Part of Understanding Government’s mission is to examine the way federal and state agencies cooperate on issues of national importance, or — as in this article by GIMBY reporter Jane Johnston — don’t.

Newburgh, NY, Nov. 20, 2008 — Millions of gallon of water, laced with carcinogenic and other toxic chemicals, are pumped deep into the earth at pressures great enough to break solid rock and release natural gas stored in pockets. The process is called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” Politicians with an eye for economic development cheer for the gas and the hoped for prosperity it will bring; also pleased are some property owners who have received fat signing bonuses for drilling leases. But what becomes of those millions of gallons of now contaminated water? If left in the ground, could they affect the groundwater supply? What about spillage or leakage from above-ground storage tanks? This scenario has alarmed people in many states in the past few years, and New York State now faces its own dilemmas with the prospect of drilling in the Marcellus Shale formation in Sullivan County. (more…)

California’s new bullet train project has a lot going for it as a news story:  high technology, an impressive budget, and a signal role in America’s turn to better mass transit.  So: will it work?  And who’s going to pay for it all?  GIMBY reporter Marc Albert followed up with Quentin Kopp, Chairman of the California High Speed Rail Authority’s board of directors, and filed the following story:

If you don’t like the bullet train, you’re standing in the way of progress.  At least that’s the judgment of Quentin Kopp, chairman of the board of directors of the California High Speed Rail Authority. Kopp said in a recent interview that critics of the train are “probably descendants of the people who objected to the building of the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge during the Great Depression and also the Grand Coulee Dam and the TVA.” (more…)

By Marc Albert, California reporter for Government in My Backyard

It could prove this election’s sleeper issue.

Low on the ballot and dwarfed by both the presidential race and a furious campaign to vanquish same sex marriage, a $9.95 billion bond issue promising to change forever California’s love affair with the automobile rolled to victory last week. (more…)

Pennsylvanians (2006 pop. 12.5 million) may be getting a bit tired of being tagged red, blue, or purple after the endless presidential campaign.  Whoever is elected, some residents of the Keystone State are looking beyond politics and working to renew their second-largest city, Pittsburgh, Sean Hamill of the New York Times reports.  A group of twenty or so city residents decided to transform a combination overgrown forest/informal dump into a two-acre city park.  One participant even said "[w]e were just strangers before, and this made us neighbors."  A little too cute?  Yes.  But true?  Probably.  This kind of pulling together is what Americans are good at and if this spreads, it will help Rust Belt cities (and others) turn around.  Pittsburgh city government came to the aid of these citizens and will declare the park a greenway, closed to commercial development.  -NH

Alison Young of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution delivers an update on how many children are not being vaccinated in spite of a state law mandating shots before they enter school.  An alarming number of schoolchildren in Atlanta and surrounding suburbs have not gotten their shots for diseases like diptheria, measles, and polio — between 30 and 80 percent across different schools.  It appears that the problem is getting parents to focus, because, according to one public health official "[p]rincipals who tell parents their child can’t come back without vaccinations achieve 95 percent to 100 percent compliance."  -NH

Poor-quality concrete has recently been the cause of deaths in earthquakes and building collapses in China, Russia, and India.  Now it turns out that New York City may have faulty concrete in structures designed to hold thousands of people, we learn from William Rashbaum of the New York Times.  Employees of the Port Authority and the Department of Buildings noticed "irregularities in tests conducted at the new Yankee Stadium and the Freedom Tower, among other locations."  Local officials are assuring New Yorkers that the faulty testing of concrete is not evidence of a safety hazard, which seems to be SOP for officials when they realize that they haven’t been doing their job.  Rashbaum’s article is quiet on what city officials were doing instead of monitoring the private contractor hired to test concrete quality.  Maybe watching the ballgame?  -NH

Understanding Government is looking for reporters who can work with us to develop Government in My Backyard (GIMBY), a project devoted to covering federal agency performance on the state and local level around the U.S.  GIMBY also features reporting on the performance of state and local executive branch agencies.  How does it work?  You file 1-2 stories per week of up to 500 words (longer stories are also possible) on a pro bono basis for two months.  We use the reporting and reader responses from this pilot stage to demonstrate to foundations that GIMBY is bringing fresh eyes to government performance around the country.  If we are successful in attracting funding, we will be able to offer part-time paid reporting positions to ten or more reporters around the country.

To see examples of the kinds of stories we are interested in, please scan the GIMBY section of this web site.   If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity, please contact us here or call our office at (202) 775-8080 to learn more.  All experience levels welcomed.

Understanding Government continues its work with reporters around the country, here featuring Jane Johnston of the Newburgh Advocate.

When Banks Say No, City Says Yes

Newburgh, N.Y., October 16, 2008 — With the downturn in the economy, LeylandAlliance, Newburgh’s waterfront developer, has had a hard time getting the loan they wanted from banks for their East Parmenter Street Project.  LeylandAlliance is looking to build 24 homes downtown, including eight homes to be built together with Habitat for Humanity.  So the developer came before the Newburgh City Council to request a project construction loan from the city’s Kingston-Newburgh Enterprise Corporation (KNEC) funds. (more…)

Part of our initiative on federal, state, and local executive branch performance in cities and towns across the U.S.  Contributed by Jane Johnston of the Newburgh Advocate.

Newburgh Ministry receives HHAC grant

Newburgh, NY — September 25, 2008 — Newburgh Ministry, a community center/hospitality house, has received a $1.8 million grant from the Homeless Housing Assistance Corporation, an agency of the state of New York.  The grant will be used for capital improvement, rehabilitating their building at and making it ADA compliant.

In 2005, Newburgh Ministry began operating an all night drop-in shelter, but without cots or beds.  Guests have had to sleep on chairs or the floor.  The HHAC grant will provide 19 beds for men and women. (more…)

The phrase "states’ rights" is usually associated with the days of segregation, Jim Crow laws, and the Civil War.  But states’ rights are assuming a whole new identity in the wake of the Bush administration’s anti-regulatory legacy.  And when the states have more leeway to shape government, they often come up with solutions that can be good for the whole country.  Folks down home often see things that Washington big shots miss — or don’t want to see in the first place.  Michael Hirsh writes in a recent Newsweek about how former governor of the state of Georgia Roy Barnes foresaw the foreclosure epidemic and tried to stop it from happening in his own state.   Barnes wanted to do something revolutionary:  make lenders liable for issuing unethical or inappropriate loans.  But then Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac started camping out in the governor’s office.  (more…)