“United We Stand”: National Unity in the Face of Disaster
During the Republican primaries, Governor Romney proposed curtailing or even eliminating the federal role in disaster response, leaving the response efforts to the states or the private sector. Why does this seem viscerally wrong to so many people today (enough so that Romney first refused to answer any questions about it and then abandoned it on Wednesday)? The answer may partly be a perception that events like Hurricane Sandy are just too big for most state governme...
CONTINUE READINGWhatever Happened to Environmental Politics?
Mayor Bloomberg's endorsement of President Obama on climate-change grounds is depressing because it is so surprising. It tells us something quite bleak that 1) someone had to make clear the relevance of climate to Hurricane Sandy; and 2) someone doing so came as a shock to people. Indeed, through the campaign, climate has been essentially ignored as a political issue. Why is that? Obviously, the reason is complicated, and much of it concerns the Great Recession....
CONTINUE READINGWill Hurricane Sandy Affect Post-Election Actions?
Eric just noted that Bloomberg's endorsement of President Obama marks the first significant moment in the campaign where climate change is front and center. He also suggests that climate change and its relationship to Hurricane Sandy could now actually affect the presidential race. A related and perhaps even more important question is whether the hurricane and its aftermath will make any difference post-election about whether we actually decide to create national c...
CONTINUE READINGHow Climate Change Might (Finally) Affect the Presidential Race
There's been a lot of debates over whether Hurricane Sandy and the damage that it caused in the Northeast was in part the result of climate change. But Sandy appears to have had at least something of an impact on the role that climate change has had in the Presidential race. Up till now, climate change has been a missing topic in the official debates and in the campaign in general. But now, NYC Mayor Bloomberg (who up to this point had refused to endorse Obama or R...
CONTINUE READINGSaving Public Transit: The Role of Technology
New technologies are quickly changing how we provide and interact with public transit. From Smart Phone applications that chart transit trips, new software that enables ride and bike sharing, or stations that function as "mobility hubs" with new ways to provide rider access, these technologies hold the promise to greatly enhance our existing transit systems. Judi Masuda, Transportation Demand Programs Manager at the City of Santa Monica, describes how technology can inte...
CONTINUE READINGSuper PACs, the Presidential Election, and the Public Good
This is going to be a very close election -- close enough that, if Romney wins, a key factor will be Citizens United and related judicial rulings that have helped create the Super PACs. Figures collected by the LA Times show that since April 15, Super PACs have spent over $216 million to defeat Obama versus only $73 million to defeat Romney, a 3:1 margin favoring Romney. These lopsided Super PAC expenditures expand the influence of business interests that resent envi...
CONTINUE READINGIs Hurricane Sandy the Face of Climate Change?
It’s a question at the forefront of many of our minds, as we witness the aftermath of Sandy’s fierce destruction. In the days following the superstorm, we’ve seen surreal images — an illuminated carousel appearing to float in high water, drowning taxi cabs in perfect rows — things we believed would not happen for decades, as climate change inched up on us slowly and steadily. But climate change does not carry a yardstick; it does not operate in measured un...
CONTINUE READINGDraining Hetch Hetchy — Some History for San Francisco’s “Measure F”
San Franciscans will be voting next week on Measure F to study the draining of Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park. Hetch Hetchy, for those who don't know, is a spectacular, glacier-formed valley of equal proportion to its neighbor Yosemite Valley. Congress authorized a dam in 1913 to provide public hydroelectric power and a reliable source of water for San Francisco and peninsula communities. The project became a disaster, costing more money and taking more...
CONTINUE READINGRedeeming FEMA: How the Agency has Been Strengthened Since Katrina
Today's FEMA is a lot different from the organization that flubbed the Katrina response. There have been a number of positive changes, mostly during the past four years. First, as the Washington Post explains, FEMA's authority has expanded: Congress has broadened FEMA’s authority so that the agency can respond in advance of major storms, instead of waiting for governors to request federal aid after a disaster strikes. The measures earned plaudits from then-Gov. Hale...
CONTINUE READINGSaving Public Transit: Neighborhoods Matter
Public transit depends on neighborhood design to be successful. Without convenient neighborhoods that orient housing and jobs around transit, buses and trains will waste scarce public dollars by failing to attract sufficient riders and offering poorer quality service to those who do ride. Mott Smith, a Los Angeles-based real estate developer and advocate who focuses on transit-oriented projects, discusses the importance of neighborhoods to making transit work in this v...
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