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A Surprising Salve for New York’s Beleaguered Cities: Refugees

Communities across upstate New York say an influx of refugees has helped alleviate decades-long struggles with dwindling populations and opportunities.

#immigrants #shrinking #economy

Former congressional staffers reveal best practices for making Congress listen.

Interesting and actionable guide about making change in Congress. Main idea - be relentless in contacting your local Member of Congress and getting your friends to contact them as well.

Guide

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5855a354cd0f68bab2089b40/t/5867cd26be65940ffdeeac1e/1483197741124/IndivisibleGuide_2016-12-31_v1.pdf

#strategy #congress

Why Men Don’t Want the Jobs Done Mostly by Women (Nytimes)

There is a lot of job growth, but for jobs traditionally done by women. Men will have to change their identity views in order to keep up.

http://nyti.ms/2hSk7jP

#economy #jobs #chart #women #pink collar

Democrats lost in 2016 because we weren’t even fighting on the same battlefield. Trump’s army stomped us. Here’s how they did it.

#internet #strategy

From new bus rapid transit to light-rail expansions.

Still, in the November 2016 election, transit fared well in cities and counties around the U.S. There were a record number of transit ballot measures, totaling a record-setting, more than $200 billion in funding.

Los Angeles County approved a whopping $120 billion package for transit, bicycling and pedestrian infrastructure and roads. The Seattle area, Columbus, Ohio, and Atlanta approved, respectively, $54 billion, $6.5 billion and $2.5 billion funding measures. Though those projects are at least five years from opening, the election shows that city-dwellers have a big appetite for better, faster, more comprehensive transit.

#transportation #nyc #los angeles #atlanta #san francisco #bart #charlotte #alameda #light rail #bus rapid transit #Richmond #Eugene #brt

Next City’s Field Guide to Fences

How fences create different and oftentimes underused space

https://nextcity.org/features/view/nyc-field-guide-fences-public-space

#publicspace #economy #new york city #nyc #fence #design

Parks Without Borders: Making our parks more open and welcoming

NYC Parks Department is embarking on a project to change the way fencing is used to create barriers in the park

https://www.nycgovparks.org/planning-and-building/planning/parks-without-borders

#publicspace #New York City #nyc #parks

The abandoned Metro North Mall is just weeks away from being demolished. Photographer Seph Lawless, who has been recognized for this type of “dead mall” imagery before, recently captured footage from inside the mall — and it’s kind of terrifying.

#kansas city #shrinking #economy #dead mall

A decision in the next month could put the two on a path to regional cooperation. Here's what's in it for them.

#cleveland #shrinking #shrinking cities #east cleveland #midwest #ohio #annex

Aug. 22, 2016, marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, known as welfare reform, which profoundly changed the way low-income families received government assistance. The law replaced the federal Aid to Families With Dependent Children program with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), which requires that recipients engage in any of a set of work-related activities, imposes a five-year lifetime cap on benefits, and, in many states, includes asset limits: caps on the amount of cash, savings, or material property that a family can hold.

Creating the ability to save money, doesn’t increase the number of people receiving temporary cash assistance.

#economy #food #food stamps #tanf #cash assistance

Preserving existing affordable housing prevents displacement, is generally cheaper than building new housing, and conforms to existing land-use patterns.

Case studies by the Urban Institute about effectively preserving affordable housing

#housing #affordable housing #chicago #illinois #minneapolis #minnesota #cambridge #massachusetts #leaburg #oregon #washington dc #hartford #connecticut

nextcityorg

Montreal Trades Expressway for “Urban Boulevard”

Montreal has begun tearing down its part of a mid-century expressway to make way for a greener, more transit- and pedestrian-friendly boulevard, reports theMontreal Gazette. The Bonaventure Expressway, an elevated 11-lane highway built for Expo 67, will give way to the street-level Bonaventure urban boulevards, a combined nine lanes of traffic separated by a series of green spaces. Montreal’s new, $142 million entryway is scheduled for completion in mid-2017, just in time for the city’s 375th anniversary.

https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/montreal-tear-down-bonaventure-expressway

Image: A rendering of the new Bonaventure urban boulevards (Credit: City of Montreal)

#montreal #canada #transit