The Daily Report » Jeffrey Hill

As America’s baby boomers grow older and economic woes shift the elderly from suburbs to center city, developers capitalize on the demographics as seen in Chicago, where billions of dollars are being spent to transform the Windy City into the next Boca Raton.

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Women of America: “Put your lipstick on, square your shoulders, suit up,” said Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) to reporters moments after Senate Republicans blocked a bill on Pay Discrimination. “The revolution starts tonight.” NAC’s Jeffrey Hill asks: Why in the world did this happen yesterday and why has this story been buried in the press?

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This week, Next American City travels to San Francisco, hosting the “Space in the City” symposium on Wednesday, and a subscriber cocktail party on Thursday.  We will also be attending the Ecocity World Summit from April 22 to 26, where NAC’s publisher, Michelle Kuly, will be moderating a panel on sustainability and cities. Read for more details.

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Last week, the British press was ripe with food waste stories. One statistic, “British households throw away 4.4 million whole apples every day,” reported in a Waste & Resources Action Program (WRAP) study, had Jeffrey Hill scratching his head. How did they come up with this statistic? More in today’s report.

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Michelle Kuly, our publisher and fearless leader (referred to as “The Winnipeg Woman” by CBC), is denied re-entry into the U.S., Ringo Starr meets Billy’s shears, Hillary Clinton’s proposed Rust Belt revival, New Orleans hosts Jazz fest, Seattle saves art spaces ... this and more in today’s headlines.

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The newswire is flooded with memorials today—odes to a man who gave his life to racial harmony. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered on this day 40 years ago. As journalists, writers and broadcasters compare his legacy to the progress of race relations in America, there are still many barriers, both physical and subconscious, that separate cultural communities in cities. 

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In a brilliantly humorous blog titled “Typo Hunt Across America,” Jeff Deck journeys from Massachusetts to California, archiving America’s spelling errors. From the self-proclaimed “Typo Eradication Advancement League,” Deck and cohorts stop in major cities and photograph misuse of apostrophes, commas and more. An entertaining read for the anal-retentive. 

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New reports shows 50 of the largest cities in the U.S. have high school graduation rates lower than 50 percent. Philadelphia City Council rethinks urban planning strategy. David & Joyce Dinkins Gardens, built in Harlem, features green standards and Next American City chosen as one of the panelists to grill big oil companies at new congressional hearing? Today’s headlines.

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The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia sponsored a three-day conference at the Marriott Philadelphia Downtown Hotel from March 26 to 28, 2008. “Reinventing Older Communities” drew hundreds of politicians, planners, and architects, including Mayor of Philadelphia Michael Nutter and former Mayor of Torino, Italy, Valentino Castellani, whose administration served during the 2006 Winter Olympic games. The focus of the conference was sustainable design with consideration to historic urban communities.

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Philadelphia Daily News reports: “Mayor (Michael) Nutter said yesterday that he wants to get presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to Philadelphia for a public discussion of urban issues before the April 22 Democratic primary ... Nutter said that issues affecting American cities haven’t gotten enough attention in the campaign. ‘Health care is very important,’ Nutter said. ‘The war is very, very important. But if you live at 56th and Master, you’re not as focused on what al Qaeda is doing.” MORE

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