by admin | Apr 22, 2016 | Disaster, Disaster policy, Government, Public safety, Resilience
In the U.S. federal system, states play a major role in what U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once called “the laboratories of democracy.” One role for state government that has unfortunately received far less attention than most others is...
by admin | Apr 10, 2016 | Books, Government, History
I may be one of the few non-historians to have read at least one biography of every U.S. President from George Washington through Barack Obama. The fact that I earned a B.A. in Political Science at Cleveland State University way back in 1973 may make my quest seem a...
by admin | Mar 30, 2016 | Climate, Government, Infrastructure, Public policy, Resilience, Science, Urban Planning
Recently, the American Planning Association’s Hazards Planning Center, which I manage, and the Association of State Floodplain Managers, began work on a new project funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office for Coastal...
by admin | Feb 15, 2016 | Government, History, Political philosophy, Religion
Back in the Great Depression, amid the New Deal, when the Republican Party was the very face of the Establishment, a good-natured, lasso-twirling Oklahoma humorist named Will Rogers quipped, “I belong to no organized political party. I am a Democrat.” To some extent,...
by admin | Jan 26, 2016 | Disaster, Disaster policy, Floodplain management, Government, Public policy, Public safety, Resilience, Urban Planning, Wildfire
Across the United States of America, about one in five people live under the rules and structures of some sort of private association that governs common property interests. These can be condominium associations, homeowners associations, or similar entities that are...
by admin | Nov 29, 2015 | Activism, Books, Chicago, Civil rights, Government, Immigration, Public safety, Racism
Over the years, I have met some types of people who, strangely in my opinion, have believed that anger is unbecoming for a Christian. Most people understand that there is a place for anger in our lives, although it needs to be tempered with judgment and compassion....
