CityLedes is a weekly roundup of urban-related news happening across the country and globe, as compiled by Mark Bergen, Harry Moroz and David Sparks.
The Lede:Fast food workers strike in New York City and longshoremen in L.A. A former L.A. mayor strikes out in his campaign for pension reform. D.C. tries to deal with stormwater while L.A. County will let the Supreme Court decide. A Philly Councilman offers a tax credit for health benefits for same-sex partners. Many New Orleans middle-school students are depressed. Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor is a nugget of gold. Center City Philly is booming. Houston squeaks to 2.1 million. Alameda County appeals. Capital Bikeshare stalls. The MTA will improve, not just repair. San Fran gun regulations survive. Mayors against Mayors Against Illegal Guns. Boat show over Super Bowl. The zebra and pony show. The Cossacks are coming!
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Labor
Economy and Development
Transportation and Infrastructure
Housing
Energy, Environment, and Health
Public Safety
Budget
Mayors and City Councils
Education
Immigration
International
Culture and Other Curiosities
- NYC fast food workers strike:
This is the first multi-franchise effort among fast-food workers to organize and demand better conditions, and it’s coming on the heels of viral strikes at Walmart stores around the country. Yet this campaign was building before the first Walmart worker walked out. Jonathan Westin, Organizing Director for New York Communities for Change, which led the effort to organize the fast food workers, said that they’ve had over 40 organizers talking to workers around the city. They’ve found that overwhelmingly, those workers can’t afford basics like food, rent, or a Metrocard to get to work.
Harley Shaiken, a professor of education and geography at the University of California at Berkeley and expert on unions and labor, explained that while we may talk about fast food and retail workers as part of the service sector, their most prominent characteristic is that they’re vulnerable workers, with low wages, few or no benefits, not enough hours, and little dignity on the job. Respect is as important as a wage increase to Jantuah and Jesska Harris, who works at a Midtown Manhattan McDonald’s.
- An unconstitutional change to Baltimore pensions won’t invalidate the city’s entire pension reform. Former L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan drops his pension reform plan:
Riordan’s proposal, targeted for the May ballot, would have replaced guaranteed retirement payments with 401(k)-style investment accounts for new employees. It also would have scaled back benefits for existing workers. City Hall unions fought back, dogging Riordan’s paid signature-gatherers at malls and supermarkets and demanding that the former mayor debate the president of the powerful LAPDofficers’ union.
- Workers strike at the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach:
The union, which handles the vast amount of paperwork associated with the ports’ container cargo, has been working without a contract since June 30, 2010.
Its strike has crippled the port because of support from the ILWU dockworkers, who have 50,000 members on the U.S. West Coast, in Canada and in Hawaii. The dockworkers negotiate their contracts separately, but the 10,000 members who work at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports have honored the smaller union’s picket lines.
- Contract talks between Portland’s transit agency and the union can’t get started.
- The Golden State Warriors’ plans for a new stadium deserves a closer look from city leaders. The Heat want to negotiate an extension of their pretty sweet lease with AmeircanAirlines Arena in Miami.
- The population of Center City, Philadelphia is booming.
- The preliminary design for Seattle’s new arena does not impress. Ticket scalpers go high-tech. Neighbors oppose a proposed Cuban restaurant in New Orleans’ French Quarter.
- Houston wins its Census appeal, squeaks over the 2.1 million mark.
Transportation and Infrastructure
- Amtrak’s strategic plan:
The strategic plan includes safety improvements, better risk management, energy efficiency, and lots of internal operational changes that the public will probably not perceive.
The plan’s main dish is to segment the company into six “business lines”: Northeast Corridor Infrastructure and Investment Development, Northeast Corridor Operations, State Services, Commuter Services, Long-Distance Services, and Corporate Asset Development.
Again, such internal corporate restructuring may not get most people’s pulses racing with excitement – but Dan Schned of the Regional Plan Association says there’s a nugget of gold buried in there.
“We’ve applauded their reorganization of their Northeast Corridor services, in particular the creation of two separate Northeast Corridor divisions,” Schned said. “That’s something that we have found to be very successful in other countries around the world, as they’ve unbundled their national railways and created separate infrastructure managers and operating divisions that can create open access.”
- Patty Murray will be Senate Budget chief:
“Senator Murray is a strong supporter of transportation investments (including ports and rail infrastructure), livability programs, enhancements, and the TIGER program in particular,” said David Burwell, director of the Energy and Climate Program at the Carnegie Endowment. He added that the budget chair position “will put her in a very powerful position to craft the entire federal budget.”
- The M.T.A. pledges not to pass Sandy reconstruction costs on to riders. The agency wants to improve, not just repair:
But a closer look at the cost estimates from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, released by the governor’s office on Monday, provides a window into the agency’s dual considerations as it counters unprecedented damage across the system: making short-term repairs to key structures, like subway equipment and tunnels, while enacting previously unplanned infrastructure improvements in the long term — ideally with considerable assistance from the federal government.
“Even FEMA will tell you, don’t replace in kind if you can replace and harden and improve,” Thomas F. Prendergast, the president of New York City Transit, said on Tuesday, referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “And they’re willing to pay for that cost.”
- Downtown L.A. residents vote on a streetcar project. Alameda County transportation officials ask for a recount of their transportation sales tax budget measure.
- Dallas Area Rapid Transit extends rail service to Rowlett. I-595 in South Florida is going green. Speed limits will increase on two D.C. commuter routes. Operating the new Silver Line may cost D.C.’s Metro millions more than expected.
- Miami-Dade proposes a $1.5 billion, 15-year sewer system fix. New Orleans asks the EPA for a reprieve from its deadline for the city to fix its crumbling sewer pipes.
- Portland Commissioner Amanda Fritz will introduce amendments to Mayor Sam Adams’ plan to add parking meters and permits in Northwest Portland. An expansion of D.C.’s long-planned expansion of Capital Bikeshare stalls due to the city’s inability to get enough equipment, as Mayor Gray announces a ban on U-turns across bike lanes.
- San Francisco is a model for affordable housing. Philadelphia is regaining control of its public housing authority. New York City Housing Authority residents from Red Hook who were left in the lurch by Hurricane Sandy present their demands:
That list of demands includes a two-month rent credit for November and December, a moratorium on late fees, water and air quality testing, an allocation of $1 billion to NYCHA from the federal funds requested by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the creation of a community-led task-force to monitor the agency’s recovery efforts.
NYCHA has already announced a partial credit towards rent for residents in January — which NYCHA Chairman John Rhea thoughtfully referred to as “a nice little Christmas present.” And, the agency recently announced a moratorium on all evictions until January. Flowers made it clear that the partial credit isn’t enough to cover the added expenses that residents incurred while suffering without utilities for weeks.
- Charlotte gets more aggressive in the fight against blight.
Energy, Environment, and Health
- The Supreme Court will hear two cases about storm water runoff and who is responsible:
The dispute, if nothing else, illustrates the difficulty of regulating storm water. The Clean Water Act of 1972 first targeted “point sources” of pollution, such as an industrial plant putting toxic chemicals into a creek, or a sewage plant that was leaking sewage into a river. Violators could be identified and forced to stop the pollution.
By contrast, a heavy storm sends water flowing from across a vast area, picking up pollutants along the way. There is no obvious point source.
The Supreme Court, however, has shown an interest in the issue this year. On Monday, the justices will hear two cases involving runoff from logging roads in the Pacific Northwest.
The next day, they will hear the case of L.A. County Flood Control District vs. NRDC to decide on municipal storm runoff.
- San Diego will get its water from the Western Hemisphere’s largest seawater desalination plant. Activists, bureaucrats, and engineers begin arguing anew over how to clean D.C.’s waterways:
But now, the three-tunnel solution is in doubt, and activists, engineers and bureaucrats are arguing once again about the best path to cleaner waters. Although digging is underway for the first tunnel, D.C. Water wants to put the other two on hold and instead see whether rain gardens, retention ponds and grass rooftops can soak up as much storm-water runoff as the pipes can store.
D.C. Water has asked the Environmental Protection Agency for permission to build an experimental “green infrastructure” project and run tests for at least eight years.
- Proposed Philadelphia legislation would provide tax credits to employers who offer health care benefits to same-sex partners.
- The ACLU sues to block a new, more stringent Georgian abortion law.
- The mayor of Bridgeport, CT endorses a marijuana farm.
- San Francisco gun regulations survive a challenge from the NRA:
San Francisco can require handgun owners to keep their weapons locked when stored at home and can ban bullets that expand or splinter on contact, a federal judge has ruled in rejecting a National Rifle Association-backed effort to block enforcement of the local gun laws.
In denying an injunction sought by gun owners, U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg said Monday that neither city ordinance appeared to violate standards set by the U.S. Supreme Court in its 2008 ruling that declared a constitutional right to possess firearms at home for self-defense.
- Baltimore institutes a “reasonableness” standard for speed camera tickets. Scranton doesn’t have red-light cameras.
- Privacy concerns are raised by automatic license plate readers. D.C. targets synthetic marijuana.
- Another stadium ramp fall.
- Bankrupt San Bernardino enacts an austerity plan. Scranton introduces a commuter tax:
In a split vote, Scranton City Council on Thursday introduced a $109.7 million budget for 2013 that contains a 12 percent property tax increase for residents and hikes in several other taxes, including a hoped-for commuter tax.
The council also took flak from some residents for hefty raises ranging between 19 and 33 percent in the budget for six employees, including council and administration solicitors, fire chief, business administrator and two administrative employees…
The spending plan for 2013 is $24.3 million higher than the $85.3 million budget of 2012, or a 29 percent increase. Mr. Joyce said the budget’s steep rise is attributed to new borrowing and refinancing necessary to cover a landmark state Supreme Court arbitration award of $17 million due to the city’s police and fire unions, to provide a $5 million increase in the city’s mandatory minimum pension obligation, and to pay off interest of a $14 million tax-anticipation note the city will obtain next year.
- The New Orleans City Council approves the Mayor’s 2013 budget proposal pretty much as is.
- The New York City business community is nervous about its post-Bloomberg prospects. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is the frontrunner:
Of all the Democratic candidates, Quinn has cultivated the closest ties with the business community. She has been constantly at Bloomberg’s side in press conferences in recent months. You can’t help thinking it’s Bloomberg’s payback for her most unforgettable act: getting City Council to overturn term limits and paving the way for his third term.
- The mayor of Aurora, Colorado does not join Mayor Bloomberg and Mayor Menino’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition.
- Mayor Menino’s health is improving, and “He’s still calling the shots.”
- Seattle was the key to Democratic Gov.-elect Inslee’s win in Washington. The wife of New Orleans Mayor Landrieu is appointed clerk of the Fifth Circuit of the State Court of Appeal, as the feds close in on former-Mayor Nagin.
- As the current session winds down, the D.C. Council still has a lot on its plate. Meanwhile, a bill that would offer anti-discrimination protections to ex-offenders will go before the entire D.C. Council for a vote, having been pushed through committee by (who else?) Marion Barry. Planned rewrites of the District’s zoning laws have residents feeling anxious.
- Nearly 50 people are hospitalized after a carbon monoxide leak at an Atlanta school. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools poverty rate holds steady after years of increases. High rates of New Orleans middle school students are depressed. Parents implore D.C. Chancellor Henderson to consider alternatives to closing 20 schools.
- The Louisiana Dept. of Ed. continues the march toward increased local control of schools:
“Schools need to focus on student achievement, not filing reports with the state,” state Superintendent of Education John White said in a statement. “If you trust educators, then you need to give them the flexibility to do their job.”
- Sowing the seeds of conflict in Beirut:
While the city centre, devastated by the combats of the civil war (1975–90), has now been largely rebuilt, the Lebanese capital is now faced with something of a paradox: its regeneration model seems to be bringing with it the seeds of future conflicts. The spread of speculative urban development – based on demolition and reconstruction – from downtown areas to the socially diverse neighbourhoods surrounding the city centre is a key event in Beirut’s recent history. These densely populated areas, largely unaffected by the destruction wrought by the war, are nonetheless subject to politico-sectarian polarisation, rekindled by the assassination of prime minister Rafic Hariri in 2005. Beirut’s pericentral neighbourhoods, under pressure from these two dynamics, seem to be in the throes of a process of “deconstruction by reconstruction”.
- Contrasting Havana and Mexico City. Murals fill Cali in Mexico.
- The Cossacks will expand their patrols of Moscow:
The Cossack patrollers are self-styled descendants of the tsar’s horsemen, originally a separatist ethnicity in Russia and Ukraine. Unlike the police, they cannot actually enforce the law, but they can raise the alarm when they discover criminal activity, ride around on horseback and wear traditional costumes.
- A peek into the future of drug trafficking in a Colombia “museum”:
But the crown jewel of the display, and the stuff of drug enforcement nightmares, is a fully functional narco-sub. Built in the jungle, the hulking blue submarine can carry eight tons of cocaine and is similar to the nation’s own tactical sub, with one addition: This one has indoor plumbing.
- Miami-Dade’s bid for a Super Bowl might be blocked by a conflict with a scheduled boat show.
- Art Basel transformed Miami (via @RichardFlorida).
- Health and wellbeing, an infographic.
- Casper and Razzi, runaway zebra and pony.
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