We tend to think of our built environments as permanent, unchanging, even eternal. But, architecture and infrastructure are, in fact,  downright ephemeral when we consider them on generational scale. For most of you reading this the building you are sitting in now was not in existence 100 years ago. For a large number of us the building was not around even 50 years ago. Landscapes can change very rapidly.

( Parking lots are a drain on our neighborhood. Nothing goes on in here all year long-- these big empty spaces are only used on game day. )

I love baseball, and I don't even mind the crowds, but it seems like the residents of the South Bronx are getting overlooked again.  The New York Yankees are building thousands of new parking spots for their stadium and taking away our park land.  They are doing this in the borough with the most kids and teenagers, kids who need lots of space to run play and stay healthy. A lot of people have worked hard to fight the new parking garages, but the Yankees have not budged one bit. When I called my community board they sounded resigned to the whole situation. But, I think that's the wrong way to look at this issue.

Every time you watch TV you feed the beast. You help legitimize the view of the world at it is presented on television. Television is filled with sexist imagery and messages. It's filled with racist stereotypes. Now and then when I'm visiting someone and I watch some TV, I'm always shocked at just how bad it is-- especially the sexism-- When you don't watch it every day these things jump out at you more.

Car crash deaths in the United States declined last year, reaching the lowest level in more than a decade. Only 41,059 people were killed in highway crashes, down by more than 1,000 from 2006. Great news! This makes sense since people drove less in the past year, in part due to higher gas prices.

But, seriously think about that: 40 thousand people. I don't know why we put up with such a high death rate. Yes, we are a nation of millions, but car crashes account for more than half of accidental deaths. Car crashes kill people in all stages of life and disproportionately impact teenagers.  

The US auto industry is hurting bad these days. Their business model centered around large cars bought or leased on easy credit. With gas prices skyrocketing and  credit collapsing auto makers are getting hit hard and scaling back. Not only are jobs vanishing in the auto industry, but they are also vanishing in every industry tied to the auto industry.

The latest blow is hitting advertising.

In its latest attempt to save money, General Motors has asked its advertising agencies to slash their fees by as much as 20% this year and next.
GM Presses Ad Agencies on Costs The Wall Street Journal, August 7, 2008

The short definition of libertarianism is "liberal on social issues, but conservative on fiscal issues." The trouble is a large number of libertarians I know, are not terribly liberal on social issues.  They interpret "liberal on social issues" to mean something along the lines of "I don't care what anyone else dose in their personal life, as long as it has no impact on me," or something along these lines. But if you take this stance and you live in, for example a very homophobic culture, gay people will still suffer from strictly legal forms of social and financial ostracism. Habitual hatred of gays could lead to violence. It's just no good.  In this, and other similar cases, I think that a person has a moral, or social responsibility to promote tolerance and equality. I'm ambivalent about government intervention,  but it is very clear to me that such issues can't just be ignored. I can't just say "that's not my problem." It is my problem. We all live together. To be truly liberal on social issues one needs to at least recognize this and recognize that these problems are real. (How we address them can be a separate question.)

Here is my F.A.Q. for you:

Before you buy ask these questions:

1. Do I really need it?

2. Do I already have one, and can I fix, upgrade or modify it to fit my needs?

3. Do I know someone who has one they aren't using?

4. If I don't need to use it every day, could I share one with other people?

5. Can I find it in the trash somewhere?

6. Can I buy a used or refurbished product?

7. If I must buy a new one, can I buy a product that is made of recycled materials, made locally with minimal packaging? Is the new product designed to last and so it can be repaired?

Here is a sad photo of the court house on 161st Street in the Bronx. Look at all of those cars parked on the sidewalk!

(Police have blocked off 158th Street in the Bronx because of the Yankees game.  They do this because so many people are walking too and from the game, and due to "concerns about terrorism." This is all fine, but does "game day" mean that all rules are suspended? Even the most basic rules about parking?)

(By the way the Hummer in this image isn't in motion. It's "parked" like that sideways in the middle of the street.)

When you think of New York City our subway system is probably one of the first things that comes to mind. If you've been here for a visits in the past 10 years or so you probably noticed that the subway is in a lot better shape, trains are frequent and they run all night. (Not even London has trains that run all night) There is more to NYC's public transportation network than the subway, we also have busses, and a huge commuter rail system. So, one needs to ask why is such a great service that is so important to the city economically is constantly struggling with funding? The answer? No one wants to pay In the end, that's what it all comes down to. So, now we're facing another fare hike, and the usual news cycle that follows fare hikes where every politician in the city pretends that the MTA has a "bloated" budget and that they could somehow magically do everything they do now (AND MORE!) without any extra funding. (It's magic!)

With gas prices on the rise more people are walking. Too bad they encounter bad intersection planning like this!

(See the man in the red shirt? He is going to risk his life! The sidewalk ends suddenly and you're dumped in to a painted median strip with nothing more than skimpy metal poles to protect you from the onslaught of cars on both sides!)

This is one of the worst places to cross the street in the Bronx. There is no "yield" sign... just a "merge" sign. To cross one must stand in the street between some metal poles that give you a faint amount of security-- then, when you don't see a lot of cars, DASH for the other side! It's a good idea to try waving you hands in the air to become more visible. This intersection needs a crosswalk and a "yield" sign. Drivers only yield to other cars, not to people. You could get killed here.

With gas at $4 or higher some people are starting to ask:

Why on earth did we buy a car like this?

Well, a lot of people once did. In fact, until late 2004, a lot of people went out of their way to buy precisely these monsters because -– if you can believe it -– the government actually offered a tax break for buying a car that weighed over 6,000 pounds if you were self-employed and needed it to transport heavy work machinery. Like farm equipment. Or a laptop.
Futility Vehicle, New York Times Blog, July 10, 2008

People are praying for lower gas prices. Huh? What about finding some other way to get around without driving? Also: God is not a pez dispenser, not in my faith at least, you can't just pray for stuff for yourself... right? Unless it's for health, or something like that. So is gas right up there with hoping ones children are safe and wanting grandma to survive cancer?

In part because Obama is black he can't really address certain issues with as much force or as openly because he would become the stereotypical "black candidate" These are issues that tend to impact black people more, because of poverty, but they are also issues for people of all races.

You see this happening for example with the mini flap about the Muslim women in traditional dress not being able to sit behind Obama. You also see it in the way he questions affirmative action more than other democrats. And although I agree with what he says, he's had to say it more often and make something a of a bigger deal about it, in part to win voters trust and convince them he's not too black. On MLK day he choose not to go to a historic site or really make a big deal about it, both Clinton and McCain did, I could go on and on with this list, but it's easy to see that, pragmatically, Obama has had to avoid being seen as too black.

Every single time I'd ride with my brother on a road trip we'd get stopped by the cops, especially when he got his new shiny car. I don't drive since, I'm concerned about the environment, but I can tell you first hand that "driving while black" is still something of a hazard. I mean, it's improving, but still.

The thing that gets to me most is not, being stopped with my brother, or the time I was told I was biking "too fast" on a street for cars in the park in Pittsburgh (huh?) --I mean, I really do want to cooperate and help make things run smoothly. No, what makes me angry is that cars, mostly very expensive cars, speed through my neighborhood all of the time and not a thing is done about it. I've even stood next to a cop watching a person run a red-light and I'll say, "did you see that! They just ran that light!" And the officer will look at me with these blank placid eyes and say "What about it?"

I'm getting more than a little sick of the way black folks get talked about like we're exotic foreigners in our own country-- like there are all of these strange secret customs we have or something-- oh, and anything one prominent black person does is suddenly a "black thing." You see, I don't know anything about "fist bumps" but, I could could tell it was just some cute little thing Obama and his wife do. Is it just me, or is the over analysis of "the bump" as something exotic and foreign something that we would never see for a similar moment between white people?

Oh-- and it's fine to call black women "baby momma" since I think some random black person said that once and so that's how we all like to think of ourselves. Yeah.

I was a high school math teacher for 4 years, now I'm working on my masters since I want to teach at university. These are my thoughts on how to fix schools. Frankly, I think "fixing" schools is a far less mystifying task than some people make it out to be.  Many of the solutions we've tried have been based on gimmicks.  Why do kids in poor neighborhoods get all of the gimmicky solutions? In thinking about this question I thought about my excellent public school education in a wealthy suburb and tried to apply the things that worked about my high school to the city school. How would you fix schools in your area? Or do you have great public schools?