Author Archives: legallysociable

California town outsources all work to contractors

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On the final day of the fiscal year, Maywood, California laid off all of its staff (96 employees) and is now outsourcing all city duties to contractors. The city, with roughly 30,000 residents and about 8 miles from downtown Los Angeles, is keeping its elected officials and some of the former employees will remain on the job as contractors.

From the story:

Maywood is billing itself as the first American city to outsource all of its city services. In an odd twist, officials say it can provide even better services because the shift will help it save money and close a $450,000 shortfall in its $10 million general fund budget.

This bears watching as many municipalities face budget shortfalls. While the cost savings speak for themselves, it remains to be seen how residents feel.

Learning from the country’s largest urban solar plant

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The Chicago Tribune reports on a 40 acre solar power plant on the south side of Chicago, the largest urban solar plant in the United States. While the plant is not very big (generating 10 megawatts), some things I learned that shed light on the broader issue of clean energy:

-Benefits of a plant this size: “The solar plant generates enough electricity to power about 1,500 homes, and its clean power means less greenhouse gases are emitted, the equivalent of taking 2,500 cars off the road each year.”

-Perhaps Chicago is not a bad place to build solar facilities: “The sun in Illinois is more intense than in Japan or Germany, the world’s two largest solar markets.”

-On a national level: “Nationwide, there are more than 22,000 megawatts of large-scale solar projects under development, or enough to power 4.4 million homes.”

-“Green jobs” generated by building solar plants do not necessarily last over time: “Exelon’s West Pullman plant, for example, created about 200 jobs, but only during the six months of construction, he said. “It certainly wasn’t something that went on for years,” Lynch said.”

-Wind power is the main green energy for the near-future in Illinois: “Power companies in the state must get at least 25 percent of their electricity from green sources by 2025. Of that amount, 75 percent must come from wind, while only 6 percent must come from solar”

Summary: this plant has some clear benefits including cleaner energy and construction jobs. But there is a long way to go before solar plants, particularly in urban areas, can generate enough electricity at a reasonable price.

The land of fake businessmen

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Atlantic’s Mitch Moxley reports on a Chinese business practice: hiring fake businessmen to help craft an image. Part of the job:

As we waited for the ceremony to begin, a foreman standing beside me barked at workers still visible on the construction site. They scurried behind the scaffolding.

“Are you the boss?” I asked him.

He looked at me quizzically. “You’re the boss.”

Actually, Ernie was the boss. After a brief introduction, “Director” Ernie delivered his speech before the hundred or so people in attendance. He boasted about the company’s long list of international clients and emphasized how happy we were to be working on such an important project. When the speech was over, confetti blasted over the stage, fireworks popped above the dusty field beside us, and Ernie posed for a photo with the mayor.

If this is common practice, couldn’t some companies lose face (rather than build their image) when others point out or find out that their businessmen are really fakes?

An odd subtext: the requirements for the job included “a fair complexion and a suit.” The fake businessmen are there to indicate that the Chinese company has connections. A “darker complexion and a suit” doesn’t fit the bill for connections? Perhaps a “darker complexion, a suit, and an American accent”?

And you thought your commute was bad

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Wired writes about a report released by IBM Research regarding traffic in large cities. Using a web-based survey, IBM  included 8,192 drivers in 20 cities. IBM developed a “Commuter Pain Index” that is comprised of ten criteria.

The worst cities, starting with the worst and then declining on the index: Beijing, Mexico City, Johannesburg, Moscow, and New Delhi. The first US city, Los Angeles, shows up at #14 with New York and Houston at #17 and #18, respectively.

If you were curious, IBM recommends as a solution new technologies to “empower transportation officials to better understand and proactively manage the flow of traffic.”

Young Adult fiction and To Kill a Mockingbird

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The recent print edition of Entertainment Weekly had a one-page story commemorating the 50th anniversary of the release (July 11) of To Kill a Mockingbird (TKaM). An interesting part of this piece: a discussion about whether TKaM would be be marketed as a Young Adult book rather than as general fiction if it were released today.

Besides suggesting that current marketing schemes are often fit to consumer niches, it raises an interesting question: what exactly is the difference between young adult fiction and adult fiction besides characters that are different ages?

A book like TKaM clearly transcends the boundaries of the Young Adult world. While its main character is young, the themes are mature and the storyline is realistic. A number of Young Adult books address broader themes (particularly the differences between good and evil) but similarly to adult fiction, there are both fun and serious reads. On one hand, the Young Adult world consists of  books like the shallow yet fun Diary of a Wimpy Kid. On the other hand, there is a book like Number the Stars.

One advantage I can see of having a young protagonist is that such characters are often more innocent or naive. These characters, like Scout, can question the way the world works. Young Adult plot lines are rarely full of miserable characters (see my post on One Day); they are usually curious and active.

My favorite “Young Adult” books from years ago (a limited category since I preferred non-fiction books from a young age):

1. The Phantom Tollbooth. In a genre, fantasy, that I tend not to like but this one works.

2. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. An engaging classic. Addresses larger themes while not being condescending to children. Part of a larger series.

3. The Hardy Boys. Not great writing but engaging stories. But a question: how come Frank and Joe never got older over a 60 year stretch? Shouldn’t there be prequels, Hardy Boy adult books, etc by this point?

One hour in…and no free agent movement

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The greatest class of free agents in any major sport has now been officially free for over one hour – but it will likely be some time before LeBron, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, and others sign with NBA teams.

At this point, the NBA couldn’t ask for better publicity. This free-agent bonanza almost overwhelmed an actually interesting seven game NBA Finals, completely overshadowed the NBA draft, and it is likely to drag out for some time as teams throw the kitchen sink at LeBron and others.

But with all the hype, I feel underwhelmed with the lack of activity thus far…

Quick Review: One Day

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Over this past weekend, I read One Day by David Nicholls. This book is a love story told over a 20 year span. The twist: the author checks in with each member of the couple one day each year (the anniversary of their first meeting). The book has garnered a number of positive reviews.

My quick thoughts:

1. It is a story that would translate easily into a movie.

2. I don’t know if the characters are likable. They are young and idealistic when they first meet, not so much so later on after more life experiences. They are generally self-indulgent. Lots of drinking among both characters – a sign of their troubled lives or a reflection of contemporary life in the United Kingdom?

3. I like the idea of checking in once a year. Their lives gradually change and the story doesn’t get bogged down in extended scenes.

4. My wife and I disagreed about whether we enjoyed the book. She did not enjoy it, as “90% of the book involved the protagonists being miserable and/or drunk.” I think this book is like much adult fiction: it is more “realistic” or at least presents a strong contrast between miserable life alone and wonderful life together. Therefore, my wife finds reading a book like this unpleasant – she doesn’t want to spend that much time dwelling on the worse parts of life. Additionally, she felt that the author betrayed the reader at the end.  I, on the other hand, think misery is a common part of life and therefore should be explored in books, movies, music, etc. However, I do think much adult fiction today is melodramatic in its presentation of tough times.

5. *SPOILER ALERT*

Though it has the twist of checking in once a year, it seems like a fairly common story line. Two people meet and then experience difficulties over the years before meeting up again (though it is more complicated than this). This seems to be a kind of story our culture enjoys: love overcoming obstacles, even if these obstacles are self-imposed by the participants.

Overall: a good choice for light (not really fun but not exactly addressing deeper issues in life) yet engaging weekend-away reading. A modern classic? No.

Second Wal-Mart moves forward in Chicago

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Update 9:52 PM 6/30/10: The Chicago City Council voted tonight 50-0 to approve the second Wal-Mart in the city. Read about the voting and the consequences here.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the Chicago City Council Zoning Committee approved Wal-Mart’s proposal for a store in the Pullman Park neighborhood on the South Side. A quick summary of how the deal was made:

The deal struck Thursday has Wal-Mart assenting to pay at least $8.75 an hour — 50 cents more than minimum wage as of July 1. Unions once wanted $11.03 an hour, but settled for less and touted the company’s agreement to give raises of 40 to 60 cents an hour to Chicago workers after a year. A Wal-Mart spokesman, however, said store workers typically get that kind of bump anyway.

In the end, Wal-Mart appears on its way to getting a second store. The unions, which won’t actually represent any of the workers, get to save face. And aldermen looking ahead to re-election in February get to avoid a repeat of 2007, when several of them lost after angry unions put up challengers who opposed Wal-Mart.

As often happens in politics, a deal is finalized when all the interested actors feel they benefit in some way.

Overvaluing a college degree

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How to measure the value of a college degree is an interesting question: should it be measured in dollars, experiences, things learned? If one is measuring in terms of future monetary value, Businessweek reports on a new study suggesting a college degree has been overvalued:

Over the course of a working life, college graduates earn more than high school graduates. Over the past decade, research estimates have pegged that figure at $900,00, $1.2 million, and $1.6 million.

But new research suggests that the monetary value of a college degree may be vastly overblown. According to a study conducted by PayScale for Bloomberg Businessweek, the value of a college degree may be a lot closer to $400,000 over 30 years and varies wildly from school to school. According to the PayScale study, the number of schools that actually make good on the estimates of the earlier research is vanishingly small. There are only 17 schools in the study whose graduates can expect to recoup the cost of their education and out-earn a high school graduate by $1.2 million, including four where they can do so to the tune of $1.6 million.

The article goes on to list the best colleges for a return on one’s investment and mentions that some schools have taken issue with the methodology of the study. The top 10 schools for returns are what you would expect: MIT, CIT, the Ivys plus Harvey Mudd and Notre Dame. Just looking at the top 10 and their list of the best return in each state, most of these schools are quite expensive.

A question based on this report: if many colleges are getting increasingly expensive, particularly private schools and flagship public universities, and their pay-off is not as much as previously thought, will people stop attending them? Is taking on a decent amount of debt worth it for most schools? Elite schools provide extra wealth but the average student is far from this report’s top 10 schools. If more sources corroborate this sort of evidence, the college landscape might change dramatically.