Click on a circle to see a city's ranking. The smaller the circle, the higher a city was ranked for finding a job. The larger the circle, the lower the city was ranked. Rankings are also represented on a color scale, with light blue representing cities that ranked the highest and bright orange representing cities that ranked the lowest.
Here's a tip for 2016 job seekers: Head to Plano, Texas, a short drive from Dallas and an affluent hub for corporate headquarters such as Capital One, J.C. Penney and Frito-Lay. Plano is the U.S. city with the very best opportunities for employment, according to a new analysis.
The worst place to find a job? That would be Stockton, Calif., located in the economically depressed Central Valley and the second-largest city to file for bankruptcy protection after the 2008 financial crisis.
Personal finance website WalletHub compared 150 of the most populated cities across 17 key metrics, ranging from job opportunities to employment growth to monthly median starting salary, to come up with the best and worst places in the U.S. to look for work.
In 2016's Best & Worst Cities to Find a Job,released Jan. 4, WalletHub found that three cities in Texas—Plano at No. 1, Austin at No. 3 and Irving at No. 4—were among the top 5 places to find employment.
Dallas and Houston were among the five cities with the highest monthly median starting salary.
Meanwhile, half the cities considered the 10 hardest places to land a job were in California: San Bernardino, Ontario, Modesto, Fresno and Stockton. Those last three cities are considered part of the state's Central Valley, long an agricultural region that has been economically depressed.
The five cities with the lowest monthly median starting salary were all in California—Anaheim, Santa Ana, Irvine, Oxnard and Santa Rosa.
Leanne Ralstin, a career development specialist at the University of Idaho whose comments were included in the analysis, said cities rich in employment opportunities tend to have well-developed technology, engineering and medical industries.
Eli Berman, a professor of economics and research director for International Security Studies at the University of California, San Diego, said in the analysis that jobs in health care and personal care occupations will grow because the U.S. population is aging. "Tech sectors are also a great bet," he said.
Paul Harrington, professor of economics and director of the Center for Labor Markets and Policy at Drexel University, cautioned that not all health care jobs are experiencing growth.
• Houston has the highest cost-of-living-adjusted monthly median starting salary, three times greater than in Honolulu, the city with the lowest.
• Detroit has the highest unemployment rate, six times greater than in Lincoln, Neb., the city with the lowest.
• Providence, R.I., has the highest number of part-time employees for every 100 full-time employees, two times greater than in Plano, Texas, the city with the lowest.
• Tallahassee, Fla., has the highest percentage of the workforce living under the poverty line, eight times greater than in Fremont, Calif., the city with the lowest.
• Gilbert, Ariz., has the highest cost-of-living-adjusted median annual income, three times greater than in Cleveland, the city with the lowest.
DALLAS—Demetria Johnson, a 32-year-old beautician, used to sleep on a couch at her cousin's apartment in Pleasant Grove, a low-income neighborhood in south Dallas. When she came home from work, she said, she was often greeted by drunks in the parking lot and the occasional sound of gun shots.
But for years, real-estate developers have built the vast majority of this city's government-subsidized, low-income housing in poor, minority communities where land is relatively inexpensive and local opposition is limited.
That pattern has long come under attack by housing advocates who argue that developers who receive subsidies should be held to account, in part by building more low-income housing in the city's wealthier, predominantly white communities.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will take up the matter when it hears oral arguments about whether the current system for doling out tax subsidies promotes racial segregation and violates the Fair Housing Act of 1968—a civil-rights landmark signed by President Lyndon Johnson a week after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
The suit began in 2008 as a Dallas housing dispute brought by advocacy group the Inclusive Communities Project Inc. against the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. It has since blossomed into one of the weightiest housing lawsuits in a generation.
An array of industry and conservative groups are backing Texas in its effort to roll back Fair Housing Act enforcement. Civil-rights organizations, along with 17 states and more than 20 large cities and counties, are siding with Inclusive Communities.
"Housing lies at the fulcrum of civil rights," because where one lives affects opportunities for education, employment, health care, recreation and other aspects of life, says John Relman, an attorney representing the National Fair Housing Alliance, an advocacy group that filed a brief in the case backing Inclusive Communities.
If the state wins, it can continue to give subsidies to developers erecting housing in mostly-black areas without fear of discrimination lawsuits. If the advocates prevail, the state would be indirectly forced to figure out some way to allocate more funds to build low-income housing in majority-white neighborhoods.
The Supreme Court case centers on a controversial doctrine used to enforce civil-rights law known as "disparate impact." It holds that to prove that a policy is discriminatory, one must only show that its results disproportionately affect one group of people—even if the discrimination wasn't intentional.
Federal agencies have relied on disparate impact for decades to prove discrimination in buying, selling, lending, renting and zoning of real estate. The justices must ultimately rule whether the application of disparate impact should apply under the Fair Housing Act.
The Supreme Court's decision is expected before July. A ruling in favor of the state could have broad implications, potentially spilling over into civil-rights enforcement in employment, education and other areas, such as banking and insurance practices.
For example, Countrywide, SunTrust and Wells Fargo have all reached settlements with the Justice Department in the last two years related to allegations that they charged higher fees and interest rates to minority borrowers. A ruling that quashes disparate impact could create an opening for the courts to revisit disparate impact's use in cases against lenders and in employment and education law as well. Financial services and other industries have rallied behind Texas' position.
Housing advocates and some federal officials worry about the outcome. That's because the Supreme Court—which has been scrutinizing and sometimes rolling back civil-rights laws and practices that it believes overly burden other interests—will look harshly on disparate impact.
But the state, and some developers, argue that they are just trying to balance competing federal rules and policies, some of which incentivize them to build low-income housing in poor neighborhoods.
If the high court overturns disparate impact, it would have come full circle on the issue. The Supreme Court actually laid out disparate impact in 1971, when it unanimously held that the 1964 Civil Rights Act permitted suits against employment practices that were race-neutral on paper, but disproportionately harmed minorities in practice.
That case involved a North Carolina power plant that had explicitly barred blacks from better jobs until racial discrimination was outlawed by the Civil Rights Act. The company then imposed new requirements—a high school diploma and IQ test scores—for the better jobs, which, in a state that had shortchanged black schools for generations, effectively disqualified many African-Americans. The court ruled that the company's new requirements were discriminatory.
Applying that precedent, 11 federal appeals courts have adopted similar approaches to Fair Housing Act suits. In 2013, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued regulations codifying disparate-impact analysis to housing.
In general, a plaintiff arguing disparate impact must show that a challenged practice disproportionately harms minorities. The burden then shifts to the defendant, which must demonstrate that the practice is necessary to achieve its goals. The plaintiff then gets a chance to rebut that claim by suggesting less discriminatory approaches that would work just as well.
"People need to get over this idea that just because they weren't trying to hurt people that they weren't hurting people," says Betsy Julian, a former official at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development who now serves as president of the Inclusive Communities Project.
But critics say disparate impact distorts free-market decision making and burdens the housing industry with needless costs. For example, the risk of disparate-impact lawsuits has given housing providers and lenders an incentive to avoid practices or projects that, even inadvertently, may perpetuate segregation.
"The threat of the use of disparate impact—it tends to induce decision makers to engage in affirmative action, which sometimes looks to some people like reverse discrimination," says George Rutherglen, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law.
The Supreme Court seems to share that concern. Twice before it has agreed to hear challenges to disparate impact—only to see the cases settle. Many assume that the court's conservatives are eager to scrutinize the doctrine, because they took the case despite unanimity among appellate courts that disparate-impact applies to the Fair Housing Act.
In 2012, the city of St. Paul., Minn., which was defending its code enforcement policies against a disparate impact challenge, dropped its appeal specifically to deny the justices a chance to invalidate the doctrine.
The court then took another disparate-impact appeal, only to see it vanish in 2013 when officials in Mount Holly, N.J., settled with low-income residents challenging a redevelopment project.
The Inclusive Communities Project's original suit against Texas' housing agency argues that the state discriminated by distributing federal tax credit subsidies almost entirely to buildings going up in neighborhoods with large African-American populations, which tended to be poorer.
The housing in question was built using money raised through the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit program, a Reagan-era measure that allows private corporations to shield their earnings from taxes by investing in affordable housing developments. Those credits are allocated to certain projects by state housing agencies. In Texas, the state uses a points system to decide which properties get the go-ahead.
A federal-district court found in 2012 that the state was in violation of the Fair Housing Act, citing statistics from Inclusive Communities' suit showing that as of 2008, 92.9% of Dallas units built under the program were in census tracts with more than 50% minority residents.
Inclusive Communities works with holders of Section-8 vouchers, another federal subsidy that pays a portion of a low-income tenant's rent. Many Section-8 renters live in tax-credit buildings because their landlords are required by law to accept vouchers from qualified tenants.
The tax credits are awarded on a system that takes into account location, community support, feasibility, and a number of other factors. In some instances, community opposition is often a demerit on developers' funding applications.
A bigger issue is financing: Developers typically build tax-credit projects in return for a fee, and the tax credit program itself offers more money to projects built in "qualified census tracts," defined by the Internal Revenue Service as high-poverty areas. As a result, developers are incentivized to build in lower-income locales.
In other words, "it just pushes toward racial quotas," says Paul Hancock, an author of the brief.
After the 2012 district court ruling, the state of Texas devised new criteria for handing out tax credits to developers, with the goal of awarding more allocations of tax credits in high-income areas. The advocates approved and the disputes calmed.
But then last May, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, urged on by Gov. Perry's office, decided to raise the disparate impact issue with the Supreme Court.
The appeal, if successful, would be a major blow to the Obama administration, in part because in 2013, HUD finalized a rule supporting the use of the disparate impact approach in fair housing cases.
Mr. Abbott's office has sued the federal government more than 30 times, mainly on environmental issues, with mixed results.
"I wake up in the morning, I go to work, I sue Barack Obama and then I go home," Mr. Abbott said in a stump speech during his 2014 gubernatorial campaign in October, echoing comments he has made since at least 2012.
Through a spokesman, Mr. Abbott, who was elected governor of Texas in November, declined to comment.
North Court Villas is located in Frisco, an affluent majority-white suburb north of Dallas. The 134-apartment project, built using tax credit financing, opened in November 2013 with 500 families on its waiting list. It features townhomes in dark brick with high-end kitchen appliances and a community center with a pool.
Neighbors to the development protested it at meetings of Frisco's city council while it was still in the planning phase in 2010, arguing that it would drive down property values and increase crime.
None of that fazes Greg Briette, a 32-year-old father of two who earns about $2,500 a month from his job at a call center. He and his wife moved into North Court Villas last year, he says, since they wanted to live closer to their church, and because schools are better than in McKinney, a suburb to the east where they used to live.
The future of multifamily housing bonds?
Earlier this year, President Obama included within his Administration's budget to Congress certain tax proposals. Among those was a proposal to allow states to convert up to 8 percent of their private activity bond (PAB) volume cap into Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) allocations. For every $1,000 of PAB volume cap converted, a state would receive 9 percent LIHTCs equal to $1,000 times the applicable percentage of the 4 percent LIHTC for the previous December times two. This proposal was recently discussed at the Bipartisan Policy Center Housing Commission roundtable on affordable housing held on July 23. Those in favor of this proposal suggest that because states have failed to use a large portion of PAB volume cap in recent years, the proposal would increase available low-income housing projects which are in short supply. Others, however, argue that as interest rates rise and the demand for PAB increase, more PAB volume cap will be utilized which would limit or possibly eliminate a state's ability to convert PAB volume cap into LIHTC allocations. In addition, multifamily housing bonds are just one of the many types of bonds that PAB volume cap can be used for, and housing finance agencies do not necessarily determine the use for PAB volume cap allocations. Either way, the proposal is interesting. For additional information about the proposal and additional context for this debate please see Housing Solutions: What Role Should Affordable Multifamily Housing Bonds Play?
"...The findings are highlighted in two new journal articles, Housing affordability and investments in children, published in the Journal of Housing Economics, and Housing affordability and child well-being, published in Housing Policy Debate.
More than 88 percent of renters with the lowest incomes spent more than 30 percent of their income on rent, according to the 2009 American Community Survey. And the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's latest report on affordable housing states household incomes must be at least 105 percent of the area median for a family to find decent, affordable housing units.
Families that spent most of their money on housing spent less on things like books, computers and educational outings needed for healthy child development, Newman and Holupka found. Families that didn't invest enough in housing likely ended up in the sort of distressed neighborhoods and inadequate dwellings that can also take a toll on children.
Newman and Holupka found families who had obtained truly affordable housing, spending roughly 30 percent of their income on it, did indeed spend more money on enrichment for their kids.
When a family moved from spending more than half of its income on housing to the 30 percent ideal, they invested an average of $98 more on their children, the researchers found. Not a lot of money, but enough to make a difference. Even when families increased the amount spent on housing — from spending 10 percent of their income to 30 percent — they spent about $170 more on child enrichment.
The MacArthur Foundation supported this research."
MIAMI — For rent and utilities to be considered affordable, they are supposed to take up no more than 30 percent of a household's income. But that goal is increasingly unattainable for middle-income families as a tightening market pushes up rents ever faster, outrunning modest rises in pay.
In Chicago, rent as a percentage of income has risen to 31 percent, from a historical average of 21 percent. In New Orleans, it has more than doubled, to 35 percent from 14 percent. Zillow calculated the historical average using data from 1985 to 2000.
Apartment vacancy rates have dropped so low that forecasters at Capital Economics, a research firm, said rents could rise, on average, as much as 4 percent this year, compared with 2.8 percent last year. But rents are rising faster than that in many cities even as overall inflation is running at little more than 1 percent annually.
One of the most expensive cities for renters is Miami, where rents, on average, consume 43 percent of the typical household income, up from a historical average of just over a quarter.
Stella Santamaria, a divorced 40-year-old math teacher, has been looking for an apartment in Miami for more than six months. "We're kind of sick of talking about it," she said of herself and fellow teachers in the same boat. "It's like, are you still living with your mom? Yeah, are you? Yeah." After 11 years as a teacher, Ms. Santamaria makes $41,000, considerably less than the city's median income, which is $48,000, according to Zillow.
Even dual-income professional couples are being priced out of the walkable urban-core neighborhoods where many of them want to live. Stuart Kennedy, 29, a senior program officer at a nonprofit group, said he and his girlfriend, a lawyer, will be losing their $2,300 a month rental house in Buena Vista in June. Since they found the place a year ago, rents in the area have increased sharply.
"If you go by a third of your income, that formula, even with how comfortable our incomes are, it looks like it's going to be impossible," Mr. Kennedy said.
Part of the reason for the squeeze on renters is simple demand — between 2007 and 2013 the United States added, on net, about 6.2 million tenants, compared with 208,000 homeowners, said Stan Humphries, the chief economist of Zillow.
And as rents head higher in the tightest markets, many are discovering that living on their own is proving unaffordable, forcing them to double up again. Arturo Breton, a 37-year-old waiter in Miami Beach, said that after years living on his own, he was joining forces with a roommate who works as a manager at J. C. Penney. "I've come down to the conclusion that in this country, it's easier for two people to pay the rent than for one person," he said.
For many middle- and lower-income people, high rents choke spending on other goods and services, impeding the economic recovery. Low-income families that spend more than half their income on housing spend about a third less on food, 50 percent less on clothing, and 80 percent less on medical care compared with low-income families with affordable rents, according to a new report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition. And renters amass less wealth, even non-housing wealth, than homeowners do.
The problem threatens to get worse before it gets better. Apartment builders have raced to build more units, creating a wave of supply that is beginning to crest. Miami added 2,500 rental apartments last year, and 7,500 more are expected in the next two years, according to the CoStar Group, a real estate research firm.
But demand has shown no signs of slackening. And as long as there are plenty of upper-income renters looking for apartments, there is little incentive to build anything other than expensive units. As a result, there are in effect two separate rental markets that are so far apart in price that they have little impact on each other. In one extreme case, a glut of new luxury apartments in Washington has pushed high-end rents down, even while midrange rents continue to rise.
Money for affordable housing has dried up at a time when it is needed most. Federal housing funds, in a form now known as HOME grants, have been cut in half over the last decade. The percentage of eligible families who receive rental subsidies has shrunk, to 23.8 percent from 27.4 percent, the Harvard study found. And Florida, which like other states faced large budget shortfalls after the financial crisis, has raided its housing trust fund, funded by a real estate transfer tax, for several years running. This year, the Legislature has proposed restoring at least part of the money.
Cities have been left to address the problem on their own, with some granting exceptions to their own zoning laws to allow for things like micro-apartments. Miami has allowed some variances to its urban plan for projects like Brickell View Terrace, which will have 176 units in a prime location near a Metrorail station. Ninety of the units will be affordable for people making 60 percent of the median income, 10 for people making less, and the rest will be market rate.
But a seemingly insatiable demand for luxury condos in Miami, created in part by wealthy Latin Americans, has caused land prices to soar, making affordable housing projects harder to build anywhere close to downtown. Moving farther out is cheaper, but the cost savings on housing can be quickly wiped out by transportation costs. A 2012 study by the Center for Housing Policy found that Miami was the most expensive metropolitan area in the country when housing and transportation costs were combined.
In many markets, buying a home is considerably cheaper than renting, and Miami is no exception. But many people are shut out of buying because their income is too low, they don't qualify for a mortgage or they are burdened by other debt. In 2008, a quarter of rental applicants were still paying off student loans, according to CoreLogic, but as of last fall half of them were doing so.
The major metropolitan areas of Texas remain among the fastest-growing in the U.S. — Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land ranks first, and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is third — according to the latest estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.
But the counties that make up those metro areas grow in vastly different ways. While most of the suburban counties grew primarily through domestic migration, the central-city counties relied much more on natural increase — births minus deaths — and none more than Dallas.
Half of Collin County's growth in the year that ended in July 2013 came from people moving in from other parts of the U.S., and in Denton, almost 60 percent moved in.
Dallas County added close to 27,000 residents from July 2012 to July 2013, almost all of them — more than 24,000 — through natural increase, the Census Bureau reported. More than 9,000 arrived from other countries. In domestic migration, though, far more people moved out of Dallas County — a net loss of almost 6,000 — than moved in.
"If you look at state-level data over the last several decades in Texas, you find that about half of the growth is through natural increase. The other half would be migration, equally divided between domestic and international," said Dr. Steve Murdock, former head of the Census Bureau and now director of the Hobby Center for the Study of Texas at Rice University.
But in the urban areas, births account for much of the growth, he said.
The state's largest county, Harris, which encompasses Houston, added almost 83,000 people between July 2012 and July 2013 — almost 43,000 through natural increase and about 40,000 through migration, much closer to the historical ratio.
Tarrant County grew by about 30,000 people over the same period — 16,000 through natural increase and almost 14,000 through migration, but with domestic migration adding almost twice as many as international migration.
"These numbers are a little soft," Murdock said. "They're estimates. But they do show that Tarrant is different than Dallas and different from Harris in the ratio of international vs. domestic migration.
"The pictures between the older, central-city counties and the suburban counties are very different," he said. "In places like Collin and Denton, domestic migration is very important, and they're seeing lots of growth from that.
In its latest release of annual population estimates for counties and metropolitan areas, the Census Bureau noted that many of the fastest-growing places in the U.S. were in oil- and gas-rich areas in and near the Great Plains and along the Gulf Coast.
That included the booming areas around Midland and Odessa, Fargo and Bismarck in North Dakota, and Casper, Wyo.
The fastest-growing "micropolitan" areas — between 10,000 and 49,000 people — were in North Dakota, western Oklahoma, New Mexico and Andrews, Texas, which sits just north of Odessa and Midland.
"Housing is very difficult to find, and a lot of the businesses that use people with commercial driver's licenses are losing them to the oil fields, people like school bus drivers," he said.
The Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area remains one of the fastest-growing in the country, Potter said. Increasingly, it is also having significant growth-related problems.
The latest numbers also reinforced another trend: the continued growth of metropolitan areas and the declining fortunes of more rural areas.
Nationally, metropolitan areas with populations of 1 million or more grew by an average of 1 percent, double the rate for smaller metro areas, the Census Bureau said.
Metro areas grew faster than the U.S. as a whole, and among the fastest-growing metro areas, migration was the greatest driver of growth in all but five, including Dallas-Fort Worth.
But the 1,335 counties not included in either a metro or micro statistical area saw a collective population decline of more than 35,000 between July 2012 and July 2013, with more than six in 10 of those counties losing population.
Follow Michael E. Young on Twitter at @mikeyoungDMN.
How many hours must minimum-wage earners work to afford rent?
Minimum-wage employees must work on average 2.6 full-time jobs to afford a decent two-bedroom apartment in the USA without paying more than 30% of their income,according to a report released Monday from the National Low Income Housing Coalition based on federal data.
Perhaps more surprising is that the inability to afford rent is not limited to big cities with high housing costs.
A full-time minimum-wage earner can't afford even a one-bedroom unit — except in a handful of counties in Washington and Oregon. A worker would have to make $18.92 an hour to be able to afford renting a two-bedroom apartment.
The low-income housing advocacy group's report shows a state-by-state breakdown of the number of hours a week a minimum-wage employee would have to work to afford rent in their state's fair market value as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Development.
In California, for example, a minimum-wage employee must work 130 hours a week to afford a two-bedroom rental, according to the report.
The coalition has released this report annually for the past 25 years.
"Every year the story is worse," said Sheila Crowley, the advocacy group's CEO, on a phone call with journalists.
Twenty-one states and D.C. have a minimum wage higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25, according to the Labor Department. But a higher minimum wage doesn't translate into housing affordability. In D.C., the minimum wage is $8.25, but a full-time worker would have to make $23.83 an hour to afford a one-bedroom rental and $28.25 an hour for a two-bedroom apartment, according to the NLIHC report.
"The minimum wage has just not kept up with the cost of living for about 40 years," said Bob Pollin, an economics professor and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The Obama administration has backed efforts to increase the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, but Congress has not passed any wage hike and is unlikely to do so. Last month's Congressional Budget Office report found raising the minimum wage to $10.10 would lift 900,000 workers above the poverty line but cost 500,000 jobs.
NLIHN says raising the federal minimum wage alone does not solve the complex issue. The nation must also address a shortage of about 7 million affordable rental units for extremely low income households, defined as 30% of an area's mean income. Eliminating that shortage would cost roughly $30 billion a year for 10 years, according to NLIHC.
The National Housing Trust Fund, a federal program, was designed to address the shortage, but the initiative is unfunded. The fund would provide grants to states to build or reconstruct affordable housing, according to HUD.
Last week, leaders in the Senate Banking Committee released text for legislation that would provide $3.5 billion a year for the fund.
The low-income housing tax credit also spurs the development of affordable rental housing, said George Hezel, director of the Affordable Housing Clinic at SUNY Buffalo Law School.
"It's not always oriented to the extremely low-income families, but it has produced a lot of much-needed housing all across the United States," Hezel said.
In the decorated offices of North Court Villas, manager Nann Gamel gathered information from a young couple who wants to move in.
"We do a full background check: criminal, credit, rental, employment, just like any apartment community," Gamel told the couple.
But North Court Villas in Frisco is unique.
In a city where the median household income is more than $108,000 a year, a single person living in this development can earn no more than $28,000. A family of three can earn a maximum of just under $37,000.
That's because North Court Villas was built with the help of federal tax credits and a non-profit housing grant. In return, it must serve lower-income tenants who earn no more than 60 percent of the area's median income.
North Court Villas in Frisco, an affordable-housing development, is so popular it has a waiting list of 500 people.
As part of a 1980s court settlement to desegregate run-down housing in Dallas that housed mostly blacks, some of the North Court units are reserved for Dallas Housing Authority clients, such as Chimerle Thompson.
She's burning calories on a treadmill in North Court's well-equipped exercise room.
"I'm actually working out this morning," she said breathlessly as she gestured toward the apartments.
Thompson, the mother of a 10-year old, works at a local department store. But she qualifies for housing assistance because she doesn't earn a lot of money.
When Thompson moved to Texas from Arkansas, the Dallas Housing Authority told her about available apartments in South Dallas and Frisco. The choice was easy, she said.
"I didn't want to live in South Dallas. I wanted to live in Frisco. I'm not scared of Caucasian people," Thompson said with a laugh.
"To me, in areas like this, you have better things," she added. "You have more opportunities. There is more going on to me. The streets are nicer. The neighborhoods are nicer."
Thompson is among the North Court residents who defy the myth that minority clients don't want to live in mostly Anglo communities, says Ann Lott with the housing non-profit Inclusive Communities.
"When you give low-income families a choice as to where they would live, you'd be surprised how many families would chose to live in areas of high opportunity, even if they're moving to predominantly Anglo areas," Lott said.
By high opportunity, she means access to quality groceries and stores, good transportation, jobs and highly-rated schools.
Ladeva Hampton loves her spacious two-bedroom apartment with walk-in closets, washer and dryer connections and new kitchen appliances.
But Frisco's schools are the biggest reason she moved in. She's a bus driver with two small children.
"I want to put them in the greater school system," Hampton said. "That way, they can grow up and be successful and become something."
"My children, they can feel free to walk," she added. "They don't have to worry about getting shot at."
Hampton feels lucky to live at North Court villas. The 134 units were already filled when the apartments opened in November. There are 500 people on a waiting list.
There's another myth that developer Cherno Njie wants to debunk: that it's too expensive to build this housing in an upscale community.
"We didn't find the land in Frisco was much more expensive compared to others, especially given the rewards of locating there," he said.
Those rewards include apartments that are never empty; support from the city of Frisco when some citizens wanted to prevent the affordable housing from being built; and the financing that became available when Njie made his case to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs.
"The point I drove home is this was a rare opportunity where … a city recognizes the need for affordable housing in an area that has few options for working families," Njie said. "Where the schools are excellent and good opportunity existed to make a difference in the lives of the next generation."
Frisco officials say North Court Villas apartments have been problem-free. There's been no increase in crime as some residents predicted.
Another North Court resident, Ladeva Hampton, says she can now imagine a better life for her family.
She plans to return to college and complete her bachelor's degree and then find a job in contract management.
Hampton looks forward to a day when she'll earn too much money to stay.
When it comes to affordable or mixed-income housing, there is no such thing as low-hanging fruit.
It isn't easy to build affordable homes in the 32 Connecticut municipalities that have a fair amount of such housing; it's much harder in the other 137 communities that don't.
However, a quiet, steady housing revolution is taking shape across Connecticut.
When Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced last week that 10 more municipalities were receiving HOMEConnecticut grants to study where they could create higher-density, more affordable, energy-efficient, walkable housing that will be close to transit, it might have seemed, to some, like a mistake.
Because the municipalities involved — Ridgefield, Brookfield, Stonington, North Stonington, Fairfield, Milford,Haddam, Durham, Burlington and Canton — were created for suburban, single-family, leafy, luxurious lifestyles. Now, they're getting grants to help determine how to broaden that array of housing options because, frankly, they need them.
Their 60-plus baby boomers need to get out of their big houses but want to stay in their communities. Their key workers — police, firefighters, teachers, nurses, public works employees — can't find places to live affordably. Their adult children can't come back to their hometowns.
What's more, there are many towns not far behind. I'm aware that at least a dozen similar upscale towns — from Greenwich to Guilford and Bethel to Ledyard —- are likely to apply for the next round of HOMEConnecticut grants.
The reason is fascinating. While most of those towns were founded in Colonial times, census figures show they didn't grow much until post-1970 suburban sprawl. They built thousands of single-family homes for baby boomers then in their 20s. Now that they're in their 60s, the charter members of the Pepsi generation don't want to rake leaves or shovel snow. What they do want is to stay in their town, near their friends, families, churches, doctors and other anchors. But their towns have nothing for them.
At the same time, Gen Yers or millennials — young workers in their 20s and 30s — have high education debt ($24,300 on average, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York) and neither the credit ratings nor down payments nor career prospects to qualify for a mortgage or buy a home.
Top that with $4 per gallon gasoline, expensive heating costs and increasing attraction to urban, walkable lifestyles and you have demand for smaller, denser, energy-efficient homes within walking distance of shops, restaurants and services in the town center — which are worth even more if they can be near bus or train service.
There is enormous demand. In 133 of Connecticut's 169 cities and towns, 70 to 93 percent of the housing stock is single-family. Connecticut has the seventh highest state rental costs in the nation because of short supply; it ranks 50th in construction of any type of housing over the last decade. For people making 80 percent of the median household income (about $56,000) or less, there is an 83,000-unit statewide shortage of affordable rentals. Now, demography — all those baby boomers and millennials — will add to the demand, and therefore the price, unless we add new supply.
Towns such as West Hartford are hearing from many would-be multifamily developers and commercial property owners who would like their properties rezoned to residential.
The towns receiving HOMEConnecticut grants — or adopting inclusionary zoning ordinances or otherwise rezoning to create more multifamily homes — are giving the market what it wants. They will benefit from their proactivity: Residents and municipal leaders, not developers, will decide where, how much and what type of housing they want. They will control the design and shape it appropriately to its surroundings. There will be few angry public hearings.
How will the state and its residents benefit? We will open Connecticut's high-resource schools and service-rich communities to young families, recent graduates, police and firefighters, teachers, nurses and so many more. We will improve educational outcomes and provide skilled labor for businesses we hope to lure. We will allow Connecticut to attract population, not lose it.
And we will be providing the housing we need for the people we need where we need it.
Deep in the president's new budget is a plan that could transform public housing in the nation by allowing housing authorities to increasingly set time limits or work requirements for participants.
In an experimental program in Tacoma, the city housing authority is offering rental-support vouchers to low-income parents, on the condition that they are active in their childrens' school.
But President Barack Obama's fiscal year 2014 budget calls for "substantial expansion" of a 1996 demonstration project that allows select housing authorities to set restrictions on residents, or try other strategies to promote self-sufficiency. Only 39 housing authorities out of 3,200 nationally have this power currently. Congressional approval was required for each one.
Housing agencies are lobbying for the expansion. They say the current system doesn't motivate residents to become financially independent and isn't fair to thousands of impoverished renters who need help now but must wait years for assistance.
"We've got these waiting lists that in some cases you practically get through a generation before you get a shot at a unit," says Tony Perez, executive director of the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee. "If you want to change this, you have to change the way you go about business."
Under the program, a family of two earning $15,000 a year in California's San Bernardino County would pay $375 a month toward its rent. The Housing Authority of the County of San Bernardino chips in up to another $1,025 a month, depending on the cost and location of the apartment.
While there is agreement the current system is broken, not everyone approves of President Obama's fix. The National Low Income Housing Coalition, an advocacy group, said the change would force people off housing assistance before they are ready.
"You are just cycling these families back to the end of these waiting lists," says Linda Couch of the coalition. "The answer is more affordable housing; it's not moving the deck chairs on the Titanic."
The federal government began providing public housing in 1937, initially building publicly managed apartment complexes for the poor. In 1974, Congress added "Section 8" vouchers that recipients could use to subsidize private rental housing.
In 1996, the U.S. overhauled its welfare system that provided cash to families. Now, participants in the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program are required to work, and they receive benefits for no more than five years. At the same time, Congress created a small demonstration project, "Moving to Work," for public housing.
Some authorities participating in the project have recently imposed time limits and other restrictions on renters.
In Tacoma, Wash., the housing authority in March started limiting new recipients to five-year terms. San Mateo, Calif., San Antonio and the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation plan their own versions of time limits within the next year. The restrictions are applying most commonly to rent vouchers, but also in some cases to public housing. The disabled and elderly are exempt.
"We provide these very valuable housing vouchers—deep, potentially permanent subsidies—to a group of very fortunate families and then we have thousands of people with their noses pressed up against the window desperately needing housing and getting nothing from us," "says Michael Mirra, executive director of the Tacoma Housing Authority. As of March, the average length of stay for nondisabled, nonelderly voucher recipients at the housing authority was nearly eight years.
Other housing authorities are instituting rules requiring residents to get a job. The Housing Authority of Champaign County, Ill. in January began mandating that new residents between ages 18 and 54 must work 20 hours per week. For existing residents, the mandate is being phased in.
"Some people need a real push,' said Patty Smith, an official at the Champaign County authority.
Many who work with low-income families say that current housing policies provide little incentive to move on. Ideally, the government should tell residents, "Your housing is stable. Congrats, take a deep breath. What's next?" says Sherry Riva, founder of Compass Working Capital, a Massachusetts nonprofit working with the Cambridge Housing Authority to help residents save money and set goals.
The recession has complicated things. Those with subsidies held on to them longer, while new people entered the rental market after the foreclosure crisis, says Sandra Henriquez, an assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Federal rental assistance aims to "move people to economic independence, so you move in, you move up, you move out," she says. But even leading into the recession, people kept housing benefits for an average of six or seven years, she says, and "In the last five years, we see a little bit of a creep that is moving that up to eight and nine years."
While roughly half of subsidized-housing recipients are seniors or disabled, who are exempt from new time limits, younger, healthier people also stay for years. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan group focused on low-income families, found that in 2010, 43% of nondisabled, nonelderly voucher holders had been getting the benefits for more than five years.
Meanwhile, HUD reported in February that a record 8.5 million low-income households without government housing assistance either paid more than half their monthly income in rent, lived in "severely substandard housing"—or both in 2011. That was up from 7.1 million such families in 2009.
"Nobody is representing those families; they don't really have an organization looking out for them," says Dan Nackerman, executive director of San Bernardino's housing authority, which adopted five-year-time limits last year after finding that people were holding on to vouchers for eight years on average, while 45,000 people sat on the waiting list.
The president's proposal to expand moving-to-work has bipartisan support in Congress, although there is disagreement over how big the expansion should be. Some Republicans support unlimited growth in the program for high-performing housing authorities, while many Democrats back a more limited expansion. In either case, federal officials would monitor the program.
The House Committee on Financial Services plans to take up the proposed expansion soon, says the spokeswoman for chairman Jeb Hensarling, (R., Texas). The Senate Committee on Banking Affairs will also consider the idea, says the spokesman for chairman Robert Menendez (D., N.J.).
Tacoma, a hilly port city south of Seattle, imposed a five-year limit on benefits in March. In exchange, the housing authorities say it is preparing people for the private rental market. It is enlisting case workers to help residents repair credit records and go back to school, and forming partnerships with nonprofits that offer job training and child-care.
The authority will consider hardship requests to make sure the new approach isn't harming residents, says authority director Michael Mirra. He predicts the deadline will motivate recipients to invest in their own education and employment, while providing a fair system to people like Elizabeth Hadnot, who applied in 2008 and only got her voucher in March.
Divorced with two of her five children at home, and with custody of her toddler granddaughter, "it's been a struggle," said Ms. Hadnot during a break at BJ's Beauty & Barber College, where she is in school. "I held on to my faith."
Even with two jobs—at a gas station and youth center—she still spent 75% of her wages on rent, she said.
She obtained a federal grant for needy students and enrolled in the beauty school last year, while a church friend offered Ms. Hadnot's family a temporary place to stay.
Meanwhile, Ms. Hadnot kept "popping in" to the housing authority to see if her name had moved up, she said. "I was adamant about getting into the program so I could move forward in life."
The five-year time limit on her new voucher "is a little scary" and at first prompted disappointment because "I know people who have been in public housing forever," she said.
But now at 45 years old, she thinks that is "a good amount of time" to carry out a "plan of action." She listed her goals, such as her own home and her own salon. "It is really happening, it's my turn," she said. "Five years started ticking yesterday."
What Will Tax Reform Mean for the LIHTC?
What will tax reform mean for the future of the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC)?
The tax reform threat and its potential impact on the LIHTC is real, and we need to continue to make sure our representatives know the program and the good work our industry is doing. While the program has support in both [parties], there are at least two ways the threat could play out: across-the-board reduction or elimination of all tax expenditures; or a change in the tax code that would greatly diminish the credit's value. The second, in my opinion, is the greater threat. If tax expenditures are targeted, we will hopefully be able to force a conversation about the value of these programs. However, if there is agreement to alter the tax code to lower corporate tax rates, it will be very difficult to overcome that with an argument that the impact would be detrimental to an otherwise worthy program. There is no substitute for the LIHTC program, and no one believes that an appropriated housing program would be created to replace it, so if there is to be a future for affordable housing, we have to engage in this discussion.
Tax reform is a desirable goal for our nation. It does not, however, require the elimination of all tax deductions and credits. It does not compel Congress to start over with a clean slate, destroying credits and deductions that have made us a better society. The LIHTC is one of the most successful housing programs in American history and is embraced by lawmakers of all political stripes. Not only is such housing created privately, but it's administered and maintained privately, as investors and lenders are engaged in the long-term compliance of their housing to ensure the protection of their investments. The affordable housing industry should confidently embrace the tax reform agenda, secure in the knowledge that the LIHTC must remain a part of housing policy for decades to come. As a community, we need to understand that elimination of the LIHTC will not happen and advance our discussion to what changes we need in the LIHTC for the 21st century.
If the Congress follows through with its stated intention of a comprehensive evaluation of the tax code, the LIHTC will be a target of intense scrutiny. What will decide the fate of specific tax expenditures is the ability of their constituencies to convince Congress that their tax preference is vital to the public good, an efficient use of government resources, and the most practical way to meet the policy goal of the expenditure. Our advocates within the Congress and the broader housing audience believe the LIHTC meets these standards, but it will be incumbent upon the larger tax credit industry to build a level of support within the Congress that will secure the LIHTC's future in whatever tax structure results from this reform endeavor.
The credit is at risk if Congress pursues a clean-sweep approach to comprehensive tax reform, and housing advocates need to fight to protect and strengthen the LIHTC. Fortunately, by making tax cuts permanent for most households, the fiscal cliff deal removed a major impetus for comprehensive tax reform and reduced the likelihood the LIHTC will be swept away. Moreover, passing comprehensive tax reform would require sustained bipartisan effort, which seems a dim prospect. Nonetheless, we must make sure Congress understands the LIHTC's benefits. And we should strengthen the LIHTC to ensure it retains broad support—starting with reform of the Community Reinvestment Act to promote LIHTC investment beyond major metro areas and enactment of the administration's proposal for mixed-income LIHTC properties.
What we've been hearing of late is that the odds of tax reform taking place in the Senate is greatly diminished—any bill that raises revenues (increases taxes) is very likely to be filibustered and stall. Any bill coming out of the House will propose unpopular individual and corporate tax-break elimination or reduction, resulting in rancor among constituents and corporate supporters, and face defeat in the Senate. Regardless, we will not let down our guard and will continue to educate new members and remind others as to the importance of the program. Without the housing credit, affordable housing will not be produced. We have strong support for the program in the Senate Finance Committee and, while we have supporters in the House Ways and Means Committee, we need many more to be sure our program is not swept up in a frenzied attempt at tax reform at any time in the future.
An urban farm on the rooftop of a David Adjaye–designed affordable-housing project in Harlem will provide fresh produce and income for the building sometime after construction has been completed in December. An $80 million development in the historic New York City neighborhood, Sugar Hill Housing will offer 124 units of rental housing for low-income adults and families. Adjaye's stepped-profile design, with a rose-embossed, textured precast-concrete facade, makes it the latest example in a trend to replace bland institutional architecture typical of affordable housing with creative and striking design.
The rooftop farm, along with plans for a farmers' market in the entrance plaza, provides another example of affordable housing's potential to improve quality of life for neighborhoods. Students at Columbia University are devising a business plan for the 3,500-square-foot farm. Broadway Housing, the nonprofit developer, hopes to model the farm after others like Brooklyn Grange, which operates 2½ acres of farmland on buildings in Queens and the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Innovative affordable housing is on the rise in New York City, starting with Via Verde, a complex designed by Dattner Architects and Grimshaw Architects that opened in the Bronx last year. In January, the city tapped nARCHITECTS for a prefabricated tower of micro-unit apartments in Manhattan, 40 percent of which will be for low- and middle-income residents.
"The quality of the design and the quality of the finishes has increased tremendously for a lot of low-income housing these days," says Saky Yakas, a managing partner at SLCE Architects, the architect of record for Sugar Hill Housing. "The expectations of the sponsors and even of the city agencies are far greater than they used to be." For many years, New York City and affordable-housing groups focused their efforts on renovations. But with few properties left to redevelop, developers have turned to new construction.
The 13-story Sugar Hill development will also house a 15,000-square-foot children's museum of art and storytelling, an early-childhood learning center, a parking garage, and office space. Adjaye, who designed the National Museum of African American History and Culture at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., which opens in 2015, has also designed houses for many artists. His background in gallery design is evident in Sugar Hill. The first floor has a glass facade, so the upper floors appear to float above the base. The glass has another benefit: it brings light into the subterranean children's museum.
Light is a critical component throughout the building. The punched windows are set at different levels. Because of the building's location, perched on a ridge on the corner of St. Nicholas Avenue and 155th Street, residents will have views down to Battery Park. In an unintentional nod to how far the designs of affordable housing have come, the building also overlooks the Polo Grounds Towers, a hulking 1968 public-housing project.
IRS disaster relief adds additional affordable housing for Hurricane Sandy victims and assists LIHTC project owners.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will temporarily suspend low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) tenant-income limitations and non-transiency rules to allow project owners to rent their vacant units to individuals and families who lost their homes due to Hurricane Sandy even if those individuals do not qualify as low-income persons. Notice 2012-68, which is similar to the relief provided to victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, requires owners to receive prior approval from their state housing agency to temporarily house displaced individuals up until Nov. 30, 2013. Projects in any state are eligible regardless of whether a major disaster was declared in the state where the project is located.
Under the notice, an individual is eligible for temporary housing if that person resided in a jurisdiction designated for individual assistance and who was displaced because his or her residence was destroyed or damaged as a result of the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy. The president declared major disasters in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) designated jurisdictions in those states for individual assistance. The notice also provides special rules concerning the status of a unit in an LIHTC project rented to a displaced individual.
A displaced individual temporarily occupying a unit during the first year of the credit period will be deemed to be a qualified low-income tenant for purposes of determining the project's qualified basis and for meeting the project's 20–50 test or 40–60 test as elected by the project owner. A displaced individual will no longer be deemed a qualified low-income tenant once the temporary housing period ends.
During the temporary housing period, the status of a vacant unit (that is, market-rate or low-income, or never previously occupied) after the first year of the credit period that becomes temporarily occupied by a displaced individual remains unchanged, and that person will not be treated as a qualified low-income tenant. This means that even if a unit is rented to a displaced person, a low-income or market-rate unit that was vacant before the effective date of the notice (Oct. 22, 2012) will continue to be treated as a vacant low-income or market-rate unit. Similarly, a unit that was never previously occupied before Oct. 22, 2012, will continue to be treated as a unit that has never been previously occupied even if it houses a displaced individual.
Consequently, the fact that a vacant unit becomes occupied by a displaced individual will not affect the building's applicable fraction for purposes of determining the building's qualified basis, nor will it affect the minimum set-aside test. If the income of occupants in low-income units exceeds 140 percent of the applicable income limitation, the temporary occupancy of a unit by a displaced individual will not cause application of the next available unit rule. Finally, the project owner is not required during the temporary housing period to make attempts to rent to low-income individuals the low-income units that house displaced individuals. Once the temporary housing period has ended, all the suspended LIHTC rules will once again be applicable.
Owners must also maintain and certify information concerning each individual including the name, address of damaged residence, Social Security number, and a statement signed under penalties of perjury by the displaced individual that, because of damage to the individual's residence in a jurisdiction designated for individual assistance by FEMA as a result of the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy, the individual requires temporary housing.
The owner must also certify the date the displaced individual began temporary occupancy and the date the project will discontinue providing temporary housing as established by the agency. The certifications and record-keeping for displaced individuals must be maintained as part of the annual compliance monitoring process with the agency. Rent for units that house displaced individuals cannot exceed the LIHTC restricted rates for low-income units.
Finally, owners must obtain prior approval from their state housing agency, and that agency will determine the appropriate period of temporary housing, but not later than Nov. 30, 2013.
Project owners should review Revenue Procedure 2007-64, which provides comprehensive disaster relief for LIHTC projects located in areas that FEMA has designated for individual assistance and/or public assistance under the president's disaster declaration (Major Disaster Area). If an owner has a carryover allocation, the revenue procedure allows up to an additional six months to satisfy the "10 percent test" and an additional one-year period to place its project in service subject to the state housing agency approval.
For buildings in the first year of the credit period that are located in a major disaster area and are severely damaged or destroyed as a result of the disaster, the state housing agency has the discretion to treat the allocation as returned credit to the agency or may toll the beginning of the first year of the credit period until the project is restored. The tolling time period is up to 24 months from the end of the year in which the disaster was declared.
Also, owners in major disaster areas have up to a 24-month period from the end of the calendar year in which the disaster was declared to restore a project that has suffered damage causing a reduction in qualified basis. Owners will not be subject to recapture and may also continue to claim the credit during the restoration period.
Susan Pristo Reaman is counsel with Nixon Peabody, LLP, and focuses on advising clients on federal tax credit issues for the LIHTC and related IRS Form 8823 compliance matters; the New Markets Tax Credit, specializing in targeted population transactions; the historic tax credit; and the renewable energy tax credits.
By next April, Denver will add more than 2.5 megawatts (MWs) of solar power to 387 affordable housing buildings, cutting power costs and adding to the value of the real estate.
The 668 systems are being installed through a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) signed by the Denver Housing Authority (DHA). The project, one of the city's largest, will include 10,471 240-watt panels made by SolarWorld. Completion is targeted for April 2013.
Under the PPA, the DHA will pay about $0.109 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), slightly less than what it has been paying to Xcel Energy, reports The Denver Business Journal. The contract price will rise 3.5% annually compared with typical increases of 5% from the utility, the Journal reports.
The solar integrator is Namaste Solar, while Oak Leaf Energy Partners handled the site planning, interconnection analysis, tax and financial structure, and negotiated the financing.
"This project was the most complicated and challenging of any of the 35 solar projects we have completed to date but also, perhaps, the most compelling and beneficial," says John Hereford, a partner with Oak Leaf.
Some of Oak Leaf's other projects include installations at the Denver International Airport and a Denver Public Schools contract involving 16 schools.
Enfinity America Corporation was the financing partner, and it owns and operates the panels. DHA will have the opportunity to purchase the systems at year 6, 10 or 15.
The project adds an estimated $10,000 to the value of each single-family residence in the developments, so buying the systems outright at some point would represent a sustainable investment by DHA.
Once the project is completed, the systems will generate approximately 3.4 kWhs annually in clean renewable energy.


text:
E.O. Wilson's 'Half-Earth': A bold proposal to save biodiversity
E.O. Wilson, author of "Half-Earth." Photo: Jerry Bauer.
Half-Earth
Our Planet's Fight for Life
nolead begins By E.O. Wilson
Liveright. 272 pp. $25.95 nolead ends
nolead begins
Reviewed by Mike Weilbacher
nolead ends Entomologist Edward O. Wilson, the modern era's Rachel Carson, has an audacious idea that might jump-start a lagging conversation about a burning issue.
"I propose," he writes in Half-Earth: Our Planet's Fight for Life, "that only by committing half of the planet's surface to nature can we hope to save the immensity of life-forms that compose it."
That's right: Half-Earth asks us to set aside half the world for the rest of creation.
The leading spokesman for what is now called biodiversity, Wilson worries we are on a path to losing at least half the planet's species. The ark of life is sinking from a long list of insults: climate change, habitat loss and deforestation, invasive species, pollution, poaching, overfishing.
As though that's not tragic enough, deep into the 21st century, we are still clueless as to how many species share this ark. Though we've named some two million species, from amoebas to zebras, Wilson estimates there may be eight, even 10 million species total, which means we are losing uncountable species we've never even met.
Extinction is a natural phenomenon, as the Academy of Natural Science's fossils remind us. But what is happening today is decidedly not, and Wilson carefully lays out the research indicating we have raised the extinction rate to 1,000 times the natural background rate "and accelerating."
He calls biodiversity loss "one of the great moral questions of all time," and he's right. If we accomplish his grand Half-Earth vision, models indicate we preserve 80 percent of that biodiversity. We lose one to two million species, but the ark stays afloat.
Wilson knows controversy, having set off a firestorm in the 1970s with his groundbreaking Sociobiology. Here, he takes on "de-extinction enthusiasts, nature-is-dead defeatists, and sundry ideological anthropocentrists." Living in a world where the Amazon is no longer a river but a retail website and clouds store data and not rain, he confronts "Silicon Valley dreamers of a digitized humanity" who "have failed to give much thought . . . to the biosphere."
Wilson invokes multiple biblical references. He includes a lengthy quote of the passage in which God taunts Job, a startling section of the Bible that a rabbi friend described to me as one of the oldest pieces of extant nature writing. Unlike most science writers, he's plowed this field before: Ten years ago, he wrote a book addressed to clergy, pointedly questioning their absence in the fight to save creation.
Half-Earth is at its best when it describes some of the extraordinary creatures at the center of the biodiversity battle, such as the unfolding misfortune of the rhinoceros, a charismatic creature vanishing because its horn is thought by some to increase our sexual prowess. The book dives into the ocean to describe Picozoa, a submicroscopic new phylum named only in 2013. He tells of how the loss of the chestnut tree caused the quick collapse of the passenger pigeon.
Wilson risks losing readers - as he lost me - when he goes into long digressions late in the book on the working of the human brain. And some of the chapters read a little thin. But fine: If he can get the world's attention on this issue, breaking through the cultural clutter and background noise of Kardashians and bachelorettes, Brangelina and Trumpism, he'll have accomplished something huge.
"The only hope for the species still living," he concludes, "is a human effort commensurate with the magnitude of the problem." To date, effort pales in comparison to magnitude, and if Half-Earth takes us any closer to sparking greater effort, it will cement Wilson's already remarkable legacy.
Mike Weilbacher (@SCEEMike, or mike@schuylkillcenter.org) directs the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education in Upper Roxborough.
What to do in Philly, July 19-25: Rolling Stones, J-Lo, Carly Rae Jepsen, 'Harry Potter' and 'Star Wars' at the Mann
The Oval+ returns to the Parkway Friday. Here's what to expect.
Grace Dickinson
What to do at the Shore, July 19-24: Lucy's Birthday, Crabulous Crab Day, Christmas in July
Lauren McCutcheon, For The Inquirer
8 ways to get your geek on if you aren't at San Diego Comic-Con
Abbey White and Seraphina DiSalvo
Janet Jackson, 50 Cent to perform at Saudi Arabia concert after Nicki Minaj withdrew
Mesfin Fekadu, AP Music Writer
Philly stargazers reflect on the moon landing, 50 years later: Where they were, what it meant, and should we go back
Patrick Rapa, For The Inquirer

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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5. When we collect information?
5.2 Create or register an account, and when you administer your account.
5.3 Input information or data into any of our Services, or post or upload content to our Services.
5.4 Submit questions, requests, and other communications to us via forms, email, or other communication media.
5.5 Contact us for customer support or technical support.
5.6 Visit any of our websites or download any of our apps.
5.7 Participate in any promotions, demonstrations, contests, surveys, or other marketing events.
5.8 Integrate third-party products and services with your CommuniTake account.
6. Why do we collect Usage Data and Personal Information?
6.1 We collect and analyze Usage Data in order to determine what is most effective about our Websites, and to help us understand trends in the usage of the Service so that we can better consider how to improve it and make it more effective.
6.2 We use Personal Information to provide you with the information you request and for other purposes which we describe to you at the point where it is collected or which will be obvious to you.
6.3 We use Personal Information to provide you the Service you request in regards to mobility, care, and security, including securing the Services and our systems and protecting your information and data.
6.4 We may also use the Personal Information you provide to operate the Service and tailor it to your needs, for billing, identification and authentication, to contact and communicate with you about the Service and your use of the Service, send you marketing materials (subject to your opt-out option), product updates, information about products you have requested or purchased, for research purposes, and to generally improve the content and functionality of the Service.
6.5 We may also use the Personal Information you provide to respond to requests or inquiries from you or provide customer support or technical assistance.
6.6 We may also use the Personal Information you provide to derive market insights, ways to improve the Service, and other business analysis or research purposes, customize existing and future product offerings and other aspects of the Services to you and other users.
6.7 We may also use the Personal Information you provide for any legitimate business purpose, provided that the information is aggregated and anonymized.
7.1 Right to access your information. You can request a copy of your information which we hold. If you would like a copy of some or all of your information in a structured, commonly used format, please email us or write to us, provide proof of your identity, and identify the information you want a copy of.
7.2 Right to modify your information. You can require us to correct any mistakes in your information which we hold free of charge. If you would like to do this, please email us or write to us, provide proof of your identity, and clearly indicate the information that is incorrect and what it should be replaced with.
7.3 Right to be forgotten. You can ask us to stop contacting you for direct marketing purposes. If you would like to do this, please email us or write to us, provide proof of your identity, and clearly indicate your request and the acceptable way in which we may contact you in the future. If you do, personal information associated with your account will be deleted as soon as is reasonably practical or as required by applicable law. Please note that we may retain information that is otherwise deleted in anonymized and aggregated form, in archived or backup copies as required pursuant to records retention obligations, or otherwise as required by law.
7.4 CommuniTake has no direct relationship with the individuals with whom our customers may interact using the Service. Any such individual seeking access to, or who would like to correct, amend, or delete data which may be stored in the Service should direct his/her query to the applicable CommuniTake customer acting as the "data controller" for such information.
8.1.1 Except as described in this Policy, CommuniTake will not sell, trade, or disclose to any third parties Usage Data and Personal Information derived from the use of the Service or visiting the CommuniTake Websites.
8.1.2 Notwithstanding the above, we may share Usage Data with third parties, including our customers, partners, and service providers, for various purposes, including helping us better understand our customers' needs and improve the Service as well as for advertising and marketing purposes. We do not share Usage Data with third parties in a way that would enable them to identify you personally.
8.1.3 Notwithstanding the above, we may also transfer Personal Information to our contracted service providers who are sometimes located in other countries. For example, we may share your Personal Information with our third-party service providers (such as its credit card processors and hosting partners) to provide the necessary hardware, software, networking, storage, and other services we use to operate the Service and maintain a high-quality user experience. In the event that we transfer Personal Information, we ensure your Personal Information is sufficiently protected in accordance with law and our internal policies.
8.1.4 In addition, certain exceptions may apply, including if the disclosure is required by law, if it is necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of CommuniTake, our client or third parties, if the Personal Information is publicly available, or if the disclosure is reasonably necessary.
CommuniTake will only use Personal Information in ways which are compatible with the purposes for which it was collected and other purposes expressly provided in this Policy.
We periodically confirm that the Policy complies with the relevant privacy laws.
9. Applicability of the Policy.
9.1 This Policy only applies to Usage Data and Personal Information collected by us and for our use.
9.2 The Policy does not cover the data processing in any cloud service, even if we manage it. The cloud provider's privacy policies apply.
9.3 You acknowledge that by providing us the information we will not be in breach of Israeli protection of privacy laws.
9.4 Our Websites may contain links to other websites and web applications that are not owned or controlled by CommuniTake. Please be aware that we do not determine and we are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of such other sites. We encourage you to be aware when you leave our Web sites and read the privacy statements of other websites and web applications linked to our Websites.
We also may employ web beacons. Web beacons are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, and are used to track the online movements of internet users. Unlike cookies, which are stored on a user's computer hard drive, web beacons are embedded invisibly on websites. We tie the information gathered by web beacons to information we otherwise collect and use them in our emails to learn which emails have been opened by recipients. This allows us to gauge the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns as well as to operate and improve our service. You cannot remove these tracking technologies as they form part of the content of web pages. However, as they work together with cookies, by turning off cookies you will also prevent any web beacons from tracking your user activity on our Websites. That is, even though the web beacon will still account for anonymous visits, your information will not be recorded.
12.1 We may send targeted emails to our customers and other individuals and companies which often include web beacons, cookies, and other technologies that let us know if you open, read, or delete our email and whether you click on a link.
12.2 If you click on a link from an email you receive from us, we will also use a cookie to log what pages you view and what content you download from our Websites.
12.3 You may choose to opt out of advertising emails but not service-related emails and other communications.
The Service (including the CommuniTake Websites) may offer publicly-accessible blogs or community forums. You should be aware that any information you provide in these areas may be read, collected, and used by others who access them. To request removal of your personal information from our blog or community forum, contact us at privacy@communitake.com. In some cases, we may not be able to remove your personal information, in which case we will let you know if we are unable to do so and why.
14. International transfers of Personal Information.
CommuniTake complies with the transfer of data regulations as set forth by local privacy laws regarding the collection, use, retention and transfer of Personal Information outside of Israel. You are responsible for compliance concerning data you process in any cloud service, even if you ask us to upload it to any cloud service on your behalf.
15. Changes to this Policy.
We encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information on our privacy practices. Your continued use of our Websites and the Service constitutes your agreement to be bound by such changes to this Policy. Your only remedy, if you do not accept the terms of this Policy, is to discontinue visiting our Websites and using the Service.
From time to time, we may post customer testimonials on our Websites which may contain Personal Information. We obtain the customers' consent to post their names along with their testimonials.
CommuniTake may assign or transfer this Policy, and your user account and related information and data, including any Personal Information, to any person or entity that acquires all or substantially all of the business, stock or assets of, or is merged with CommuniTake.
Our Service and Websites are controlled and operated by CommuniTake Technologies from Israel. This Policy shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Israel.


As much as Paul Tourville likes to downplay his prowess, ability, intelligence, and breadth and depth of interest, he is just as worthy of such downplay.
Paul started playing guitar semi-seriously in 1989 on a cheap plywood-bodied Harmony guitar with a neck like a baseball bat, which he has since cannibalized. By 1990, he had started working at WNLC/WTYD in New London, CT, where he met Julio and keyboard guru Lance Davis. Paul and Lance formed Bathroom Humour, with local bassist Jameson "Precision" Bass, writing and recording together for a year, until Paul ended up joining the Navy.
Paul shelved his musical endeavors for most of his stint in the Navy. Of course, by the time he got out of the Navy, he was a married home-owner… so… again, musical stuff was mostly shelved. He did noodle on guitar, bass and keys from 1994 until 1997, writing and recording a bit, here and there. By 1998, Paul had made the choice to move away from MIDI-based recording, and start actually playing bass, drums and keys, rather than playing along with sequenced parts. This was the beginning of the "Dummyhead concept", and the "Dummyhead sound".
It wasn't until 2002 that Paul really started to get back in the musical groove, refreshing his connections with Julio Reid and Jim Bass. This was the real nexus we can point to as the real formation of Dummyhead as a band.
Paul is also the band's historian. He maintains a website at http://www.ursuspacificus.net/blog/ in addition to this site.


Six months ago I had a voice inside my head clamoring to be heard but with no one to listen. I struggled through January 20, forced to watch a man I had no respect for stand where so many great leaders had stood and be sworn in to the highest office in our nation. Like so many Americans, I was afraid for the future of our country and the ideals that make up so much of who I am. I began to write more than I had in months. I was reading, talking to people, trying to absorb as much of what was happening and understand why the world around me was changing. I was sitting on my sofa, writing a piece for no one in particular, when I thought, "Man, these are some nasty politics." Well, you guys know the rest.
Although the past six months have been marked with unprecedented absurdity from the White House, it has also shown me the deep-rooted strength of American ideals. The ACA lives because people like you and me made our voices heard. Local leaders all across this country have recommitted to the Paris Climate Accords, against the model set by our President. Day by day, we are working together to protect the values that have made us a global pillar of democracy.
That's not to say there haven't been days when I felt at a loss, when I didn't want to write or rebel or resist anymore. There have been many of those moments. But in those moments, I had you. I had people who I felt were hearing my words and sharing my concerns, and for that I will be eternally grateful. It is my greatest hope that Nasty Politics will continue to grow and to become a community for people who want to be the change they see we so desperately need. We are well on our way, but none of that would be possible without you, the readers.
And so, on this self-appointed birthday, I have decided to celebrate the nasty-ness I see all around me, because it gives me hope. This is just the beginning; together, we will continue to create modern discourse for a changing America while protecting the ideals we hold so dear.
Keep fighting, keep reading, and stay nasty.


The owner was put on notice that her house would be stickered, and any subsequent nuisance activity would necessitate a $500 fine each time the police are called to her property.
The owner was put on notice that there will be a site-visit conducted by the city at 17 Hudson Street within the next two weeks.
The owner of 17 Hudson St will appear again within two weeks for a reassessment of the activity at 17 Hudson St.
This is neighborhood action at its best and your participation made an impact on the case presented at the Oct. 1 meeting.
NACW MEETING NOTICE: Noah Kilroy and Sean Creegan from the City Solicitors Office and the Nuisance Task Force will be at the Tuesday, October 27 NACW Meeting at 7:00PM (WBNA Headquarters) to help answer anymore questions.
IMPORTANT PHONE NUMBERS: Neighbors wanted to know the phone numbers for the police and for city hall neighborhood services. WBNA has listed them on our website for your convenience.
Newer PostParty at the Wedding cake house!


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NYC Local WiFi, Telecom, iOT
Verizon 5G Partners with New York Knicks
May 25, 2021 May 24, 2021 nycwired	5G, Brian Mecum, New York, New York City, New York City Wired, Verizon
Verizon has partnered with 15 NBC teams, including the New York Knicks. Verizon announced Thursday the deployment of 5G Ultra
Verizon Expands 5G Home Internet, Skips NYC
April 12, 2021 April 12, 2021 nycwired	5G, New York, New York City, New York City Wired, Verizon
New York-based Verizon is expanding its 5G Home Internet to new markets across the country. The faster internet aimed at
WiFi, Telecom, iOT
AT&T Invested More Than $105 Billion in 5G [VIDEO]
March 15, 2021 March 14, 2021 nycwired	5G, AT&T, Jeff McElfresh, New York, New York City, New York City Wired
Between 2016 and 2020, AT&T's total investment in the United States, including capital investment and acquisitions of spectrum and wireless operations,
New York City Invests $157 Million in 5G
March 3, 2021 March 3, 2021 nycwired	5G, Broadband, Internet, New York City
Mayor Bill de Blasio revealed a $157 million capital investment to achieve affordable and universal broadband in New York City.
Verizon Expands 5G Ultra Wideband Nationwide
October 15, 2020 April 11, 2021 nycwired	5G, New York City, Verizon
New York-based Verizon Communications Inc., is expanding its 5G network. The company announced its expansion across the United States. Verizon's
Verizon Rolls Out 5G in New York City
September 26, 2019 May 8, 2020 Monica Link	5G, telecom, Verizon
New York City based Verizon unveiled its 5G ultra wideband network in NYC, Boise, and Panama City. The launch is
Vodafone Goes Live With Ericsson 5G Technology in London
July 5, 2019 July 30, 2019 nycwired	5G, Ericsson, London, Paris
Ericsson's 5G technology leadership was at the heart of Vodafone UK's launch of 5G for consumer and business customers in London today
Devices and Apps
Verizon, Samsung Plan U.S. 5G Phone Rollout in Early 2019
December 10, 2018 December 6, 2018 nycwired	5G, New York City, New York City Wired, Samsung, Verizon
New York City-based Verizon is teaming up with phone making giant Samsung to unveil a 5G powered smartphone during the


text:
Distance from Mesa, AZ to Los Angeles, CA
Driving distance from Mesa, AZ to Los Angeles, CA is 389 miles (627 km). How far is it from Mesa, AZ to Los Angeles, CA? It's a 06 hours 15 minutes drive by car. Flight distance is approximately 371 miles (597 km) and flight time from Mesa, AZ to Los Angeles, CA is 44 minutes. Don't forget to check out our "Gas cost calculator" option. It will calculate cost of driving this particular distance. See the map below for the visual display of the upcoming road trip.
Check returning route - Distance from Los Angeles, CA to Mesa, AZ
How far is it from Mesa, AZ to Los Angeles, CA?
Your journey from Mesa, AZ to Los Angeles, CA by car will take: 06 hours 15 minutes
To travel the distance from Mesa, AZ to Los Angeles, CA, please, click on the map to see the route for the journey. "Gas Cost Calculator" tool is to your right. You can always modify it and make the number more applicable for your journey.
Book a Hotel for your trip to Los Angeles, CA
Choose a place to stay while traveling from Mesa, AZ to Los Angeles, CA. We also offer Car Rental widget for your particular journey. There are lots of options to choose from. Give it a try.
Other routes from Mesa, AZ
Distance from Mesa, AZ to New York, NY
Distance from Mesa, AZ to Chicago, IL
Distance from Mesa, AZ to Houston, TX
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Rental сars in Los Angeles, CA
Distance from Amarillo, TX to Colorado Springs, CO 26 sec ago
Distance from Anadarko, OK to Decatur, TX 1 hour ago


When I woke up this morning, it was 34 degrees F., 10 degrees higher than yesterday, which was nearly 10 degrees higher than the day before. This is how it's supposed to work when we get one of these cold spells. Brrr for a while, watch your pipes, wait for the inevitable thaw.
It's now 31, although that happens. Sometimes the temperature doesn't bottom out until after sunrise. Normally I would barely pay attention; I just glance at my desktop icon and get going about my business.
Today I'm watching a little more, just a little. I know what's coming. The temperature plays a part, but that's not what we're going to notice unless we lose power. No one's going outside to battle the elements, not for a few days I suspect. We'll stay as toasty as possible.
I live just south of the 48th parallel, essentially the same as Seattle proper, although I live about 10 miles north of the city limits. I'm almost directly on the I-5 corridor that runs between Seattle and Everett, known to locals as the Puget Sound Convergence Zone.
This image gives you an idea. Systems split at the Olympics and converge again on the other side over Puget Sound, and that's about where I live. So we get interesting weather sometimes that doesn't match up with the rest of the region. Add to that a somewhat high elevation (I'm about 600' ASA here) and sure, we've seen more snow than others. At times. Sometimes no snow (kind of a shadowing effect).
This isn't a convergence zone event coming up, although it tends to always play a part. For us, it's more our latitude at this point, and elevation. But everybody's getting a lot of snow. I don't think we'll stand out, particularly, and if we have 22 inches and down south a bit they have 15, no honors are given.
So here we are, as prepared as we're going to be. We're fortunate to be off today; this storm is looking to start around noon and get heavy around rush hour. With a week to prepare, I'm wondering what businesses are going to do and what disasters await on the interstate.
As for me, at some point I'll head out to the store to pick up an Rx for my son and maybe some nonperishables in case we lose power, but we're pretty much set for the duration. Unless the duration endures, which is really the big question, which is why this is so interesting.


text:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Compilation;
using System.Web.Routing;

namespace bLOG.Core.Web.Routing
{
  public class HttpHandlerRouteHandler : IRouteHandler
  {
    private readonly bool _useRouteVirtualPath;
    private Route _routeVirtualPath;

    public string VirtualPath { get; private set; }

    public bool CheckPhysicalUrlAccess { get; private set; }

    private Route RouteVirtualPath
    {
      get { return _routeVirtualPath ?? (_routeVirtualPath = new Route(VirtualPath.Substring(2), this)); }
    }

    public HttpHandlerRouteHandler(string virtualPath)
    {
      VirtualPath = virtualPath;
      _useRouteVirtualPath = VirtualPath.Contains("{");
    }

    public virtual IHttpHandler GetHttpHandler(RequestContext requestContext)
    {
      if (requestContext == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("requestContext");

      var virtualPath = GetSubstitutedVirtualPath(requestContext);
      var length = virtualPath.IndexOf('?');
      if (length != -1)
      {
        virtualPath = virtualPath.Substring(0, length);
      }
      return BuildManager.CreateInstanceFromVirtualPath(virtualPath, typeof(IHttpHandler)) as IHttpHandler;
    }

    public string GetSubstitutedVirtualPath(RequestContext requestContext)
    {
      if (requestContext == null)
        throw new ArgumentNullException("requestContext");

      if (!_useRouteVirtualPath)
      {
        return VirtualPath;
      }
      var pathData = RouteVirtualPath.GetVirtualPath(requestContext, requestContext.RouteData.Values);
      if (pathData == null)
      {
        return VirtualPath;
      }
      return "~/" + pathData.VirtualPath;
    }

  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub