Experience Grand Rapids and Detroit

After seeing the Grand Rapids video today, I decided to check out the experience Grand Rapids webpage. After being highly impressed by how exciting the website made the city seem, I was curious about what Detroit’s travel and entertainment website looked like. In my opinion, though Detroit is a larger city and home to most of Michigan’s professional athletic teams, the website is not nearly as exciting. I am curious to see people’s reactions to the two websites.

http://www.experiencegr.com/

http://www.experiencedetroit.com/

Grand Rapids Lip Dub Sparks Some Questions

http://griid.org/2011/05/28/rob-bliss%E2%80%99s-lip-dub-sparks-some-questions/

We can all agree that Rob Bliss's Lip Dub of Grand Rapids is a huge hit and truly mind-boggling. Here are some facts about the cost of the video, its product placement, and its representation of Grand Rapids citizens.

The video certainly advertised Grand Rapids to the population, but after reading the article, do you think that the money could have been better spent elsewhere?

The Ghost Cities of 2100

Since our discussion during the past couple weeks has been focused on looking at the future of cities, I though the article below would be a good read. This article, published by Forbes, attempts to predict what will happen to cities in 2100. The article discussing what it takes for a city to vanish, and explains what cities they believe will disappear in the next 100 years.

http://www.forbes.com/2007/06/11/ghost-cities-future-biz-cx_21cities_ee_0611ghostcities.html

Michigan spending

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/Michigan_state_spending_2012

check out the local expenditures for the state of Michigan, kind of cool to see the numbers.

The story of stuff

Think about this in the context of manufacturing.

Struggling Transportation Systems

This is the article about the transportation system in Detroit, in which the DDOT and SMART systems are failing to combine their services.

What are your thoughts?


http://michiganmessenger.com/1453/money-problems-and-racial-tensions-bedevil-public-transport

MORE EMERGENCY MANAGERS?

Gov. Snyder wants to give MORE power to the emergency managers..."rescuing troubled schools and local governments with private companies getting help through bankruptcy." He wants these managers to be "rare" and only implemented when in desperate measures, but to make them swift and effective. What do you all think?


http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2011/03/gov_snyder_wants_emergency_fin.html

Given option of increasing class sizes, not updating technolgy, it would be wiser to cut sports

This is an article about saving money for education by cutting sports. As someone who played sports and only went to the public high school in order to play, I have mixed feelings on the subject.

Yes this would save money but it would also take away an institution that helps some students meet friends and stay motivated to keep their grades up.

On the other hand, Europe has proven that without school sponsored sport, teams do not disappear. My friends that lived with me through high school were all multi-sport athletes and did this through great club sports. If we could develop these teams and found ways to keep them as inclusive as school teams they may be an adequate substitute.


http://www.mlive.com/opinion/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2011/05/viewpoint_as_a_coach_and_a_tea.html

Why Can't We Trust Our Government?

As I read more and more about Snyder's new policies, the biggest question I keep going back to is this: why can't we trust the government? We put these people into place, then don't give them any credit or any of our trust. Right now this was the best article I could find on the topic, I like the first graph a lot.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/04/80-percent-of-americans-dont-trust-the-government-heres-why/39148/

I'm also interested in what everyone thinks about this. Do you trust the government (at any level)? Why or why not?

Michigan Protests

This article is about people protesting the new Michigan budget propossed by Governor Snyder. I know that many of you attended the protests in East Lansing on March 16 as indicated at the end of the article. I feel that protests are one of the only ways in which anyone could show that they do not approve of something. However, often times these protests fall short of their goal.

Do you believe that protests are a good way to get change?

http://www.fightbacknews.org/2011/3/16/michigan-protests-budget-cuts

Greece could end up with a "financial manager"

I read this report this morning in the Financial Times and thought about the class debate on "where does it end?"  (see link)  I find all of this "elected and democratic officials" don't do the right things; hence we should replace them with financial experts very very scary. 

Michigan Budget Problems

http://www.examiner.com/independent-in-lansing/michigan-s-budget-problems

According to Michigan's debt clock, Michigan's debt is currently over 21% of its annual gross domestic product, amounting to almost $87 billion of total debt. This means that for every Michigan citizen, the state owes $8,316. What's more is that over 1.8 million Michigan citizens are on food stamps, which is close to one fifth of its population. In other words, not good economic numbers that reveal a state that is no where near being self sufficient.

Michigan's budget for 2011 is $1.58 billion, which will do nothing to ease the situation. This year, 2010, marked the 10th straight year in which Michigan had a budget deficit. This goes hand in had with the collapse of the states manufacturing base, notably the automobile industry, during the past decade. In total, automotive employment declined by two thirds, down to only 100,000 jobs today

What do you think must be done to slow down this economic depression in Michigan?

Benton Harbor Similarities with Major League Baseball? MLB Takes Over Dodgers

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/42711878/ns/sports-baseball/

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig took the extraordinary step of saying Major League Baseball was taking over operations of one of America's most famous teams, the one that integrated the national pastime, broke Brooklyn's heart and paved the way for coast-to-coast expansion. The takeover is possibly a prelude to Selig forcing a sale of the franchise.

While there are some clear differences (Dodger owner Frank McCourt's divorce and debate over whether he or his wife owned the team) over the motives for this takeover and the state government takeover of Benton Harbor, there are also some striking similarities. Benton Harbor is being taken over by the government in a way that is not entirely unlike this takeover of the Los Angeles Dodgers. What do you make of this situation in the MLB and the situation in Benton Harbor?

Michigan House Budget

http://www.freep.com/article/20110505/NEWS06/105050518/Michigan-House-budget-cuts-cops-aid-poor-arts

The House passed a state budget Wednesday -- minus education spending -- that cuts $1.4 billion from general fund spending, $165 million less than Gov. Rick Snyder sought.
Where is this $165 million going to come from? Cops, aid to the poor, and the arts.
What do you make of this, and where would you take the $165 million from?

Lessened Cuts Will Still Hurt Michigan Students

http://www.livingstondaily.com/article/20110524/OPINION01/105240321

Last week, in what appears to be a proposal that will shape Michigan's next budget, Gov. Rick Snyder and GOP leaders in the state Senate announced they were boosting public education funding. By that, they meant that the cuts won't be as deep as first threatened. The so-called boost is still a significant slashing of education funds.

There would be no need for any cutback if Snyder would just keep his hands off the $500 million surplus in the state school aid fund. That money is only there because of federal money poured into the system. But it's there. Schools can function if the state doesn't raid the fund. But Snyder, in order to pay for his business-tax cuts, is siphoning money out of the school aid fund to partially cover general fund shortages.

What do you think about Snyders "support" of increased funding for education?

How the Rich have fallen.

Here is an article I found talking about Troy Michigan. The city must cut $22m in expenses in order to balance the budget.

This may sound like a broken record but for those of you who are aware, Troy is one of the richest parts of Michigan. With a median family income of over $90,000 a year, how could this city be in such trouble.

After reading I wonder just how likely Troy is to receive an emergency manager if they are unable to balance the budget for this year and the future.


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/19/us/19questions.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=michigan+poverty&st=nyt

Emergency Bill passed in Michigan

This article argues the necessity of the Emergency Manager Bill, how "the fact we need this legislation is disturbing to contemplate but, unfortunately, we do need it." What are your thoughts about this perspective? Would you chose a different approach of financially assisting cities? We will discuss this in class Tuesday and argue the points. Just wanted you guys to get a head start on all the arguments presented!

http://www.mlive.com/opinion/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2011/03/editorial_unfortunately_michig.html

Takeover of Benton Harbor, necessary?

This article takes about the Emergency Manager Bill being passed in Benton Harbor, MI. This bill is a new law that allows the governor to appoint Emergency Managers with virtually unlimited authority over local governments. Some agree with action stating this is the beginning for what will come for Michigan in the future, others think that Benton Harbor is just a test case and this bill is not giving the city any say.

http://michiganmessenger.com/48333/benton-harbor-takeover-sparks-furious-reaction


which side are you on?

Is Detroit the next Silicon Valley?

As Michigan makes cuts to education, this article and video show how education may be the key to solving Detroit and other rust belt city's problems.

Who would think that four college grads would want to stay in Detroit instead of heading to Silicon Valley?



http://www.mlive.com/business/detroit/index.ssf/2011/05/cnn_money_is_detroit_the_next.html

Emergency manager bill sparks debate in Michigan

This is another article discussing the emergency manager and its reception in Benton Harbor.

I thought that this article pointed out a great point: the people that don't want change seem to be the people losing power.

Also nice to see is that at least one person on the city commission is willing to support the idea.




http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/05/emergency_manager_bill_sparks.html

Michigan Turnaround Plan?

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2010/04/michigan_executives_devise_tur.html

Here's an article talking about the Michigan Turn around plan, discussing the major steps and how to encourage citizens to join with this ad,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of3iykkDvUc


thoughts?

America's Biggest (And Least) Gas-Guzzling Cities

This article lists the regions in the US most and least affected by rising gas prices, stating that determining this had much less to do with the actual gas prices, and more to do with the number of miles driven by households on average in one year. It's no surprise that spread out suburban regions were the worst. The cities and suburbs of the region suffering the most "are close enough that people don’t think twice about driving from one to the other. Yet in doing so, the average household racks up 21,800 miles per year." This is shocking compared to the region suffering the least -- the average "household uses just 481 gallons a year to go 9,800 miles."

Interestingly, "despite soaring prices, demand for gasoline has stayed strong, down just 2% from a year ago." Consumers don't seem to be immensely affected by escalating gas prices. What does that mean for the prospects of incentivizing alternatives?

http://blogs.forbes.com/christopherhelman/2011/05/10/americas-biggest-and-least-gas-guzzling-cities/

Top 10 Housing Market Recovery Towns

Interested in knowing where the real estate market has improved? CNN Money has post a recent article on the top 10 places that are experiencing recovery in the housing market. To determine the improvement, current housing prices are compared to last years housing prices. Though you guy might be interesting in taking a look at the top 20 cities…

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/real_estate/1104/gallery.10_turnaround_towns/index.html

What are your thoughts on the Michigan turnaround plan?

http://www.michiganturnaroundplan.com/

An interesting little blog post discussing how developing countries go through the same cycle of road building, suburbanization, and congestion that the United States has already been through. Luckily, some countries, like China, are recognizing the problems of a car-oriented society and are investing heavily in other forms of transportation.

United States Dependence on Oil

This an interesting article from the Unites States Energy Information Administration regarding the country's dependence on foreign oil.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/energy_in_brief/foreign_oil_dependence.cfm

Housing stats from all the big sites

A good summary of the state of the US housing market can be found here. 

Neighborhood surveys and infographics as street art

Here's an article from GOOD, Inc. (thanks, Toni) about an artist in a Boston neighborhood who posts street art featuring demographic information, poetry, and questions about the neighborhood.

What kind of impact do you think a project like this would have on the Kalamazoo community?

Here's an article I found in The Economist addressing projected congestion problems. It proposes using adjusted tolls to reduce the number of cars on the road and raise funds for public transportation. Though such an idea would probably be met with strong public backlash, adjusted tolls have been successfully implemented to reduce congestion in several large foreign cities. Most notably, Singapore's ERP (Electronic Road Pricing) and London's Congestion Charge have been hugely successful in alleviating traffic congestion and shortening commute times during peak driving hours. What are your thoughts on this proposed system? Is there a way it could ever be implemented in a U.S. city?

Find your walk-score and transit-score

I found a really neat website. You input an address and it determines how well that location is served by public transportation, and how walkable it is. In addition to a scale of 1-100, it rates locations from car-dependent to very walkable. It's frightening, but not surprising, to note that my parent's house in Troy, a suburb in Metro Detroit, rated 6/100 for being walkable -- kind of fun to play around with.

http://www.walkscore.com/transit-score.php

Best and Worst Places for Public Transit

Interested in seeing where the best and worst public transit is located? This articles shows where public transportation is efficient and type of public transit that is being used in that area. Please comment on what you think about the best-rated places, and why the worst places have failed.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/05/the-10-best-and-10-worst-cities-for-public-transportation/238985/#slide4

Fastest Growing Cities in the South

Since our discussion has recently been focused on growth in cities, I though it would be interesting to take a look at the 8 fastest growing cities in the south. It is great to see these places moving toward mobility. Feel free to share you own opinion of the cities mentioned in the articles below and what you believe is the cause of their resent growth.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/news/1104/gallery.growing_southern_cities.fortune/

What makes a city great ?

Here is a list of best and worst ranked cities through out the world.The article also discusses the various factors that make a city great. Perhaps we need to take into account these factors when improving cities like Detroit and Flint.Here is the summary of those factors

● Blend of beauty and ugliness – beauty to lift the soul, ugliness to ensure there are parts of the fabric of the city that can accommodate change.

● Diversity – if lots of people are wanting to come to a city, there must be something there.

● Tolerance – the only way diversity works but also an accommodating attitude to sexuality (gay communities are famously successful inner-city regenerators) and religion (there are signs of increasing intolerance towards religious minorities all over the world).

● Density – density of habitation is crucial in ensuring density of activity, a vibrancy of commerce, residential and cultural activity.

● Social mix – the close proximity of social and economic classes keeps a city lively.

● Civility – impossible to measure and slightly against my stated notions about the benefits of friction but critical nevertheless. I once criticised the ingratiating politeness in the US and was told by an American who used to live in Paris that “it’s better to be told to have a nice day by someone who doesn’t mean it than to be told to go f*** yourself by someone who does”. Discounts any Israeli or Russian city from ever getting on the list.
For more details go this article:
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/dd9bba18-769c-11e0-bd5d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1MW9sP8Bf

Motown’s optimistic tune

Here is an article I found which pretty much summarizes all the pros and cons of living in Detroit and our discussion in class on Thursday. The article says that the city is improving drastically .What do you guys think ?
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/78388124-7c1e-11e0-a386-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1MW9sP8Bf

Using Universities as a City Anchor

This article discusses Buffalo's population decline and increase of abandonment. To help stabilize the community, it has been proposed to expand the University of Buffalo and use it as an anchor for the city. The University would expand the medical school and move it into the downtown area. More schools would also eventually move downtown, which would hopefully increase housing in the area. There was also some talk of increasing enrollment. Some disagree with this plan because it wold cost 5 billion dollars, and the university would raise tuition to help with the cost.

What are your opinions of this article and the proposed plan? Are you for or against using the University to stimulate the city? Do you think it can work?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/09/nyregion/buffalo-pins-hope-for-revival-on-university-expansion.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=city%20growth%20abandoned%20buildings&st=cse

Is it a great time to buy a house?

If all the noise you're hearing about housing has you totally confused, join the crowd. One day you'll read that owning a home has never been more affordable. The next day you'll see news that housing starts have plunged to nearly their lowest level in half a century, as headlines announced in March . After four years of falling prices and surging foreclosures, do you guys think that the housing market is recovering now ?Is is it a great time to buy a house, since prices are low and rental prices continue to rise? Or should one be wary before taking a plunge into home ownership, since housing prices can still plummet further ? Here is an excerpt from an article I found

To see why, let's examine the remarkable shift in home affordability. A new study by Deutsche Bank measures affordability in two ways: first, the share of income Americans are paying to own a home. And second, the cost of owning vs. renting. On the first metric, the analysis finds that homeowners now pay just 9.8% of their income in after-tax mortgage, tax, and insurance payments. That's down from 17.2% at the bubble's peak in 2007, and by far the lowest number in the Deutsche Bank database, going back to 1999. The second measure, the cost of owning compared with renting, should also inspire potential buyers. In 28 out of 54 major markets, it's now cheaper to pay a mortgage and other major costs than to rent the same house. What's most compelling is that in all of the distressed markets, owning now wins by a wide margin -- a stunning reversal from four years ago. It now costs 34% less than renting in Atlanta. In Miami the average rent is now $1,031 a month, vs. the $856 it costs to carry a ranch house or stucco cottage as an owner.
Here is the link to the article
http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/03/28/real-estate-its-time-to-buy-again/
So do you guys think it is time to buy again?

A Pixel City

After watching the Lego Apartment video that Adam posted, it reminded of this interesting urban living environment I once stumbled upon. Check upp on ittt:
http://www.habitat67.com/home.html

Blogger Problems

Anybody else notice something strange? It's up and running again, but I've noticed that posts/comments are missing. I want to make sure it's not just my computer...

Future Jobs

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/made-america-comeback-125318772.html

Here is a video about future jobs in manufacturing. I found it interesting in how it related to our reading on the Great Lakes Region, and our class discussions.

What do you think about the video? What connections did you make to what we discussed in class or read? And most importantly, do you think the guy talking is wearing a wig?

Tiny boat-inspired lego apartment

I think this is super swag, but how many of you would want to live in it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juWaO5TJS00&feature=youtu.be

Timeline of the Financial Crisis

In Urban Economics many of our discussions have been centered on the financial crisis-when the stock market hit in 2008 and the aftermath of this hit. Considering in 2008 I was a senior in high school and did not know much about finance, I though I would good to provide a timeline to refresh everyone’s memory to better understand what exactly happened. The Federal Reserve of St. Louis has provided a detailed time line of the events that happened in regards to the financial crisis from 2008 up until now.

http://timeline.stlouisfed.org/index.cfm?p=timeline

The Danger of Land Banks

Last Week, we read about Land banks and had some personal experiences with one. This article is also about Land Banks, but the negative side of them.

What do you think of the article? Do you think this problem is common, or the exception to the norm? Do you agree with the point that the writer is making?

After reading this, what do you think about Land Banks? Has your opinion changed at all?

http://neighbornewspapers.com/stories/Land-Banks-Danger-to-Private-Property-Rights,171306?content_source=&category_id=&search_filter=&event_mode=&event_ts_from=&list_type=&order_by=&order_sort=&content_class=&sub_type=stories&town_id=&page=

Final version of our first class white paper

Here's the link to our first class white paper, compiled from the information put together by the class groups for weeks one, two and three.

It's great to look at if you want to review what we've covered so far or get a better idea of what a finalized white paper should look like.

Thanks to everyone who contributed!

Timeline of the Crisis

In Urban Economics many of our discussions have been centered on the financial crisis-when the stock market hit bottom in 2008 and the aftermath of this hit. Considering in 2008 I was a senior in high school and did not know much about finance, I though I would it would be good to provide a timeline to refresh everyone’s memoires and better understand what exactly happened. The Federal Reserve of St. Louis has provided a detailed time line of the events that happened in regards to the financial crisis from 2008 up until now.

Enjoy!

http://timeline.stlouisfed.org/index.cfm?p=timeline

Alternative Public Transportation Technology

Motivated by the discussion Alex facilitated in his last post regarding electric cars, I found this great website -- it has a lot of interesting ideas about alternative public transportation technology.

http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/technology/transportation/public-transit/

What are your thoughts? Does investment in these types of transportation seem more, or less beneficial than Obama's proposal. Would it be any more, or less feasible?

Gas Prices Rise, Cars Change

If gas prices go high enough, the incentive will exist to put massive amounts of money and effort into cars fueled by alternative methods. The White House is currently backing an ambitious plan to get one million electric vehicles on America's roads by 2015. That's good and probably politically all they can do, but is it enough? I almost think we need to aim higher.

Here's a NY Times article on it.

How Hard the Crisis Hit the Commercial Real Estate Market

Though we have slightly touched on how the financial crisis has affected the commercial real estate market, we have mainly been focusing on residential property. The article below provided a helpful graph on commercial real estate delinquency rates in resent years. In my opinion, when it comes to rebuilding cites I believe that having commercial property will being people to the city by providing job. I encourage you all to read the article and give your own option on the importance of commercial property in urban cities.

http://www.hblr.org/2011/02/understanding-the-commercial-real-estate-debt-crisis/

Abandon Building are Opportunities Waiting to Happen

Here is a video that I found on former abandoned buildings being transformed into useful space.

http://www.dos.state.ny.us/ermweb/action/viewer/powerstream?view=asset&id=801e54ff-7b25-11dc-a741-0a42007e0000

The video is a little cheesy, but I thought it was nice to actually see successful rehabilitation of different types of buildings. We have spent so much time focusing on the problem, I think it is a nice change of pace to start looking at solutions and success.

How do you feel about the video? Did you find any connection between the video and the material that we are reading in class?

Project idea: What kzoo do with abandoned buildings?

One of my favorite organizations in the world is GOOD Inc., an "integrated media platform for people who want to live well and do good." Run out of Los Angeles, GOOD's mission is to provide experiences and utilities to serve this community, which is does through a website, videos, live events, and a magazine.

A regular feature of the sight are "projects" which range from "Take a picture of happy stuff on the street" to "Nominate someone awesome for something awesome." In the latest project, GOOD invited followers to submit "plans" on how to repurpose abandoned schools.

Here is the winner... a school repurposed as an urban food center. (Make sure you click on the infographic to enlarge the graphic!) I think it's one idea for vacant buildings that people in the Kalamazoo community would really get behind. What do you think?

PS. Kalamazoo doesn't have any vacant schools yet, does it?

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the Middle of the Real Estate Crisis

A hot topic on CNBC this morning was Fannie Mae’s influence on the financial crisis in conjunction with bad mortgages sold on Wall Street. The article attached below discusses Fannie Mae’s attempt to seek 8.5 billion from taxpayers in order to cover some of their losses. Fannie Mae has already taken $100 billion from the U.S. government since it was seized in 2008. In regards to getting our economy back and getting money paid off, what do you think Fannie Mae should do? If Fannie Mae does not pay its losses, not only will the firm go under, but also the money they owned in interest will be lost. In my option, money owned being unpaid seems to be what started this crisis and I do not see that as a sound option.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/42935923

Things That Will Decrease A Homes Value

We have talked a lot about how a foreclosure decreases the value of homes in the surrounding area, but there are other things that can hurt a homes value.

Check out this list of other factors that will hurt a homes value.

A conversation about Edison to participate in..

Did everyone see the Creamery on Portage St on your way to the garden on Thursday? How does everyone feel about using NSP money to tear it down?

The Gazette is trying to spark a conversation about the Edison neighborhood... check it out ...you might even think about adding something, being that we can all tweet now...


I rode down to the first day of the farmers market this morning and took a look at the housing development they're putting up across from it that Mary had been described in class. My initial reaction is doubtful... the new houses are very dominion-homes-style... (and thats not to criticize dominion homes homeowners!) .. its just that they don't have the same character as the rest of the neighborhood. But maybe that's the point--to give Edison a new personality?

What do you think? Did you see something charming about the street we were planting on?

Maybe more poignant: if you could put the NSP dollars towards anything in Edison, specifically... what would you do?

Reflections for the Reflection

Dr. McKinney said she wants us to write the reflection paper casually, as if it was a letter, also that it's okay that we didn't do anything but see the site on Tuesday. It would be great if everyone could post something they were thinking about incorporating into their reflection so we can get feedback from each other on different aspects of the service learning project.

Personally I was thinking of writing about what else could facilitate community in the Edison neighborhood - and also how keeping the gardens maintained will (hopefully) bring people together. I thought it was pretty there, most of the houses were nice, but at the same time, I don't think it was a place I'd see myself living... but I'm still trying to figure out why that is!

Kids' health and Community Gardens

A few months ago I had lunch with a visiting group of kindergarteners from a local elementary school. They weren't allowed to pick out the foods that they wanted to try, of course that'd get in the way of all the big college kids, but what was on the menu for these kids? Pizza, a small side of fruit, and a cookie. Any time I've seen kids come to the caf' they are always excited about the availability of pizza, cheeseburgers, and fries, while none of them pay attention to the other lines.

Why is it that kids only have eyes for these unhealthy foods? If it's based on their home diets, school seems like the place where they should be getting healthier foods. Even in high school I remember having to look a little harder to find the healthy stuff.

Now I'm looking at this campaign to get more salad bars in schools. With a little effort at school and especially through community gardens, do you think we can get America's children back on track, both at home and in school, leading the nation toward a lower risk of heart disease and other preventable diseases (that cost the US billions annually)?

Candy #3 - Credit supply to bankrupt consumers: evidence from credit card mailings

This is my favorite candy! So I want to share this with you guys! :)

Candy #3 - Credit supply to bankrupt consumers: evidence from credit card mailings

Song Han, Benjamin J. Keys, and Geng Li explored the supply of unsecured credit to consumers with bankruptcy flags on their credit records.

Also guess what they told us? Bankrupt consumers frequently receive credit card offers. Wow! (However, offers extended to bankrupt consumers carry substantially less favorable terms)

So, based on their data (checking out bankrupt homeowners who received the credit cards from the banks), the scholars said that they have direct evidence that some credit card lenders specifically target bankrupt consumers, thus building a market niche.

What do you think about this crazy scheme? I couldn't believe it either when I saw the data that they presented to us at the conference.

Candy #2 - Beyond the transaction: Depository Institutions and Reduced Mortgage Default for Low-Income Homebuyers

Two scholars, Emre Ergungor and Stephanie Moulton, told us that previous research finds that borrowers who receive mortgages from banks (depository intsitutions) are less likely to become delinquent or default on their mortgages than borrowers who receive mortgages from nonbank mortgage companies.

So the two scholars analyzed whether such differences are due to banks' ability to select less risky borrowers (information effect), or due to bank regulatory structures that make them more cautious lenders (institution effect).

Their findings suggest that moving forward, mortgage policies and programs targeting low-income borrowers may benefit from considering the extent to which they (or impede) localized bank-borrower relationships, as well as other alternatives that facilitate the collection and use of soft information and prepurchase screening, as a complement to more traditional regulatory mechanisms.

Isn't this interesting? What do you have to say about this!?!?

Candy #1 - Foreclosure's wake: credit experiences of individuals following foreclosure

Hey everyone! I brought some candies for you guys from the 47th Conference on Bank Structure and Competition sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank. This is to make up the blogging that I missed for Wednesday and Thursday.

Candy #1 - Foreclosure's wake: credit experiences of individuals following foreclosure

Two scholars, Kenneth P. Brevoort and Cheryl R Cooper, stated that there has been relatively little work on the consequences of foreclosure for the borrowers themselves.

Their research was analyzing the substantial declines in credit scores that accompany foreclosure and examine the length of time that it takes for individuals to return their credit scores to pre-delinquency levels.

So tell me. Is it possible for struggling homeowners to get back their good credit scores? Hmm?

Is it true that credit score recovery appears to be longer? Or is it not?

Food Deserts

Food deserts to me are an important 'issue in urban economics' that I thought connected nicely to the idea of community gardens. A food desert is a low-income residential area with little or no access to supermarkets or fresh food. Often, when a community garden is built, vegetables and herbs are planted so that residents can have access to affordable fresh foods. So they're useful and pretty!

Here's a recent CNN article with a link to a new, interactive 'food desert locator', and here's some more info on how some local organizations in Detroit are creating small urban farms to remedy this situation.

Half of Detroit’s Adults are Functionally Illiterate – So Now What?

We talk about educating people about mortgages and foreclosure, but we don’t take into account people’s educational levels. In Detroit about 200,000 adults are functionally illiterate, but hold either a GED or high school diploma. How would you teach them about mortgages/foreclosure, so they had a full understanding of it?

http://blogs.forbes.com/erikkain/2011/05/05/half-of-detroits-adults-are-functionally-illiterate-so-now-what/

Community gardens, building community with who?

One of the criticisms I've heard of community gardens is that outside volunteers are brought in haphazardly, and that the community surrounding the garden has limited involvement with the garden. I went into our gardening sort of with this idea, because obviously they were bringing outside students to help out. However, as we got working on the street, I saw a few neighbors come out to watch or to help out. And that made me realize that, even if we were outside volunteers, we still helped the community take pride in itself. Plus, it gave our class time to bond!

As we prepare to write our reflections, what were your initial impressions on the community surrounding Egleston? Did gardening strengthen the surrounding community, our class community, or neither? How did you feel about Egleston on Tuesday, compared to after gardening Thursday?

Feel free to talk further about the idea of using volunteers in Sam's post!

No easy answers in the foreclosure mess

Michigan's appeals courts took away MERS' legal standing to foreclosure last month (see here).  But now, sales of foreclosed homes are fallling through because of the increased risk of insuring them.  Future court decisions may give former homeowners, who defaulted on their loans, ownership rights.  What a mess.

Acting as Volunteers

Here are some obvious pros and cons I found online about managing volunteers:

In many ways volunteers are easier:

1. They want to be there
2. You generally don’t have to fire volunteers
3. There are no salary negotiations
4. They’re willing to do work that may be boring, unpleasant or too time consuming for you
5. They make you look good!

But managing volunteers adds some challenges:

1. They come in all ages
2. They take long vacations
3. Sometimes they don’t show up
4. They might cancel at the last minute
5. They may have more experience than you (or think they do)
6. Their priorities may not match yours.

What are other things you could add to these lists? What things can you take from this list and put into place about today? Personally I felt like a lot of people weren't so excited about the project before heading out to Edison, but everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves as we started making progress, and I'm excited to head back out and see if the flowers perked up at all in a few weeks!

(Cited: http://www.nonprofit-champion.com/volunteervspaid.html)

The Peace House: My favorite Kalamazoo community garden (and orchard!)

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2010/07/kalamazoos_peace_house_learnin.html

This is an article about the Peace House.. a place started on the Eastside of Kalamazoo by two families of K'97 alums. After recieving community funds to build a community garden and playground in their backyard, they bought an empty side lot (where a foreclosed house had previously been). Last summer, when I interned with them, we planted an urban orchard on that lot. (It was difficult, as the cement from base of the house had been left behind in random spots--but it was a group effort!)

One question that my carpool group asked as we drove back home on Tuesday was, "So once we plant this garden, who is going to maintain it?" That is a great question, and we should ask Catie today how the Landbank plans to make sure that the Edison garden does not fall by the wayside. In the case of the Peace House, it's a residential garden open to the public, and the residents take care of it for he most part, while enlisting the help of neighbors and friends when needed.

What do you think?

"Cash for Keys"

I just found this article about an incentive program for homeowners called "Cash for Keys". It rewards those who leave their foreclosed homes quickly, and in good shape. Read more about it here. I believe we touched upon this subject before, and many people found the whole concept unfair.

What do you all think? My thoughts are that sure, it may be a little unfair, but it's also a good way to get these homes in government hands quickly and with minimal damage to them.

What impact do rising gas prices have on urban life?

A recent PBS report has some interesting data.  For instance, "a recent analysis form Deutsche Bank finds that every penny increase in average gas prices at the pump in the United States equals $1.4 billion siphoned out of the US economy. But a lot of the real pain depends on where you live, what stage of the "recovery" your community is experiencing and your driving habits."  How have rising gas prices affected your life?

Vertical Gardening

Here's a new take on urban gardens...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/us/31portland.html?em

Do you think this project is worth federal stimulus money?
Will buildings with this type of "garden" become popular?

Gardening Reactions!

As we gear up (semi-literally!) to go garden today, let's keep in mind the whole idea of community. Community is key to bringing back neighborhoods.

How did you feel about community gardens before today? How did you feel about the work we did? Share your thoughts! And check out Toni's post below this for some gardening inspiration.

Creating a community garden

"Over the last few years, urban gardening has grown increasingly more prominent-as an emblem of demand for healthier, more natural food; as a centerpiece of community-minded interaction; and as a means of cultivating beautifully functional public spaces."

Click here for visuals of community gardens that enrich and support communities.

Green cities and sustainability

"The hard-fought budget compromise for 2011 protects, for example, two stellar programs of the new push, both triggers for hundreds of competitive applications. One is the Sustainable Communities Initiative that helps localities (and federal departments) tie together and improve their efforts in housing, transportation and environmental decisions at the regional and grassroots level. The program is to receive $100 million for this fiscal year."  (see here) 

Note the juxtaposition of the hundreds of applications and the relatively  few dollars available.   Without sufficient market demand for urban land, renewal is hard to come by.  

Using NSP to Bring Cops to City of Detroit

An interesting use of NSP funding, in our own backyard.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20110428/METRO01/104280391/1410/METRO01/Detroit-officials-tout-plan-to-lure-cops-to-city

Reminder: Gardening on Tuesday!!

Our class's gardening project will take place this coming TUESDAY! We will be planting on the boulevard between east and westbound traffic on the Egleston 1600-1700 block (off of Portage Road) in Edison.

Please be in front of the library at 12:40 a.m. in order to drive over to the Edison Neighborhood.
Our goal is to build 6 raised beds and plant some shrubs. This should be a piece of cake with all of us in attendance.

ALSO--If you have a car and are willing to drive, please reply to this e-mail so that I can make sure that we have enough drivers! So far Laura, Kailey, and Zach have volunteered...thank you all!