Tomorrow (Tuesday, October 6) is a day of local elections in the Fairbanks North Star Borough. I’ve done a little work on one campaign, enough to make me sad for the state of electoral politics.
I spent one evening and one morning recently (in separate weeks) working for a particular local candidate. (I’ll say that he’s [...]
Archive for the ‘Civic participation’ Category
“Getting out the vote” and public discourse
Posted in Civic participation, Politics on October 5, 2009 | 2 Comments »
How “the government” spends money better than I can
Posted in Civic participation, Politics, Taxation on August 10, 2009 | 5 Comments »
Today’s challenge: Can you think of five ways that government spends money better than you could?
There is an oft-used conservative talking point — or rhetorical flourish — that we (the “taxpayers”) know how to spend our money better than “the government”. It is a talking point that masks selfishness and reeks of anti-civicism, and it [...]
The perils and the seduction of self-sorting
Posted in Books / articles / other reading, Civic participation, Community, Politics on January 20, 2009 | 5 Comments »
I’ve just finished a book that leaves me troubled over the future of civic engagement in the United States — and puzzled over whether it’s even worth worrying about.
Bill Bishop’s book The Big Sort: How the Clustering of Like-minded America is Tearing Us Apart (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2008) has one central thesis: since the [...]
Neighborhood clean-up, Saturday, September 13
Posted in Civic participation, Neighborhoods, Public spaces on September 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Good news, city-dwelling neighborhood-lovers!
Weed & Seed is organizing a fall Clean-Up Day, next Saturday, Sepetmber 13. This is a great chance to make our neighborhoods look great before the snow falls.
According to their Fall newsletter (pdf, about 1.45 MB):
Weed & Seed partners are hosting a Gathering of Neighbors for the first annual Community-wide Fall Cleanup [...]
“Oh, man, a skate park downtown?”
Posted in City planning, Civic participation, Downtowns on April 16, 2008 | 1 Comment »
In my post yesterday, I quoted somebody who seemed skeptical that the Vision Fairbanks plan for downtown’s revitalization was “uniquely Alaskan”. One of the less-unique things he cited was the plan for a skate park. Okay, a downtown skate park isn’t unique. But I think it’s a great idea.
In all the [...]
No substitute for face-to-face
Posted in Civic participation, Health on April 13, 2008 | 1 Comment »
I just read in today’s Judith Kleinfeld column:
In “The Healing Power of Doing Good,” Alan Luks investigated the emotional and health benefits of acts of kindness.
Luks sent a confidential questionnaire to 3,300 volunteers at more than 20 organizations throughout the United States. Just writing a check to a charitable organization, he found, didn’t do anything [...]
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