?

    Look no further than City Hall. That’s where members of the City Council recently passed an ordinance that will require any new commercial or residential buildings to include anti-graffiti coatings on the structures. The only exception comes if a property owner signs a lifetime contract to remove any graffiti within a week.

    There you have it – this problem rolls downhill. Failure upon failure leads to the doors of property owners. They must, under the ordinance, join city officials in giving up on any thoughts about directly addressing graffiti vandalism. They must, our elected officials say, pay good money to prepare to be vandalized.

    The new ordinance is one way to raise revenue, but it also raises a white flag of surrender – a de facto confirmation that our elected officials lack the governmental skill and political will to face up to graffiti vandals and address the various factors behind the crime.

    That’s a dictionary definition of dysfunction – and it passed the Los Angeles City Council unanimously.

    Jerry Sullivan is the Editor & Publisher of the Los Angeles Garment & Citizen, a weekly community newspaper that covers Downtown Los Angeles and surrounding districts (www.garmentandcitizen.com)

  • The Limits of Transit: Costly Dead-End

    The proposed Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) fare increase and service cuts for next year are indicative of transit’s recurring budgetary problems, and not only in Chicago but nationwide. But in the Windy City, these moves have elicited an understandably negative public reaction since the city of Chicago depends on transit about as much as any city besides New York.

    CTA, like other transit agencies around the nation routinely, claim that fare increases and service cuts are necessary due to under-funding. Transit budget crises seem to come as often as Presidents day in many places and more often than February 29 (every four years) virtually everywhere.

    If under-funding were the primary problem, then an examination of historic trends would indicate that the money available to transit had declined (after adjusting for inflation) relative to ridership. But in nearly all cases, including both the CTA and the national data, this is far from the truth.

    Cost Escalation at CTA: Despite its storied history as one of the nation’s premier transit agencies, CTA has suffered heavy ridership losses since its modern peak in 1979. A principal reason for this decline was a series of devastating fare increases that would not have been necessary if costs had been maintained within inflation. In 2007, CTA spent 13% more (inflation adjusted) to run its buses and trains than in 1979. That would be fine if ridership had risen 13% (or more), since then both riders and taxpayers could feel that they had obtained value for money. However, ridership dropped by more than 2 percent. If CTA had kept its costs per passenger within inflation, it would have at least $400 million more each year, and would have no need to consider fare increases or service reductions.

    National Transit Cost Escalation: Between 1982 (the last year before the federal gas dedicated gas tax for transit) and 2007, national transit ridership (passenger miles) rose 44% percent. At the same time, transit expenditures, adjusted for inflation, rose 100%. This means that each new inflation adjusted $1.00 for transit delivered $0.44 in new value (additional ridership). If transit had kept expenditures growth within inflation, there would have been in excess of $13 billion in 2007 (See Note).

    In contrast, the price (or cost) of most products and services rise about with the rate of inflation or slightly more or less. Over the same period of time, automobile and airline costs per passenger mile have declined, producing more than $1.00 in value for each new inflation adjusted dollar. Food costs have declined 3 percent relative to inflation, energy costs have declined 2 percent relative to inflation and housing costs have risen 1 percent relative to inflation.

    Transit’s Intractable Fiscal Problem: Transit is incapable of producing ridership increases that coincide with its funding increases because of its structure. Transit is a monopoly, and an unregulated monopoly incapable of managing itself effectively. Private monopolies, such as electric utilities, are routinely regulated. Economic theory generally holds that monopolies are to be avoided, because of their power to violate the interests of consumers by passing on higher than necessary prices and substandard service. No responsible government would think of granting a monopoly to a private company without exercising regulatory control to ensure that the company does abuse its position of power.

    Before the wide availability of subsidies to transit, there were private companies, which could not raise fares or cut service without regulatory review and approval. It was not the best possible system, but it was designed to principally serve consumers. But government is different. There are no commissions set up to regulate government monopolies, like transit.

    Competitive Incentives: The antidote to monopoly is competition, and transit costs cannot be controlled without it. There is a successful model. Transit agencies can competitively bid and competitively contract bus routes for limited periods of time, requiring firms to supply services they specify. The public agency continues to draw the routes, establish the timetables and set the fares. In a number of cases, competitive contracting has lowered costs and reduced the rate of cost increase.

    In Los Angeles, our efforts led to carving a new transit district (Foothill Transit) out of the old public monopoly (the Southern California Rapid Transit District). Other services were transferred from the public monopoly to be administered by the city of Los Angeles. In each case, the transferred services were competitively contracted, and evaluation reports put the savings at more than 40%. Similar results have been achieved in Denver and San Diego, where approximately 50% of bus services are now competitively contracted. In Denver, the competitive contracting program was established by state legislation, while in San Diego, local officials introduced the program to gain control of rapidly escalating costs. More than a decade ago, my report for the Metropolitan Transit Association showed that substantial savings could be achieved at CTA through competitive contracting without requiring employee layoffs or give-backs.

    Competitive contracting has even spread to commuter rail systems, such as in San Diego, Dallas-Fort Worth, Miami, Boston and Los Angeles. However, for all of these savings, competitive contracting accounts for only a small share of transit services in the United States.

    The Antithesis of Cost Effectiveness: There remains strong resistance by the special interests that control transit, from the managers to the employees to vendors. Within a couple of years, the California legislature caved to lobbying from transit interests, including the transit unions, and outlawed the kinds of cost reducing reforms that had created Foothill Transit. This is despite the fact that not a single penny in wages or benefits had been taken away from a single transit worker.

    Perhaps the most brazen case was when the Denver transit agency approached the state legislature in the early 1990s seeking repeal of the competitive contracting bill, claiming that it was costing the agency more than if the services were provided by its own employees. It later was revealed that the analysis had compared the internal costs of operations with the competitively contracted costs of operations and capital (buses and facilities). It was even worse than that. The cost of the competitively contracted buses was amortized at a rate more than double the normal accounting standard. After this misleading initiative, the legislature expanded the competitive contracting requirement.

    The resistance of monopoly transit interests to competitive contracting is understandable. People and organizations generally tend to look out for their own interests first and unregulated monopolies can do so with a vengeance. Without the countervailing force of competition (or, less effectively, regulation) their financial demands prevail over the interests of the riders and taxpayers, without whom there would be no reason for transit to exist.

    One result is that when major transit expansions are chosen, the approaches that cost the most per passenger are often selected. The classic case is the selection of rail technologies over bus technologies, which are usually far more cost-effective given the modest transit volumes in the United States. Instead we often choose rail systems that cost more on an annual basis than it would cost to lease each new transit customer a car in perpetuity. Sometimes the cost equals that of an economy car, other times it could be a Lexus.

    Another contributing factor has been transit wages and benefits, both for managers and operating employees. These have risen far faster than in competitive markets, whether unionized or not. Other costs have risen as well, from capital costs to the costs of administration. The present monopoly situation effectively establishes a public policy objective of maximizing transit costs per passenger. The focus should be on maximizing ridership by minimizing expenditures per passenger.

    Internal Reforms Do Not Survive: There is always the potential for internal reform. One of the most sweeping of such programs was implemented by Chicago’s Mayor Jane Byrne in the early 1980s. She forced major cost reductions at CTA. However, after she left, costs resumed their upward trend. It is difficult, if not impossible, to sustain the political will to control transit costs without the incentives of competition.

    Overseas: Perhaps surprisingly, the conversion to competition has been widespread overseas. Virtually all of the world’s largest public bus systems take this approach. Transport for London (formerly London Transport) is competitively bid. Between 1985 and 2000, the costs per mile of service declined more than one-half, adjusted for inflation. Much the same has occurred in Socialist Scandinavia. All Copenhagen bus service is competitively bid. Stockholm not only bid its bus service, but also saved money by competitively bidding its metro (subway) system. Commuter rail lines are being competitively bid in Germany, as are entire bus systems in Adelaide and Perth in Australia. In all of these cases, the public has gained by lower costs, expanded services and generally lower fares than would have otherwise been the case. In the United States, however, the surviving public monopoly structure skims more than half of the new money off the top, leaving less than half for the riders and taxpayers.

    Why This is Important: All of this is relevant because there is a sense that transit will play a much larger role in the future. Virtually none of the analysis exhibits any understanding of the dynamics that rule transit expenditures. For example, the contentious Moving Cooler presumes that transit expenditures will rise within the inflation rate and, as a result, expects romantically unachievable increases in ridership.

    This is wishful thinking of the worst kind. Congress, the state and the nation’s transit agencies have studiously avoided any sort of analysis that would compare transit costs to inflation. They cannot be relied upon to set things right since they will not confront the special interests that control transit.

    Instead, American transit agencies spend more without a corresponding increase in ridership. New money made available to transit loses value like the depreciating currency of a hyper-inflating economy. Washington, state governments and local governments can throw a lot more money at transit. They seem incapable however of producing a corresponding increase in ridership.

    Note: National expenditures calculated from the governments database of the United States Bureau of the Census. Ridership from the American Public Transportation Association. Chicago ridership and operating cost data from the American Public Transportation Association and the US Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration National Transit Database. Financial data adjusted to 2007$ using the Consumer Price Index.

    Wendell Cox was appointed to three terms by Mayor Tom Bradley to represent the city of Los Angeles on the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission (LACTC), which was the principal transit and highway policy body in the nation’s largest county. As the only LACTC member who was not an elected official, he chaired the Service Coordination Committee, which established the procedures that led to the establishment of Foothill Transit. He also chaired two American Public Transit Association national committees (Governing Boards and Policy & Planning).

  • Stimulate Yourself!

    Beltway politicians and economists can argue themselves silly about the impact of the Obama administration’s stimulus program, but outside the beltway the discussion is largely over. On the local level–particularly outside the heavily politicized big cities–the consensus seems to be that the stimulus has changed little–if anything.

    Recently, I met with a couple of dozen mayors and city officials in Kentucky to discuss economic growth. The mayors spoke of their initiatives and ideas, yet hardly anyone mentioned the stimulus.

    “We didn’t see much of anything,” noted Elaine Walker, mayor of Bowling Green, a relatively prosperous town of 55,000 in the western part of the state. “The money went to the state and was siphoned off by them. We got about zero from it.”

    Ironically, Walker does not seem overly upset about the lack of federal assistance for Bowling Green. Instead, Walker–a self-described supporter of the president in a part of the country largely resistant to Obamamania–seems more disposed to taking matters into her own hands. Rather than waiting for Obama, Bowling Green is looking to stimulate itself–and other communities would do well to emulate this grassroots approach

    Bowling Green’s “self-stimulation” is part of a concentrated effort at diversification for the city, which has long depended on its General Motors plant, which produces the Corvette. Other single-industry-dominated regions, notably Detroit, have made much noise about moving into other fields, but their emphasis has frequently revolved around high-profile, highly subsidized projects such as “green” industries, entertainment or tourism.

    Instead, says Walker, the first step in diversification lies with boosting small local businesses.

    A primary vehicle for this has been the successful Small Business Accelerator located at an abandoned mall. Buddy Steen, who runs the program in conjunction with Western Kentucky University, claims it has fostered some 38 companies and created over 700 jobs. Blu Pharmaceuticals, developed by Small Business Accelerator, for example, currently employs five but expects to add another 40 workers at its new plant in nearby Franklin. The program’s other firms specialize in everything from electronic warfare to robotics.

    Kentucky may seem an unlikely spot for such ventures, admits local entrepreneur Ed Mills, but things are changing in the Bluegrass State. Mills, a former General Motors executive, and his twin sons, Clint and Chris, founded a Web-based software firm, HitCents, in 1995 when the boys were still in high school.

    Today the company, which develops software for retail and other applications, has over 50 employees and customers from across the country, including GM, as well as a host of local companies, unions and public agencies. “We hope to build a $100 million company, and we think we can do it.” Mills says. “You don’t have to be in California. People think you can’t do this in Kentucky but plainly you can.”

    With its strategic location on Interstate 65 connecting the old industrial heartland to the emerging one along the Gulf, Bowling Green enjoys many advantages. It’s slightly over an hour to Nashville and two hours to Louisville, the area’s two major consumer and cultural marketplaces.

    Other small communities in the state have also realized that any green shoots would have to come from local grassroots. Russellville, a rural community of some 7,200 in the southwest part of the state, is looking at a “back to basics” economic development plan that stresses the export of local food products and crafts.

    “You can ride down the highways and smell the hams smoking,” notes one local economic developer. “We are looking on how to export those hams to the rest of country.”

    Mayor Gary Williamson of Mt. Sterling, a town of 6,000 located in Montgomery County, in the generally more impoverished east, has been pushing a different strategy. His region is dotted with industrial plants of varying sizes. The city is also 45 minutes from Georgetown, site of a large Toyota factory.

    These employers require a steady stream of skilled industrial workers, particularly in such fields as machine maintenance. Williamson and other officials in the area see training such workers–starting at the high school level–as a way to not only keep people employed but to attract other firms to the area. “We want to keep people here, and they will do so if they have jobs after school,” he explains.

    It’s significant that such grassroots-based development–geared to unique local conditions–is taking place in Kentucky. For generations, the state and the rest of the surrounding Appalachian region has been the brunt of both jokes and patronizing attention from the nation’s academes, policy circles and media.

    Most Americans, observed Newsweek in 2008, “see Appalachia through the twin stereotypes of tragedy (miners buried alive) and farce (Jed Clampett).” One prime reflection of that approach can be seen in a CNN report last year that painted a decidedly dismal portrait of the region.

    For generations, Appalachia’s seeming backwardness has led to the creation of numerous federal programs aimed at lifting it into the national economic and cultural mainstream, notes University of Kentucky historian Ronald Eller. In his excellent Uneven Ground: Appalachia Since 1945, Eller describes how these efforts reflected the region’s “struggle with modernity.” Progress has been often associated with efforts to undermine what the late Michael Harrington described as a “separate culture, another nation with its own way of life.”

    Yet, this unique culture also could provide some of the basis for a regional recovery. There’s a growing sense, notes longtime Kentucky League of Cities President Sylvia Lovely, that the region’s fundamental assets–its natural beauty, resources and traditions of craftsmanship–could constitute a distinct advantage in the coming decades.

    More important still could be less tangible values, Lovely notes. “Modernity” in its current unadulterated form–with a lack of community, homogeneity and disconnect from the natural world–could be losing its allure for millions of Americans. In terms of what matters, she suggests, Appalachian towns may possess “if not more information, perhaps more wisdom than those who hold themselves out as experts. “

    Looking at the statistics, the news is not all grim. Despite its still glaring problems, particularly in its rural hinterland, Appalachia has been gaining steadily compared to the rest of the country. In 1960 one-third of Appalachia residents lived in poverty, compared with 1 in 5 nationally; by 2000 the poverty rates had fallen to 13.6%, just a tick higher than the national 12.3%. The region’s continued struggle with the gap between rich and poor, Eller notes, now more reflects broader national trends as opposed to something unique to the region.

    Perhaps the most dramatic changes are illustrated by migration patterns. By the end of the 1960s one out of every three industrial workers in Ohio came from Appalachia. Young people studied, notes Eller, “reading, writing and Route 23,” referring to the main highway to the industrial north.

    Since 2000 Kentucky, as well as Tennessee and West Virginia, have enjoyed positive rates of net migration. Although some parts of the region continue to suffer horrendous poverty and continued out-migration, many other communities–such as Bowling Green, Lexington and Louisville, as well some more rural areas–have attracted more newcomers than they have lost. Overall Appalachian states’ migration statistics look a lot healthier than Ohio and Illinois, not to mention New York or California.

    Walker–who moved to Kentucky from Los Angeles shortly after the 1992 race riots–sees this new migration as part of what will sustain a recovery in the region. Like many newcomers, Walker came to Kentucky not for bright lights but for a good place to raise her children. “Everyone still waves and says hi,” she observes. “That makes a lot more difference to people than many think. In the end, people come here because it’s a better place to live and also to raise your kids. It’s all about families.”

    Ultimately, a combination of folksiness and access to the world brought by technology could spark a continued renaissance not only in Bowling Green but across the region. The fact that the resurgence seems to be the product of largely local efforts not only makes it all the sweeter, but could inspire similar approaches among those communities still waiting for Washington to rescue them.

    This article originally appeared at Forbes.com.

    Joel Kotkin is executive editor of NewGeography.com and is a distinguished presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University. He is author of The City: A Global History. His next book, The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050, will be published by Penguin Press early next year.

    Downtown Bowling Green photo courtesy of OPMaster

  • The White City

    Among the media, academia and within planning circles, there’s a generally standing answer to the question of what cities are the best, the most progressive and best role models for small and mid-sized cities. The standard list includes Portland, Seattle, Austin, Minneapolis, and Denver. In particular, Portland is held up as a paradigm, with its urban growth boundary, extensive transit system, excellent cycling culture, and a pro-density policy. These cities are frequently contrasted with those of the Rust Belt and South, which are found wanting, often even by locals, as “cool” urban places.

    But look closely at these exemplars and a curious fact emerges. If you take away the dominant Tier One cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles you will find that the “progressive” cities aren’t red or blue, but another color entirely: white.

    In fact, not one of these “progressive” cities even reaches the national average for African American percentage population in its core county. Perhaps not progressiveness but whiteness is the defining characteristic of the group.

    The progressive paragon of Portland is the whitest on the list, with an African American population less than half the national average. It is America’s ultimate White City. The contrast with other, supposedly less advanced cities is stark.

    It is not just a regional thing, either. Even look just within the state of Texas, where Austin is held up as a bastion of right thinking urbanism next to sprawlvilles like Dallas-Ft. Worth and Houston.

    Again, we see that Austin is far whiter than either Dallas-Ft. Worth or Houston.

    This raises troubling questions about these cities. Why is it that progressivism in smaller metros is so often associated with low numbers of African Americans? Can you have a progressive city properly so-called with only a disproportionate handful of African Americans in it? In addition, why has no one called these cities on it?

    As the college educated flock to these progressive El Dorados, many factors are cited as reasons: transit systems, density, bike lanes, walkable communities, robust art and cultural scenes. But another way to look at it is simply as White Flight writ large. Why move to the suburbs of your stodgy Midwest city to escape African Americans and get criticized for it when you can move to Portland and actually be praised as progressive, urban and hip? Many of the policies of Portland are not that dissimilar from those of upscale suburbs in their effects. Urban growth boundaries and other mechanisms raise land prices and render housing less affordable exactly the same as large lot zoning and building codes that mandate brick and other expensive materials do. They both contribute to reducing housing affordability for historically disadvantaged communities. Just like the most exclusive suburbs.

    This lack of racial diversity helps explain why urban boosters focus increasingly on international immigration as a diversity measure. Minneapolis, Portland and Austin do have more foreign born than African Americans, and do better than Rust Belt cities on that metric, but that’s a low hurdle to jump. They lack the diversity of a Miami, Houston, Los Angeles or a host of other unheralded towns from the Texas border to Las Vegas and Orlando. They even have far fewer foreign born residents than many suburban counties of America’s major cities.

    The relative lack of diversity in places like Portland raises some tough questions the perennially PC urban boosters might not want to answer. For example, how can a city define itself as diverse or progressive while lacking in African Americans, the traditional sine qua non of diversity, and often in immigrants as well?

    Imagine a large corporation with a workforce whose African American percentage far lagged its industry peers, sans any apparent concern, and without a credible action plan to remediate it. Would such a corporation be viewed as a progressive firm and employer? The answer is obvious. Yet the same situation in major cities yields a different answer. Curious.

    In fact, lack of ethnic diversity may have much to do with what allows these places to be “progressive”. It’s easy to have Scandinavian policies if you have Scandinavian demographics. Minneapolis-St. Paul, of course, is notable in its Scandinavian heritage; Seattle and Portland received much of their initial migrants from the northern tier of America, which has always been heavily Germanic and Scandinavian.

    In comparison to the great cities of the Rust Belt, the Northeast, California and Texas, these cities have relatively homogenous populations. Lack of diversity in culture makes it far easier to implement “progressive” policies that cater to populations with similar values; much the same can be seen in such celebrated urban model cultures in the Netherlands and Scandinavia. Their relative wealth also leads to a natural adoption of the default strategy of the upscale suburb: the nicest stuff for the people with the most money. It is much more difficult when you have more racially and economically diverse populations with different needs, interests, and desires to reconcile.

    In contrast, the starker part of racial history in America has been one of the defining elements of the history of the cities of the Northeast, Midwest, and South. Slavery and Jim Crow led to the Great Migration to the industrial North, which broke the old ethnic machine urban consensus there. Civil rights struggles, fair housing, affirmative action, school integration and busing, riots, red lining, block busting, public housing, the emergence of black political leaders – especially mayors – prompted white flight and the associated disinvestment, leading to the decline of urban schools and neighborhoods.

    There’s a long, depressing history here.

    In Texas, California, and south Florida a somewhat similar, if less stark, pattern has occurred with largely Latino immigration. This can be seen in the evolution of Miami, Los Angeles, and increasingly Houston, San Antonio and Dallas. Just like African-Americans, Latino immigrants also are disproportionately poor and often have different site priorities and sensibilities than upscale whites.

    This may explain why most of the smaller cities of the Midwest and South have not proven amenable to replicating the policies of Portland. Most Midwest advocates of, for example, rail transit, have tried to simply transplant the Portland solution to their city without thinking about the local context in terms of system goals and design, and how to sell it. Civic leaders in city after city duly make their pilgrimage to Denver or Portland to check out shiny new transit systems, but the resulting videos of smiling yuppies and happy hipsters are not likely to impress anyone over at the local NAACP or in the barrios.

    We are seeing this script played out in Cincinnati presently, where an odd coalition of African Americans and anti-tax Republicans has formed to try to stop a streetcar system. Streetcar advocates imported Portland’s solution and arguments to Cincinnati without thinking hard enough to make the case for how it would benefit the whole community.

    That’s not to let these other cities off the hook. Most of them have let their urban cores decay. Almost without exception, they have done nothing to engage with their African American populations. If people really believe what they say about diversity being a source of strength, why not act like it? I believe that cities that start taking their African American and other minority communities seriously, seeing them as a pillar of civic growth, will reap big dividends and distinguish themselves in the marketplace.

    This trail has been blazed not by the “progressive” paragons but by places like Atlanta, Dallas and Houston. Atlanta, long known as one of America’s premier African American cities, has boomed to become the capital of the New South. It should come as no surprise that good for African Americans has meant good for whites too. Similarly, Houston took in tens of thousands of mostly poor and overwhelmingly African American refugees from Hurricane Katrina. Houston, a booming metro and emerging world city, rolled out the welcome mat for them – and for Latinos, Asians and other newcomers. They see these people as possessing talent worth having.

    This history and resulting political dynamic could not be more different from what happened in Portland and its “progressive” brethren. These cities have never been black, and may never be predominately Latino. Perhaps they cannot be blamed for this but they certainly should not be self-congratulatory about it or feel superior about the urban policies a lack of diversity has enabled.

    Aaron M. Renn is an independent writer on urban affairs based in the Midwest. His writings appear at The Urbanophile.

  • The Compromise by the Lake

    Toronto is a nice city.

    If that seems like faint praise, then so be it; I’m not a great Toronto fan. Don’t get me wrong. It is a wonderful city for the tourist, and temporary residents I know swear by the place. But it’s not my kind of town.

    I spent much time in Toronto in the 1980s and 90s. My first visit must have been in 1970 or so, and I was last there on a very cold, January day in 2003.

    The city used to be known as “Tidy Toronto.” Indeed, that was the impression I got from my first visit – it all seemed very British, very clean, very orderly. In the 1970’s the Blue Laws were strict – it wasn’t possible to buy a cup of coffee on a Sunday morning. For the tourist (as I was then) it made for an unpleasant stay. These rules have weakened over the years, but as far as I know, many shopping malls and large stores are still closed on Sunday.

    In contrast to the United States (Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness), Canada was founded as British North America on the principles of Good Government & Good Order. The Blue Laws are of a piece. There are some nice things about this: Canadian parks, including Toronto city parks, are much nicer and better maintained than their American counterparts. Toronto supports one of the largest public library systems in North America (an expensive anachronism?). They have street cars. The streets are (or at least were) cleaner. Canadian hotels and motels are fantastic – and apart from boring Sundays, Canada surely is one of the best countries in the world for the tourist. By all means, visit Toronto.

    But compared to American cities of comparable size – Boston, Atlanta, Seattle – Toronto is stifling, provincial, and culturally unimportant. This, I believe, is why.

    The city is situated on the northwest shore of Lake Ontario. The street system is oriented by the lake, which means E-W streets roughly parallel the shore. Thus, going east on Bloor will put you on a 75 degree heading. North-south streets are perpendicular – Yonge Street heads north at 345 degrees.

    The lake is the city’s geographical feature of note, and serves as a transportation artery. Both the railroad and the Gardiner Expressway run right along the lakefront, thus cutting the city off from the water. City planners have tried mightily to rectify this fundamental error in design: they have built as many urban attractions as they can on the water side of the tracks, beginning with Queen’s Quay. This is nice enough, but is not easily accessible for pedestrians (one has to cross both the expressway and the tracks to get there). And then it is a synthetic cityscape, such as Manhattan’s South Street Seaport or Chicago’s Navy Pier: seen one, you’ve seen them all. Off shore are the Toronto Islands, now mostly used as park space. I’m ashamed to admit I’ve never been there.

    I’ve always thought of the center of town being the corner of Yonge and Bloor Streets, for that surely is the busiest subway stop. It is an impressive corner, similar to Chicago’s Michigan Ave (though on a much smaller scale).

    South of Bloor, Yonge Street is the city’s major promenade, where young people go to see and be seen. They strut by on wheels and on foot, in hot rods and hot clothes. It’s a great place to walk on a Summer evening.

    A half mile (Toronto’s streets were designed long before Canada went metric) south of Bloor is Dundas Street, a street that doesn’t follow the grid (probably an old Indian trail). Yet another half mile south is Queen Street, the main E-W pedestrian thoroughfare and location of Eaton Centre – a huge, indoor shopping mall (apparently now open on Sunday). Further south are King Street, Front Street, Union Station, and then the Gardiner Expressway at the foot of Yonge Street. Yonge St. becomes less lively south of Queen St.

    Walking west on Queen Street (highly recommended) one comes first to Nathan Phillips Square, location of the justly famous Toronto City Hall. The old city Hall, a beautiful red brick building to the east, is just as impressive. In the summer there are fountains, and in the winter ice skating. Beyond this is Osgood Hall, a judicial institution and a lovely building surrounded by a marvelous garden. Go inside if you can. En route you will cross Bay Street, Canada’s financial center. The heart of the financial district is Bay & King Streets.

    Continuing west brings one to University Avenue, a broad, visually spectacular boulevard. It is full of institutions: Ontario Hydro has its headquarters here, as do large insurance companies. It is not a shopping street. About a mile north, University Ave. divides to surround Queen’s Park, the location of the Ontario Provincial Legislature. It is a beautiful park and an interesting building. “At Queen’s Park today,” begins many a news cast, “Premier McGuinty announced…” North of Queen’s Park, University Avenue turns into the redundantly named Avenue Road.

    Continuing west on Queen brings one to Spadina Avenue, a major N-S traffic thoroughfare. Spadina and Dundas is the center of the traditional Chinatown. North of that, between Spadina and Queen’s Park, is the University of Toronto – the center of the campus is surrounded by King’s College Circle, and a pleasant walk.

    Beyond Spadina, Queen Street is Toronto’s version of Greenwich Village, known as the Gallery District. Here are nice cafes, bookstores, small shops. I believe this used to be the center of the Italian district, and Italians still live on the West End and in Etobicoke. But West Queen St. has outgrown the ethnic identity.

    Bathhurst, about a mile west of Spadina, forms the outer edge of the city center. Beyond this Queen Street looked like a slum, at least when I was last there.

    East Queen Street, east of Jarvis, is skid row.

    North of Bloor, between Yonge and Avenue Road, is an area called Yorktown – a mostly pedestrian area with narrow streets, small shops, and sidewalk cafes. Just to the east of Yorktown is Rosedale, a very elegant neighborhood of beautiful homes. Both are worth exploring on foot.

    So that brings us back to the corner of Yonge & Bloor. Next time we’ll start again from there.

    And what happens if you go east on Bloor?

    Daniel Jelski is Dean of Science & Engineering State University of New York at New Paltz.

  • E-Government: City Management Faces Facebook

    Does a City Manager belong on Facebook?

    Erasmus, the Dutch theologian and scholar, in 1500 wrote, “In the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king.” I feel this way in the land of social media — at least among city and county managers. Inspired by the first city manager blog in the nation, started by Wally Bobkiewicz in Santa Paula, California, I began posting back in 2006. Although most bloggers strive for frequent, short blurbs, I’ve employed blogging to provide a place to get beyond the sound bites (and out of context quotes) in the local press. I seek to provide background, explanation, and context for the stories in the news, along with the trends that don’t make the news.

    I tried MySpace and Facebook initially out of curiosity. For my first six months, I had only six friends on Facebook. Now I have more than 400, and few days go by when I don’t review requests for more. I post at least once a day, usually links to intriguing articles on public policy and photos of my three kids.

    While I was finding my way as a boomer in cyberspace, I resisted Twitter…until an invitation arrived from a friend 30 years older than I. If someone in his 80s was interested in tweets from me, I figured the time had come to join the crowd. And although I’ve never made a YouTube video, several videos of me are floating in cyberspace.

    For local managers, all of these social media offer new tools to work on one of democracy’s oldest challenges: promoting the common good. What local governments can’t do is fall hopelessly behind. The fate of railroads, automakers, and newspapers shows what happens to the complacent. It’s time to get online — and reach far beyond the initial step of a city website with links — to lead the effort to build stronger communities and a healthier democracy for the 21st century.

    Civic Engagement and Social Media: The Ventura Case Study

    Ventura has a civic engagement manager position, but civic engagement is considered a citywide core competency, like tech savvy and customer service. It’s not something we do periodically; it’s how we strive to do everything.

    One of our key citywide performance measures is the level of volunteerism in the community. We look not just at the 40,000 volunteer hours logged by city government last year, but at the percentage of the population that volunteer for any cause or organization: 50 percent versus 26 percent nationally. We strive to raise awareness, commitment, and participation by citizens in local government and their community.

    Reports by Council staff not only list fiscal impacts and alternatives, but document citizen outreach and involvement in each recommendation. There are obviously different levels; they recently ranged from a stakeholder committee that held four facilitated sessions to produce rules governing vacation rentals, to a citywide economic summit cosponsored with the chamber of commerce that drew 300 businesspeople and residents to develop 54 action steps unanimously endorsed by the city council at the conclusion.

    Effective engagement requires aggressive, fine-tuned, and immediate communication. We address traditional media with a weekly interdepartmental round table that reviews what stories are likely to surface and identifies other stories we’d like to see covered. We encourage city staff to quickly post comments to online newspaper postings to set the record straight, respond to legitimate queries, and direct citizens to additional information on our website.

    We have two public access channels — one for government, one for the community — and actively provide both with programming. Our most direct access comes from a biweekly e-newsletter that goes out to 5,000 addresses, linking directly to website resources, including the city manager’s latest blog post.

    Slow at first to embrace Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, we’re closing the gap. One councilmember is a prolific blogger, and another uses Facebook for interactive community dialogue. We make judicious use of reverse 911 to get public safety information out quickly to residents. We’ve also pioneered “My Ventura Access”, a one-stop portal for all citizen questions, complaints, compliments, and opinions, whether they come by phone, Internet, mail, or in person.

    Not Your Grandfather’s Democracy

    Twitter, which allows just 140 characters – including spaces and punctuation – per “tweet”, gets a disproportionate share of the social media chatter. After a Republican member of Congress was ridiculed for tweeting during the State of the Union address this past February, Twitter usage exploded 3,700 percent in less than a year. By the time you read this, U.S. Twitter users will outnumber the population of Texas, or possibly California. In just five years, techcrunch.com reports, Facebook users have zoomed past 250 million. A Nielsen study estimates that usage has increased by seven times in the past year alone.

    Yet as blogs, tweets, Facebook, YouTube, and text blasts reshape how America communicates, few local governments — and even fewer city and county managers — are keeping pace. E-government remains largely focused on websites and online services. This communication gap leaves local government vulnerable in a changing world. “Business as usual” is not a comforting crutch; it’s foolish complacency. Just look at the sudden implosion of General Motors, the Boston Globe, and the state of California.

    It would be equally shortsighted to thoughtlessly embrace these new communication media as virtual substitutes for thoroughgoing civic engagement. We’re part of a 2,500-year-old experiment in local democracy, launched in Athens long before Twitter and YouTube. Local democracy operated long before the newspapers, broadcast media, public hearings, and community workshops familiar to today’s local government managers.

    We may live in a hi-tech world, but the basis of what we do remains “high touch,” involving what some of the most thoughtful International City/County Management practitioners call “building community.” Social media offer new tools to build community, although they aren’t a magic shortcut.

    This is part one of a two-part series. A slightly different version of this article appeared in Public Management, the magazine of the International City/County Management Association; icma.org/pm.

    Rick Cole is city manager of Ventura, California, and this year’s recipient of the Municipal Management Association of Southern California’s Excellence in Government Award. He can be reached at RCole@ci.ventura.ca.us