At-Risk Teen Turns Life around Thanks to City Government: a True Story
local implications of energy policy
January seems to be a sign of a much cleaner future for residents of
This month, Mayor Gavin Newsom received a letter from the CaliforniaIndependent System Operator (CAISO or Cal-ISO) that it anticipates allowingMirant’s power plant at Potrero to close at the end of the year. The closing ofthe power plant would mark the end of fossil-fuel plants in
The CAISO was created by federal regulatory authorities to plan and manage
For privately-owned facilities such as those at Potrero, CAISO determineswhether power generation is necessary for local reliability and whether it isappropriate to implement Reliability Must-Run (RMR) contracts that legally bindthe power plant owners. CAISO conducts studies annually about how contingencies in theelectrical grid could affect stable delivery of electricity and designatesmust-run status for generating units accordingly. Mirant has even expressedthat it would close the plant at Potrero once the ISO removes itsmust-run status.
Conceptually, I’ve found transmission to be an illusive component of electricpower. As electricity goes from power plant to power outlet, transmission is acritical infrastructure in between. Generators feed power into the transmissiongrid across long distances—sometimes across entire states—until the power isdelivered into a community’s distribution system, the series of power lineslining its streets.
Located at the top of the Peninsula,
The City’s strategy to close both power plants and get a cleanerelectrical portfolio relies on both renewable energy and reduced electricaldemand, in addition to more transmission capacity. However, the level ofrenewable energy and reduction in demand alone has not matched the generatingcapacity provided by the plants.
This is in part because of the difficulty in integrating many renewable resources.Solar and wind, for example, are intermittent resources whose hours ofoperation are controlled by environmental factors. The ISO cannot turn on theresources at-will as it can with fossil-fuel plants, or even hydroelectric orgeothermal plants. Technological innovation and adoption will hopefully addressthis weakness of renewable energy in the near-future.
In the end, it appears that increased transmission capacity will be largelycredited with eliminating the power plants in
The San Francisco Power and Utilities Commission (where I am spending myFellowship) has played an important role in implementing these equity-drivenenergy priorities of the City, and it is this leadership that hopefully willsee the release of Potrero’s must-run designation at the end of this year andthe close of the plant in the following year.
Houston Redistricting: Redrawing the Council in a changing city
Every ten years, the most important political event of the decade happens. No, it is not an election. I’m talking instead about the event that essentially determines how competitive an election will be. Redistricting is the process by which every state must redraw their election boundaries to comply with new data presented from the decennial census. Ever since I have been active in politics, redistricting has been the political cause of my life. This is not to say that I do not care about other issues - in fact I care a lot about social services and economic justice - but I have come to the conclusion that without a focus on redistricting, there is no way any other issue will come to fruition.
Why must we redistrict you ask? Well it all goes back to the constitutional requirement to redraw legislative lines and a line of court cases that culminated in the Supreme Court with Baker v Carr. In Baker, the Supreme Court ruled that courts have the power to enforce “one person, one vote”. This term refers to a requirement that all districts (with the exception of the United States Senate) have roughly an equal number of people in them. Therefore, whenever the census results come out, lawmakers must readjust district lines to ensure compliance. This can be done one of two ways: by either slightly tweaking districts or by a full-scale overhaul.
The City of Houston will soon be in the midst of a potentially complicated redistricting that involves many factors. Believe it or not, City Council members actually redraw the lines. Many times they are voting on the districts that they will eventually run in. This may seem a bit sketchy, but it is certainly not uncommon. Most states and cities engage in this practice. Currently, there are nine district council seats that are equally proportioned throughout the city. Here is a link to the map: www.houstontx.gov/council/maps/councildistricts.jpg
While there are many things council members can do to design districts that fit their particular needs, they are bound by the law and must obey many precedents that have been set in the law. Four of the districts, B,D,H and I are protected under the Voting Rights Act, an act passed by Congress that ensures that minority populations living in the same community are allowed to pick a representative of their choice. Do they have to necessarily pick someone who is of the same ethnic group? No, but the law says the state cannot prohibit them from making that choice. This derives from the Jim Crow era policies that made it hard for African Americans to vote in the south. There were many districts where African Americans were the majority of the population, but less than 10% of registered voters. The law is designed to ensure that if a district has a majority minority population, then that population must also be the majority of registered voters. This act was passed in 1965 as a response to racial segregation in the South. Congressional leaders determined that, if a community has a sizeable minority population, then districts should be able to reflect that. In the ideal form, this means that the districts should be proportional to the population. For example, if 25% of the area is African American and there are four districts, then one should be African-American.
The four protected districts in Houston are composed of 2 African-American and 2 Hispanic districts. The other five districts are not protected because they do not have a majority of one specific minority group in them. This is where the problem occurs. Houston is roughly 44% Hispanic, 18% African American, 25% White and 8% Asian. With only two Hispanic Districts, Houston is not meeting the ideal standard of Hispanic representation. With only two protected districts, Hispanic majority districts lag far behind their city population.
As of today, this is not necessarily a problem because of the growth in Hispanic population over the last ten years, but the next census may prove more difficult for the current lines.
By law, when Houston reaches a certain population, it has to add two more district seats to the council. The question is where these two seats are going to go? If we are to take the Voting Rights Act at face value, both seats should go to Hispanic-majority districts because Hispanics represent the largest bloc of inhabitants in the city; however there are many challenges to this. One is that Hispanics are spread out throughout the city; it is very difficult to craft districts that are Hispanic majority because districts would have to reach across entire sections of town to find Hispanic pockets of inhabitants. So what happens if the city council decides not to pursue this? Well, they could potentially face major legal problems. In District F, a district that is almost completely minority, but where no one minority group makes up a majority, an Asian-American has won for the last eight years despite the fact that Asians are the smallest group of citizens in the district. Hispanics make up a large plurality but not a majority, making it difficult for them to elect a member of the Hispanic community because they are the least likely to be able to vote. It is a known fact that a certain portion of the Hispanic community is not eligible to vote, due to the fact they are not citizens of this country in the traditional sense. Still, under the rules of the census, they are supposed to be counted for purposes of representation. So while Hispanics are outnumbered among registered voters, they are still by far the largest bloc of inhabitants in the city. This leads to a very large conundrum - the city is required to accommodate the city population in a way that is fair to all its inhabitants, not simply its voters. Furthermore, three districts, C, G and E, are majority white and have solely elected white council members throughout their history, giving white citizens a substantially higher percentage of representation on the council than their proportionate population. Should these districts be allowed to stand after the census, they City may well face law suits under the Voting Rights Act.
Finally some people may ask, in the age of President Obama, is it necessary to have districts drawn for minorities? My personal opinion is yes. I believe the nation has an interest in making sure that all its citizens are fairly represented. However, personal opinions aside, the Voting Rights Act is still the law of the land and unless it is overturned, there are things the city must do to comply with it. It will be left up to the courts to decide whether they have properly executed the law.
It will be an interesting year in the City of Houston because of redistricting. This is the first major redistricting fight the council will see in a generation and could lead to a shift in political power.
obesity prevention: taking menu-labeling local
Last fall, as part of my Fellowship, I conducted a policy analysis of what is going on with menu labeling legislation at the city, state, and federal level. The term “menu labeling” refers to the mandated posting of calorie information on menus and menu boards at fast food and other large chain restaurants. Many public health experts believe this legislation could help to stem the obesity epidemic, which is taking its toll on Texas and other states around the country.
According to the Texas Health Institute more than 29% of Texans in 2007 were obese, while two out of three adults in Texas were overweight. These numbers represent an unabated 20-year upward trend in the number of severely overweight residents. Even more disturbing is that obesity rates in Texas have more than doubled since 1990, when the Texas rate stood at 12.3 percent. Children are affected as well, with studies showing that every third child born in 2000 is likely to wind up with diabetes. Diabetes is only one of several chronic illnesses that are linked to obesity. Robert Gould, president and CEO of Partnership for Prevention, said “Today's children face the prospect of being the first generation in history to live sicker and die younger than their parents.”
Obesity is also costing Texans the big bucks. Recent reports estimate that Texas spends more than $5.7 billion on obesity-related chronic conditions, including hypertension, cancer, diabetes and back problems. If obesity levels continue to surge as projected, Texans will spend more than $23.2 billion on obesity-linked health care in 2018, or about $1,255 per adult.
Menu labeling legislation will provide consumers with the information they need to make healthier choices. Menu labeling laws have been passed in 4 states, and have been introduced in 25 other states. City government officials have also taken up the fight, with New York City leading the way as the first city to implement this legislation. On the federal level, until June of 2009, there had been two versions of menu labeling legislation, commonly referred to as the LEAN Act and the MEAL Act. Compromise language has been taken from each of these bills, and is included in the health care bill that is currently making its way through the United States Senate. These provisions, if passed, will require chain restaurants with more than 20 locations nationally to post calorie information on their menu boards, drive through boards, and printed menus. This important legislation will be one more weapon with which consumers can fight off the obesity epidemic.
The most exciting aspect of my research came about after I had already completed my analysis. I had the opportunity, along with my supervisor, to meet with two lobbyists from the American Heart Association to discuss the idea of beginning a grassroots campaign in Houston to promote menu labeling legislation. I hope to be able to serve on this task force and put everything I learned in my research into action!
Local Government and the Decennial Census
Every ten years, the federal government conducts the largest civil service mobilization in the nation: the decennial census. Each decade, every single resident of the United States is included in the census enumeration. In addition to providing valuable data sets for researching and understanding the demographic composition of our nation, census information plays a critical role in dictating congressional representation and determining to whom and where over $400 billion in federal funds is distributed. The census enumeration, in many ways, represents the best of effective federal government bureaucracy.
An unsung, yet mandatory member in the cast of census collaborators is local government. Despite all the planning, organizing and well-oiled execution of the Census Bureau, the efforts by the federal government to accurately count the country’s residents fall short. With resources and representation at stake for all parts of the country, the census enumeration is highly relevant to all city governments and community organizations.
For some perspective, the 2000 census efforts represented record funding levels from the federal and state government. Organization on behalf of the Census Bureau and State of California was touted as the best in any census to date. Yet over 100,000 residents were undercounted in San Francisco alone. Though this number was a vast improvement over previous census enumeration efforts, it still equated to a loss of over $300 million in federal funds that San Francisco could, and should, have received.
What can be credited for the improvement of 2000? And what is also needed to close the 100,000 person gap in 2010? I propose that the answer is local government. Of all levels of government, local government is closest to communities and residents. In its best form, local government knows community-based organizations, understands local issues, and has trusted relationships with neighborhood leaders. It knows what kind of messaging will resonate with communities and is more equipped to be responsive to their concerns and challenges. Local government leaders, especially in San Francisco where I live and work, have strong relationships with the communities that they serve. In addition, many local governments provide millions of dollars of funding to community organizations through grants and contracts. Local governments also provide much of the services and infrastructure that residents rely on daily.
So how can San Francisco’s local government tip the scale to maximize results in the 2010 Census? Through enrolling and utilizing trusted leaders in the Complete Count Committee; through entrusted reliable community groups with conducting outreach and addressing specific barriers; and through engaging City employees, departments and leaders to insert census messaging into the many interactions that they have directly with the residents of San Francisco. As I have watched remarkable community leaders work in concert with the census bureau’s strategy, I see how local government plays a critical role in bridging the gap between the individual and the nation. While there will always continue to be challenges and obstacles related to including all residents in census counts, San Francisco has made a remarkable effort to identify and communicate with those most likely to be left out.
Ultimately, the census represents more than a needed demographic analysis of the nation’s residents. If executed correctly, the census can be a starting point for developing a relationship of trust between the undercounted and underserved communities and government. It has the potential to change perceptions about government, and to strengthen citizen participation in the decision making process.
Work Hard. Be Nice.
On December 2nd, the Houston City Hall Fellows were incredibly fortunate to meet with Mike Feinberg, the Co-Founder of the KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) Foundation as part of our learning about local public education. For those of you who are unfamiliar with KIPP, let me give you a brief background. KIPP started in 1994 with a single Academy in Houston, Texas. Today, KIPP is a network of 82 high-performing public schools around the nation serving 21,000 children. Like Teach For America, they are committed to bridging the educational gap that exists in our country. KIPP schools meet for longer hours, and for more months out of the year than typical public schools. Teachers, parents, and students must sign a “Commitment to Excellence” that details expectations for each involved party. These are just a few examples of the many qualities that have made KIPP such a successful endeavor.
Mike was an excellent speaker, and the enthusiasm and passion with which he runs his organization is quite evident. His program has clearly impacted thousands of students across the country, and the statistics of the “KIPPsters” that have come through his schools are impressive to say the least. The stories he shared with us were inspirational, and I’m sure there were hundreds more that we simply did not have time to hear. He served as a wonderful example of someone who has achieved great professional success while at the same time contributing to the community around him.
However, there was one thing Mike said that stood out to me as a recent college graduate still learning to navigate her way through the working world. I have a feeling that this simple statement will serve as a road-marker for me down whichever career path I end up following.
“Work hard. Be nice.” This is one of the tenets of the KIPP Foundation, but it is applicable to any private, public, or non-profit organization and its employees. Too often we are taught that the two must be mutually exclusive; that you can not possibly achieve great success by going around being “nice” to people. I disagree, and so does Mike Feinberg. And while my opinion may not matter, his certainly should, as he has reached the pinnacle of what anyone with aspirations of pioneering social change could hope to achieve. The daily grind would be much improved if we could all keep this simple concept at the forefront of our minds.
I’ll end with a personal anecdote from my placement within the Houston Parks and Recreation Department — Monday morning I was walking into our new office building when I happened to see an older colleague coming down the sidewalk behind me. I wasn’t in a hurry, so without thinking much of it, I stood and held the door open for him. As he walked through, he smiled and said: “A young lady held the door open for me?! This is going to be a great week.” If I can improve someone’s week without saying a word, I can only imagine the results of everyone making a conscious effort to live by Mike’s words of wisdom.
Coping with Sea Change
Veteran’s day was this month and I owed my grandfather a phone call. He did not sound good. My mother had told me earlier this week that he had stopped eating because he was depressed. He recently had to stop driving because of health reasons, but his new lack of mobility has only made him feel worse. He said I was the third person he had talked to all week.
He asked about my fellowship and I told him how I have been learning about sea level rise at work. The topic has become of particular concern for me since working in San Francisco’s water department. As tides rise, they will intrude into our city’s storm drain system and potentially flood the city above ground. To make the rise personally relevant for my grandpa, I mentioned that I had been shown a photograph of the old Officer's Club at Fort Ord falling into the beach as the encroaching ocean reclaims it. Since my grandpa had been stationed at Ford Ord during World War II, I felt sort of conflicted about telling him something so dismal, but he said the invitation to reflect upon the past made him feel young again, so it was OK.
The topic of conversation quickly changed from sea level rise to reminiscing about life at an army post. Unlike a lot of other vets, my grandpa speaks fondly of the war. I think it was the closest he ever came to the college experience: he got to travel, continually meet new people, and live in close proximity to all his friends. I think that the desire to approximate that lifestyle again is what attracts many of us to live in cities.
I wondered how different my grandfather’s life would be today if he had lived in a city instead of the suburbs of Southern California. Would losing his ability to drive have had such a profound effect on his morale? Would living in a denser community have provided him with more opportunity for social interaction? It is difficult to predict which of our choices will have the greatest impact on our future happiness, but the quality of our social lives is inextricably linked to the design of our built environment.
I intended to write this post about sea level rise. I thought that my conversation with my grandfather would serve as a revealing anecdote to the terrifying rapidity with which our landscape is already changing. However, my grandfather’s general nonchalance around the loss of the physical structures at Fort Ord and his preference to instead talk about the loss of the social relationships with which took place there, revealed that sea level rise may have been the lesser of two evils. Living alone had already left him feeling stranded well before the water ever hits his door.
Urban policy won’t undo the hardships of growing old, or cure social isolation, but it can mitigate some of their symptoms. What if post-war development had been targeted in cities instead suburbs? What if shared space had also been included in the marketing of the American dream? Would sea levels even be rising if cars hadn’t been so prioritized in urban design? Given the predicament that city governments face in having to plan for sea level rise, we have the opportunity to address those questions and correct previous mistakes. Some parts of our cities will have to be protected, others rebuilt, and some may even be abandoned. New development will likely look very different, but my conversation with my grandfather reminded me that some essential characteristics must be fundamentally preserved: density, pedestrian mobility, and access to public space. It is because of those design principles that nearly every time I leave my apartment that I run into someone I know on the street. Like my grandfather, it’s the potential loss of that interaction that I ultimately find most terrifying.
City government: government of the people, by the people, for the people
It is widely accepted that the type of government that most directly affects both an individual and their community on a very constant, and often vital level, is the local government. Whether it is because of the life-saving aid received from local police and fire departments during times of distress, or the issuing of marriage licenses or permits for opening businesses, city government truly has the ability to reach the community faster than any other level of government. This is because city government is not only the direct provider of services to the community, but is comprised of members of that community.
It wasn’t until I began working within city government that I realized the unique opportunity that city government offers: Those who spend their work day dealing with the issues of the city, are able to witness the direct effect their work has on their community. They are doubly invested in the city; as citizens and employees. This is a ray of hope in a time where the disconnect between high-ranking, high-paid state and federal government officials and the people they are commissioned to serve seems to be wider than ever. In the realm of city government, those deciding how the city budget is distributed, where a new park is planted, or how wide a sidewalk is, are those individuals in the car next you during frustrating traffic, preparing their families for the next hurricane in the gulf, or calling 9-1-1 during times of desperate need. City employees are typically residents of the city they serve, and because of this, it is especially important that they have an understanding of the community, its issues and its culture. Who better to run a city than its citizens?
City employees tend to have a vested interest in the jobs they perform and whether they are elected officials or administrators, they unlike many federal government agencies, are literally faced with those they affect on a daily basis. Recently, I had the opportunity to do a ride along with a Houston Parks and Recreation Department park manager. Several times throughout the day, we were flagged down by a park user who requested a moment of our time. Some offered advice on how to improve the landscape, others simply wanted to report a broken branch, or offer a thank you for an improvement to the trail. At one point, we were stopped by an elderly jogger the park manager referred to as “Coach” who after years of using the park’s trail for exercise, was now on a first name basis with most park staff. After the park manager spent a few moments speaking with the man, it was evident to me that “Coach” was confident his suggestions and feedback were not falling on deaf ears. This is just one of the many ways that the city government reaches the community in a very tangible way. It is the duty of city government to carry out legislature, and city employees who are entrusted by the community they are apart of to ethically carry out these statutes.
While many of us can name a government official proven to be an exception to the idea of a devoted and ethical government employee, it is obvious in the local setting when these individuals do not live up to their responsibilities. The community is able to literally walk into City Hall and hear council’s thoughts on neighborhoods, ordinances, spending, and most importantly, they are able to have their voices heard at public session by those who have the power to evoke change. It is not only in the best interest of the city to have ethical workers and officials but is also in the interest of that individual to remain constant and honest in their work. After all, when their work day is over, they are surrounded by the lives they affect daily. With this comes tremendous responsibility as well as the opportunity for immensely rewarding work. City government is truly a government formed by its people.
The Tree on My Block
Walking The Talk
It is widely accepted that city government, and government as a whole, is very bureaucratic and consequently, can be extremely frustrating. Although I am not attempting to disprove that theory in its entirety, as a Houston City Hall Fellow, I have noticed some high points in the city’s operations that should give its citizens some faith in their municipal government.
“To work in partnership with the community to promote and protect the health and social well-being of Houstonians”
The mission statement of the Houston Department of Health and Human Services touts quite an ambitious goal. How would a city department go about achieving this sort of objective? Recently, I have observed that they face the issues of the community head on.
Last week, I was fortunate to be a part of AIM, the Houston Department of Health and Human Services’ response to the needs of its under-served communities. AIM stands for “Assessment, Intervention, and Mobilization” and its mission statement is to “Improve the health and well being of the community, one person at a time”. There are three phases of AIM. The first, Assessment, consists of an initial survey of the community that HDHHS intends to serve. Mobilization is the final phase, in which the Health Department maintains these relationships formed with residents and ensures they are getting the services and care they need. Intervention, the phase in which I participated, is the second and largest of the three. Essentially, members from each division of the Health Department, totaling about 300, come together in a specific area of Houston and reach out to the residents. This AIM focused on the Greater Fifth Ward area, but previous AIM’s have included areas, such as Tri-Community, Sunnyside, Near Northside, Independence Heights, and Magnolia.
During the second phase of AIM, or Intervention, there were fifteen Touch teams of HDHHS employees that strategically filtered through the Fifth Ward community. The historic Fifth Ward community is located Northeast of downtown Houston and is one of the six original wards of the city. Although the community has a strong identity and history that binds its residents together, many of these families have experienced poverty, poor health, and a lack of education for generations. In 2000, about 62% of the Fifth Ward population was living below the poverty line. This under-served community has seen its share of social ills and poor health indicators, making it a great candidate for the Health and Human Services Department’s AIM project.
The teams primarily surveyed the residents for immediate needs and if some were uncovered, the Touch teams contacted the other branch of the operation, Service Response and they came out to the affected individuals’ homes to meet their needs. Team members also knocked on doors, handed out information on disease prevention, and engaged residents by informing them of services currently offered to them by the Health Department.
Although I have lived in the outskirts of the city of Houston my entire life, I have never thought or heard of the municipal government as an entity that physically reaches out and serves the community. Sure, everyone knows that the city picks up your trash, ensures that you have running water, and so on, but I have recently witnessed that it does so much more. I believe that due to a cultural disconnect between the terms “public service” and “community service”, many people underestimate the efforts of the city government to truly serve its citizens. This large-scale, grass roots effort is an example of why city government matters and how it can truly align itself with its mission statement.
