National

By Gen Fujioka

The following article originally appeared in The Planner's Network and is reposted here with permission from the author, Gen Fujioka (Senior Policy Advocate at the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development).

Transit-oriented development (TOD) has become a leading policy prescription for reversing America’s sprawling path of growth. The Obama administration, through its Sustainable Communities Initiative, state and local agencies and progressive think-tanks all emphasize TOD as a means to achieve housing, transportation and environmental goals, often through public-private partnerships. But as TOD has been justifiably promoted as the cleaner alternative to auto-dependent development, gaps have appeared in the discourse that understate its costs. This report seeks to fill in some of those gaps with snapshots from four communities of color that have been impacted by various stages of TOD in the cities of Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Minneapolis–Saint Paul.

By Richard Trumka

If there was ever a time for boldness, it is now, as we face record unemployment, foreclosures and a broken path to citizenship.

Across the United States, Labor Day marks the end of summer, and a day off from the job for the lucky ones. We often forget that this holiday originated from strife, not leisure. Labor Day became a national holiday to celebrate America's workers only because when workers demanded it.

By Randy Shaw

Last week, immigrant rights groups became the first major progressive constituency to issue a release publicly denouncing the Obama Administration. Blasting the White House for “escalating deportations and detentions” while taking no action toward enacting comprehensive immigration reform, national immigrant rights leaders are escalating a pressure campaign that will feature the largest march of the Obama presidency in Washington DC on March 21. The march comes amidst growing frustration over the President’s failure to advance an issue that galvanized enough Latinos to the polls in 2006 to give Democrats control of the House, and which helped elect Obama president in November 2008.

Within days of the public criticism, the President met with activists to frankly discuss the political realities of moving forward. Having used massive marches in cities across the nation to put immigration reform in the national spotlight in 2006, activists are now returning to this tactic as part of new campaign to escalate pressure on Obama and Democratic Congressional leaders. The goal is to finally pass comprehensive reform this year.

The United States is the only country in the world that claims to be superior in every aspect, especially in human rights, and that lie is again exposed, this time by a report from China on the United States, all from US sources. The US is in fact a backward cesspool, the most backward country in the industrialized world.

Over the last several months, we've written occasionally about the need to solve the impending transit funding crisis. For longer than that, we've worked around the country, but especially in California and New York, to find new and innovative ways to advance transit service. Lately, we've also implored Congress to provide emergency funding to keep drivers employed as legislators have considered jobs bills.

By Paul Kim

On March 15, 2009, Alonso Chehade, an undocumented immigrant from Peru, was arrested at the US/Canada border for unlawful presence in the United States. After remaining in the detention center for two weeks, Chehade was later released with the assistance of his family, who posted a $7,500 bond to free him from prison.

By Gar Alperovitz, Ted Howard & Thad Williamson

Something important is happening in Cleveland: a new
model of large-scale worker- and community-benefiting
enterprises is beginning to build serious momentum in
one of the cities most dramatically impacted by the
nation's decaying economy. The Evergreen Cooperative
Laundry (ECL)--a worker-owned, industrial-size,
thoroughly "green" operation--opened its doors late
last fall in Glenville, a neighborhood with a median
income hovering around $18,000. It's the first of ten
major enterprises in the works in Cleveland, where the
poverty rate is more than 30 percent and the population
has declined from 900,000 to less than 450,000 since
1950.

By Paul K. Haeder 

US Climate Envoy Blames ALBA for Copenhagen Failure, Backs Sidelining UN

A top US climate negotiator has said he hopes to see the United Nations sidelined at future talks on global warming. On Wednesday, US Deputy Envoy for Climate Change Jonathan Pershing said the scale of the climate talks called for a rethinking of the UN’s role. Pershing cited the objections of the ALBA bloc, which he said had blocked an agreement in Copenhagen.