links for 2009-06-21

• Atlanta Makes Way for New Public Housing - NYTimes.com
  “Atlanta’s plan signifies in a very clear way that the social contract that cities and citizens have with the poor has fundamentally changed,” said Sudhir Venkatesh, a sociologist ... who studies urban neighborhoods. “We’ve decided that the market can function to create housing and the role of government should be to move people into the market."

  Some researchers and policy makers say the model is succeeding. Thomas D. Boston, an economist at the Georgia Institute of Technology who has tracked Atlanta’s housing-project residents since 1995, said those who move are more likely to find work, their children were likely to perform better in school and they report higher satisfaction with their living conditions.

  The housing authority says the overwhelming majority of residents support the relocations. But critics say unsuspecting residents are forced into only marginally better neighborhoods. The vouchers, ... are often viewed suspiciously by landlords in wealthier communities.

  
  
  (tags: housing urbanplanning policy poverty)
  
  
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  Editorial Notebook - Hawaii Blues - NYTimes.com
  
  
  The islands have seen the disappearance of the Hawaiian kingdom, the decimation of its people and language. Today, Hawaii is the world’s hottest hot spot for threatened and endangered species. As the only island state, it’s the only one that faces an existential threat from global warming and rising oceans.

  Many people assume Hawaiian music is sweet and happy. Actually, much of it is solemn and melancholy. To hear Bla Pahinui sing his version of “Waimanalo Blues” — “the beaches they sell, to build their hotels,” is to glimpse the depths of the Hawaiian sense of loss.

  Visitors go to Hawaii to get happy and tan, and they carry home with them vast measures of good will, serenity and memories of joy and peace. Maybe it’s time to give some of that back to the suffering 50th state. How? Maybe by telling your representatives in Congress to support the Akaka bill, to give Native Hawaiians a measure of lost sovereignty, and right some old injustices.

  
  
  (tags: hawaii politics policy economy environment culture)
  
  
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  Working the Room for GuestofaGuest.com - NYTimes.com
  
  
  Wasn’t the social blogosphere jammed with similar sites? “Everything seems crowded,” Mr. Steele said, “until someone comes in and shows you how to do it right.”
  
  
  (tags: internet blogging business culture productplacement)