Urban Policy

Look out, Minneapolis and Portland. Long Beach is making its move, aiming to surpass you as America's Most Bike Friendly City. Does that sound odd for a city whose chief claim to environmental fame has been its massively polluting port and offshore oil facilities—not to mention a city that, like the rest of Southern California, has long been in thrall of the car?
 

Thanks to a new partnership between Capital Bikeshare, Bank on DC, United Bank, and the District Government Employees Federal Credit Union (DGEFCU), previously unbanked Washington, D.C. residents now have the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: sign up for a debit or credit card and access a growing regional network of shareable bikes. An announcement from DDOT reads, “The partnership was conceived to promote a healthy and environmentally-friendly form of transit, along with the benefits of financial stability and security.”  In exchange for opening an account with the participating institutions, Bank On DC account holders get a $25 discount off an annual membership for Capital Bikeshare (bringing the cost to $50). While it will be interesting to see if this reduced rate is affordable for the target population, the initiative is an exciting example of creative thinking and cross-sector collaboration.

A new report by the Brookings Institution says minorities are now the majority population in many of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas, a demographic development with major political, social and economic consequences for the nation.

The study found that 22 of the country’s 100 largest metropolitan areas are now “majority-minority,” with ethnic majorities making up more than half the populations in New York, Washington, Las Vegas, San Diego, Memphis and other metro areas. That’s an increase from 14 cities in 2000 and five in 1990.

Last week, I attended the Federal Reserve Community Affairs Research Conference on “The Changing Landscape of Community Development” where researchers from the Fed and Universities around the country shared their most recent findings on the challenges facing low-income communities and community development policy-makers.  The conference covered a wide range of topics from foreclosures to farmers markets with eight discussion panels and keynote speeches by Columbia University professor and aut

I had the incredible opportunity to give a presentation on asset building policies today at the United Way of Kern County's Professional Development Conference. An annual gathering for a wide range of Valley advocates, the conference drew hundreds of participants- and this year's focus was Maximizing Assets.

Among the many casualties of the Great Recession are charitable groups. Last year, for example, donations dropped 11 percent, the largest drop in 20 years, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

But as in other areas, this adversity presents an opportunity to create new, more innovative and better ways to encourage sustained giving to charitable causes. I propose a new idea that appears untested: "angel lanes."

On October 8^th, to commemorate World Habitat Day, experts from the International Housing Coalition (IHC), Foreign Policy magazine and New America Foundation's Global Assets Project came together to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing an increasingly urban world.

Can there ever be another Silicon Valley, in the United States or anywhere else? What makes it so special?

One thing is the weather. You think I'm joking, but the weather is certainly a part of it.

Yan Qi spent most of her childhood living with her grandparents in a mountain village on the outskirts of what is now the world's fastest-growing city. It was always raining, she remembers, and nothing much seemed to happen. With no bridges to cross the fast-flowing Yangtze River, the nearby town center -- today a 40-minute drive away -- took several hours to reach by long-distance bus.

The 21st century will not be dominated by America or China, Brazil or India, but by the city. In an age that appears increasingly unmanageable, cities rather than states are becoming the islands of governance on which the future world order will be built. This new world is not -- and will not be -- one global village, so much as a network of different ones.