City Invincible

Bob Herbert, one of my favorite columnists, wrote a great editorial in the NY Times this week called “American Cities and the Great Divide.”

In it, Herbert expresses his concern for New Yorkers left behind in what’s been considered a successful era for the nation’s largest city. “It’s a measure of how low the bar has been set for success in America’s cities that New York is thought to be doing well, even though 185,000 of its children ages 5 or younger are poor, and 18,000 are consigned to homeless shelters each night. More than a million New Yorkers get food stamps, and another 700,000 are eligible but not receiving them.”

I whole heartedly agree with Herbert’s concern with urban issues being left out of presidential debates, saying, “There was a time, some decades ago, when urban issues and poverty were important components of presidential campaigns. Now the poor are kept out of sight, which makes it easier to leave them farther and farther behind. We’ve apparently reached a point in our politics when they aren’t even worth mentioning.”

Last November, a hospital in California dropped off a 65-year-old homeless woman, in a hospital gown and diaper, on Skid Row. Now the hospital is trying to make up for it by creating “a new set of procedures that officials hope will become a model for the treatment and release of homeless patients.”

The agreement ends a lawsuit filed by the ACLU. The stipulations aren’t clear, but what’s known is that the hospital “will train and use special procedures in the treatment and release of homeless patients. Among the requirements is that they are provided clothing and transportation and a facility is contacted ahead of their release.”

Properly releasing homeless patients from the hospital is a national problem. The steps being taking by this one California hospital should just be the start of creating federal policy on this issue. For instance, the policy should include admitting the patient to a proper emergency service program.

Source: KnowledgePlex

Spiegel reports, “A German architect is pursuing an ambitious project in the Middle East. He wants to build office towers in Riyadh, Dubai and Bahrain that produce all their own energy.”

The 68-story building cylindrical shape includes a “protective solar shield” that protects the inside from the sun’s glaring rays that can heat some buildings up to 140 degrees. The building will also use seawater to cool the air for its efficient air conditioning system that also uses “suspend hanging gardens inside the air ducts.”

Furthermore, the building will have an “island of solar panels” drifting in the nearby sea to create energy. Any surplus energy created by the 182,986 square foot solar island will be used to extract hydrogen from the seawater to power the building at night.

Lighting will be all-natural too. “In the daytime highly reflective mirrors on the roof direct the sunlight onto a cone of light that goes through the center of the building and provides its various floors with plenty of natural light.”

Source: New Tower Creates All Its Own Energy