#Blight Elimination Program

[dailycharacteroption]

Subsystems and You 14

(art by ArtofReza on DeviantArt)

Spellblights

While it may vary a lot in terms of power level and how integral it is to the setting, magic is a pretty wonderful thing. It might be the words of creation harnessed, the will of the gifted manifested, or even a form of energy that some can tap into (sometimes with deleterious effects as a side effect) and so on.

In a lot of settings, however, magic is a wild force. Sure, it can be somewhat tamed with spells and rituals, but like ink splashing out of a dropped container, sometimes not only does magic go wild, it but it stains the things it touches.

These are spellblights, magical curses that latch onto mages when their spells encounter problems, like a computer program encountering a fatal exception, leading to a persistent bug that affects them and their spellcasting in various ways, some minor but annoying, others stronger and more pressing.

Many of these spellblights affect behavior, such compelling the victim to prepare their spells in a certain way or cast certain spells repeatedly. Others afflict them with psychosomatic reactions to casting spells, anything from causing the caster to ignore targets they’ve already cast spells upon even though they remain threatening, to hallucinating that otherworldly predators have taken notice of their magic and are hunting them.

Others cause actual physical changes to the caster’s body, such as altering their eyes to invert their reaction to light and shadow, or causing them to temporarily flicker in and out of phase with reality after casting.

However, while they are all by definition curses, the fact that there is no malice behind them somewhat easier to cure. Spells like restoration, heal and the like are all good options, while eldritch auge can be cured with a remove disease spell, and caster croak can amusingly be broken by the caster using the shout spell to force their airways to open up.

But with all of these blights, one has to ask how one can come to be afflicted, and it varies. This is an optional rule set, so there’s no one set way. The most common choices are having areas that straight up are cursed with unstable magic, making casting risky therein, or by outright afflicting them deliberately with curse spells. Both bestow curse and it’s variants, as well as specific spells that inflict specific blights are available.

However, there are other potential options that are definitely up to GM fiat, such as flavoring antimagic fields not as null magic, but magical pollution that prevents concise spell creation. Another option is making spellblight a consequence of making mistakes in casting, such as rolling arcane spell failure, fumbling the crafting of an item or the activation of the same. Heck, getting hit by spell turning might cause the magic to unravel a bit on return. This is where things get out into the weeds, so your GM will have final say as to what can cause a spellblight and when the risk manifests.

Some spellblights have slight positive side effects that can be used to the caster’s advantage in the right circumstances, but there’s even another optional sub-subsystem here where a caster may choose to turn other conditions they possess into ammo for certain spells, usually at the risk of failure. Turn your bleeding into greater inflict wound spells, for example. However, I would personally not use this or limit it to conditions brought on by the spellblights if at all, because a sufficiently diverse spellcaster can potentially eliminate the need for spells that heal conditions by removing them themselves and getting a buff to a spell out of it.

And that’s spellblights! It’s a neat way to provide some risk to spellcasting in settings with the possibility of wild magic or damaged magic. But that’s only the beginning of what subsystems await us this week, so keep an eye out!

[climbingdutchmanvic]

Tree Care Keeping Your Trees Healthy For Years to Come

Tree Care – Keeping Your Trees Healthy For Years to Come https://ift.tt/MrBYsaQ Tree Care is an ongoing effort to maintain or improve the structure, appearance, and vitality of trees and shrubs. It begins with proper species selection for the given location and proper installation, ensuring that the soil is ideally suited to support tree growth. Once planted, the focus shifts to proactive monitoring and maintenance practices that minimize the probability of health issues, including pest infestation, insect damage, disease, and structural weakness. Keeping trees healthy is an important part of achieving and maintaining the visual appeal and property value of your landscape. The best way to ensure that a tree is doing well is by regularly inspecting it for signs of pests and disease, pruning dead or dying branches, clearing the root crown to allow for proper water drainage, and mulching. Performing these tasks on a routine basis will ensure that your trees remain attractive and healthy for years to come. Insects and disease are often the biggest threats to a tree’s health. Some diseases, such as fire blight or Japanese beetles, can kill a tree in just a few weeks. Others, such as fungal infections or bacterial pathogens, can cause leaf spots, cankers, wilting, or general decline. Regular inspections will help you spot these problems quickly and take steps to prevent them from spreading. When a tree is young, it is important to keep the root crown clear of grass and other plant material so that moisture can drain away from the roots. Mulching the area around the base of a tree will also help by retaining moisture, regulating soil temperature, and suppressing weed growth. Thoroughly water newly-planted trees to help settle the soil and eliminate air pockets. Continue to water trees on a regular schedule throughout the growing season to promote deep roots and increase drought tolerance. If a new tree is struggling, carefully sawing off competing leader shoots will help it to become established with a single dominant trunk. This prevents future branch failure in that area. When pruning older trees, make sure to saw the branch close to its attachment point to avoid causing wounds that could lead to rot or insect infestation. When you notice that a tree is declining, contact your local tree service for help. ISA-Certified Arborists are trained to spot potential problem areas, such as root rot or structural flaws, and can recommend the correct course of action. The most effective way to check a tree’s water needs is by feeling the soil. A well-watered soil will be moist to the touch. If the soil feels dry, it is time to water. To conserve water, use a soaker hose or a nozzle with a water break. It is also helpful to move the hose around to ensure that all of the root mass is wetted. Avoid over-watering, however, as this can encourage fungus and root rot. A soil test can indicate which nutrients are lacking, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, so that a targeted fertilizer program can be implemented.

[playstationvii]

#SouthsideBlooms

Southside Blooms is a non-profit organization based in Chicago that transforms vacant lots into solar-powered, organic flower farms. Their mission is to provide employment opportunities for at-risk inner-city youth by engaging them in the cultivation and arrangement of flowers. This initiative not only beautifies the community but also offers young individuals a safe environment to develop valuable skills.

One notable participant is Armani Hopkins, a 15-year-old resident of Chicago's South Side. Armani has been involved with Southside Blooms for about a year, during which time she has gained confidence and self-esteem through her work in floral design. She views her contributions as a positive force in her community, stating that providing someone with a bouquet can brighten their day.

Southside Blooms was founded by Quilen and Hannah Blackwell, who aim to replicate this model in cities across the United States to eliminate urban blight and provide hope in inner-city areas. Their efforts have led to the development of multiple flower farms in Chicago and pilot programs in other cities.

For more information or to support their cause, you can visit Southside Blooms' official website.

Do you mean favorite flowers for a florist or designer to work with, or are you asking about your own preferences for flowers to work with? If it's about general floristry, here are some favorites:

Roses: Classic, versatile, and available in many colors.

Peonies: Lush and romantic, perfect for special occasions.

Tulips: Simple yet elegant, ideal for spring arrangements.

Orchids: Exotic and sophisticated, often used for unique designs.

Dahlias: Bold and intricate, great for dramatic compositions.

Hydrangeas: Full and fluffy, excellent for filling space in arrangements.

Eucalyptus: Not a flower, but a go-to for adding greenery and fragrance.

Would you like suggestions tailored to a particular style or theme?

[ultraheydudemestuff]

Erieview Historic District

E. 12th St. and St. Clair

Cleveland, OH           

Erieview was an urban plan adopted by the City of Cleveland in 1960. Designed to eliminate much of the existing blight in the aging district northeast of the downtown, and to take advantage of federal urban-renewal funds, the project extended roughly from E. 6th to E. 17th Sts. and from Chester Ave. to the lakefront and was roughly bounded by Lakeside Ave., Chester Ave., East 9th St., and East 12th St.  The area west of 14th St. was intended for public and commercial uses, and the area to the east for residential use. Erieview was the most ambitious program undertaken to that date under the Federal Urban Redevelopment Program. Land was acquired by the city, structures were cleared, and assembled parcels of land were sold to private developers. The plan prepared by internationally known architect I. M. Pei and Associates provided for groups of low buildings accented by vertical towers. A 40-story tower at E. 12th St. and St. Clair was the hub of the plan, and a plaza with a reflecting pool stretched west to E. 9th St. At E. 12th St. and Chester, an open space or plaza called Chester Commons was created for leisure activities.

     The buildings erected during the first phase included Erieview Tower (1964), the Federal Bldg. (1967), One Erieview Plaza (1965), the Bond Court office building (1971), the Public Utilities Bldg. (1971), and Park Ctr. (1973), a combination 20-story apartment building and shopping mall. The buildings were designed in the modern idioms inspired by the International Style by both local and national architects. New buildings continued to be built in the project area into the 1980s, including the Ohio Bell Bldg., One Cleveland Ctr., Eaton Ctr., and Northpoint. Erieview Tower was acquired in 1985 by developers Jacobs, Visconsi and Jacobs, who renamed it the Tower at Erieview and constructed an attached shopping mall in place of the old E. 9th plaza. The opening of the Galleria on Oct. 15, 1987, marked a major permutation of the original Erieview plan.  Cleveland’s Erieview District won a listing with the National Register of Historic on February 1, 2021.

[dracox-serdriel]

There were some tags mentioning ethics, and I wanted to add something: software is easily one of the most easily abused/exploited product humans have ever made.

Plenty of coders have contributed to filtering and blocking software - things like parental controls or personal filters you can set up to avoid content you don't want to see. There's nothing unethical in that product. But that same product - when abused by a government - can be used to block media, news, and content to an entire citizen base to suppress information the government doesn't want them to have.

Anyone who has studied art history knows that materials - just as much as "schools of thought" and actual schools - impacted the art that was made in a certain time and place. Artists may not have been able to get access to certain colors for painting, for example, when at war and certain elements were rationed or when trade was blocked. Ever wonder what might have existed had certain pigments or other materials had been available to those artists? This is exactly the kind of question AI could be used to tackle - train it on artwork produced from the time period, then add in factors like pigmentation and materials that didn't exist back then or that weren't avaialble for about a decade due to a blight or war or pirates or whatever. And when you see the difference it can make to have pigments and brushes and canvas types - when you see how deep the impact of material access goes in the art - that can give you a lot of insight into the artists, the art, culture, and even present social circumstances. I daresay it may enhance your appreciation for the variety of ways artists adapted - and the myriad methods cultures produced - to make beautiful things.

But that same software - that was meant to enhance learning - can be abused to create marketed/consumable artwork that removes artists from the equation.

So before you ask, "Why would anyone make software that would replace artists, actors, and writers? How do these people sleep at night?" Please remember who the real enemy is.

A lot of companies - particularly STEM companies - use compartmentalization so that their employees don't know the end game they're working on.

One group is working on a program that's meant to assist non-native speakers/writers compose emails, write businss documents, and so on by providing suggestions for phrasing, sentence structure, etc. The big snag they hit, though, is buzzwords. They change pretty frequently, and using old buzzwords/phrases dates the writer. So their goal is to integrate an AI component that is kept constantly trained on recent documents so that the software is kept up to date on buzzwords (and also discards words and phrases that have been eliminated due to social changes).

Another group is working on a similar project, but it's designed to help a non-native speaker dialog/speak with others in a new language. Same idea - they want the user to have up-to-date expressions/words - which means they need to train AI on recent documents to get that phrasing.

Both pieces of software were made for completely ethical usage. Both can be adapted and then abused as scriptwriting AI software.

There are, undoubtedly, unethical coders out there doing unethical things. But plenty of software that's made for learning, for assistance, for curiousity or even for fun is abused and used unethically.

The AI issue is what happens when you raise generation after generation of people to not respect the arts. This is what happens when a person who wants to major in theatre, or English lit, or any other creative major gets the response, "And what are you going to do with that?" or "Good luck getting a job!"

You get tech bros who think it's easy. They don't know the blood, sweat, and tears that go into a creative endeavor because they were taught to completely disregard that kind of labor. They think they can just code it away.

That's (one of the reasons) why we're in this mess.

[lethalhoopla]

Sometimes I think about the very human necessary work that gets left out of a lot of sci-fi just because... well, it goes unconsidered, beyond the usual realm of what the creators of games/movies (and often but not always books) have experience in or close connection to... and it feels like it goes assumed it can be ‘optimized’ out of necessity once we get Advanced Enough to Print Anything or what have you.

but like... until people are practically no longer people, we simply can’t optimize our way out of certain jobs. Robots simply aren’t and can’t be optimized enough to do the work. Sewing is one example*; we literally can’t ‘robot’ the fashion business (and not just bc it’s a nightmare for labor rights and fast fashion is a blight), but because the work is so fine-tuned to humanity, to countless tiny decisions made with infinite levels of craft and deft handwork, and it’s simply not replicable by robots until literally the point of robot sentience - and deftness of hand. And machinists - there’s a reason we don’t just 3D print all our metalwork and fine fiddly bits despite how much better its gotten. It goes a ways, sure, but machinists are craftspeople and its an art, knowing the machines and their needs and countless details about environment, wear and tear, necessity, human error, and more.***

Countless trade jobs, in general; anything that isn’t number crunching, anything that requires judgement and humans and their ability to work with context.****

(There’s a reason that despite corporations’ best efforts and wishes, they simply can’t robot their entire workforce - at best they can get a ton of machines that eliminate ‘some’ humans, ‘grunt work’ humans - who still deserve respect and a living wage dammit - but those machines still require human operation.)

(.... Don’t get me started on the problems & horrors in arguing that you’ll create ‘better’ jobs with turning crafts and trades people into machine operators....)

... but a lot of sci-fi sort of accidentally sterilizes the messy humanity (or other sentient species) of our endlessly layered systems of existence. Besides the occasional ‘is replicator food Real Enough??’ debate or ‘how True/Good are holo-sims’ and so on, man, we just don’t see a lot of that - even in ones that have the ‘oh no we exported Capitalism into our Space Dystopia’ angle.

Maybe that’s why I love Space Engineers so much. It’s kinda the closest we get to acknowledging the sentient person element of it all on a level lower than military/strategy/researcher, etc. People elbow deep in their space ships, keeping exponentially complicated spacecraft going, the only thing between you and the cold vacuum of space. Even in stories not focused on that element, there’s a common thread of acknowledging that there is something to maintaining -crafts, be they space- or otherwise, that transcends programming and robots and just has to be done with your hands.

-------

* There’s a short Wired article if you’re interested on Why Robots Can’t Sew Your T-Shirt, and while I remain horrified by the lack of critical thought or challenge put to the start-ups attempting to make these robots/machines**, it does a solid job of describing the ‘tech’ where its at - and why its so complicated. To whit, there’s too many variables, and the skilled people who make our clothes, however underpaid, can’t simply ‘be replaced’ (you capitalist jerks)

** if you’re interested in more thoughtful breakdowns of people in the fashion industry, especially non-mass-produced fashion - more ethical/well-sourced/etc - I definitely recommend looking into it. If you’re interested, there’s a great example of how sewing can’t be so simply boiled down to fancy machinework in the topic of lace (and lingerie) here - yes this is a site called Lingerie Addict, no it is not kinky/etc lol. Fascinating insight into just the one topic, how even with machine made lace the machines have to be set and threaded by hand because the threading requires so much care and experience to handle and ensure quality of.

*** Hell, did you know there are seven types of machinist certifications (in the USA alone)??

**** Artists and fine craftsmen are one example, but what about farmers and ranchers? Drivers and delivery workers, especially in remote areas? Locksmiths? Electricians & plumbers? Cleaners/janitors?***** Road maintenance workers? Massage therapists & physical wellness professionals? Gardeners? Public sanitation workers?

***** Unless you want to be living in a powerwashable, largely featureless/bolted down cube the rest of your sci-fi life, I’m afraid human/sentient judgement about What Can Be Cleaned How Intensely How Often and With What While Putting The Valuables and Fragiles Where, robots aren’t doing much more than vacuuming and windows and the like.

[phroyd]

I’m not going to pretend that I know how to interpret the jobs and inflation data of the past few months. My view is that this is still an economy warped by the pandemic, and that the dynamics are so strange and so unstable that it will be some time before we know its true state. But the reaction to the early numbers and anecdotes has revealed something deeper and more constant in our politics.

The American economy runs on poverty, or at least the constant threat of it. Americans like their goods cheap and their services plentiful and the two of them, together, require a sprawling labor force willing to work tough jobs at crummy wages. On the right, the barest glimmer of worker power is treated as a policy emergency, and the whip of poverty, not the lure of higher wages, is the appropriate response.Reports that low-wage employers were having trouble filling open jobs sent Republican policymakers into a tizzy and led at least 25 Republican governors — and one Democratic governor — to announce plans to cut off expanded unemployment benefits early. Chipotle said that it would increase prices by about 4 percent to cover the cost of higher wages, prompting the National Republican Congressional Committee to issue a blistering response: “Democrats’ socialist stimulus bill caused a labor shortage, and now burrito lovers everywhere are footing the bill.” The Trumpist outlet The Federalist complained, “Restaurants have had to bribe current and prospective workers with fatter paychecks to lure them off their backsides and back to work.”But it’s not just the right. The financial press, the cable news squawkers and even many on the center-left greet news of labor shortages and price increases with an alarm they rarely bring to the ongoing agonies of poverty or low-wage toil.

As it happened, just as I was watching Republican governors try to immiserate low-wage workers who weren’t yet jumping at the chance to return to poorly ventilated kitchens for $9 an hour, I was sent “A Guaranteed Income for the 21st Century,” a plan that seeks to make poverty a thing of the past. The proposal, developed by Naomi Zewde, Kyle Strickland, Kelly Capatosto, Ari Glogower and Darrick Hamilton for the New School’s Institute on Race and Political Economy, would guarantee a $12,500 annual income for every adult and a $4,500 allowance for every child. It’s what wonks call a “negative income tax” plan — unlike a universal basic income, it phases out as households rise into the middle class.

“With poverty, to address it, you just eliminate it,” Hamilton told me. “You give people enough resources so they’re not poor.” Simple, but not cheap. The team estimates that its proposal would cost $876 billion annually. To give a sense of scale, total federal spending in 2019 was about $4.4 trillion, with $1 trillion of that financing Social Security payments and another $1.1 trillion support Medicaid, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Beyond writing that the plan “would require new sources of revenue, additional borrowing or trade-offs with other government funding priorities,” Hamilton and his co-authors don’t say how they’d pay for it, and in our conversation, Hamilton was cagey. “There are many ways in which it can be paid for and deficit spending itself is not bad unless there are certain conditions,” he said. I’m less blasé about financing a program that would increase federal spending by almost 20 percent, but at the same time, it’s clearly possible. Even if the entire thing was funded by taxes, it would only bring America’s tax burden to roughly the average of our peer nations.

I suspect the real political problem for a guaranteed income isn’t the costs, but the benefits. A policy like this would give workers the power to make real choices. They could say no to a job they didn’t want, or quit one that exploited them. They could, and would, demand better wages, or take time off to attend school or simply to rest. When we spoke, Hamilton tried to sell it to me as a truer form of capitalism. “People can’t reap the returns of their effort without some baseline level of resources,” he said. “If you lack basic necessities with regards to economic well-being, you have no agency. You’re dictated to by others or live in a miserable state.”

But those in the economy with the power to do the dictating profit from the desperation of low-wage workers. One man’s misery is another man’s quick and affordable at-home lunch delivery. “It is a fact that when we pay workers less and don’t have social insurance programs that, say, cover Uber and Lyft drivers, we are able to consume goods and services at lower prices,” Hilary Hoynes, an economist at the University of California at Berkeley, where she also co-directs the Opportunity Lab, told me.

This is the conversation about poverty that we don’t like to have: We discuss the poor as a pity or a blight, but we rarely admit that America’s high rate of poverty is a policy choice, and there are reasons we choose it over and over again. We typically frame those reasons as questions of fairness (“Why should I have to pay for someone else’s laziness?”) or tough-minded paternalism (“Work is good for people, and if they can live on the dole, they would”). But there’s more to it than that.

It is true, of course, that some might use a guaranteed income to play video games or melt into Netflix. But why are they the center of this conversation? We know full well that America is full of hardworking people who are kept poor by very low wages and harsh circumstance. We know many who want a job can’t find one, and many of the jobs people can find are cruel in ways that would appall anyone sitting comfortably behind a desk. We know the absence of child care and affordable housing and decent public transit makes work, to say nothing of advancement, impossible for many. We know people lose jobs they value because of mental illness or physical disability or other factors beyond their control. We are not so naïve as to believe near-poverty and joblessness to be a comfortable condition or an attractive choice.

Most Americans don’t think of themselves as benefiting from the poverty of others, and I don’t think objections to a guaranteed income would manifest as arguments in favor of impoverishment. Instead, we would see much of what we’re seeing now, only magnified: Fears of inflation, lectures about how the government is subsidizing indolence, paeans to the character-building qualities of low-wage labor, worries that the economy will be strangled by taxes or deficits, anger that Uber and Lyft rides have gotten more expensive, sympathy for the struggling employers who can’t fill open roles rather than for the workers who had good reason not to take those jobs. These would reflect not America’s love of poverty but opposition to the inconveniences that would accompany its elimination.

Nor would these costs be merely imagined. Inflation would be a real risk, as prices often rise when wages rise, and some small businesses would shutter if they had to pay their workers more. There are services many of us enjoy now that would become rarer or costlier if workers had more bargaining power. We’d see more investments in automation and possibly in outsourcing. The truth of our politics lies in the risks we refuse to accept, and it is rising worker power, not continued poverty, that we treat as intolerable. You can see it happening right now, driven by policies far smaller and with effects far more modest than a guaranteed income.

Hamilton, to his credit, was honest about these trade-offs. “Progressives don’t like to talk about this,” he told me. “They want this kumbaya moment. They want to say equity is great for everyone when it’s not. We need to shift our values. The capitalist class stands to lose from this policy, that’s unambiguous. They will have better resourced workers they can’t exploit through wages. Their consumer products and services would be more expensive.”

For the most part, America finds the money to pay for the things it values. In recent decades, and despite deep gridlock in Washington, we have spent trillions of dollars on wars in the Middle East and tax cuts for the wealthy. We have also spent trillions of dollars on health insurance subsidies and coronavirus relief. It is in our power to wipe out poverty. It simply isn’t among our priorities.

“Ultimately, it’s about us as a society saying these privileges and luxuries and comforts that folks in the middle class — or however we describe these economic classes — have, how much are they worth to us?” Jamila Michener, co-director of the Cornell Center for Health Equity, told me. “And are they worth certain levels of deprivation or suffering or even just inequality among people who are living often very different lives from us? That’s a question we often don’t even ask ourselves.”

But we should.

Phroyd

[melodyofthevoid]

Neural Networks: Hell for Everyone (except the network)

So.... got around to writing a thing for the little pet au @faithfulwhispers and I got cooking. Enjoy some 3rd person fuckery. Small tw for dehumanizing (depersonalizing?) language, as the Control Brains kinda don’t see Zib as a... thing. 

They, as a collective, rarely did not know exactly what to do and how to go about what they needed for the empire.

Thousands of years of rule would do that, the knowledge accrued by eons of Irkens helping to push their influence ever outwards, even as the figure heads occasionally acted in ways that ran counter to their wishes. It was alright, they knew what would come in time.

So, when the strange… creature spat and cursed in a language barely translated by their database, thrashing in its bounds, they for once did not understand what they beheld. It was not Irken, not entirely at least. Yet a PAK glowed a violent fuchsia on the back of its large head.

After some time, they had asked for its designation and title, only for it to say a name that did not exist in their registry. A name it’d given itself seemingly. A cursory examination of the PAK revealed it belonged to one Food Service Drone Zim, yet it went by “Dib Membrane” in spite of the PAK.

When an Irken died, or rather, their vessel died, it wasn’t uncommon for them to attach to an organic or inorganic creature for survival. Here though, the… human as it was called, remained cognizant, even dominant in the head space despite the slow metamorphosis of its body. It boasted of tampering with the device and overcoming the personality within. 

Alarm had flooded their system further when they plugged into the PAK to observe the memories within, finding a long trail of destruction and hatred for the empire, a being capable of, in more than one universe, destroying anything in its path. And the virus. The virus that could do what they had never quite succeeded at. Complete and utter devotion. Without question or flaw. 

They debated what best to do with the thing before them, how to rid themselves of this blight, when the thing mentioned a tallest. Their tallest, in reference to the being it normally called “father”. The slip was brief, but it intrigued them. Somewhere, beneath the human, the loyalty programming remained. Pieces of Irken interwoven into the being. Not quite enough to render them a viable soldier or drone under regular circumstances, but enough of one for other purposes.

It was then one of them remembered their plans for a fully subservient Irken, one whose PAK ran deeper than the rest. In more ways than one. Of course, the plan had never quite come to fruition because of the… obvious nature of the results. Not only would the subject be entirely loyal to the brains, and the brains alone, but the tendrils of the PAK needed to run along more of the body, which would raise questions among those who did not fully trust their rule.

A drone would interact with the public and be seen. This, this could merely be deemed an experiment. Excusable. A tool for the Empire should it succeed and another obstacle eliminated should it fail.

Good.

Plugging their tendrils back into their new project’s PAK, they hummed, and examined the physiology, what had and had not shifted, ignoring the panicked shouts and writhing of the human-Irken hybrid in their grasp. Those would quiet down soon enough. 

Then they did what they did best.

While in their years they had yet to encounter anything like this… “Dib”, they knew PAKs. And though it once belonged to the bane of the empire, one whose data threatened to corrupt them entirely, there was nothing more simple than reprogramming.

They knew what to do with that.

[bookgleanings]

In 1938, when the federal government first considered aid for interstate highways … Secretary of Agriculture (and subsequent Vice President) Henry Wallace proposed to President Roosevelt that highways routed through cities could also accomplish ‘the elimination of unsightly and unsanitary districts.” Over the next two decades, the linkage between highway construction and the removal of African Americans was a frequent theme of those who stood to profit from a federal road-building program. They found that an effective way to argue a case for highway spending was to stress the capacity of road construction to make business districts and their environs white. Mayors and other urban political leaders joined in, seizing on highway construction as a way to overcome the constitutional prohibition on zoning African Americans away from white neighborhoods near downtown.

In 1943, the American Concrete Institute urged the construction of urban expressways for “the elimination of slums and blighted areas.” In 1949, the American Road Builders Association wrote to President Truman that if interstates were properly routed through metropolitan areas, they could “contribute in a substantial manner to the elimination of slum and deteriorated areas.” An important influence on national legislation and administration of the highway system was the Urban Land Institute, whose 1957 newsletter recommended that city governments survey the “extent to which blighted areas may provide suitable highway routes.” By 1962 the Highway Research Board boasted that interstate highways were “eating out slums” and “reclaiming blighted areas.”

Alfred Johnson, the executive director of the American Association of State Highway Officials, was the lobbyist most deeply involved with the congressional committee that wrote the 1956 Highway Act. He later recalled that “some city officials expressed the view in the mod-1950s that the urban Interstates would give them a good opportunity to get rid of the local ‘niggertown.’” His expectation did not go unfulfilled.

Hamtramck, Michigan, for example, was an overwhelmingly Polish enclave surrounded by Detroit. The city’s 1959 master plan called for a “program of population loss,” understood to refer to its small number of African American residents. In 1962, with federal urban renewal funds, the city began to demolish African American neighborhoods. The first project cleared land for expansion of a Chrysler automobile manufacturing plant. Then, federal dollars were used to raze more homes to make way for the Chrysler Expressway (I-75) leading to the plant. In advance, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights had warned that the expressway would displace about 4,000 families, 87 percent of whom were African American.

Twelve years later, a federal appeals court concluded that HUD officials knew that the highway would disproportionately destroy African American homes and make no provision for finding them new lodgings.

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein

[mystlnewsonline]

Indiana News: FORT WAYNE, Settlement with Martin Enterprises, Inc. and Its Surety for Submitting False Claims For Demolition Work under the U.S. Treasury’s Blight Elimination Program

Indiana News: FORT WAYNE, Settlement with Martin Enterprises, Inc. and Its Surety for Submitting False Claims For Demolition Work under the U.S. Treasury’s Blight Elimination Program

FORT WAYNE, Ia. – United States Attorney Thomas L. Kirsch II announced today a pre-suit settlement under the False Claims Act for fraudulently submitted claims payable with federal Blight Elimination Program funds for demolition work not performed properly.

During 2008, the United States Department of the Treasury (Treasury) created the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to stabilize the…

[theredpalace]

Japanese Wizarding World Headcanons

Just a series of ideas I had for my AU and how I think it works in Japan. Credit goes to JK Rowling for creation of the Harry Potter series and I just made these up for funsies

-The wizarding community is governed by the Japanese Delegation of Sorcery, which has a group that decides on finalizing laws and bills regarding wizarding safety and care.

-Muggles...or “Wandless” as they prefer to call them in Japan, are taken care of more subtly  whenever they come across magical locations or phenomenon. This is thanks in part to Obliviators taking on simple day jobs both within JDS and in the Wandless government. If a Wandless observes magic by accident, an Obliviator will calmly take their case, listen to their full story, and have their memories wiped in a tidy manner

-While there is very little importance on pureblood, both the JDS and the Mahoutokoro School of Witchcraft and Wizardry place high value on witches and wizards with talent, often encouraging them to later marry or associate themselves with peers that have similar skills. This makes competition in the school very, very serious

-Mahoutokoro is a day school, with only a small handful of students living on campus in dormitories. These cases are usually for wards of the state, young witches and wizards who are orphans or whose families are unable to care for them.

-Much like their Wandless neighbors, the JDS focuses a lot of its efforts on making everything as simple and convenient as possible. A majority of wizarding patents for inventions and spells come from the JDS Department of Wizard Patents, and as such their department has the second largest number of employees aside from the Wandless Liason Office with their Obliviators. Some of the most celebrated household charms were invented here, including the Degriming Charm and the Anti-rust Jinx.

-The JDS has one of the most difficult Auror programs in the world, rivaled only by MACUSA and the Ministry of Magic. This is mostly due to the fact that Aurors are constantly in the field and abroad, dealing with practitioners of the Dark Arts

-Japan has absolutely ZERO TOLERANCE for the Dark Arts, due to a long history and war that happened during the early years of Mahoutokoro. Using Dark magic at the school results in automatic expulsion and the removal of wand privileges, whereas adults similarly lose their wands and are sentenced to many years in prison. During wartime, the council of the JDS can even vote for a death penalty on these cases

-Almost all Japanese witches and wizards are part of hobby clubs or sports teams, and often save up money donated throughout the year for one group trip abroad to a location of interest to their clubs. Quidditch teams however compete rigorously against teams from other provinces for the right to go overseas and join tournaments outside of Japan

-Mahoutokoro is only one of several Asian schools of magic, but is regarded as the most important due to the intensity of their final examinations and the age of the establishment in question. They do however maintain good relations with the smaller schools throughout the country and in China, Korea, India and various other Islands and countries.

-While it is not illegal to marry a Wandless or adopt Wandless children, both the witch or wizard and the person joining their family from a Wandless background have to swear and sign jinxed papers to secrecy, wherein breaking this causes the secret-breaker to become instantly and irreversibly Confunded. This punishment has been contested for forty decades and continues to be the most heavily debated law in JDS and wizarding history.

-Japan originally had a difficult time passing laws protecting endangered magical species native to their region, due to their importance to wand cores and potion ingredients. Thankfully, famous potioneer and Mahoutokoro headmaster Ishikawa Kabuto published his master work Ingenious Substitutes for Magical Use which singlehandedly cut costs for potion ingredients and saved forty three species from extinction.

-The three main wand cores used in Japan are Occamy feathers, Zouwu tail hairs, and Ryusui (a breed of water dragon) heartstrings. Due to protective laws, these can only be gathered from respective sanctuaries from what the animals drop...the latter being painlessly removed and healed using a simple surgical charm. Wandmakers can use other cores, but they have to submit requests to the JDS so as to make record of appropriate and inappropriate cores

-Although to be an Auror is a challenging job, those who do not have the marks for an Auror can still apply to work with maintaining magical sanctuaries for enchanted creatures. While JDS struggles to keep its plethora of mystical beasts in check, the majority of them live in the four large animal sanctuaries where witches and wizards often go visit like modern day zoos.

-A popular past time for the Japanese wizarding community is finding shrine carts....special food carts that disappear and reappear without any known schedule. Though some claim to know the trick to finding them, no one is entirely certain how they work as the food is sold and served magically with no visible employees. Those who have attempted to run out on the bill have suffered permanent jinxes that make it difficult to sit down

-Because the making of wand is given such reverence of skill, it is considered very bad luck to snap a wand...even for a punishment. The Department of Magical Law has an entire vault where wands taken from criminals and expelled students are kept under heavy guard, each detailed with the name of the owner, the wood, core and length, how old it is, who made it and the last spell used.

-One of the biggest nuisances in the JDS is dealing with Sugata gates....a term used for random spaces that instantly teleport you to a random location throughout the country. The Wandless have often been “spirited away” when encountering these Sugata gates and the JDS has yet to discover a reason to their existence

-The capital of the JDS resides in Kyoto, which had always been the spiritual capital of Japan before the Wandless relocated it to Tokyo. Unbeknownst to the Wandless, this was a move executed by the JDS and the Emperor of that time to safely eliminate suspicion of the JDS working privately with the Wandless leader to assure stability between the Wandless and wizarding world

-Like the Ministry of Magic, the JDS works directly with the leading power of the time to continue obscuring their world from the Wandless. The single exception to this rule was the council of 1931, who in a huge scandal used the Imperius Curse to control the Emperor and members of his cabinet. Several of the council members were under the Imperius Curse themselves, but over half of them did so due to having been converted by Grindelwald a year prior. It was the first and only standing case where an entire council was arrested for Dark Arts, corruption, and obstruction of justice and took sixteen years to finally prosecute them all in court.

-Because of the public disdain for the Dark Arts, one of the most difficult duties of a witch or wizard in Japan is uncovering countercurses and spells to undo Dark magic damage. The exception to this case is former student Kinben Shani, who in spite of her expulsion from Mahoutokoro was very knowledgeable about how to reverse a plethora of curses and often called upon for advice on the subject.

-Rather than using owls, which are not numerous or as common in Japan, they use varying sizes of storm petrels to carry letters. Most families have two or three small ones for letters, while delivery services provide medium sized ones for packages. Mahoutokoro keeps the giant storm petrels for commuting students to and from the school.

-According the the History of Magic they hold for Japanese history, the first wizards ever to write their history were Shinto priests and monks who mistook their skills for sorcery as divine enlightenment. After legendary shaman, wizard, and scholar Wu Xian traveled over from China and educated them otherwise, they agreed to keep their powers a secret, aware they would face persecution if they did not have the safety of the state religion. Wu Xian was one of ten warlocks who founded Mahoutokoro before returning to China.

-Japan’s coastal islands have one of the highest nesting grounds for dragons in the world. The JDS has spires manned 24-7 around the islands to insure they do not fly to civilian areas and maintain their numbers.

-Two subjects taught at Mahoutokoro are not taught anywhere else; Haraemancy (the magical art of purification, specializing in restoring natural habitats affected by pollution, blight or plague) and the Art of Fuujin (a class that teaches students how to seal magical creatures, curses, jinxes, and violent wizards). Both of these classes are only taught to the best students and due to their high demand, they have a limited number of students permitted to attend per year.

-Mahoutokoro robes change color as a student progresses through their academic career, starting with pink for beginners and leading up to gold for fully realized students. These robes are charmed to also detect Dark Magic, and the realized potential for certain areas of specialty, and thus the way they are made are trade secrets known only to a few families passed down through the generations.

-Mahoutokoro remains on very cold terms with the wizarding school Durmstrang, due to their differing views on teaching Dark Arts. This bitter rivalry festered further when the two schools competed in Quidditch with Mahoutokoro taking the win...and half its team suffering from jinxes when the Durmstrang Keeper lost his temper.

-Because children can start learning magic at age 7, there is the choice of advancing to different wands as they age. Whereas most wizards are chosen by a wand before they begin school, a Mahoutokoro student can go through three from beginning to end.

-Family wands are considered to house the spirit of the family member who wielded them, and are regarded as family heirlooms, kept on display or in a house shrine devoted to the family member in question. This results in a great deal of criticism shot at poorer families who have to pass on the wands of deceased elders to their children when they cannot afford new wands.

-The level of skill in Mahoutokoro students ranges in these colors from beginner to graduate; pink (for new students, usually from ages 7-9), red (for underclassmen with basic understanding of the introductory cirriculum), orange (for underclassmen beginning to take on more classwork and courses), green (for students in the middle on their way to advanced courses in their chosen fields), dark blue (for advanced students who have shown proficiency in their skills), purple (for students at the top of their class taking on the most difficult exams) and ending in pure gold, for students who have completed school. Depending on the student and how long they have been there, skilled student can graduate ahead of their peers, or simply gain the golden robes at 17 when they become of age.

-One of the animals that is a protected species, beloved icon of the Japanese wizarding community, and also native only to the forests of Japan is the Greater Fire Salamander. Mistaken initially for a dragon in the early years of history, this gentle lizard nests peacefully in the wetlands of Japan. It only uses fire to cook its meals, having a delicate digestion, and eating giant, magical insects that nest in its habitat. Most of them grow to roughly seven feet long once they reach adulthood, but a few infamous ones have been known to stretch up to twenty feet.

-While their tolerance for the Dark Arts is nil, the JDS has a more lax approach to applying Perpetual Charms and Jinxes on everyday items, and in some cases animals. If a Perpetual Charm is strong enough to power an item for one hundred years, they believe it has become its own being

-One of Mahoutokoro’s lingering social problems lies in its high rate of bullying in the school. Because of the fierce competition for standing out as excellent alumni, many students suffer from bullying by competitive classmates. Though teachers are pressured to cut down on bullying by actively intervening, there have been over a hundred cases of teachers caught ignoring or aiding in bullying.

[gettothedancing]

In the discussion of Federal spending, the time has come to put to rest the sob sister attempts to portray our desire to get government spending under control as a hard-hearted attack on the poor people of America. . . . Now, where do some of these attacks originate? They're coming from the very people whose past policies, all done in the name of compassion, brought us the current recession. Their policies drove up inflation and interest rates, and their policies stifled incentive, creativity, and halted the movement of the poor up the economic ladder. Some of their criticism is perfectly sincere. But let's also understand that some of their criticisms comes from those who have a vested interest in a permanent welfare constituency and in government programs that reinforce the dependency of our people. Well, I would suggest that no one should have a vested interest in poverty or dependency, that these tragedies must never be looked at as a source of votes for politicians or paychecks for bureaucrats. They are blights on our society that we must work to eliminate, not institutionalize. Now, there are those who will always require help from the rest of us on a permanent basis, and we'll provide that help. To those with temporary need, we should have programs that are aimed at making them self-sufficient as soon as possible. How can limited government and fiscal restraint be equated with lack of compassion for the poor? How can a tax break that puts a little more money in the weekly paychecks of working people be seen as an attack on the needy? Since when do we in America believe that our society is made up of two diametrically opposed classes -- one rich, one poor -- both in a permanent state of conflict and neither able to get ahead except at the expense of the other? Since when do we in America accept this alien and discredited theory of social and class warfare? Since when do we in America endorse the politics of envy and division?

Ronald Reagan, Remarks at a Conservative Political Action Conference Dinner, February 26, 1982

[tenantrightslawyer]

Stockton Tenants Facing Retaliation for Reporting Habitability Issues: Sue Your Landlord

Stockton tenants are entitled to habitable homes.  Not only does California law require landlords to make repairs, but the Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection and Maintenance Ordinance, codified at Chapter 8.32 of the Stockton Municipal Code, also ensures Stockton tenants obtain repairs when living with intractable habitable issues.  To eliminate blighted housing and enhance the quality of life for Stockton tenants, the Ordinance prohibits retaliation for requesting repairs, specifies standards for handling repairs, and provides relocation for displacements caused by repair work.

Where a Stockton tenant suffers landlord retaliation for reporting uninhabitable conditions to Stockton Code Enforcement – resulting in a Notice of Violation – the tenant has a legal claim for money damages.  The Stockton tenant may sue the landlord in court.  Suffering landlord retaliation for reporting uninhabitable conditions in your home?  Contact Astanehe Law today!

Does the Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection and Maintenance Ordinance Cover My Unit?

The Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection and Maintenance Ordinance covers all residential rental units in the City of Stockton, including rooming and boarding houses with three (3) units or more on one site.  Stockton Municipal Code § 8.32.030.  The Ordinance also covers parking lots, driveways, landscaping, accessory structures, fences, walls, swimming pools, hot tubs, and spas.

The Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection Maintenance Ordinance exempts units in the following buildings:

Hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, and similar occupancies;

Newly constructed buildings with four (4) or more rental units that are not yet five (5) years old, as measured from the date the certificate of occupancy is issued by the City of Stockton Building Division; and,

Subsidized residential rental units that the government annually inspects.  Stockton Municipal Code §§ 8.32.030, 8.32.120.

Please note that the exemption for newly constructed buildings and subsidized units does not apply where the landlord fails any inspection required by the Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection and Maintenance Ordinance.  Stockton Municipal Code § 8.32.120.

Does the Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection and Maintenance Ordinance Protect Subtenants?

Yes, subtenants and any person occupying a rental unit is covered under the Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection and Maintenance Ordinance.  Stockton Municipal Code § 8.32.040.

Does the Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection and Maintenance Ordinance Apply to Property Managers?

Yes, the Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection and Maintenance Ordinance applies to property managers.  Stockton Municipal Code § 8.32.040.  Specifically, the Ordinance applies to property owners and any person, entity, or group that oversees the day-to-day property operations, including handling applications, repairs, and collecting rent.

What Does the Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection and Maintenance Ordinance Require? 

To comply with the Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection and Maintenance Ordinance, the landlord must:

Permit the City of Stockton to inspect their rental units at least once every four (4) years, except if the rental unit is covered under the self-certification program or exempt from the Ordinance; and,

Maintain covered rental units in a habitable condition that complies with applicable State Housing Law, and the Stockton Municipal Code, including the Uniform Code for the Abatement of Dangerous Buildings, and the City of Stockton’s maintenance standards checklist.  Stockton Municipal Code §§ 8.32.050, 8.32.070.

The landlord is permitted to patriciate in the self-certification program where they maintain the rental unit and no existing violations of state or Stockton law exist.  Stockton Municipal Code § 8.32.060.   Under the self-certification program, the landlord will be able to conduct property inspections to satisfy the Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection and Maintenance Ordinance, and certify that the unit complies with the law.  Where the City of Stocktonreceives a complaint, and determines the complaint is valid, the landlord can no longer participate in the self-certification program.  They will also be assessed a penalty, charged an inspection fee, and ineligible to re-apply for the self-certification program until the rental unit passes inspection or twelve (12) months.  Alternatively, the landlord may participate in a four (4) hour course, pays all penalties and fees due, and corrects all outstanding violations.  If the landlord or property manager is disqualified from self-certification three times, they become prohibited from participating in the self-certification program for four (4) years.

Will I Receive a Notice Before the City of Stockton Inspects My Home? 

Yes, before a City inspection, the City of Stockton will notify your landlord and you.  Stockton Municipal Code § 8.32.080.  The City of Stockton must post a notice of inspection at the rental unit at least twenty-one (21) calendar days before the inspection. In addition, where the code enforcement officer cancels or re-schedules the inspection, they must provide the Stockton tenant with written notice at least five (5) business days before the inspection.  They also must re-post a notice with the new inspection date at the rental unit.

What Happens Where A Stockton Tenant Refuses to Allow the Code Enforcement Officer Entry to Inspect Under the Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection and Maintenance Ordinance?

Where a Stockton tenant refuses to allow a Stockton Code Enforcement Officer entry to inspect a rental unit under the Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection and Maintenance Ordinance, the City Attorney may obtain a warrant from court forcing the tenant to acquiesce to the inspection.  Stockton Municipal Code § 8.32.080.

Do Stockton Tenants Owe Any Fees Under the Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection and Maintenance Ordinance?

No, Stockton tenants do not owe any fees under the Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection and Maintenance Ordinance.  Stockton Municipal Code § 8.32.090.  Only property owners are responsible for paying the residential rental unit inspection fee, a reinspection fee, delinquency fee, and any other fee or penalty that may be assessed under the Ordinance.  A landlord or property manager charging a Stockton tenant a fee under the Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection and Maintenance Ordinance is unlawful and likely retaliatory conduct entitling the Stockton tenant to money damages.

Common Habitability Issues Addressed by the Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection and Maintenance Ordinance

Common habitability issues the Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection and Maintenance Ordinance seeks to address include:

Lack of heat;

Rodent and other vermin infestations;

Hot and Cold running water;

Functioning sewage systems with no sewage overflows;

Functioning electrical system;

Well maintained windows, including equipped with window screens;

Functional water heater;

Plumbing in working order;

Sinks, bathtubs, toilets, and shower surrounds in good, working condition;

No visible mold;

All mechanical equipment (appliances, venting systems, thermostats, and air conditioning units) in good, working order; and,

Flooring in good condition and free of trip hazards.

What Happens Where the Landlord Fails to Keep the Stockton Tenant’s Rental Unit in a Habitable Condition?

When the City of Stockton’s code enforcement officer inspects a Stockton tenant’s rental unit and determines that code violations exist, the officer will issue a written notice of violation ordering the landlord to repair all habitability issues at the property.  Stockton Municipal Code § 8.32.130.

How Long Must Stockton Tenants Wait for Repairs to Uninhabitable Units?

The repair time will depend on the type and severity of habitability issues in the Stockton tenant’s unit and the property.  Stockton Municipal Code § 8.32.130.  Specifically, the City of Stockton may order repairs as soon as twenty-four (24) hours to as long as one-hundred-and-twenty (12) days, all depending on the severity of the repair issue.  Further, the landlord or property manager may request an extension of time from the City of Stockton to allow additional time to make repairs.  However, the City of Stockton will only grant additional time where the landlord makes substantial demonstrable progress towards correcting the violation.

Must the Landlord Provide Relocation Assistance Where Repair Work Requires Stockton Tenant Relocation?

Yes, Stockton tenants must receive relocation payments where repair work addressing habitability issues cited in a notice of violation requires tenant displacement.  Stockton Municipal Code § 8.32.150.  Under the Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection and Maintenance Ordinance, Stockton tenants must receive relocation assistance as outlined in the Stockton Relocation Benefits for Displaced Tenants Ordinance, which are an amount equal to the lower of either:

Two times the Stockton tenant’s current rent; or,

An amount equal to the Stockton tenant’s monthly rent at their new home.  Stockton Municipal Code § 1.52.030.

Where the Stockton tenant is required to vacate within seventy-two (72) hours or less time, the Stockton tenant is entitled to relocation assistance as follows:

A base relocation payment, as specified above;

The reasonable and actual costs for up to two (2) weeks of temporary housing;

Moving expenses; and,

The cost to store personal property for up to two (2) weeks.  Stockton Municipal Code § 1.52.040.

Who is Responsible for Paying Stockton Tenant Relocation Payments Under the Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection and Maintenance Ordinance?

Under the Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection and Maintenance Ordinance, property owners are responsible for paying relocation payments to Stockton tenants displaced from their rental units due to unsafe or hazardous living conditions.  Stockton Municipal Code § 1.52.020.

When Citing a Rental Unit, Will the City of Stockton Provide Notice of a Stockton Tenant’s Right to Relocation Payments Under the Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection and Maintenance Ordinance?

Yes, the City of Stockton will provide both the landlord and Stockton tenant with a notice summarizing the Stockton tenant’s right to relocation benefits.  Stockton Municipal Code § 1.52.080.  Please note that the City’s failure to provide this notice does not relieve the property owner of their obligation to provide relocation payments.

Are There Any Circumstances Where Stockton Tenants are not Entitled to Collect Relocation Benefits? 

Yes, Stockton tenants are not entitled to collect relocation payments under the Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection and Maintenance Ordinance when:

The Stockton tenant caused or substantially contributed to the unsafe or hazardous living conditions giving rise to the Notice of Violation, as determined by the City of Stockton;

The rental unit becomes unsafe or hazardous as a result of an earthquake, flood, fire, or other natural disaster unrelated to safety or code violations;

The Stockton tenant refuses to move into a habitable unit, as determined by the city, available to the tenant within sixty (60) days following the vacate date.  Stockton Municipal Code § 1.52.070.

How Stockton Tenants Fight Back Against Landlord Abuse of the Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection and Maintenance Ordinance?

The Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection and Maintenance Ordinance prohibits retaliation.  Stockton Municipal Code § 8.32.180.  Where a landlord evicts a Stockton tenant for exercising their rights under the law, the tenant has a retaliatory eviction claim and may file a civil lawsuit against their landlord.

Additionally, Stockton tenants may contact the City Attorney by phone.

To discuss the Stockton Residential Rental Unit Inspection and Maintenance Ordinance, the Stockton Relocation Benefits for Displaced Tenants Ordinance, Stockton Ellis Act Evictions, Stockton Owner Move-In Evictions,  or California Rent Control (AB1482), contact Astanehe Law, including by phone or email, to speak with a tenant attorney.

[ericvick]

Campbell touts plan to ‘activate’ vacant city a lot for development

Andrea Campbell, as she seeks to stand out in a area of 5 mayoral candidates, on Wednesday promoted a strategy to speed up cost-effective housing development and shut the racial wealth hole.

Joined by supporters at a vacant large amount at the corner of Blue Hill Avenue and Floyd Street, Campbell spotlighted her program to “activate” 100 vacant metropolis-owned tons for inexpensive, combined-use development inside her initially 100 days as mayor.

Housing is a prime issue for Boston voters, according to a June poll from the Boston Globe and Suffolk College. Acting Mayor Kim Janey and Town Councillor At-Significant Michelle Wu topped the poll, which showed a lot of voters keep on being undecided. Town Councillor At-Large Annissa Essaibi George and Campbell, the District 4 councillor came upcoming in the poll, adopted by state Rep. Jon Santiago, who dropped out of the race this 7 days, and John Barros, a former economic development official.

“Housing affordability is the single greatest challenge Bostonians are worried about,” Campbell mentioned. “Providing the management, vision and administration needed to change housing in Boston should be our following mayor’s top priority.”

Barros has touted his record in aid of cost-effective housing even though he worked for former Mayor Marty Walsh, when Wu has claimed she is the only candidate who supports a return to rent regulate. Essaibi George has claimed growing housing source is a priority. Janey has reported as acting mayor she place $50 million towards hire aid for people amid the pandemic.

Campbell has formerly focused on vacant loads as a district councillor representing Dorchester and Mattapan. In 2019, Campbell partnered with a host of local community customers, engineers, and designers during a 24-hour “Reclaiming Space” workshop to produce simple fixes to blighted or underutilized parcels.

Remedies ran the gamut from transit-centered gardens to adaptable apprenticeship spaces and mixed-use, youth-oriented hubs. The workshop sought to breathe lifetime into the Blue Hill Ave. Action Plan, an initiative to reclaim and redevelop 30 vacant heaps alongside the Blue Hill Ave. corridor with affordable housing in intellect.

“This system in essence builds on the do the job that I’ve by now been undertaking on behalf of the inhabitants in district four, and I would make certain that these heaps have been utilized for housing and blended-employed development, that will be economical for these who dwell here, make community jobs, and supply ownership alternatives for people,” said Campbell.

“I am frankly happy that I know I am the only candidate in this race that has a housing approach that is certain, that is functional, that is doable, that is inventive, and that builds on a lengthy file of accomplishment that is pretty particular,” she included.

Campbell’s proposal also involved a quantity of secondary priorities, which include reforming permitting, processing, and zoning processes.

Developers face notoriously protracted permitting and processing acceptance procedures, and much larger set up development corporations usually outflank scaled-down rivals in the RFP bidding course of action.

Campbell’s strategy would favor compact and mid-level developers, and it would seek out to further slice via the bureaucratic morass bordering developments by eliminating very affordable housing from the purview of the Boston Arranging and Development Company (BPDA), a town company.

“We’ve heard it is as well time-consuming and too highly-priced to create in the town of Boston. We, of system, want to make certain that these a lot are activated rapidly,” claimed Campbell. “As mayor, I will get inventive, cut purple tape and streamline development processes to speed up the development of reasonably priced housing.”

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[whitfieldforstatehouse-blog]

Police & Crime

Melanie Whitfield For Georgia State House Representative - District 21 in Canton, Georgia fully supports law enforcement and public safety. We should always look to improve where we can. I have researched the following information and agree with these suggestions regarding police and crime.

1) Stricter alcohol policies - Studies show alcohol is a factor in 40 percent of violent crimes, double the alcohol tax, revokes people's right to drink if a court deems it necessary after an alcohol-related offense; 2) Hot-spot policing - Focusing police to a very small subset of places, down to the street and block level, to drive out most of the crime. So deploying police, intelligently, in these specific areas can have a big impact on fighting crime and violence.3) Focused deterrence policing - Hones in on specific problems in a community, such as drug dealing, generally violent behavior, gangs, or gun violence. It then focuses on the individuals and groups who drive most of that activity, particularly those with criminal records and those involved in gang activity; 4) Raise the age or grade for dropping out of school - Studies have found that kids that drop out of school were more likely to commit a felony offense by age 19; 5) Behavioral intervention programs - Conflict Management & Resolution Programs that use interventions, based on cognitive behavioral principles, to teach youth how to react in encounters that can turn violent.; 6) Eliminate blighted housing - researchers found fixing up abandoned and vacant buildings have led to significant drops in overall crimes, total assaults, gun assaults, and nuisance crimes. 7) Require Police Sensitivity Training 8) Eliminate Police Brutality - Change the culture from the top-down, systemic reform of the police organization itself. This includes introducing community policing; training officers in de-escalation skills and the use of non-lethal tactics; increasing the diversity of departments; improving data collection and public transparency; and enhancing the screening of police recruits.

For more information on Melanie Whitfield For State House.

[agritecture]

Congressional Urban Agriculture Production Act could help eliminate urban food deserts and strengthen urban ag   

CONTENT SOURCED FROM URBAN AG NEWS

To date, little has been done at the federal level to help bolster urban agriculture in cities across the US. But with agriculture currently on the agenda as the next Farm Bill reauthorization quickly approaches, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09) introduced the Urban Agriculture Production Act in September. This bipartisan bill aims to support nutritional and farmers’ market programs and help create the next generation of local, urban farmers and food producers. 

Kaptur was joined by 11 original cosponsors: Rep. John Conyers (MI-13), Rep. Barbara Lee (CA-13), Rep. Eleanor Holmes-Norton (DC-AL), Rep. Gwen Moore (WI-04), Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08), Rep. Chellie Pingree (ME-01), Rep. Sanford Bishop (GA-02), Rep. Tim Ryan (OH-13), Rep. Dwight Evans (PA-02), Rep. Alma Adams (NC-12) and Rep. Don Young (AK-AL). The bill is supported by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and Farmers Market Coalition.

Congresswoman Kaptur (above) sat down with Urban Ag News to talk about the Urban Agriculture Production Act and the impact it could have on growers, local food retailers and urban communities.

UAN: What are the goals of the Urban Agriculture Production Act and why did you introduce the bill at this time?

Kaptur: The Urban Agriculture Production Act can serve as a marker for the next Farm Bill reauthorization. My key goals are to support small farmers and producers, work to eliminate food deserts and promote local agriculture in our nation’s metropolitan areas.

Across America, too many of our urban neighborhoods are absent of stores where community members can purchase fresh, healthy foods. There are more than 23 million individuals residing in these so-called “food desert” neighborhoods, where there are no stores within one mile in which they can buy healthy food. Without healthy options, people are forced to eat unhealthy, processed, junk food, because that is all that is available and affordable. This bill is a step to correct this unacceptable trend.

UAN: The term “urban agriculture” includes urban farms, hoop houses, aqua-culture, hydroponic and aquaponics facilities and rooftop, vertical and indoor farms. Would this also include new or existing commercial greenhouse growers who may be looking to set up production facilities in urban areas?

Kaptur: Certainly. But it is important to also note that new approaches to greenhouse growing should be re-imagined in order to manage energy and water systems through more efficient and renewable means. In urban communities like those I represent, resources are available and are waiting to be utilized. Vacant and blighted properties can be repurposed into productive sites with the installation of energy- and water-efficient commercial greenhouses. Waste heat from manufacturing operations can also be rechanneled to allow for an entirely new class of four-season growing.

Embracing such opportunities can empower new people through agriculture. Residents in urban areas could benefit from not only the jobs created, but also from the unique skills gained in food production and distribution processing.

UAN: How is the production of the food and its sales going to be coordinated? In other words, how are growers going to know that they have markets ready to handle their produce even before they grow the crops and retailers are going to be sure they have an adequate amount of produce to sell?

Kaptur: That is up to the growers, but ideally, we will have at least some venues, think farmers’ markets that are also empowered by the investments we’re making in this bill. From there, growers and producers can get a foot in the door to compete and succeed.

UAN: The Act directs the Secretary of Agriculture to establish an urban agriculture outreach program. Part of this program enables the Secretary to award grants. Would growers be eligible for these grants and what type of production and marketing activities/projects could these funds be used to finance?

Kaptur: That is one of the most exciting pieces of the legislation. Growers would be eligible for these grants. And the grants are for the following types of activities in urban or in and around urban areas:

Infrastructure, land acquisition and land conversation.

Education and training to enhance agricultural production.

The aggregation of farmer products and supplies for purposes of transportation to market.

Other activities that support urban agricultural production as determined by the Secretary of Agriclture.

UAN: Where would the money come from to operate the urban agriculture outreach program and who would oversee it?

Kaptur: Our bill authorizes Congress to allocate $50 million each year to the Department of Agriculture for the urban agriculture outreach program. It also creates an Urban Agricultural Liaison who would administer the program.

UAN: How much money will be available to initiate the urban agriculture outreach program and for how long would this funding be available? Does this amount of funding change from year to year and does it have to be appropriated annually?

Kaptur: $50 million is the amount authorized in our bill, starting in 2018 and each fiscal year thereafter. This authorizing amount does not change from year to year. We hope this money will eventually inspire other investment from businesses, nonprofits, churches and even local and state governments.

In my hometown of Toledo, for example, a local restaurant, Balance Pan-Asian Grille, is building an urban indoor aquaponics farm next door to their new location to grow the food that will be served every day. It is very exciting and ideally, our bill would help create more opportunities and the expertise for this to happen a lot more across the country.

UAN: Who will decide as to which production and marketing projects receive funding?

Kaptur: The Secretary of Agriculture will determine how the production and marketing funding is awarded based on the criteria set out the bill.

UAN: Some of these projects are eligible for grants and others are eligible for loans. Who will make the decision as to which projects receive which type of funding?

Kaptur: The Secretary of Agriculture, either as acting through the Administrator of the Farm Service Agency or any other USDA agent who he deems appropriate, will make the determination.

UAN: With the mentality of the current administration and some legislators in Washington to cut spending, what do you think are the chances of this bill passing even though it has received bipartisan support?

Kaptur: That is why we are focused on incorporating as much of our urban agriculture bill into the upcoming Farm Bill. Though it won’t be easy, this legislation is a must-pass bill, and historically has always crossed the finish line.

UAN: Will the Urban Agriculture Production Act have any connection with the upcoming 2018 Farm Bill? If so, would funding the urban agriculture outreach program and its projects have any impact on funding other programs in the upcoming 2018 Farm Bill?

Kaptur: Well, we hope so. And I am confident that other Members of Congress from both rural and urban areas alike will see the value in spurring innovation and investing in our urban agriculture infrastructure.

CONTENT SOURCED FROM URBAN AG NEWS

Be sure to write or call your Senators and Congressional Representative to let them know that you support this legislation too!