As I've lived and worked in New York for eight years, I've observed a little bit about urban politics. Sam Roberts wrote an article in today's Times on the decline of the Harlem based old gaurd of black political power that was puntuated by the disgrace of David Paterson, here. It's a great article that sketches the history of demographic shifts and old-style urban machine politics centered around powerful county leaders.

Reading this article also inspired me to collect a few old posts from Changing the Court under a label, "Learning about large public bureaucracies and urban politics."

Here's the key trend reflecting increased partisanship in the US Congress (double-click to enlarge):

So true

A city that was designed for travel by foot and horses loses some of its charm with modern traffic congestion. A deep snowfall is the perfect antidote, as it adds beauty, muffles sounds and discourages automobiles. The broad streets and sidewalks reveal their grandeur when covered with snow instead of cars.

From a blog post by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore), here. (thanks to Talking Points Memo for the link).

One of my favorites...

For a cold winter Sunday and a group of friends:

"Best Vegetarian Chili"

[I omit the vegi-burger crumbles, and reduce the amount of jalapeno]

Cool picture that Karen found: a "bat flower"

Love this map

(double click for full view)

The weather was beautiful today and I spent almost the whole day finishing off the end of fall clean-up in the garden. In front, I finished potting the two junipers I put in wooden barrels next to a big planter box stuffed with daffodils and hyacinths. I pulled out the sweet potato vines and put in tulips. In back I cut down the morning glory vine after collecting a bowl of seeds, and swept all the leaves and compost off the porch and stairs.

That's when I took this picture: the woodland tobacco flower (nicotiana) is still huge, fragrant and glorious, and some other flowers and perennials are enjoying this last breath of warm weather...

I finished working in the bed last weekend - I moved some of the perennial flowers - echinacea/coneflower, Japanese anemone, and toad lily - to sunnier spots, and put in a few more hostas.

In a related development, reports on the City of Paris' ambitious Velib bike-sharing program are mixed. "80 percent of the initial 20,600 bicycles [have been] stolen or damaged," which are worth, "when the system’s startup and maintenance expenses are included, $3,500 each."

I have to find a research study for a school assignment in which the investigators actively manipulated an independent variable. I was browsing for journal articles in the areas of crime and public safety, when I remembered this article from the Journal Science that I noticed with great interest around the time it was published: Testing The Broken Windows Theory

I like this:

"The Assumption of Inconvenience" from Streetsblog

public safety, meets transportation planning, meets livable streets: http://www.saferoutesinfo.org/

"And the Pursuit of Hapiness"

I've noticed two NYT blogs lately: A post entitled "The Referendum" and "In the Pursuit Of Hapiness" an illustrated blog on American democracy (thanks to Jeff Miller for recommending the latter).

Sunday Op-Art, in the Times: Navigating the City by Smell

interesting...

link

Double-click to view image

Three Keys to Happiness

What Makes Us Happy? by Joshua Wolf Schenk in the Atlantic Monthly.

For 72 years, researchers at Harvard have been examining this question, following 268 men who entered college in the late 1930s through war, career, marriage and divorce, parenthood and grandparenthood, and old age.

The conclusions are summarized here:

1. Have a healthy outlet
2. Don't take yourself too seriously
3. Happiness must be shared

“Happiness only real when shared.”

First image of a memory being made...

Link

These are the offices of city council candidate Evan Thies. According to an article in the Greenpoint Gazette, the saloon-like offices of the John Smolenski Democratic Club are being used by Evan as his campaign headquarters. The young new president of the nearly defunct old-line club hopes that Evan will revitalize the club and voter participation in North Brooklyn in general, where turnout has been low in recent elections. The snake-like 33rd council district stretches from Greenpoint, through Williamsburg, Dumbo, Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill, and Gowanus, ending in north Park Slope.

For the record, this blog endorses Evan Thies for the 33rd District and Brad Lander for the 39th. (Of course, observers in the political world have been on the edge or their seats waiting to see who would gain our influential backing.)