Housing and the Democratic Ideal: The Life and Thought of Charles Abrams

A. Scott Henderson

Housing and the Democratic Ideal is the only comprehensive work on Charles Abrams to date. Though structured as a narrative biography, this book also uses Abrams's experiences as a lens through which we can better understand the development of American social policy and state expansion during the twentieth century. In his left-leaning critique of centrist liberalism, Abrams took aim at the use of fiscal and monetary policies to achieve social objectives—a practice that allowed business interests to maximize private profits at the expense of public benefits. His growing concern over racial discrimination prefigured its emergence as a highly contested aspect of the American state.

http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-11950-4/

Us political system

source: wikimedia

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Political_System_of_the_United_States.svg

Ya se pudo! - KPCN radio barn raising

Unrepresented Latino farm workers in Woodburn, Oregon ask want their voices to be heard, want a radio station.

Prometheus radio organizes conference/workshop/'barn raising' building of a radio station.

http://www.upworthy.com/normally-i-d-say-you-shouldn-t-steal-from-the-amish-but-one-of-their-ideas-was-too-good-to-pass-up-3?c=ufb1

The End Of Suburbs

Leigh Gallagner: The End Of Suburbs

"While the baby boomers helped fortify the notion of the suburban single-family house as the American dream, the millennials are headed in another direction, according to Fortune writer Gallagher. The recession, rising fuel prices, and demographic shifts that mean smaller families and fewer and later marriages are contributing to a decline in the appeal of the suburbs. Gallagher talked to homebuilders, developers, planners, transportation engineers, architects, psychologists, and home buyers and sellers in cities and suburbs to offer a fascinating portrait of housing and lifestyle trends. She examines how the American dream came to be tied to the suburbs even as they are lambasted in popular culture and by social scientists and, lately, planners and engineers. New Urbanists argue that the suburb is an unsustainable model because the low-density population doesn’t generate enough tax base to support it, unless it sprawls. Gallagher points to research and analysis showing rising populations in urban areas and suburbs who adapt the ideals of green living and walkable communities. Fascinating reading on changing trends in how and where we live". --Vanessa Bush

http://www.amazon.com/The-End-Suburbs-American-Moving/dp/1591845254

THE EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY PROJECT

Summary of Project Findings, July 2013
THE EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY PROJECT

Raj Chetty, Harvard University
Nathaniel Hendren, Harvard University
Patrick Kline, University of California Berkeley
Emmanuel Saez, University of California Berkeley

http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/

In Climbing Income Ladder, Location Matters

In Climbing Income Ladder, Location Matters

"A study finds the odds of rising to another income level are notably low in certain cities, like Atlanta and Charlotte, and much higher in New York and Boston."

Interactive graphics by Mike Bostock, Shan Carter, Amanda Cox, Matthew Ericson, Josh Keller, Alicia Parlapiano, Kevin Quealy and Josh Williams, based on data from Raj Chetty and Nathaniel Hendren, Harvard, and Patrick Kline and Emmanuel Saez, U.C. Berkeley.

A version of this article appears in print on July 22, 2013, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Geography Seen as Barrier To Climbing Class Ladder.

Rentification

'rentification'
Perhaps we shouldn't all try to 'buy as investment' , rent out, and rent ourselves.

Video describing how the renting out of properties to short term renters damages community. Neighbors change rapidly and no relationships are created. Renting has an impact on the social quality of neighborhoods. 

A Loss of Community: Neighborhoods across the country are being transformed, as houses built for homeowners are turned into rental properties. Residents of one such community in Memphis, Tenn., discuss the changes.

By SHAILA DEWAN

Published: August 28, 2013

http://www.nytimes.com/video/2013/08/28/business/100000002382289/a-loss-of-community.html?smid=pl-share

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/29/business/economy/as-renters-move-in-and-neighborhoods-change-homeowners-grumble.html?smid=fb-nytimes&WT.z_sma=BU_ARM_20130829&_r=0