Day: February 21, 2012

The LA Times sets a new low for Op-Eds

Lisa Schweitzer2 Comments

The editorial page of the LA Times has for some reason fallen into the beliefs that a bunch of personal whining about how you can’t talk to relatives or neighbors with different political views sums up conservatives versus liberals in the United States.

Why I can’t talk to conservatives by Diana Wagman

Summary: A bunch of self-referential, tepid anecdotes about how people disagree and other rampagingly obvious platitudes. If you start thinking “YTF am I reading this?” halfway through, you’re not alone. Zzzzzzzzzzz

Why I can’t talk to liberals by Charlotte Allen

Summary: A bunch of self-indulgent whining about how she loathes her liberal family, despite numerous disingenuous asides to the contrary to salve her family-values conscience (since nobody else freaking cares) because her liberal family has the nerve to expect her to use reasoned arguments other than “my opinions are fact” and “my values are supreme because they are mine” in debates. Yet, nobody will debate with poor Charlotte because they are intolerant jerky poopyheads, unlike her, a paragon of open-mindedness.

GARGH!! YOU WILL GET DUMBER JUST READING THIS NONSENSE.

Personal experiences are not interesting unless you, you know, actually have interesting personal experiences. Arguing with relatives and neighbors? Nope. Not interesting. Or useful.

To get smarter, go over and read Max Stephenson’s contribution to discussion democratic theory here.

Two picks from JUA suggesting that suburbs aren’t what planners think they are

Lisa Schweitzer1 Comment

Two picks from the upcoming issue of The Journal of Urban Affairs:

These are unfortunately paid links, but you might be able to find drafts if you look on Google. Please let me know in the comments if you do find a link to a free pdf.

KOLENDA, R. and YANG LIU, C. (2012), ARE CENTRAL CITIES MORE CREATIVE? THE INTRAMETROPOLITAN GEOGRAPHY OF CREATIVE INDUSTRIES. Journal of Urban Affairs. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9906.2011.00593.x

ABSTRACT: This paper examines the location and growth of creative industries within metropolitan areas. In recent years, the creative industries have been increasingly sought after as potential engines of metropolitan economic growth. Although some research has been done on the location decisions by such firms and workers, it has primarily focused on interregional and intermetropolitan disparities. We use establishment-level data to investigate intrametropolitan (central city versus suburban) location and growth for creative industry establishments in 40 of the top 101 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). We compared the number of employees and total annual payroll in each location, and categorize them by region, population size, and creative employment growth. Findings suggest that although creative industries are more centralized, they are decentralizing faster than other industries in general, but this rate, and even the direction, varies widely across MSAs.

PFEIFFER, D. (2012), HAS EXURBAN GROWTH ENABLED GREATER RACIAL EQUITY IN NEIGHBORHOOD QUALITY? EVIDENCE FROM THE LOS ANGELES REGION. Journal of Urban Affairs. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9906.2011.00596.x

ABSTRACT:  A wealth of data drawn from cities and their nearby suburbs show that, consistent with place stratification theory, African Americans live in poorer quality communities than similarly affluent members of other racial groups. Yet, few have examined whether these trends are playing out in the rapidly growing exurbs, places that emerged in the post-Civil Rights era. Through a case study of African American migration to Los Angeles’s exurban Inland Empire, this article tests the applicability of place stratification theory by triangulating evidence from interviews with 70 movers with U.S. Census and American Community Survey data. Both sources reveal that the gap in neighborhood conditions among similar income racial groups is much narrower in the exurbs than inner city Los Angeles or its nearby suburbs, an outcome that participants attributed to the region’s rapid housing construction, relative lack of a history of who lives where, and resulting neighborhood diversity.