I Have No Pants And I Must Scream

• Courtesy of SDOT, click to enlarge.

Seattle Department of Transportation planning manager Tony Mazzella and Tom Brennan of Nelson/Nygaard presented the recommendations to the Seattle City Council’s transportation committee this morning (.pdf). The routes are among 15 high-priority corridors previously singled out by the Seattle Department of Transportation and transportation consulting group Nelson/Nygaard for light rail and rapid bus service investments in the city’s ongoing Transit Master Plan update. Once completed, the plan will provide the city with a 20-year template for future transit investments.

So why were these north-and-city-centric corridors selected for street rail above others—like, say, a high-capacity service to West Seattle?

Mazzella says that the routes were chosen using a variety of quantitative and qualitative factors—including social equity, current and future transit demand, alignment with Sound Transit routes, neighborhood zoning, and topography (you’ll notice that on the above map a fourth high-priority route stretching from Coleman dock up Madison Street was earmarked for Bus Rapid Transit—which is essentially a bus route with fewer stops—due to its steep grade).

And when 12,000 people were surveyed about Seattle’s transit system last fall, “people said speed and reliability were their highest needs,” explained Brennan. “We didn’t hear a lot about transit coverage.”

Plus, “we felt [street rail] was heavily weighed towards serving commuters,” explained Mazzella. “And serving the areas of greatest growth means serving urban centers.” Nevertheless, council members seemed cautious of the plan, if not downright skeptical of investing in street rail over buses.

“We’re on the verge of building the Capitol Hill street car and there are suggestions that we should’ve done it differently or should be doing it differently,” says council member Tim Burgess, who didn’t elaborate on what the hell he was talking about.

“Are the investments we’re making in South Lake Union and the First Hill street car ones that are good long term investments?” echoed committee chair Tom Rasmussen. “Are we making mistakes now that we’ll regret later?”

I’m not sure what the fuck, exactly, they’re getting at.

But here’s a quick stab in the dark: Obviously, street rail is the most expensive option to build along these corridors—SDOT estimates that street rail would cost $47 million per mile to extend a rail line to Ballard, as opposed to $16 million per mile for BRT—and these capital costs would be shouldered by the city, not King County Metro. And the city is currently broker than a Greece.

But there are three points to consider, here:

1) The Transit Master Plan is a 20-year plan (and beyond). It would be foolish not to plan for street rail, which Brennan estimates is a seven-year planning-to-construction process. And the plan doesn’t prioritize street rail above other, cheaper transit improvement projects—like bus rapid transit, or smaller investments in bus bulbs, boarding islands, off-board fare payment, or raised bus boarding platforms.

2) While capital costs are higher for building street rail, operating costs will likely be higher for operating multiple buses (paying for more drivers, maintenance on more buses) to accommodate the city’s growing demand. The city could apply for federal assistance to help cover its capital costs (but not operating costs).

• Courtesy of SDOT

It seems like we’ll have months yet to argue about this. SDOT is planning on submitting its final version of the Transit Master Plan to Mayor Mike McGinn in September. After that, the plan will likely go through several rounds of public comment before being submitted to the council for consideration early next year.

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This November, the Unix community has another notable anniversary to celebrate: the 40th birthday of the first edition of Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie’s Unix Programmers Manual, released in November 1971. Producing the document was no easy task, because at that point the Unix operating system grew by the week; budding aficionados added new commands and features to the system on a regular basis.

“The rate of change of the system is so great that a dismayingly large number of early sections [of the text] had to be modified while the rest were being written,” Thompson and Ritchie noted in their introduction. “The unbounded effort required to stay up-to-date is best indicated by the fact that several of the programs described were written specifically to aid in preparation of this manual!”

That’s why Unix timelines are fun to read—they give a sense of how quickly the system collaboratively evolved. But some of them either skip or mention without explanation a government decision that, in retrospect, paved the way not only for Unix, but perhaps for the open source movement as well: the 1956 Consent Decree between the United States Department of Justice and AT&T.

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Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) groups are a great way to support local farmers and gardeners while making sure the freshest seasonal fruits, vegetables, dairy, and in some cases meat wind up in your fridge and on your dinner table. A few years ago, it was difficult to find one in your community, but today joining a CSA is easier than ever.

Photo by Leif K-Brooks.

What Is a CSA?

A CSA is a different way of getting fresh produce to your table. Instead of buying your fruit and vegetables from a grocer or middleman, a CSA is a loosely organized group of customers and farmers who organize to sell “shares” of the farmers’ crops to the customers, who in turn subsidize the farmers, their operations, and often their families. Some CSAs ship directly to customer homes, but others allow you to pick up your share at a nearby collection point. Photo by Tim Sackton.

When you join a CSA, you sign up for regular deliveries of fresh fruits, vegetables, and in some cases meat and dairy from the participating farms. Those deliveries are selected by the organizer, and either come weekly or monthly, depending on the schedule of the CSA. Additionally, some CSAs ship deliveries year-round, featuring fall and winter crops or home-made jams and jellies during the cold weather months. Many CSAs allow you to sign up per-season so you only pay for the seasonal crops you’re interested in.

Depending on how large the CSA is or how many seasons you sign up for, you can expect to pay anywhere from $20-$50/week for a seasonal share. That means a typical June to November summer season could set you back between $400-$1000. Many CSAs offer discounts if you pick up your share instead of having it shipped, or if you offer to work the farm one day each month. Working the farm is never required, however. The outlay at the start may seem steep, but consider it in comparison to how much you spend on produce at a farmer’s market or grocery store every week or month.

We’ve discussed how to make the most of your CSA, and the benefits of joining a coffee CSA, but finding and joining a CSA is another matter. CSAs used to be difficult to find, but more of them have popped up in the past year then ever before. That’s all great, but it doesn’t explain why or how you should join one. Here’s why. Photo by Scott.

Why Should I Join a CSA?

• Supports Local Farmers: Unlike buying from a grocery store, CSAs are a great way to give money directly to the farmers that grow your fruits and vegetables. It’s not as direct as visiting a farmer’s market, but if you don’t live in a place where there’s a farmer’s market nearby, CSAs often deliver your “share,” or your portion of the harvest to your home, or let you pick up your share from a central location.
• The Freshest Possible Seasonal Eats: Since all of the fruit, vegetables, and dairy you get from a CSA are locally-grown, everything you get as part of your share will likely be grown within a stone’s throw of your home. That means it’s picked when ripe, and not frozen and trucked across country before getting to you.

  Also, as the weather changes, crops will change too – you’ll get berries and tomatoes in the spring and summer, and squash and apples in the fall – when they’re perfectly ripe.

• Try New, Healthier Foods: You don’t have to join an organic CSA, but they’re out there if you want food that’s free of pesticides or grown in a certified organic environment. Plus, as a thank you, most farmers in a CSA will throw in new and different crops at times to see how well people like them and how well they grow. Your regular share will usually contain a delicious surprise.
• Gets You Outside: It’s not required, but many CSAs will offer discounted memberships if you come and work the field. It’s not for everyone, that’s for sure, especially if you’re joining so you don’t have to garden. If you do like getting out in the sun and getting some activity for a day a month or so, some CSAs give you the chance to get up close and personal with the fruit, veggies, and sometimes even the meat and dairy you eat.
• (Potentially) Cheaper than Gourmet/Conventional Markets: Most people wouldn’t consider a CSA the most affordable option when it comes right down to dollars. The benefit of fresh, delicious food is enough to make many people spend more than they would at their local supermarket. However, because a CSA requires you lay out more money up front to get regular deliveries, it forces you to budget, and depending on how much you spend on groceries regularly, it could wind up being cheaper in the long run.

How Do I Join a CSA?

For more information, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has an excellent list of CSA resources and directories that will help you find one in your area. We’re big fans of Local Harvest, since it has one of the largest databases of CSAs in the US. Ecovian has a good database of CSAs in the United States and Canada as well.

The USDA page also has more information and published studies on the value of CSAs, their history, and their growth over the past few years.

In Canada, CSAs are usually referred to as Community Shared Agriculture, and finding one can be difficult depending on where you live. Residents of Ontario can visit the Ontario CSA Farm Directory, and Quebecois can visit Equiterre to find one in their province.

Once you’ve found a CSA in your area, joining is usually as simple as filling out your information on the group’s website or placing a phone call. You’ll often have to pay for your seasonal share up-front, but once your payment is processed, you’ll often get a welcome kit with information about the farm and the farmers you’re supporting, how you can get involved on the farm if you so choose, and what the delivery schedule looks like. In many cases at this point, you can sit back, relax, and wait for the food to roll in. Ken Hawkins.

Who Shouldn’t Join a CSA?

If you have simple and easy access to a farmer’s market for your groceries, it may not make sense for you to join a CSA unless you want the opportunity to work a farm or get close to your food. Even so, CSAs are great for people who only have farmers market access during certain seasons, or who would prefer food delivered right to their door. It won’t replace your grocery trips, but a good CSA will definitely cut down on their frequency and volume.

Also, even though we mentioned price as one reason you should join a CSA, getting your fruits and vegetables from a CSA will likely not save you any money unless you let it force you to budget or use it as a way to manage your food costs. Shopping at large supermarkets is simply cheaper for a number of reasons (volume, subsidies, commercial farm operations, etc.) Joining a CSA shouldn’t be an economic decision, but if economics are in the front of your mind, it may not be for you. Photo by O2 Nation.

Why I Love My CSA

When I chose to join a CSA, I did so partially to be environmentally conscious and to support local agriculture, but the decision was largely out of a desire to be closer to the source of my food, and to obtain the freshest local food possible. I wanted to meet the people who grew my food and visit the places where it was grown. While I haven’t worked up the nerve to work the farm just yet, I appreciate the fact that I can either have fresh food delivered to me or I can pick it up on a regular basis, and that the money I spend on that food goes directly into the hands of the people who bring it to me.

Being a CSA member hasn’t stopped my trips to the local farmer’s market, or to the grocery store for non-perishables, but it’s definitely changed how I eat and what I eat at what times during the year. Plus, knowing the other members of the CSA and the farmers behind it appreciate my participation is a big benefit.

If you do decide to join a CSA, you’ll join a growing trend and group of people who are decidedly close to their food. You’ll be paying for sustainable, small batch farmers, often families, who could use the help, and most rely on environmentally friendly and sustainable farming practices to keep their customers happy and their farms healthy. The money you spend goes right into the food you eat and into sustaining the operations of the farm or group you’re a member of. Photo by Catherine.

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You  shop locally, you buy locally, so why don’t you invest locally? Why not invest your assets in your favorite small business just  down the street from where you live? Truth is, it’s not as easy as it should be, says Amy Cortese, a veteran business journalist and author of the new book Locavesting,  which takes a look at the local-investing movement and how individual investors can participate.

While Wall Street is back in stride after the financial crisis, Main Street has lots of cracks in the pavement. That’s because our financial markets aim to serve “too big to fail” corporations, while labeling small businesses as unlikely to succeed. Instead, we should be doing a better job investing in locally-owned companies, says Cortese, and financial regulators should also be doing a better job in allowing us to do so.

I talked with Cortese about her book, the state of local investing today, and steps that investors of any net worth can take to support their local business.

What was your inspiration for the book?

In the wake of the financial crisis in 2008, it was clear the financial system had major flaws and that people were looking for alternatives. That’s what I found at the inaugural national conference of Slow Money, a group with a sort of a Slow-Food-meets-finance focus on bringing money back down to earth. I was writing about sustainable business, food, and venture capital, so all these things came together. I too was looking for investing alternatives and when I looked around, I was amazed at all the grassroot organizations across the country.

Why is it so important to invest in small businesses?

Jobs are key. Small businesses create two out of every three jobs in this country. Multi-national corporations are net job destroyers, but ironically that’s where we have most of our money invested. Small businesses provide a lot of benefits that big companies don’t.  They tend to keep more money circulating in the local economy. It’s called the “local multiplier effect.” They spend more locally in terms of wages, and spending on professional services like accounting and web design. They support the Little League teams, advertise in local media, give to local charities, and most of their employees are local. Every dollar spent at a local-owned business generates, on average, three times the economic benefits for a local community than one dollar spent at a corporate-owned chain store.

So  why don’t more people invest in them?

The U.S. securities laws tend to hinder investment in local companies. A hundred years ago, industries were built up through local stock exchanges, but in the race to globalize and be more efficient, we’re leaving that behind. When it comes to Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) laws, it boils down to two sets of rules – one set for “accredited” wealthy investors who can invest in anything they like, and another for those who don’t have that net worth of $1 million, not including your home value. The  SEC is trying to protect the latter from shady investments, but we’re not being protected by the  high-frequency trading on the New York Stock Exchange, so you can argue the wisdom of those laws. There are exemptions and exceptions in securities laws that allow some local investing to be done but it’s complicated. Even many legal experts who advise small business don’t know all the laws.

But when most people think of small businesses, they think of that oft-quoted statistic that half of them fail in their first five years. So why make such a risky investment?

Yes, when people think of small businesses, they think of the mom-and-pop shop. But a small business can also be a high-growth startup, or a company that employs hundreds of people and makes millions of dollars but is locally owned and has a stake in its community. These businesses make community decisions as a stakeholder, not as a distant company solely focused on maximizing profit. The investment returns may be more modest, but some have good revenue models and growth prospects. The point is, which is more risky? You drive by that business every day and read about it in your local paper, so there’s an information flow, there’s trust and accountability. You don’t have that with giant corporations and conglomerates halfway around the world that could be investing in derivatives and leveraging themselves to the hilt.

When you were researching the book, what were your most inspiring examples of locavesting?

I love the story about the Cops & Doughnuts bakery in Clare, Michigan. What I love about this example: Here’s a mom-and-pop shop that’s been in business for 100 years on the verge of closing, but a bunch of residents  - – policemen, in this case —  took a risk, invested in it, were wildly successful and as a side effect, revitalized the downtown.

I also like the story of the Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn. The owners raised $70,000 from two dozen residents. That’s not huge amounts of money, but the people wanted a bookstore in their neighborhood so they lent money, feel like they have some ownership in the place, and they’re the bookstore’s best customers. Greenlight was profitable after just one year.

So what are the best steps people can do to be locavestors?

If you’re a wealthy investor, the sky is the limit. But for the rest of us, the easiest way to start is move your money to a local bank, community bank or credit union, because they are much more likely to be investing in and giving money to businesses in your area.

Community development loan funds are region-focused funds that invest in underserved regions and businesses that can’t get bank loans. You can invest in one with as little as $20 at MicroPlace.com. You can also search for a community fund in your state at the Opportunity Finance Network. Some good groups to check out are Slow Money and Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, which have chapters across the country – so join or start one.

Another option is creating a local investment club. In my book, I wrote about a group called Local Investing Opportunity Network (LION), which revitalized the town of Port Townsend in Washington and has become a source of inspiration for lots of  other communities nationwide. LION has information about how to start a local investment club on its website.

People can also join a food  co-op or energy co-op in their area. You get a “patronage rebate,” which is the excess profit gets distributed to members asa rewards program, but the framework lets a business raise money for expansion capital from its members. Organic Valley Co-op in Wisconsin raised $43 million from investors over a few years and gave them back annual  returns of six percent, even while the stock market was tanking.

A new method is “crowdfunding,” done through peer-to-peer lending sites like Prosper and Lending Club, which started as offering personal loans but has now moved into offering them to small business. Interest rates average 10 percent, which is good for investors and borrowers alike because it cuts out the middleman.

Now that the book is done, have you become a locavestor?

I started by going to the Move Your Money website, entering  my zip code and putting my money in the nearest local bank.  I also put some money into a local community development loan fund through the Calvert Foundation, and I’m a member of the Slow Money NYC group. And if this book becomes a bestseller, I’ll have more money to invest!

Vanessa Richardson is a freelance writer in San Francisco who writes about small business and personal finance.

Does the First Amendment allow governments to regulate behavioral advertising? That question wasn’t the Supreme Court’s focus in the case of IMS v. Sorrell. But Thursday’s decision striking down a Vermont regulation of drug industry marketing practices could have implications for privacy law more generally. Ars talked to two legal experts about the merits of the decision and what it says about the future of privacy on the Internet.

This is your court on drugs

Drug companies market their wares by dispatching sales representatives, known as “detailers,” to meet individually with doctors. Detailers explain new products, answer questions about existing products, and provide information they hope will convince the doctors to prescribe their employers’ products more often.

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San Francisco - Your computer, your phone, and your other digital devices hold vast amounts of personal information about you and your family. Can police officers enter your home to search your laptop? Do you have to give law enforcement officials your encryption keys or passwords? If you are pulled over when driving, can the officer search your cell phone?

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has answers to these questions in our new “Know Your Digital Rights” guide, including easy-to-understand tips on interacting with police officers and other law enforcement officials.

“With smart phones, tablet computers, and laptops, we carry around with us an unprecedented amount of sensitive personal information,” said EFF Staff Attorney Hanni Fakhoury. “That smart phone in your pocket right now could contain email from your doctor or your kid’s teacher, not to mention detailed contact information for all of your friends and family members. Your laptop probably holds even more data — your Internet browsing history, family photo albums, and maybe even things like an electronic copy of your taxes or your employment agreement. This is sensitive data that’s worth protecting from prying eyes.”

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution protects you from unreasonable government searches and seizures, and this protection extends to your computer and portable devices. In EFF’s “Know Your Digital Rights” guide, we outline various common scenarios and explain when and how the police can search the data stored on your computer or portable electronic device — or seize it for further examination somewhere else — and give suggestions on what you can and can’t do to protect your privacy.

“In the heat of the moment, it can be hard to remember what your rights are and how to exercise them,” said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Marcia Hofmann. “Sometimes police can search your computer whether you like it or not, but sometimes they can’t. We wrote this guide to help you tell the difference and to empower you to assert your rights when the police come knocking.”

For the full “Know Your Digital Rights” guide:
https://www.eff.org/wp/know-your-rights

For a one-page summary to print and post:
https://www.eff.org/files/EFF_Police_Tips_2011.pdf

Contacts:

Hanni Fakhoury
Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
hanni@eff.org

Marcia Hofmann
Senior Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
marcia@eff.org

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