Architecture for Humanity - SF
Sunday, April 11, 2004
Metropolis Magazine Reviews Pasadena’s first biannual Art Center Design Conference with a paragraph on Cameron’s presentation.
"It is easy for design to be provocative, and it is easy for it to challenge our perception of ordinary objects. But can design do more than that? Can it go outside the safety of the studio, of the comfort of the home, and address the world and its 21st century challenges, like bio-terrorism, the AIDS epidemic, and refugee crises?"
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Randy Shaw has unleashed a new website beyondchron.com to unmask the bias of the SF Chronicle and call them on their lack of objective journalism. The site is contributed by some leading activists and writers, not to mention Shaw himself staying busier on the reporting front as ever. He has already written some compelling arguments and responses to the Chron’s recent brigade on affordability and homeless issues.
Newsom’s Housing Working Group Won’t Work
Chronicle’s Homelessness Hoax Exposed
Housing for Poor May be Sacrificed to Benefit $100,000 Earners
“Retired homeowners in the Sunset are not going to vote to pay higher property taxes to subsidize home ownership for people whose incomes outpace their own. Nor will tenants vote to pay more rent (through bond passthroughs) so that those earning $100,000 a year can buy a below-market condominium.
A bond measure that combines the wish lists of organized groups fails to account for the fact that the vast majority of voters do not belong to such groups. To get the support of tenants and retired homeowners, the bond must represent an act of virtue and good will. That's why the Laguna Honda bond passed with 72% of the vote, and that's why a housing bond primarily benefiting homeless persons with mental disabilities and the working poor will also prevail.
Creating home ownership opportunities for the affluent by raising taxes and rents has never been, and should not be, a city priority. Yet if the Chamber and its allies have their way, their unpopular proposal will lead to the defeat of the otherwise winning$150 million measure. An historic opportunity to meaningfully reduce homelessness in San Francisco will be lost, all because those who backed Prop J refused to accept the voters will and now want a Mulligan (a golf term for hitting a second ball after a poor first shot).”
Chris Daly writes about the Affordable Housing Crisis on this site: Our-City.org
EVENT:
Matt Gonzalez and Chris Daly
Will speak about Housing, Poverty, Progressive Issues and the future of SF Politics.
Wednesday 04.14 6:00 PM
UC Hastings ‘Dining Commons’
200 Mcallister St
* A great book to read on the dense and mythical academic history of SF is Imperial San Francsico.
"Imperial San Francisco provides a myth-shattering interpretation of the hidden costs that the growth of San Francisco has exacted on its surrounding regions, presenting along the way a revolutionary new theory of urban development. Written in a lively, accessible style, the narrative is filled with vivid characters, engrossing stories and a rich variety of illustrations. Brechin advances a new way of understanding urban history as he traces the links among environment, economy, and technology that led ultimately to the atom bomb and the nuclear arms race."--Don Denevi, Palo Alto Daily News
"Part theory, part history, but with a whole lot of graft, sex and murder thrown in, Brechin has pioneered a genre: potboiler urban history." -- Oregonian
Newsom and Alioto appeared for this (press video) to discuss their new approach to Homeless Outreach on the Streets. Exam Chron
Care not Cash is getting ready to kick in
Jim Reid had mentioned to me trying to purchase the Armory building on Mission & 14th, and when I went by there the other day cranes were busy tending to the rooftop. Looks like someone else has had other plans, unless Jim has some agreement with the developer, I have not been informed.
Larkin Youth Center mentoring the future of homeless kids…
REDDING, Calif. (AP) -- About 4,500 Shasta County residents were homeless at least once during the 2003, and another 5,500 faced an "imminent" risk of losing their homes, a report says.
All together, nearly 6 percent of the county's population faced homelessness or the threat of homelessness in 2003, according to a survey by the Continuum of Care Council, a collaborative group that works to provide homeless services to the community.
The group presented its findings to the Redding City Council this week.
Homelessness was up sharply in 2003 over 2002, the group's figures show. Just over 3,000 people were homeless at some point in 2002.
Most of the county's homeless are not transient -- about 44 percent have lived in Shasta county three years or more or have relatives there. Nearly a quarter of those identified as homeless are employed.
"Our community is really walking a thin line," said Melinda Brown, who heads People of Progress, which directed the homeless survey. "There are people here that are in the schools, or in the supermarket, that are very unstable in terms of housing. They are one small paycheck away from the street."
