At the always excellent Streetsblog, Aaron Naparstek points out that turning Broadway into a pedestrian corridor is also an economic stimulus plan for this still sort of seedy corridor: With numerous storefronts vacant and office and retail rental rates lagging behind other prime Midtown corridors, Broadway is currently “under-performing” by a number of economic measures, […]
Dana Goldstein
Dana Goldstein, a former associate editor and writer at the Prospect, comes from a family of public-school educators. She received the Spencer Fellowship in Education Journalism, a Schwarz Fellowship at the New America Foundation, and a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellowship at the Nation Institute. Her journalism is regularly featured in Slate, The Atlantic, The Nation, The Daily Beast, and other publications, and she is a staff writer at the Marshall Project.
Posted inEducation in America
NEWS FROM THE EDUCATION BUDGET.
The administration has released its 2010 budget overview. Perusing the Department of Education section, there are some newsy tidbits on NCLB, charters, and higher ed policy: Everyone wants to know what Obama is planning in terms of the re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act — you know it as No Child Left Behind. […]
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UPDATE: BLOOMBERG’S WAR ON CARS.
New York City will be completely closing the Great White Way to cars in both Times Square and Herald Square, the Times reports. For some context on this decision, check out my November profile of Janette Sadik-Khan, Mayor Bloomberg‘s transportation commissioner. Under Sadik-Khan’s leadership, New York has not only pursued congestion pricing, but in the […]
Posted inArticle
ABOUT THAT “DISNEYLAND” TRAIN.
Pro-Publica confirms: Jindal‘s scaremongering about high-speed rail from Las Vegas to “Disneyland” has nothing to do with what is actually in the stimulus bill: The $8 billion is for high-speed rail corridors that would connect far-flung cities. Suspicion has swirled around this provision after funding was dramatically increased from the original House and Senate bills […]
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THE OTHER GOP RESPONSE.
RedState is promoting this YouTube response to Obama’s speech, from House Republican Study Group Chairman Tom Price of Georgia. Thematically, Price’s speech is almost identical to Jindal‘s. Both were notable for a laser-focus on Big Business-triumphalism, and the exclusion of the usual cultural/social wedge issues. But Price’s talk sure is delivered better: —Dana Goldstein
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THE GOP RESPONSE.
Bobby Jindal used to be one of my secret conservative crushes: He was interesting. He attended my alma mater. He believed in exorcism. He seemed technocratic and whip-smart, having racked up a massive number of achievements by his early-thirties. Last night, though, Jindal lost his luster. I think Ezra gets it exactly right: “Jindal made […]
Posted inEducation in America
OBAMA’S RADICAL WORDS ON EDUCATION.
A lot of froth will be spilled over Obama‘s call for education “reform” in his speech tonight. The president did mention performance pay and greater support for charter schools. But he also promised to protect teachers’ jobs and pay them more. The key thing to note here is that Obama is stepping out exactly no […]
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SUPER AWESOME: SULLY IS A LABOR ACTIVIST!
Miracle on the Hudson pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger will attend Obama‘s first SOTU speech tonight as a guest of Nancy Pelosi. No big surprise there. What’s really cool is that Sully stuck his neck out for labor rights today when he testified in front of Congress. The AP reports: [Sully] told the House aviation subcommittee […]
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ARE BIG HUMAN RIGHTS SPEECHES A WASTE OF TIME?
At Slate’s XX Factor, my friend Eve Fairbanks compliments Hillary Clinton for not making a major human rights speech in China. Amnesty International, I understand, was “disappointed” that Clinton failed to adequately whine about human rights abuses to the Chinese government, but I really liked that she replaced the ritualized righteous complaints with simple frank […]
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RE: MICHELLE OBAMA, RACE, GENDER, AND THE SIXTIES.
If you’ve been following our recent discussion of Michelle Obama‘s image, you should check out Ta-Nehisi Coates‘ Atlantic profile of the woman he calls, simply, an “American girl.” Yesterday I wrote that in her increasingly policy-driven role as first lady, Michelle has been distancing herself from the Jackie O image she seemed to cultivate during […]
