Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

If you want friends, be friendly.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Well, literally, no. 1000 street resurfacings doesn't get you a light rail line. And the little stuff (1) happens anyway and (2) would take a literal army of activists to make happen nationwide, (3) would require federal money to do much more than will happen anyway, and (4) would leave federally-owned infrastructure untouched.

We need to rebuild bridges, dams, levees and expand transit all across the country, and not just in blue states. We need a federal infrastructure program.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Don't worry, Sebby's going to get the Parish to kick out the Corp of Engineers and rebuild the levee.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

1000s of bridges. Airports. Terminals. If you bundle the projects to maximize efficiencies, you can tackle tons of them.

Right now, the "little stuff" is being done one thing at a time, at 20-40% change order price increases, on a glacial time frame! That's the whole point of bundling. A bunch of the little stuff is grouped into a project that is medium sized, and can be handled in a manner that will attract contractors and developers who can maximize efficiencies. The efficiencies speed up the time table and save 25-33%.

That little stuff as its done in the usual "float bonds/increase taxes/bid/initiate construction/pay huge change orders" process increases state and local taxes, which makes people less accepting of federal tax increases!

I never said we'd get rid of all fed projects. I'm saying there's a good solution that can do a lot of needed projects. I'm suggesting a solution that works in the current political climate. You want to insist on massive tax increases to do all projects the slow and expensive way? Fine. Have it at it, Don Quixote.

Politics is the art of the possible. What you want isn't politically possible. Open your mind a bit. Taxes are fungible. Maybe -- just maybe -- if you save Joe Sixpack a few bucks on his local and state taxes by employing the structure I described, you might create a little room to raise federal taxes to do the really monster projects.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

I once wondered if you were bullied as a child. Over time, I've come to understand you were probably just ignored.

Which, yes, makes me a fool for bothering here.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Doing these without unions is politically impossible and economically shortsighted. Part of the sale is the multiplier effect, and given the savings achieved, there's enough pie for all.

But yeah, a lot of pigs will try to do it the evil way.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Your mileage varies, geographically, in regarding to lending being at capacity. But that is a good point. This stuff might not work everywhere. But nothing ever does. And regionals can pick up the slack.

Unions can be bloated and problematic. They can blow up the costs of things and ruin entire industries (auto). However, at the moment, the leverage is way too lopsided in favor of capital. It's prudent to give unions more power. They're a decent instrument to use against wealth inequality, and the dollars their members get go right back into the economy.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

This is (1) hopelessly naive, and (2) not at all consistent with how people feel about taxes.

There are basically two mindsets about taxes. People who don't spend much time worrying about them and people who want them to be lower than they currently are. People in the latter group aren't going to happily give back some cash after you've saved them a dollar elsewhere.

Also, thanks for agreeing with me that we can't get it done with state and local projects.

Finally, spending $750 million instead of a billion is certainly a "savings" but it's not a lowering your tax bill when that alternative is not spending $750 million.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

You're a fucking moron. I can't even...

You'd rather fight with me than discuss anything that goes beyond your blindered view of "how the world works."

ETA: Actually, you can do it all using state and local projects. But yes -- politically, that is impossible. It would take enormous creativity that simply isn't there. That's why I said "I never said we'd get rid of all fed projects." The word "would" is not the word "could."

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

You literally can't. Some of what needs fixing belongs to the federal government. That alone demonstrates you can't do it all using state and local projects. And it's hardly the only factor.

You're fighting a silly fight. We need a federal infrastructure program and no amount of "creativity" is going to change that.

By all means, also get state and local projects done too, but we need to do the federal stuff and the big stuff and it's not happening without federal involvement.

But the key to both isn't P3 (or whatever), it's the political will to spend money at all. If you have that, then great, do it as efficiently as possible (I think you're wildly optimistic about the potential savings, but whatever).

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

You could partner with states to fix what's owned by the feds. But politically, yeah -- that's a huge hurdle to overcome.

I agree there's a lack of political will to spend money. But if you can do a huge percentage of what needs to be done in a manner that does not increase and might even pare some projected tax increases, why wouldn't you?

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Nicholas Lemann's The Promised Land explains that the Robert Taylor homes were built as high-rises (next to the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago) because that way more of the federal money for the project would go to contractors for the relatively expensive concrete and steel required.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Classic Kinsley gaffe.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

In other fora I have not infrequent discussions about zoning (RIP, Atticus) and housing density in Minneapolis residential neighborhoods. In the course of such a conversation I looked out my office window at several residential high rises that are otherwise surrounded by low to medium density stuff. Then I realized that they're all public housing. Which is kinda weird.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

No one wants public housing near them. If a city can overcome the opposition for a given development, it can probably also overcome the opposition to building high rises.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

I had a Lyft driver, realtor driving us to LGA through Bed Stuy. He told us NYC was getting out of the housing business and selling lots of public housing to private developers. How can that be?

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Don't know about NYC, but there's a (non-high rise) public housing development Minneapolis is planning to redevelop to include non-public housing. It's a bunch of aging townhomes on what's increasingly valuable land. The basic idea is to be able to get private money to redevelop the site more densely than it currently is while also rebuilding the public housing (hi, Sebby).

This is not uncontroversial, although I recall hearing about DC doing that a decade ago and, at least according to media reports, getting most of the current residents to support it on the promise they won't be permanently displaced.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

I understand what you're doing with this sentence, but I live within 3 blocks of large public housing projects, one north and one south. I'm not sure how much longer they survive given the soaring property values surrounding them (and the prices of necessities, which makes living in cheap housing prohibitively expensive). But I have absolutely no problem with the existence of public housing being near me. And the people who spend big money to move into the neighborhood who are terrified of poor people get over it within weeks.

If we were smart, we would provide housing in small units all over the place. Diffusing high concentrations of poor people would help with public education, crime, racism, and all sorts of other shit.

These tax incentive programs that provide affordable housing in new luxury developments (80/20s) are a good start. Of course, rich people are inherently awful and are constantly fighting to deprive those who live in their buildings in the low income apartments of amenities (gyms, pools, etc.) and often want separate fucking entrances set up--because God forbid you have to interact with someone who isn't a millionaire in a city where people don't fucking interact anyway.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/31/r...l?mcubz=0&_r=0

TM

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-styl...icle-1.2037359

TM

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

You're right, what I said was wildly overbroad. I think the problem is with property owners who worry that public housing will make their investment worth less, and I think it's a particular problem with homeowners who have a large part of their net worth tied up in a single building. Around here, my impression is that they are the biggest obstacle to increasing density in residential neighborhoods.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

My impression is that this is true everywhere. Or at least everywhere with a bunch of single family homes.

To again talk about things local, there used to be Ford truck assembly plant across the river in St. Paul. It closed like a decade ago. The neighborhood around it, which I have always assumed started out as working-class with a lot of people who worked in the plant, is now among the most affluent in St. Paul, with some shockingly-high property values.

They're doing environmental remediation now and the city planning staff has put together a plan to make the 130 acre site into a reasonably dense modern city neighborhood that's walkable and well served by transit. Basically, it's an opportunity to build a brand new centrally-located urban neighborhood.

The (rich, white, old) residents of the surrounding neighborhood are up in arms. The building are too tall. There's not enough park space (the site is surrounded by park and bounded on one side by the river). What about traffic. Density causes crime. My property value is going to be hurt (but old people are getting taxed out of their houses).

Anyway, to some degree people just fear change, but they also fear who is going to move into those new apartments. Don't even try to think about whether any of them will be poor, brown or black.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Not to discount the motives you relate, as I'm sure that's a part of it, but homeowners benefit from housing shortages. There's a massive housing shortage in the Bay Area. Housing prices are through the roof (even of a multi-story apartment building). Who benefits? Anyone who owns a house. Who tends to vote more in local elections? Homeowners.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Yes, that too. Although they both benefit from soaring home values and bitch about having to pay higher taxes. I supposed Prop 13 clarifies things a bit in California.

Actually, I'm not sure building a bunch of mixed use stuff across the parkway from these houses is going to reduce the value of existing homes, though. It will mean more neighborhood amenities and, I think, no new single family homes so the new units won't be perfect substitutes for existing ones.

One guy (okay, one guy) floated a "compromise" where he'd be okay with the Ford development in exchange for a cap on his property taxes. He seemed to assume the development would increase his property value but would agree to that as long as he also didn't get taxed on in. Great compromise, bro.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Current homeowners benefit more from soaring demand if there's no additional supply.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

I personally think patentparanyc could top this, but maybe not.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

I grew up in public housing and still have friends in public housing so I don't have a phobia of "the projects". But I think the trend is to put smaller blocks of public housing all over the place so there are not noticeable projects any more. I have seen that in other cities (Milwaukee) but still do not see it in New York yet.

One good thing about NYC though is that most everybody walks and takes the subway so the majority of us interact. I knew that didn't apply to the limo crowd but with all the ridesharing, don't know if that'll change.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Any idea how the authority decide who lives where? Seniority? I'm sure the places by you are more sought out then others?

I stay at 93rd and Broadway, and there is no big project, but there are 3 or 4 stand alone housing authority buildings within 3 blocks. I have zero concern about the residents. I would have no problem living near the places by you. But I have never seen anything to worry about.

OTOH my kid's first apartment was barely in Bushwick across Bushwick Ave from Bed Stuy. On the corner (in BS) is the Bushwick Houses projects. We were walking past one day, stepped into a store and a gun fight broke out in the courtyard of the project. That was sort of scary, but a shopper in the store asked the shop owner, "is that gunfire?" The "yes" answer was so mundane and bored by it, that I knew right away that was a whole different place.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Hey Sebby, Kurt Anderson has a new book coming out, a longer version of that article you liked.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

I think you get what you get. But I really don't know.

There are surely some dangerous projects out there. But it's definitely not like it used to be. And what people are finding with gentrification is that the white people move in and then the cops suddenly care what's going on and are actually present. The problem is, they're hassling people who have lived in those neighborhoods for generations to make the gentrifiers feel comfortable.

And I've read pieces that have proven that any crime in these areas tends to not touch the white people for some reason. It's amazing because I see crazy ass white people going about their business like it's 5th avenue in places where they'd have been mugged and probably killed not that long ago.

TM

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Already ordered it. Sounds pretty amusing, like the article.

Along the same lines, Chris Hedges interviewing Taibbi about Insane Clown President. Excellent analysis of media capture leading to public distrust.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf37rwgnwLU

And here's a recent Hedges sermon worth watching (not very funny, but astute): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4VdYlQ5AJs

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Brilliant.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

I was in a settlement meeting with a Judge this AM and there was the need for me to mention the name Thurgood Marshall, and I almost made the mistake that we are all at risk of.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

I'm ok. My family is ok. Our animals are ok. Our stuff and property is mostly ok. I was at Burning Man for all of the terribleness. I had very little contact with the outside world and only could call out a few times.

My sister is amazing and has been organizing food relief throughout the region.

This is the facebook page of the Midtown Kitchen Collective, where my sister has been for most of the storm and the aftermath: https://www.facebook.com/midtownkitc...unseen-section

Here is a Houston Chronicle article about the effort: http://m.chron.com/entertainment/res...photo-14046361

This is a Washington Post video about the work they have been doing: https://www.washingtonpost.com/video...=.a365fc9268c1

This video from our local NPR affiliate features our dear friend Jonathan Beitler explaining how the project works: http://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/ar...-after-harvey/

And yesterday, my sister Claudia's kindness, devotion, and love was displayed to the whole country on NPR's All Things Considered in this lovely piece: http://www.npr.org/2017/09/07/549250...n-after-harvey

Also, Claudia and her husband Matthew and their friends put together a white paper on the effort to share with other communities who go through something like this: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...bVXsJNbTc/edit Pass it on to anyone you might know in the restaurant industry in the path of Irma.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Wow. Where's that Heart button?

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

I was wondering how you were managing that and whether you were going to be able to get back OK. Hope you could enjoy the playa with all that going on at home.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Very nice. Here is some funk for your weekend. The Daily Dose is All the People with "Cramp Your Style."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KN5wMK3Ho8

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Found in translation.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Glad you're OK. Now here's convincing my family to get outta the way of Irma, which will make Harvey seem like child's play.

Not that anyone reads this place
 

But what's a good indoor exercise bike to get, for those times when one can't get to the gym or the gym is closed.

Re: Not that anyone reads this place
 

Not cheap, but this is basically a way to attend spin classes from your house on a state of the art spin bike. I have not used it but heard good things from a couple of friends who have it:

https://www.pelotoncycle.com/