http://golis.blogs.pressdemocrat.com Just another Press Democrat Blogs weblog Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:33:31 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en “It’s OK to ask for help, because we all need help now and then.” -    John Records, executive director, the Committee on the Shelterless. PETALUMA More than 600 people showed up for a 7:30 a.m. breakfast here on Wednesday. And they weren’t lined up to tryout for a TV reality show. These Petalumans rose ... http://golis.blogs.pressdemocrat.com/10268/cutting-through-the-gloom/ For Californians hoping that state and local government could stop the bleeding, there is more grim news. On Saturday, the San Jose Mercury News reported that the state’s budget deficit - worst case -  could reach $25 billion next year. Twenty-five billion dollars.  Translation: That’s 29.5 percent of the current $84.5 ... http://golis.blogs.pressdemocrat.com/10266/welcome-to-the-lull-before-the-latest-train-wreck/ For Sonoma County people who value the services provided by hometown government, another dispiriting week has come and gone. Local agencies continue to be hammered by budget shortfalls, and the latest financial updates offer no reason to be optimistic about what will happen next year or the year after. In the ... http://golis.blogs.pressdemocrat.com/10261/hometown-government-is-broken/ "Few vying for state's top job," reads this morning's headline, and I'd wager many readers had the identical response. They thought to themselves: No surprise there. Who would want to be governor anyway? By now, the futility of California government has become the story line of our time - an era ... http://golis.blogs.pressdemocrat.com/10255/who-would-want-to-be-governor/ A much-anticipated report on the state of American journalism was published on Monday, and I would like to say that its recommendations provide a road map for a new golden age of journalism. I would like to say that. But as I read “The Reconstruction of American Journalism” - which is nothing ... http://golis.blogs.pressdemocrat.com/10251/watchdog-journalism-can-never-be-free/ In April, we stopped watering our small front lawn, and now the results are in: Over the past six months we reduced our water consumption, year over year, by more than a third - 4,000 gallons of water saved each and every month. Meanwhile, a funny thing happened this past week: ... http://golis.blogs.pressdemocrat.com/10248/the-grass-is-suddenly-greener-2/ For the past two weeks, I’ve been using Zagat to Go, the iPhone version of the popular restaurant review network. Wherever I am in the U.S., one tap of the screen will give me a list of the nearest restaurants, their ratings for food, decor and service, and the average ... http://golis.blogs.pressdemocrat.com/10246/tech-stuff-daddy-what%e2%80%99s-a-map/ I’m a student of what cities are doing to bring new energy to old neighborhoods - which is how I came to walk the length of a unique urban park on Thursday. Built on what was once an elevated railway, the High Line In New York City now stretches 22 blocks ... http://golis.blogs.pressdemocrat.com/10242/the-important-of-public-spaces/ “Will California become America’s first failed state?” - Headline last Sunday in Britain’s Guardian. NEW YORK Friends here ask whether California will be OK. They have read the news about a state that seems to be spiraling downward, and they worry. In the American mythology, the Golden State has always been the place ... http://golis.blogs.pressdemocrat.com/10239/what-will-happen-to-california/ In August, I wrote about the need for downtowns to prepare for an influx of aging baby boomers - who “now want to exchange the hassles of suburban life for the smaller scale and convenient amenities available in pedestrian-friendly cities.” Now comes the Wall Street Journal with a Sept. 19 special ... http://golis.blogs.pressdemocrat.com/10237/will-aging-baby-boomers-transform-downtowns/