Quickie - oil spill

While doing some research for a possible oil spill post over at The Louisiana Personal Injury Lawyer blog, I came across some horrifying information about the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989.  Sadly, the precedent of that scenario does not bode well for the Gulf cleanup or for the possibility of BP actually paying for the damaged it caused (or at least helped cause).  

In short, the legal awards against Exxon have been slashed through appeals over the years, from as much as $5 billion, initially, to $500 million.  Furthermore, as of March 2009 - 20 years after the spill - federal and state governments were still seeking $92 million from Exxon to recoup costs of cleanup and restoration, which have been estimated at a total of $1.5 billion.  

Essentially, accidents such as the BP oil spill and Exxon Valdez are being subsidized - subsidized financially by the government entities who are attempting to remediate and restore the devastated environments and subsidized in terms of "negative externalities" by the businesses and individuals have never been fully or will never fully be compensated for the damage done by the spills.

Denver's New Zoning Code is on the Way

Over the past several years, a task force has been working on a massive overhaul of Denver’s zoning code. The drafting process is now complete, and the adoption process is underway. After months of writing, public input, and rewriting, the code will be presented to Denver’s City Council on May 24.

The new version of the zoning code is a comprehensive revision, replacing piecemeal regulation with a consistent, unified vision. The code is “context-based” - it starts with what is already here. It regulates both use and the built environment so that each is consistent with the respective character and composition of Denver’s existing neighborhoods. The code recognizes what is valuable and critical in these neighborhoods and seeks to protect those aspects.

Why is such a drastic overhaul necessary?

• According to the site dedicated to the new code, “Denver's 53-year-old zoning code is broken and needs to be fixed. It suffers from more than a half century of incremental changes that have made it complicated, inconsistent and cumbersome.” 

• Furthermore, the new code is required to make zoning policy more consistent with city planning documents like the Comprehensive Plan and Blueprint Denver. These documents must work together to provide a unified vision and plan for the city that will allow it to deal with economic, environmental, and social issues. 

• Finally, in the 53 years since Denver has adopted a revised code, the philosophy and theory of city planning and land use has changed, turning back toward community-oriented and mixed-use design instead rather than the separate use philosophy characteristic of suburban planning. This renewed emphasis on community affirms the design and growth patterns evident in the city, particularly in Denver’s older neighborhoods. It represents a renewed recognition of the principles that are naturally present in an urban environment. It also represents a commitment to making Denver a city where residents can live sustainable, healthy lifestyles - environmentally, economically, and socially. 

I would encourage you to spend a few moments browsing NewCodeDenver.org. On that site, you can find the draft of the new code, as well as the previous three drafts. You can also read about the process of how those drafts came to be and the people that have worked on or with the Zoning Code Task Force. You can also keep track of events related to the adoption process.

I find land use and zoning both interesting and pertinent because they can dictate so much about daily life - how far you live from the grocery store, whether or not you must drive there, what the houses on your street look like, etc. As such, this code revision stands to have an impact on many of Denver’s residents and businesses at some point, either directly or indirectly. If you have questions about how the new code might impact your home, business, or community, please contact me.

*Originally published at www.davidmcdaniellaw.com.  Material copyright The Law Office of David McDaniel, LLC, 2010.

Lessons from Free Mulch Day!

Today was Denver's annual mulch giveaway.  Each January, the city waste services collect discarded Christmas trees and turn them into mulch, which they give away free to city residents who are willing to come and scoop it themselves.  That in itself is a nice lesson in reuse and recycling.

But the thing that really struck me while I was filling up our bags with free mulch was an interesting confluence of opposing perspectives.  First, there was certainly an air of self-preservation.  The mulch went fast.  The giveaway started at 8:00 am.  At 8:45 as we were leaving, the last of the pile was gone.  Folks were left scraping bits and pieces off the asphalt.  At the same time, though, there was a noticeable atmosphere of community - of sharing, of common purpose, and of civic gratitude.  In addition to the three giant bags of mulch I brought home, the value of the experience certainly made Free Mulch Day a worthy outing. 

"Livability" Should Not be a Strictly Urban Concept

From conception, the transportation and growth policies of the Obama administration seemed to be focused on urban environments.  Maybe its the documented growth of urban populations in the U.S. or the redevelopment and infill that's occurring in many of the country's big cities.  Or maybe its a bit of my own personal slant.  

In any regard, though, I believe most people who read about "transportation alternatives" and "livability" think of these as concepts relevant only to urban environments.  Stephen Lee Davis of Smart Growth America both disputes that perspective and wonders why it is so prevalent in Washington, D.C., even among representatives of rural constituencies.  He relates his own experiences living in Bentonville, Arkansas, during a time when the city was booming under Walmart's influence.  (Bentonville is home base for Walmart operations.)  As a resident of the town's historic center city, he was able to observe the geographic expansion of Bentonville and contrast his lifestyle in Bentonville to those who inhabited the new suburban residential developments.  That contrast originated largely from the planning and layout of those newer "communities."

I will let Mr. Davis tell you the rest of his story, in Part I and Part II.  I have a hard time arguing that livability doesn't have as much rural applicability as it does urban.  After all, is choice not essential to freedom? 

Some Health Care Stuff

The link below is a good resource for anyone who wants a relatively concise explanation of some of the new health care bill's provisions, particularly as they relate to Medicare, the CHIP programs, and the low-income persons and families that participate.

http://ccf.georgetown.edu/index/cms-filesystem-action?file=ccf%20publications/health%20reform/health%20reform%20package%20final.pdf

I am interested to see if and how opponents' perspectives might change about the reform bill as some of the benefits begin to become apparent.  I have a feeling some folks who have been opposed to reform in principle might find some of the provisions quite beneficial, particularly if they have health problems, problems finding affordable insurance, or are currently unemployed.  I could be wrong about that; only time will tell, I suppose.

Sharing

If I were going to write a health care post in the wake of Sunday's vote, I probably would have written something like this.  But instead of the hypothetical scenarios I would have posed, these are real.

Plus, the flyer in this post is flat ridiculous.  Free speech is great and all, but seriously...

Dooce.com: This is mommyblogging

Happy St. Patrick's Day. Don't Drink & Drive.

Bueller . . . Bueller . . .

Sorry for the radio silence lately.  I have engaged some other projects that have forced me to neglect my effort here, though not completely by choice.

If you can't get enough of me, you can find me writing at other places right now.  I've been hired on to ghost write for a law firm blog that you can find here.  I was honored when my post about a repeat DWI offender made the annual St. Patty's "don't drink 'n' drive" lesson. 

I'm also working on a blog that is tailored more toward the law practice that is my real job.  Some of the topics will overlap, though the writing is meant to be more informative and less ranting.  You can find that blog over at davidmcdaniellaw.com. 

I hope to be able to pick this back up as time allows.  Until then . . .

Is the party over?

Today I heard that progressive talk radio station AM 760 out of Boulder, Colorado, is sponsoring a discussion with two of my favorite hosts, David Sirota and Thom Hartmann, entitled "Is It Time to Abandon the Democratic Party?"  

Being completely honest, this is a question that I have been personally kicking around even before Scott Brown nabbed Ted Kennedy's Senate seat.  The results of that special election really pushed over the edge.  To illustrate, I give you two unedited emails I sent to friends on January 20, 2010.

I've been thinking for a while - LONG before this election clusterf*ck in mass. - what the heck is any different than it was in January of 2007?  I'm not sure.  Sure maybe the goals are different, the ultimate aims.  Take a look at the health care bill.  The insurance mandate with no public option or no additional opportunities to get Medicare just means more $$ straight to the insurance companies.  Its the same corporatist bullcrap that the dems campaigned against.  I mean, you can only campaign on hope and change for so long before voters figure out that nothing's actually going to change.  which is really really disappointing for an administration who won people over with a promise to change the tone and the culture and DC. 

They had a chance to do basically whatever they wanted, and couldn't get their own shit together enough to do it.  that's really disappointing.  find a message that you really believe in that you'll stand up for.  until, I'm done calling myself my democrat.  i'll stay registered so I can vote in the primaries because I do generally think the better INDIVIDUAL candidates come from the left of center.  but, ideologically, I feel pretty abandoned after this past year.

Then I analogized my relationship with the Democratic Party to two lovers that have fallen out of favor:

I really can't get over the hurt, now that I'm giving it some thought. I feel like I've been cheated on. This term was supposed to produce results for people. But the biggest populist, liberal reform - if it survives - will feed the PIG just as much as any cheney defense contract or bush oil bill.

So that, washington democracts, is why we need a break. I'm not ready to say its over. I probably won't see anyone else. But while I'm gone, you need to prove to me you're actually still committed to the ideals that brought us together so many years ago.

And those words pretty accurately reflect where I stand today, over a month later.  I would qualify that statement, though, with the fact that my frustration is not obviously directed just at Democrats.  It is equally spread over both parties in DC.  I suppose I allowed ideological agreement to quell my growing frustration with the Left.  But my frustrations grows from attributes that are not exclusive to one party - corporate favoritism, intra-party bickering and vacillation, and career-minded selfishness.  Granted, that does not describe every politician in Washington.  But it describes enough  of them to generate a public stereotype.  And those who exhibit such characteristics are the obstacles to improving life in the United States.  To those persons I would say: Move one way or the other, but whatever you do, get the hell out of the way.

 

The Democrats ran the 2008 campaigns on populist rhetoric, with promises to restore Main Street over Wall Street and to institute reform in the name of the people.  I have yet to see those promises materialize in any appreciable way.  And until I see otherwise, I will continue to believe to the few persons who are accurately described by the despicable characteristics I listed above are truly obstructing the well being of folks like and I.