One of my favorite blogs is Manhattan Contrarian by Francis Melton. He regularly takes a look at actual data to show the real story behind issues instead of whatever fiction the media lazily put forth.

This piece on poverty is a nice summary of the situation. Namely, that anti-poverty programs simply trap more and more people in poverty.

A related topic is the absurdly inaccurate way in which poverty and income inequality are measured.

More on that later.

Kim Crockett (Center of the American Experiment) and I responded to the Star Tribune's editorial support for "modest" changes to the Met Council. We lay out the basics of the case against the council's current scope and structure, and call for changes that can help advance the cause for better transportation policy and solutions in the metro area.

I like the caption with the picture at the top of the online story, as it sort of hits the nail on the head.

Of course, you can read and listen to my full report on this topic here.

In an editorial that surprised few people, the Star Tribune came out in favor of the "modest" changes being proposed to the Met Council membership selection and service process. 

With zero evidence to support the assertion, the paper claims:

"the council is a homegrown success story that other metro areas regard with envy. With the power to both plan future growth and deliver needed infrastructure, it stands to be more important than ever in coming years as the region copes with a rapidly aging and diversifying population."

Three questions in response:

1) Why is the envy of bureaucrats from other cities about the Met Council  more important than the concerns of citizens here in the Twin Cities?
2) What evidence makes the editorial board think the Met Council is competent to address an aging and diversifying population?
3) Why are normal, democratic processes insufficient to address such concerns?

The Pioneer Press Editorial Board came out with its perspective on the Met Council today.  The closing sentence  is good to keep in mind. 

"The long-standing concerns about the Met Council’s scope, governance, transparency and accountability have always been, and remain, legitimate. Only persistent, principled pushing, from various angles, can ensure they’re addressed."

I would suggest that part of that persistent push is a zero-based review of the Met Council, its structure and its performance.

My contribution to that is here.

A great overview of the impact of NextGen on residents in the SFO Bay Area, produced by fellow citizen activists from Sky Posse Los Altos.

Of course, it's the same story as everywhere else across the country (and the world ) - new flight tracks, nonsensical "logic" from the FAA, and thousands of people with their homes and lives turned upside down. 

8 minutes

The non-stop absurdity of the FAA in its implementation of NextGen flight paths has resulted in three congressional representatives banding together to form a new advisory group to San Francisco's SFO noise roundtable.

This appears to be somewhat similar to the Noise Oversight Committee we have in Minnesota at MSP, which is not a bad thing. Not a panacea, but it potentially offers citizens a more direct path to the FAA on critical issues.

The backstory here is classic FAA - Rep. Eshoo put in place an agreement with the FAA about a decade ago on how planes can enter into the complicated SFO airspace. When implementing NextGen, they just threw that out the window and changed the flight paths to areas that had not had aircraft noise. Defies all logic.

Downstate in San Diego, the FAA has been trying to pull the same thing, with violations of what is known as the "Red Dot" agreement.  That is all about to either get resolved, or turn into yet another lawsuit. Great teams of citizen activists are all over this in both locations.  And of course in between near LAX.

UPDATED: The full report, with narration and the related PDF, is now available here.

Here in Minnesota, the perennially controversial Twin Cities Met Council is once again in the news. Over the last six months a task force took a look at how we might update the Met Council so as to address some of the concerns expressed about it.

I attended almost every one of the task force's public meetings, and I thought quite a bit of information was missing from the conversation. So I set out to gain a much clearer understanding of how the Met Council compares to its peers across the country.

As part of that I looked in detail at the Met Council's peer organizations in over 20 of the largest metro regions in the country. I compared and contrasted how the Council stacks up on measures of legitimacy, scope and outcomes, and reviewed alternative structures to our 100% unelected regional authority.

The full report will be out next week, with the usual narrated presentation and PDF available. The bar chart to the left gives you a small hint of what I found.

Stay tuned.

​Other than McCain and Flake, we've seen next to nothing from anyone in the Senate about NextGen and the FAA's indifference to citizen complaints. Despite the fact that there are multiple ongoing lawsuits about the matter, and the FAA reauthorization bill is being actively considered.

A letter from Senators Feinstein and Boxer to Administrator Heurta at least is movement. Of course, what we want is active support for McCain and Flakes bill, and support for Rep. Meng over in the House.