No, this is for real - in galaxies far, far away from MotherShip Earth. It comes from one of my favorite sources Aerospace & Defense News
"We don't fully understand why some supermassive black holes are so heavily obscured, or why the surrounding material is clumpy," said co-author Poshak Gandhi of the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom. "This is a subject of hot research."
The team says that future research will address the question of what causes the unevenness in doughnuts. The answer could come in many flavors. It's possible that a black hole generates turbulence as it chomps on nearby material. Or, the energy given off by young stars could stir up turbulence, which would then percolate outward through the doughnut. Another possibility is that the clumps may come from material falling onto the doughnut. As galaxies form, material migrates toward the center, where the density and gravity is greatest. The material tends to fall in clumps, almost like a falling stream of water condensing into droplets as it hits the ground.
"We'd like to figure out if the unevenness of the material is being generated from outside the doughnut, or within it," said Gandhi. "These coordinated observations with NuSTAR and XMM-Newton show yet again the exciting science possible when these satellites work together," said Daniel Stern, NuSTAR project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
There was an article in Mesa Independent today Mesa City Council members appointed to National League of Cities committees, . . . here's long-time public servant Dennis Kavanagh addressing consequences in immigration and public safety, urging people to put aside partisan rhetoric for immigration reform. It's worth a look-and-listen to a short 04:02 You Tube video uploaded on January 24, 2013 [it's had only 78 views as of today] Yours truly was curious if all the numerous recent appointments made in announcements from the National League of Cities starting off on November 7, 2015 to the leadership board and board of directors had gone from the top national level to local-level city elected officials committee appointments to improve the governance structure of the organization that was subject to complaint.
At the same time, all these new top-to-bottom appointments are targeted at raising the profiles and capacity of city leaders while increasing diversity and growing NLC's membership. Let me digress just a little bit before getting back to Dennis Kavanagh who will be retiring after many years of distinguished service. All the appointments were made after newly-elected President Melodie Colbert-Kean [seen in the image to the right], Missouri's first female African American mayor and the first African American mayor of Joplin,assumed the officeto lead the organization for a one-year term.
She succeeds Ralph Becker, former Democratic mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah who was defeated in his re-election campaign. It was reported on November 13, 2015 that The Utah Attorney General’s Office has concluded its investigation into Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker’s re-election campaign. In a statement the attorney general’s office said it had a panel review a claim that Becker’s re-election campaign had been involved in improperly collecting primary election ballots. Ultimately, the attorney general’s office said it was declining to take action. A campaign spokesman said that their sole intent was to increase voter participation and engagement. Going forward, those involved remain committed to encouraging and facilitating participation in the political process and will continue to do so within the confines of the law.”
It's a big shake-up in Salt City politics. Salt Lake City made history by electing Utah's first gay mayor, Jackie Biskupski, seen in the image to the right. Both candidates were endorsed by She served for 13 years in the Utah House of Representatives, first elected in 1998 despite an avalanche of hateful personal and anti-gay attacks. As with many gay politicians, part of her achievement was that her sexual orientation was not a central issue in the mayoral campaign. Biskupski’s opponent, incumbent Ralph Becker, has also been a staunch LGBT ally—notably, the advocacy group Equality Utah endorsed both candidates in the race.
Mesa City Councilmember and Vice-mayor Dennis Kavanagh was part of a playlist for Local Officials Speak Out on Immigration Reform America's immigration system is failing our cities and our economic future. In this video series, local leaders speak out on the importance of immigration reform for public safety, economic development, tourism, and job growth. The National League of Cities supports the passage of a strong, comprehensive immigration bill that includes resources for cities to integrate immigrants into their communities and provide the services necessary for stable neighborhoods.
Three years later .... nothing.
So, how effective is the National League of Cities?
Immigration reform is still at the center of attention with the looming mass deportation of children and families from Central America and Mexico [some in Mesa] and complicated by the recent so-called "migrant crisis" from Central Asia into Europe. Surely both complex and contentious issues. Let's put that aside right now to take a look at the NLC 2015 Annual Report whose legislative goals were closing the online sales tax loophole, investing in local transport, and protecting municipal bonds - a mixed bag of priorities. Set aside also the online sales tax issue. Locally, both Congressman Salmon and Congress woman Krysten Sinema voted against transportation funding in the big year-end federal budget that was approved by both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
On December 4, 2015 the National League of Cities published this press release: Cities Applaud Congress on Passage of First Long-Term Transportation Bill in a Decade Image to the right of Barbara Boxer D-California, ranking member of Environment & Public Works Committee
On December 22, 2015 the National League of Cities posted another press release Cities Nationwide Join Litigation to Support Implementation of EPA Clean Power Plan Great, right? Another "plan", with litigation to "support implementation for clean power" when both the AZ Department of Environmental Quality [ADEQ] and Maricopa County issued High Pollution Advisories for dirty and unhealthy air - dangerous to health - for the last year of 2015 and the first year of 2016. The source = emissions from burning petrochemicals and fossil fuels that are responsible for over 90% of pollution [prohibiting wood-burning in fireplaces is way off stopping that problem] One can at least hope that the Mesa Councilmembers now serving on committees will start raising and making their voices heard to do more than influence policy in Washington.
Back here in Mesa - that brings us to protecting municipal bonds. Readers can see an infographic to the right for the $256.9 million dollars from bonds by project category here in Mesa to the right [all images used here are from http://www.mesaaz.gov/about-us/city-projects/capital-improvement-programs]
Water and waste water account for more than 50%. Funds for parks have been slashed ... sales-tax revenues are down. We want to find out more about the correct status of city finance in general, so going again to the National League of Cities website there is a resource City Finance Information Page . According to the page Here you will find links to the most recent NLC research reports other material relating to city finances. Looks promising but please notice Recent Commentary and Reports stopped way back on March 9, 2012.
Floating municipal bonds is debt owed by the city, a potential issue here in Mesa where the average citizen may not recognize or know each of us has a per capita debt of $4,530 from taxpayer-approved obligations incurred during the administrations of Scott Smith and John Giles. The image to the right shows the locations of Capital Improvement Projects - notice the big brown square in northeast Mesa. Readers can access specific information from the link included above.
That figure is from FY14 reports from AZ Department of Revenue from a year ago [figure cited of $3,691 on budget on City of Mesa website has not been updated since FY13]. Furthermore, and again from AZDR for FY14 bonding reports, new debt in Maricopa County increased by a whopping 62.7%
President Obama, preceded by the director of the Department of Homeland Security, address the National League of Cities on March 9, 2015 @3:48 p.m.
... and here to finish the post is a link to the NLC's 2015 reported issued on November 9, 2015
Here's the official statement:
"Over the course of 2015, The National League of Cities supported city leaders by connecting them to big ideas, research, grants and technical assistance, and to innovative leaders in the public and private sectors.
The "Year of Connecting" was a year of results, bringing NLC closer to the goals outlined in our strategic plan.
We are increasingly visible in the media, on Capitol Hill and at the White House.
We are helping cities innovate and are raising the profile and capacity of city leaders.
We are working under an improved governance structure and are financially strong"
Another in a series of posts featuring some of the public art on the streets of The New Urban DTMesa, thanks to Valley Metro along the line of the Central Mesa Extension for light rail transit that started on-the-tracks here in August 2015. Major monumental public artworks are in place at the three lightrail stations. "Twilight Garden", an interactive illuminated acrylic sculpture grouping is in place in Morris Park right next to "The Shadow of A Memory", a serious of bright red iron panels. Best to see these up-close and personal, walking or cycling around downtown. Take the time to absorb the environments and "message" if there is one in public art.
Now at the NW corner of Main Street and Hilbert here's a new addition to the urban streetscape: Robert Delgado's "Palo Verde" that wraps around the corner where you can see the ongoing placement of tiles that have photo silk-screened images of the culture and people of Mesa - past and present - from the archives and artist's photos. In the image to the right, taken yesterday, readers can see the meticulous attention to details with tiles marked and numbered to get attached to what was a plain block wall facing east on Hibbert Street.
The installation on the walls is an outline of the Palo Verde tree, native to the Sonora Desert of northwest Mexico and Arizona. The Seri people, an indigenous and native group from Mexico, called the tree ziipxol. They used to grind up the seeds for flour [like native groups with mesquite], boil the green pods with meat, and eat the sweet green seeds as well as the flowers. [411 from plaques]. The art you see here comes from airbrush over photosilkscreen experiments in cut fired tile.
About the Artist Roberto "Tito" Delgado is a Los Angeles native, born and raised in the Koreatown area. After serving three years in the US Army in Vicenza, Italy, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome and completed his BA and MFA at UCLA.
He has received several fellowships, including two Fulbrights to conduct research in Mexico and to teach mural painting in Honduras. Tito lives and work in Los Angeles, that he calls "the creative capital of the world and arguably the second largest city in Mexico." His public art commissions have steadily increased in the past few decades. Among his public projects are works for the East Los Angeles Civic Center, the LAPD’s North Valley Police Station [seen in the image to the right "Home Heroes"] , the Atlanta International Airport, the Heritage Square Station on MTA’s Gold Line, the Pico-Aliso Housing Projects in Boyle Heights, and the Federal Courthouse in Pocatello, Idaho. Link to Tito's website >> http://titodelgado.com/Home.htm
The Shocking, Unacceptable Levels of Hunger and Homelessness in American Cities
A new report looks at the issue in 22 cities* around the country between Sept. 1, 2014, and Aug. 31, 2015. ByKali Holloway / AlterNet
December 22, 2015
Readers please note that more detailed data for Arizona and United Food Bank's service area are included in this post
A number of important findings emerged from the survey: - Emergency food assistance requests increased - Unmet requests for emergency food assistance increased - Food pantries and emergency kitchens had to cut back on the amount of food given out as groceries or meals - Lack of affordable housing, an issue that continues to worsen in many places around the country, was the primary reason given for homelessness among families with children. - Poverty, unemployment and low-paying jobs were the reasons that followed. * It should be noted that, per the paper, “only cities whose mayors are members of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Task Force on Hunger and Homelessness were invited to submit information for the report.”
The nearest location to Mesa included in the survey was Salt Lake City, Utah . . Curiously enough according to an online report , Salt Lake City's "hunger profile" remains a question. Inexplicably, the survey includes no data on hunger for Salt Lake City, unlike the other 21 participating municipalities [???]. A spokeswoman for City Hall said the Utah Food Bank did not provide the data. A spokeswoman for the Food Bank, on the other hand, said the agency had not been asked to participate in the survey for some time.
Here in Mesa https://unitedfoodbank.org/[link to their website] is the major go-to organization dealing with hunger and what's called "food insecurity". They are very open, accountable and transparent with data: According to website for AZ Foodbanks , the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale MSA experienced a 19.2% food hardship rate in 2014 ranking 42nd in the country.
United Food Bank distributed 22,398,097 pounds of food in the last year.
That’s enough food to provide more than 51,100 meals each day. They provide food to more than 188 partner agencies, including 10 sister food banks. Their financials and 2014 Annual Report can be found here Does United Food Bank have enough food to meet the need? . . . No. On average, United Food Bank is able to fill around 75% of our partner agencies’ requests. This can vary depending on the time of year. While the need doesn’t change – it’s always increasing. Donations do fluctuate. It's a fact that people donate during the holiday season, because it is seen as a time of giving
What are the hunger statistics for Arizona and United food Bank's service area? Arizona Hunger Statistics 1 in 4 Children is food insecure 1 in 5 Adults is food insecure 1 in 7 Seniors is food insecure Food Insecurity Within Service Area of the East Valley (Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert), Gila, Pinal, Southern Navajo and Southern Apache Counties) 225,598 Individuals 93,525 Children 84,493 Households
On average, 28,000 different people are assisted weekly 284 Hunger Relief Programs 535,745 Emergency Food Boxes 20,976,287 Pounds Distributed Last Year 17,480,239 Meals Distributed Last Year
Who United Food Bank Helps 30 % of household members are children under age 18 20 % of household members are seniors 70 % of the families have incomes below the federal poverty level 54 % of the households have someone who is working
Your neighbors served here in the East Valley and surrounding counties currently experience or have experienced some of the following situations in the past 12 months: 65 % report having to choose between buying food and paying for utilities 53 % report having to choose between buying food and paying their rent or mortgage 60 % report having to choose between buying food and paying for medical care 29 % report having to choose between buying food and paying for transportation
For readers of this blog who are not familiar with the no-nonsense news source AlterNet here's some brief information:
AlterNet is an activist news service and a project of the non-profit Independent Media Institute. Founded in 1998, the news org publishes a combination of policy critiques, investigative reports and analysis, grassroots success stories, and personal narratives. Its coverage emphasizes the discovery of solutions to social problems, and its editorial philosophy is "to uphold a commitment to fairness, equality, and global stewardship, while making connections across generational, ethnic, and issue lines".
Department of Housing and Urban Development The bill includes a total of $38.3 billion for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development—$2.6 billion more than in fiscal year 2015 and $2.3 billion less than requested by the President.
The Office of Public and Indian Housing, which is designed to help residents of affordable housing become more self-sufficient and economic independent, is funded at $26.9 billion, $447 million more than in fiscal year 2015, and $1.87 billion less than the President’s request.
Housing programs to help ensure assistance is provided to the nation’s most vulnerable citizens, are funded at $11.3 billion, $930 million more than in fiscal year 2015, and $202 million below the President’s request. This includes $11 billion is to fund project-based rental assistance, $433 million for Housing for the Elderly, $151 million for Housing for Persons with Disabilities, $60 million for the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) program to help end veterans’ homelessness, $30 million for the Rental Housing Assistance program, and $47 million for the Housing Counseling Assistance Program.
Community Planning and Development programs are funded at $6.65 billion, $173 million more than in fiscal 2015. Within this amount, the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, a flexible funding program that provides communities with resources to address a wide range of development needs, is funded at $3 billion, the same as the 2015 enacted level.
The HOME Investment Partnerships Program, which provides block grants to states and localities to expand affordable housing, is funded at $950 million, $50 million more than fiscal year 2015.
Choice Neighborhoods, which provides support for struggling neighborhoods and aid for community revitalization, is funded at $125 million.
The bill prevents HUD from funding any new livable, sustainable or green program in HUD’s Community Development programs. Since the Office of Economic Resilience (OER) or the Resilience fund are old programs, this policy statement does not impact them.
Department of Transportation The bill includes a total of $18.7 billion in fiscal year 2016 discretionary appropriations for the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) — $847 million more than in fiscal year 2015, and $5.4 billion below the President’s request. It also provides USDOT with $56.4 billion in “obligation limitation” funding for surface transportation and safety programs.
The Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants program, which funds competitive grants for state and local road, transit, port, and railroad construction projects, is funded at $500 million. This is the same as fiscal year 2015 and $750 million less than requested by the president. Funds in the bill would be available until September 30, 2019, and would cover projects including but not limited to highway, bridge, public transportation, passenger and freight rail, and port projects.
The Federal Railroad Administration is funded at $1.7 billion, $52 million more than in fiscal year 2015. Within this amount, Amtrak grant funding is maintained at $1.4 billion.
The Federal Transit Administration is funded at $11.8 billion, $870 million more than in fiscal year 2015. This includes $9.3 billion in state and local transit grant funding from the Mass Transit Account of the Highway Trust Fund, to help local communities build, maintain, and ensure the safety of their mass transit systems. It also includes $2.18 billion for FTA’s Capital Investment Grants, such as the New Starts, Small Starts, and Core Capacity Improvements grant programs responsible for funding major transit capital investments, including rapid rail, light rail, bus rapid transit, commuter rail, and ferries.
Just out from Urban Land Institute, something we all know well here in the non-urban Mesa: the suburbs are still alive, fueled by massive on-the-backs-of-taxpayers municipal bond funding for spending millions building infrastructure, giving tax breaks and other incentives to corporations and businesses for job-creation, and laying the groundwork for attracting deep-pocket out-of-state investments in real estate.
Too many details to go into here, but recent successes at Eastmark in the former General Motors Proving Ground - with over 500 single-home sales in the last year - help make the point. As well as one piece of data shown in the image to the right for global investments in U.S. Real Estate by Country for the previous five years and previous twelve months.
Emerging Trends in Real Estate® Americas: Real estate has become ever more dynamic as it adapts to a networked world. Everything is connected to everything else, so market participants cannot afford to ignore developments well beyond the property markets themselves. The major forces of globalization, technology, urbanization, and demography are constantly interacting with each other. A lapse of attention or a misstep in execution can result in being blindsided, foiling even a well-considered plan of action. Readers can download the report here >> http://uli.org/research/centers-initiatives/center-for-capital-markets/emerging-trends-in-real-estate/americas/
NO MORE EXCUSES. . . these important matters need to get done in real time right now. Everybody pays nothing more than "lip-service" about it's the right thing to do, but action has been stalled and not put on the agenda for elected city officials in the Mesa City Council. There's an election for three Council member seats [not one woman in office or declared go be on the ballot] and for the seat of the mayor coming up this year. Either this issue gets resolved by citizens' actions before that, or diversity and inclusion becomes one of the major issues in the upcoming campaigns.
At this point, these none-actions - on both the part of voters and elected officials - can’t be chalked up to cluelessness. No, it’s something far worse: Irresponsibility and a pervasive conservative minority religion that has dominated and controlled politics and government here in Mesa for generations. The momentum [to use a favorite of Mayor John Giles] in the world, in this country, and in other major cities in the State of Arizona like Phoenix, Tucson, Tempe and Scottsdale has moved forward to guarantee by the force of law the rights of all protected classes with no religious exemption - it's time to stop the rhetoric.
Perhaps Forbes Magazine says it best in this report by Josh Bersin with 19,668 views on December 6, 2015 @09:55 a.m. He's talking about business, natural in a publication devoted to that area, but his words ring true for everybody. It starts off with this leading sentence: With all the press we read about diversity, inclusion, women in leadership, and the need to be open minded about religious and cultural differences, one might ask “is 2016 going to be the year of diversity . . . ?” Why Diversity And Inclusion Will Be A Top Priority For 2016 The whole report is six pages long. Read it here >> http://www.forbes.com/sites/lizryan/2016/01/01/five-habits-of-controlling-people/
Readers of this blog get the point. We all need to take action to make sure that 2016 = The Year Diversity Excuses Officially Expire
