by admin | Jan 31, 2018 | Careers, Education, Floodplain management, Government, Natural Hazards, Political philosophy, Politics, Public policy, Public safety, Urban Planning
Claiming to protect the public’s purse is always great politics, at least in some quarters. Actually doing so requires considerable thought and homework, but grandstanding is cheap and makes for great sound bites in an election season. And thus, it is often silly...
by admin | Nov 24, 2017 | Careers, Chicago, Environment, History, Humanities, Parks, Recreation, Urban Planning
Ed Uhlir died Wednesday, not living long enough to enjoy another Thanksgiving because multiple myeloma overtook him at 73. But the entire Chicago region can be thankful for his quiet service to the city and for his major accomplishment as both an architect and a...
by admin | Oct 18, 2017 | Activism, Careers, Climate, Disaster policy, Natural Hazards, Personal history, Racism, Resilience, Urban Planning
I know. My very title for this blog post sounds to some like yet another naïve stab at kumbaya. Well, stay with me, anyway. We are talking about solving problems in our communities, and the more people who get behind the solution, the more successful it is likely to...
by admin | Jun 4, 2017 | Blogging, Careers, Climate, Disaster, Economics, Government, Natural Hazards, Urban Planning
This is a story both personal and political. On May 31, the American Planning Association hosted a wonderful retirement party for my last day on the job as Manager of the Hazards Planning Center. I have spent much of the past quarter-century helping to make natural...
by admin | Feb 13, 2017 | Careers, Government, Information technology, Personal history, Recreation, Restaurants, Technology
Warmth is a concept with many dimensions. In the realm of physics, it is a relative measure of temperature. In reference to weather, perhaps the most common subject of human conversation, it is a measure of the kinetic energy of the atmosphere around us, which is...
by admin | Jan 21, 2017 | Blogging, Careers, Disaster, Natural Hazards, Personal history, Travel, Urban Planning, Writing
“The cemeteries are full of indispensable people,” or variations thereof, is a quotation that has been attributed to many, including the late French President Charles de Gaulle, but according to Quote Investigator, actually belongs to an American writer Elbert Hubbard...
