Have a news tip or story idea ?

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Permalink Reply by Larry on October 20, 2008 at 12:54pm

So, here's an idea...

If we have so much excess housing - why not use the cash to tear it all down.
Salvage the materials and the Gov't owns the land.
Start all over again - buy the land from the gov't at market rates and build houses for people to live in.

If the root of this is excess housing perhaps we should get rid of it and put the trades people back to work!
That'd be wacky, eh?

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Permalink Reply by Carla Morelli on October 21, 2008 at 2:12pm

Hi Stellaria,

Sorry, but I don't know if any groups that work with local governments. I've done consulting work with government entities over the years, and it's definitely challenging. Your concern for the local community is important, and one we definitely support!

Best wishes,
Carla (FreyerMartin)



Stellaria said:

Hi Carla and friends,

Is there anything similar to the FreyerMartin concept for local governments? If you've been reading the news about Prince George's County MD, you can see there is a need. County systems don't seem to have been changing with population growth and other changes, and I'm wondering just what can be done to really correct the situation.

BRAC will definitely impact the Prince George's County community, and county agencies and organizations aren't doing well at planning for the real impact. You need to expect more needs for social services, even (gasp!) more need for things like animal welfare and control. Is anyone working to forecast the true likely skew to our demographics and service demands?

I know this sounds terribly locally-minded, but "all politics is local" you know!

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Permalink Reply by Meymo Lyons on October 31, 2008 at 10:27am

Dear Robert,

Amazing, isn't it ! Thanks for being in touch .

Best,

Mem

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Permalink Reply by judy on November 3, 2008 at 12:47pm

Lotus13 said:

Greetings Meymo! It's Lewis Reining, the intern who keeps coming back. I'm at Bard College right now but I was reading something in the South Korean News and thought it might be something interesting to look into.

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200808/200808200012.html

The article is fairly short. It's not a local story persay, but the location is local and the topic is relevant. It's about Kim Jong-il's Former Tutor who now teaches at George Mason University and in the article he's recounting his experiences as the tutor of the present dictator. He may also be able to provide some first hand experience on what life was like there. How people felt, why he fled. I don't know, if this were looked into, whether it would be better focusing on N. Korea or doing a person study. But we know so little about Kin Jong-il and North Korea that this idea seemed promise.

Hope everything is going well!
-Lewis

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Permalink Reply by judy on November 3, 2008 at 12:48pm

judy said:

Lotus13 said:

Greetings Meymo! It's Lewis Reining, the intern who keeps coming back. I'm at Bard College right now but I was reading something in the South Korean News and thought it might be something interesting to look into.

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200808/200808200012.html

The article is fairly short. It's not a local story persay, but the location is local and the topic is relevant. It's about Kim Jong-il's Former Tutor who now teaches at George Mason University and in the article he's recounting his experiences as the tutor of the present dictator. He may also be able to provide some first hand experience on what life was like there. How people felt, why he fled. I don't know, if this were looked into, whether it would be better focusing on N. Korea or doing a person study. But we know so little about Kin Jong-il and North Korea that this idea seemed promise.

Hope everything is going well!
-Lewis

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Permalink Reply by EcolocityDC on November 3, 2008 at 1:40pm

The two guys behind The WHO Farm Project are in town with their converted bus/garden and petition to get the next President to install an organic garden on the White House grounds as Eleanor Roosevelt and others did before her. They'll be at GreenFestival getting signatures. Their story and cause are compelling and would be great immediate, topical, local material for your news team, touching on sustainability, urban gardening, localization, vision, personal interest and dedication.

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Permalink Reply by Bill B on November 23, 2008 at 7:28pm

How about a story about the man who made it possible for Barack Obama to run for and be elected President - Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Nov 29th marks the 100th anniversary of his birth. There is a great new book out by his first wife Isabel Washington Powell called "Adam's Belle" that talks about Adam's early Civil Rights efforts 1930s and 40s and his run for Congress. The book was printed by DBM Press and co-authored by a local Washington, DC resident - Joyce Burnett. It even has a letter from Barack in which he points out that Adam layed the foundation for him to be able to run for President. The book has been nominated for the 2008 Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) Award.

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Permalink Reply by Meymo Lyons on December 12, 2008 at 2:58pm

Dear Listeners,

Happy Holidays ! I am looking for some good news. People who are doing loving deeds for those less fortunate. Big or small. Looking for the good stuff.

Best,

Mem

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Permalink Reply by aj on December 15, 2008 at 1:42pm

Hi

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Permalink Reply by Jim Eisberg on December 16, 2008 at 2:30pm

We're told that the reason that banks, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and who knows who -- Chrysler? -- Macys? -- is that the rescued institutions are "too big to fail." We aren't bailing out small businesses even though everyone acknowledges that small businesses are the best source of new employment. So why don't we insist that anybody who gets rescue dollars break up into units small enough to fail -- is anybody advocating this position? When was the last time the government required a company to break up (I think it was "The Phone Company", but I could be wrong)?

In fact, if the big three go out of business, I see a lot of opportunity out there for auto mechanics, junkyard owners, e-Bay sellers, auto detailers, and all sorts of entrepreneurs and mechanically apt people to keep cars running despite a lack of exact parts, and to build custom cars for people who can pay for new ones. If it weren't for Ford and GM, we'd still have steam-powered cars, electric cars, cars that would sustain negligible damage in collisions at highway speed, and a whole host of wonderfully wacky autos with strange designs and nonstandard fuels. Of course, if it weren't for Ford and GM, cars would probably be more expensive, and there would be a lot more buses, trams and trains, but from a global perspective, and probably from a sociological perspective, that would probably be better.

I would feel a lot better about keeping US auto companies in case they need to go back to building tanks if we didn't have the same problem with war goods companies that we do with auto companies -- we've allowed or encouraged them to merge into entities so big we can no longer blacklist them when we catch them making bribes, overcharging the US taxpayer, or doing some other illegal or unethical act.

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Permalink Reply by David Wallin on December 17, 2008 at 1:36pm

These aspects of Congressman Kucinich would make a fantastic interview, esp if another "youngest mayor" like Michael Sessions, Hillsdale MI who has a power plant as well belonging to the city, were interviewed.

Attachments:

• Kucinich youngest mayor battles Cleveland Muni-power.doc, 59 KB

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Permalink Reply by Nick on December 18, 2008 at 10:24am

Hi there--you have the wrong audio for this story:
http://wamu.org/news/08/12/18.php#24189

I'm linking to this story today, hopefully you can fix it? Thanks!
-Nick

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