Monday Mailing
Year 26 • Issue 38 01 June 2020 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Quote of the Week:
“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.” Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Oregon Fast Fact
Oregon was the twentyfirst state in the nation to pass legislation outlawing discrimination in public spaces with the passage of Oregon’s Civil Rights Bill, also known as the Public Accommodations Bill, in 1953.
Pandemic Reveals Oregon’s Major Child Care Problem (Katie McFall) Pandemic Organizers Are Co-Opting Productivity Software (William Sullivan) American Cities Saw Uneven Growth Last Decade, New Census Data Show Will Floating Turbines Usher in a New Wave of Offshore Wind? You Can Do It: Computer Rehab Program Transforms Trash into Treasure Public Engagement in the Era of COVID-19 Portland Streets Can Turn into Outdoor Plazas With New Permitting Program (Eva Kahn) FDA Rolls Back Ingredient and Calorie Labeling Regulations, Citing Supply Chain Disruptions PODCAST – COVID-19 Crisis Puts Pressure on Farmers’ Mental Health RESOURCE – Streets for Pandemic Response and Recovery
1. Pandemic Reveals Oregon’s Major Child Care Problem On March 23, Gov. Kate Brown issued an order to child care centers in an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus: abide by strict new emergency rules, or close. But some child care centers had already closed before that. And some tried to stay open, following the new emergency rules — and wound up closing anyway. The difficulties that child care centers are experiencing could pose a problem, as counties across Oregon reopen and look to workers to return … only to find that working parents can’t find care for their children. To access the full story, click here.
2. Pandemic Organizers Are Co-Opting Productivity Software
The workplace chat app Slack is where you go to do any number of things throughout the day: announce “I am busy”; pop into a conversation to clarify “I am paying attention”; submit a photo of your cat to the #cats channel to declare allegiance to your office’s cat people, for whatever reason. All the stuff of work, and of updating others on your work, and of taking short, performative breaks from work to look at a funny tweet and then get back to the grind. In 2017, Slack published a paid post on the New York Times website about how it was reinventing the office-worker experience, mostly by bending “time, space and knowledge for the better.” The company was valued at $23 billion when it went public last year. In March, it reported a record number of new sign-ups for paid versions of the software, as Page 1 of 5
more and more offices reoriented around remote work. “The week of March 9 was the most productive in our company’s history,” Slack’s CEO, Stewart Butterfield, told MarketWatch. Meanwhile, the week that the United States reported its first 1,000 coronavirus cases, Slack was also being used for the exact opposite of what the start-up world might call productivity: not for optimizing time and human capital to create more money for businesses, but for redistributing resources, with no profit goal. To access the full story, click here.
3. American Cities Saw Uneven Growth Last Decade, New Census Data Show
The 2010s began with great optimism for urban enthusiasts, with many large U.S. cities displaying high enough growth rates to suggest that it could be “the decade of the city.” But newly released U.S. Census Bureau estimates show that the nation’s large cities experienced uneven growth trajectories over the last decade. In the last several years, many cities registered growth slowdowns and declines while the rest of the country rebounded from the Great Recession and the population dispersed toward suburbs and smaller areas. Some cities grew more rapidly than their surrounding suburbs in the early 2010s, but for many, this is no longer the case.
When the 2020 census results are reported next year, cities’ early-decade growth surge may allow them to register a healthy decade-long growth rate. Yet for most, that growth will have been front-loaded, leaving them stagnating just before the COVID-19 pandemic began. This analysis focuses on two aspects of city growth. First, it assesses annual changes for the 89 large U.S. cities with populations exceeding 250,000, using the new census estimates for each year between July 2010 and July 2019. Second, the analysis examines city and suburb population growth during this period for major metropolitan areas with populations exceeding 1 million. The final section discusses how the 2010s compare to the previous decade, and speculates on what might be in store for big cities during the post-COVID-19 era. To access the full story, click here.
4. Will Floating Turbines Usher in a New Wave of Offshore Wind?
At Scotland’s easternmost headland, the old fishing port of Peterhead juts out into the North Sea. “On a clear day,” says Alastair Reid, an economic development official with the Aberdeenshire Council, “from the harbor you can just make out the turbines of the Hywind park.”
In windswept northern Scotland, where abundant wind arrays both on land and off the coast vie for limited space, the distant location of the five towering 574-foot-tall turbines, 15 miles offshore, is just one novelty of this renewable energy project. Indeed, Hywind Scotland, which generates enough electricity for more than 20,000 homes, is the first wind energy array that floats on the sea’s surface rather than being dug into the ocean bed. Proponents say the technology heralds a new generation of green energy. Page 2 of 5
What’s groundbreaking about the Hywind project, located in more than 300 feet of water, is that the giant masts and turbines sit in buoyant concrete-and-steel keels that enable them to stand upright on the water, much like a fishing bobber. The turbines’ nearly 10,000-ton cylindrical bases are held in place with three taut mooring cables attached to anchors, which lie on the seafloor. To access the full story, click here.
5. You Can Do It: Computer Rehab Program Transforms Trash Into Treasure
Our buddy Eric had one stored in a shed, locked away so his buffalo couldn’t get to it. Marsha had two in her closet. The Weimar Girls and Boys Club uncovered six more. Everywhere we looked, we found them – old, unused computers that nobody wanted and nobody was willing to throw away. They were gunked up with malware or bypassed by the umpteenth version of Windows. The owners thought they were worthless. But we had discovered they were pure gold.
This is a how-to story. It tells how any community can put working computers into the hands of people who need them at almost no cost. The digital divide isn’t just about broadband. There is also a hardware divide. “Not all kids have computers,” read the headline from a recent survey. To access the full story, click here.
6. Public Engagement in the Era of COVID-19
COVID-19-related moratoriums on public gatherings have inevitably affected the public engagement process for transit projects. Transportation consultants and advocates are already adapting to keep rider-focused initiatives like bus network redesigns moving forward. Compared to typical engagement methods like public meetings, some of the strategies they’re deploying – like telephone town halls and text hotlines – are improving access and providing participants with more flexibility. While concerns over the digital divide remain, their efforts are demonstrating that it’s possible to meet people where they are, even with the current restrictions in place. Before the pandemic hit, Transit Alliance Miami was conducting public engagement for MiamiDade Transit’s bus network redesign, which kicked off in June 2019. Much of the outreach consisted of sending staff members to transit stations and stops to ask people if they’d like to learn about the redesign and take a survey.
Now Transit Alliance has shifted to a novel yet accessible solution it developed before COVID-19 – a hotline for riders to text to get information about the redesign. “We have a sign in every Miami bus as well as in some of the trolleys that says, ‘Your route may change, text this number,’” says Executive Director Az Chougle. To access the full story, click here. Page 3 of 5
7. Portland Streets Can Turn Into Outdoor Plazas With New Permitting Program
Some Portland streets will be converted into outdoor plazas this summer, allowing residents to dine and shop while staying appropriately spaced from one another. The city’s transportation bureau announced Thursday it will begin offering permits for businesses hoping to expand onto the sidewalks or streets outside their storefronts.
The bureau offered sketches of the plan, which show dining tables and merchandise displays occupying sections of side streets, curb zones and parking spaces. In the most expansive example, an entire main street would be closed off, allowing businesses to spill out onto the whole street. The bureau notes these full street closures won’t be allowed on streets that act as emergency or transit routes. The applications and permits will be free and evaluated on a “case-by-case basis,” according to the bureau. They’re available immediately and will last until Oct. 1. The program is part of the bureau’s Safe Streets initiative, an effort to close and modify streets to help Portlanders maintain social distancing protocols once the city reopens. The city has already closed many residential streets to through traffic as part of the program. To access the full story, click here.
8. FDA Rolls Back Ingredient and Calorie Labeling Regulations, Citing Supply Chain Disruptions
Four days after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic in March, the head of one of the food industry’s biggest lobby groups met with President Donald Trump to discuss supply chain concerns. Chief among the trade association’s requests was that the federal government suspend all decisions on new food regulations for the next six months.
Otherwise, red tape could “hinder supply chains or take focus and resources away from the national need for increased production and delivery of critical goods,” Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the Consumer Brands Association (CBA), reiterated in a follow-up letter. CBA represents some of the largest food manufacturers in the country, including General Mills, CocaCola, and Hormel. (It was known as the Grocery Manufacturers Association until a rebrand late last year.) Last Friday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did the group one better, announcing that it would allow food manufacturers to make “minor” substitutions and omissions in finished food and beverage products, without having to revise ingredient labels. In pre-pandemic times, this practice would have been considered adulteration. However, due to “unforeseen shortages or supply chain disruptions” related to the Covid-19 pandemic, the agency said it does not “intend to object” if food labels are slightly inaccurate. To access the full story, click here.
Page 4 of 5
9. PODCAST – COVID-19 Crisis Puts Pressure on Farmers’ Mental Health
Studies have found the rates of mental illness and suicide are higher for farmers. They work long hours, have limited social contact and are at the mercy of factors such as weather. Now the COVID-19 pandemic is creating even greater challenges to their livelihood—and mental health. Bill Tentinger has been a hog farmer in Iowa for 50 years. He’s been through droughts, market crashes and even other viral outbreaks. But he said this pandemic is even worse. "We’ve experienced everything and I gotta tell you I have never seen anything like this in all the years that I've operated," he says Tentinger, who also is a member of the National Pork Board. To listen to this story, click here.
10. RESOURCE – Streets for Pandemic Response and Recovery
The COVID-19 global pandemic altered every aspect of urban life in recent months. In response, city transportation officials around the world have quickly implemented new street design and management tools to keep essential workers and goods moving, provide safe access to grocery stores and other essential businesses, and ensure that people have safe space for social/physical distancing while getting outside. These evolving practices will shape our cities as we respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and are key to our long-term recovery.
Streets for Pandemic Response and Recovery compiles emerging practices from around the world and includes implementation resources for cities and their partners. Recognizing the rapidly changing nature of this pandemic, Streets for Pandemic Response and Recovery will be revised and expanded to include new strategies, address changing conditions, and provide the best possible information on each design practice. To access this resource, click here.
Page 5 of 5