White House Housing Toolkit a good start

White House Housing Toolkit a good start

Gazette Column
Have outdated and onerous zoning ordinances and environmental protections stifled housing development and local economies? A new federal report says they have, contributing to issues such as income inequality, gentrification, strained safety nets, commute lengths, racial segregation and homelessness. The past few days have been nearly overwhelming. We survived (and at least partially mitigated) another historic flood, did our best to absorb this election season’s first presidential debate, and remain in mourning for the latest young life claimed by senseless gun violence. It’s little wonder a new housing report didn’t spawn big, local headlines. [caption id="attachment_150" align="alignright" width="640"] (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)[/caption] Yet this White House produced “toolkit” offers a road map not only for the housing-strapped California coast, but for Midwestern cities like Iowa City and Cedar Rapids as they…
Read More
Thankful for end of Benghazi conspiracies

Thankful for end of Benghazi conspiracies

Gazette Column
There has not been a single week I’ve failed to receive an email message from a reader questioning or demanding why I’ve not written about the so-called Benghazi scandal. Sometimes messages are long and linked to external content. I’ve also received messages with a single word in all capitals: “BENGHAZI” (correct spelling optional). My best guess is the number of exclamation points following the word is indicative of the writer’s current frustration level. One punctuation banger denotes reading of Facebook headlines. Two bangers indicates a recent twitter hashtag search mission. Three or more are evidence of recent consumption of Fox News, the national leader in Benghazi propaganda distribution. The last time I received an email referring to Benghazi was Thursday, about 24 hours before a Republican-led U.S. House report debunked every conspiracy…
Read More