Freedom to Eat: The Public Policy of City-Level Food Aid in Depression-Era Ontario

Jüdische Stadtdeputierte in der Zweiten Polnischen Republik: Projekte – Strategien – Dynamiken[The Jewish city councilors in the Second Polish Republic: Plans, strategies, dynamic

Flint Goodridge Hospital and Black Health Care in Twentieth-Century New Orleans

Enablers to achieve zero hunger through IoT and blockchain technology and transform the green food supply chain systems

The availability, price, and quality of healthy foods can vary based on store size and store location. Quantifying access to healthy food based on availability, price, and quality might improve diet with implications for chronic disease. We used the Flint Food Store Assessment (FFSA) Instrument to conduct across-sectional study from June to August2012. We surveyed 273 stores (27 large and 246 small stores) in Flint, Michigan and atwo-mile buffer surrounding the city. Aspatially explicit regression model was used to analyze food availability, food price and food quality between small and large stores within Flint and the two-mile buffer. Smaller stores had lower mean food availability and higher food prices for all food groups compared to larger food stores in both areas. In addition, the quality of fruit and vegetables was lower in small versus large stores. Buffer stores had greater food availability and quality and lower prices compared to the inner city. Overall, stores in Flint had lower scores for food availability, food price, and food quality compared to those within the buffer. Findings from this study have policy and health education implications for inner city food access to nutrient-dense, affordable foods.

Book Review

Native American Voting Rights in Utah: Federal Policy, Citizenship, and Voter Suppression

This project aims to demonstrate how the division of jurisdictional powers between the federal and provincial governments prevented the implementation of unemployment insurance in Canada. The first section delineates a historic analysis by briefly expanding on the initial conflict in which “unemployment” and “insurance” were established in their respective jurisdictions. The second section focuses on the Great Depression as the instance of greatest need for unemployment insurance that influenced a more aggressive approach by the Federal government. The third section addresses R. B. Bennett’s New Deal, in which he attempted to introduce the Employment and Social Insurance Act in 1935 as a means of establishing Federalist control over unemployment. The fourth section analyzes the legal arguments surrounding the New Deal that led to its ultimate failure. The last section focuses on how William Lyon Mackenzie King finally managed to implement a policy through the amendment of the British North American Act. Through this research, I discovered that, by assigning unemployment to the provinces and insurances to the Dominion, the division of powers in Canada prevented any impactful decision-making in aiding citizens suffering from unemployment. The fact that unemployment insurance was only implemented after constitutional amendment serves to demonstrate the importance of recognizing the division of powers. Once the division of powers was altered, all jurisdictional conflict pertaining to the matter ceased to exist between the two levels of government, suggesting that the governments had the physical means of addressing unemployment, but hesitated to do so, for political reasons.

Agricultural pest management control strategies are primarily concerned with food security and safety. Popular pest control methods include application of synthetic pesticides, biopesticides (plant extracts), non-chemical pest management and integrated pest management (IPM). The resistance of some of the pests to the chemical pesticides, coupled with potential health hazards on the environment gave birth to a search for botanicals as alternatives to synthetic pesticides. Botanicals as biopesticides were, though effective but their shelf lives and specific actions on the target organisms have not been determined. Non-chemical pest control methods involve common cultural practices which include crop rotation, tillage, and varying time of planting or harvesting, trap cropping which appear to be the best in terms of food safety and quality but the ability of this approach to reduce pest population may be minimal. Because no single pest control method can guarantee food security and safety, integrated pest management (IPM) approach appears to hold promise. The IPM is an ecologically based approach that combines all the available pest control methods to manage pest damage by the most economical means, with the fewest possible hazards to life, property and environment. However, this review shows that the impact of integrated pest management in the rural farm communities is low. In an era of growing consumer awareness and sophistication, food quality is being emphasized. Food safety means that the agro-products should be free from pesticide residues:- therefore, aspects of farm management such as sources of seeds and seedlings, pests and weed elimination, pesticide application dates, dates and amount of fertilization, harvesting or post harvest treatments and basic information regarding the individual farmer or marketing agents activities should be certified before consuming agricultural products. Federal governments especially in developing countries are advised to mount regulating Agencies that will be responsible for a number of activities that contribute to food security and safety, water quality and pesticide applicator training as practiced in the United States of America, India and Indonesia. The agencies will ensure that the public is protected from potential health risks posed by pesticide treated foods.

Residential home values in the United States have fallen considerably from their highs in the mid-2000s. This has had profound effects on consumer wealth and spending, creating a significant drag on the U.S. economy. What is worse, this loss in values corresponded with a steep rise in unemployment, which started in late 2007, and has yet to fall considerably. The loss in home values has wreaked havoc on household finances, and bank ledgers, as the outstanding principles of the mortgages those banks hold and service all too often exceed the current value of the homes against which they are secured. This has proven a toxic mix, as foreclosure rates in residential homes in the United States have reached highs not seen since the Great Depression. Foreclosures have devastated families and whole communities, and the surplus stock on the market, often available at depressed prices, means the housing market suffers from a glut of stock, further depressing sales and values. One of the features of this market is that the U.S. government has under its control a large quantity of foreclosed housing stock: over one quarter million properties. Since the federal government has guaranteed roughly 90% of the home mortgages currently being written, this number could grow if the housing market is not stabilized or the health of the overall economy does not improve. At the same time, there is increasing political pressure to end the federal government’s role in the housing market, despite the fact that there are no viable alternatives at this time to step in to ensure access to credit and liquidity in the housing market. Given the size of federal holdings, figuring out an effective way to manage and dispose of this portfolio of housing stock is critical to preserving home values, protecting the financial interests of local communities and governments, and invigorating the home mortgage market. This white paper outlines ideas for managing this portfolio of federally owned properties in an efficient and effective way, based on policy responses to, and lessons learned from, prior historical precedents. The lessons learned from these precedents, their successes and failures, should offer insights into the best practices for addressing the current situation. These historical precedents are the following: first, the federal government’s response, through the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, to the foreclosure crisis that arose during the Great Depression; second, the actions of the Resolution Trust Corporation in response to the Savings & Loan Crisis of the 1980’s; and third, the local response to the vacant properties crisis that grips New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. To summarize, these lessons are as follows: (1) Ensure an Adequate Return on Sales for the Federal Government by Holding Properties and Converting Them to Rentals until Housing Market Recovers; (2) Preserve Home Values to the Greatest Extent Possible; (3) Consider More Aggressive Preventative Strategies to Reduce the Number of Foreclosures in the Future, Even Incurring More Federal Debt if Necessary; (4) Give Organizations the Autonomy to Operate Flexibly and Adjust to Unexpected Conditions; (5) Align Employee Incentives with Organizational Goals; (6) Decentralize Operations to Allow Tailoring to Individual Housing Markets, Based on Detailed Market Data, and to Address Significant Regional Obstacles to Disposition; (7) Clearly Prioritize the Creation of Affordable Housing; (8) Partner with Neighborhood-Based Leadership, Resources, Creativity, and Initiative; (9) Ensure Local Government and Private Sector Entities Charged with Implementing Programmatic Objectives Have Basic Core Competencies; and (10) Allow Displaced Homeowners to Return to Former Homes.

Just as the 1929 Stock Market Crash discredited Classical economic theory and policy and opened the way for Keynesianism, a consequence of the collapse of confidence in financial markets and the banking system—and the effect that this has had on the global macro economy—is currently discrediting the ‘conventional wisdom’ of neo-liberalism. This paper argues that at the heart of the crisis is a breakdown in governance that has its roots in the co-evolution of political and economic developments and of economic theory and policy since the 1929 Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression that followed. However, while many are looking back to the Great Depression and to the theories and policies that seemed to contribute to recovery during the first part of the twentieth century, we argue that the current context is different from the earlier one; and there are more recent events that may provide better insight into the causes and contributing factors giving rise to the present crisis and to the implications for theory and policy that follow.

Just as the 1929 Stock Market Crash discredited Classical economic theory and policy and opened the way for Keynesianism, a consequence of the collapse of confidence in financial markets and the banking system - and the effect that this has had on the global macro economy - is currently discrediting the ‘conventional wisdom’ of neo-liberalism. This paper argues that at the heart of the crisis is a breakdown in governance that has its roots in the co-evolution of political and economic developments and of economic theory and policy since the 1929 Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression that followed. However, while many are looking back to the Great Depression and to the theories and policies that seemed to contribute to recovery during the first part of the twentieth century, we argue that the current context is different from the earlier one; and there are more recent events that may provide better insight into the causes and contributing factors giving rise to the present crisis and to the implications for theory and policy that follow.

Oct. 25, 2018 – Cities across Canada have the greatest effect of any level of government on the daily lives of Canadians, yet city councils seem hamstrung by the problems they face. There are solutions, according to a new book from former C.D. Howe Institute Associate Director, Research, Benjamin Dachis. In “A Roadmap to Municipal Reform: Improving Life in Canadian Cities,” Dachis addresses the greatest issues all cities face, from traffic congestion to housing affordability, and offers compelling policy solutions. Written from the point of view of a typical city resident, getting to work through traffic congestion, paying her utility bills, trying to understand why her city council always seems short of money, or trying to buy an affordable house, the book recommends fixes to these problems. The problems facing Canada’s cities are well-known. The solutions aren’t. And residents are the ones suffering the consequences. Dachis’s book, written while he was at the C.D. Howe Institute, contains policy recommendations that, if adopted, would make the lives of ordinary residents easier and more affordable. Dachis covers three big themes on how cities can do better. Part One looks at the way cities finance themselves and, through their budget plans, lay out the broad directions for their policies and administration. Part Two covers how cities spend the money they collect, both on day-to-day operations and on infrastructure. Part Three looks specifically at housing policies – at the way municipal governments are making homes more expensive to own and rent, and how they can fix that problem. Excerpts: On Fixing Municipal Finances “The common misperception that cities are broke stems from the way they set their budgets. Cities do not need additional tax powers beyond their traditional tax base of residential property taxes and user fees…. if we use the same financial accounting language for municipalities as the federal and provincial governments use, our understanding of municipal finances will change dramatically. Simply by adopting this more accurate language, a major misconception will have been removed.” On Getting Better Municipal Services “The core driver of municipal expenses is labour costs – they are already high and are increasing quickly. Contracting services on a competitive basis can dramatically reduce costs while simultaneously increasing service reliability and quality, as seen in Toronto’s waste collection services.” On the Costs and Causes of High Housing Prices: “Aside from Toronto and Vancouver, house prices in Canada have not historically gotten out of control. Even during its economic boom, house prices in Calgary barely budged. In Montreal and Ottawa, two cities that have seen recent solid economic growth, house prices were flat from 2007 through 2016. I look at the local-policy-driven causes of high house prices in Toronto and Vancouver and what to do about it.” On Better Water and Wastewater Services “Municipalities and provinces can better meet the goals of optimal pricing and lower costs through economies of scale. To do so, they should create standalone utility corporations to operate regionally under the watchful eye of independent regulators.” Life for millions of people in Canada’s urban areas can go from good to great with a few simple changes, concludes Dachis. All Canadian cities can improve how they present their financial information. They can reduce their tax burden on businesses and cut traffic congestion by putting a price on roads. They can build more infrastructure by encouraging private dollars to invest in it. They can properly price water so as not to waste it, and at the same time they can cut the cost of housing.

Mumbai's 6.7 million slum dwellers, for whom toilets are seen as a luxury, are ushering in a quiet sanitation revolution. They are building, planning and managing their own community toilets, in a 2 billion rupee (USS 40 million) project supported by a World Bank loan to the federal government. The project covers around a quarter of the slums. All agree it could become a turning point in the city's development. In the Ganesh Murthy Nagar slum in the Colaba district, women have taken the initiative to form a society for managing their two-storey toilet block, now under construction. According to Padma Adhikari, a member of the community, "We had one small, smelly toilet for a population of 10 000. Women suffered the most because they had to relieve themselves in the open, and could do so only in the early mornings or after dark." Slum societies have appointed caretakers, who will live with their families in an airy room on the second storey. The room extends onto a terrace, which holds a huge water tank, and even provides space for community meetings. Across Mumbai, shanty dwellers are enthusiastically demanding these new toilets, and are taking responsibility for building and managing them. A visit to some of these slums revealed a remarkable change in attitude on the part both of the residents and of the civic authorities. Gautam Chatterjee, a commissioner of the Brihan Mumbai Corporation (BMC), said "This effort seeks to resolve the fractured development of Mumbai which has been skewed in favour of the formal city. Mumbai's slum and pavement dwellers constitute 60% of the population and provide vital services to the city. City planners have ignored their basic needs for water, functioning toilets and a dignified existence." The sparkling white toilet blocks constructed by the project stand out amidst the squalour of Mumbai's slums. The first phase, costing Rs 600 million (USS 12 million), is seeing the construction of 9000 toilets in 400 locations. Each block contains an average of 20 toilets, each intended to serve 50 persons. There is a 24-hour supply of water and electricity, wide sewerage pipes to minimize blockage, and tiles that facilitate easy cleaning. There are separate wings for women and men. For the first time in the history of public toilets in India, there is a special section for smaller children. According to Chand Ram, the caretaker of one such block functioning in Dharavi, "My family has cleaned toilets for generations. Here, I and three of my family provide 24-hour attendance in four shifts. Each of us earns Rs 1500 (USS 30) a month. I had never dreamt of finding such a job, and with such accommodation, in Mumbai." Meena Jagdish Ramani is one of the contractors involved in the construction of these toilets. "Unlike BMC's brick constructions that crumble in no time, our toilets have deep foundations, and are built with steel girders and reinforced concrete, as in big buildings," she said with quiet pride. Meena had no previous experience in building construction. She used to sell garlic from her shack by the railway lines until she found work through the Mahila Milan, a network of slum women who have been struggling for housing rights. They are supported by the Society for Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC), a local nongovernmental organization that participated in an open tender and won a Rs 440 million (USS 9 million) contract to construct 320 of the toilet blocks in the project. "The commitment of Mumbai's slum communities to this cause of sanitation can be gauged from the fact that they have raised Rs 10 million (USS 200 000) for the creation of a maintenance fund to manage 320 new community toilet blocks," said Arputham Jockin, president of the National Slum Dwellers' Federation. …

In his editorial “Meeting the energy challenge,” John P. Holdren forcefully made the case for “…increased efforts to maximize the capabilities and minimize the liabilities of the full array of energy options….” ( Science 's Compass, 9 Feb., p. [945][1]). But Holdren did not recommend on whom or on which institution these responsibilities should be placed. Energy is the ultimate resource of humankind, as the supply of all other necessities of life, such as potable water and clean air, can be enhanced with the availability of energy. Moreover, access to energy determines, to a considerable extent, the distribution of political power; the accident of nature that located vast petroleum reserves in dictator-led and warlike nations plays a large role in international affairs, as well as in the disposition and size of military forces. If somewhere within the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. federal government there exists a comprehensive energy policy—one that encompasses economics, ecology, international relations, and the military—I have never found it. Holdren's editorial should be perceived as a plea for just such a policy for the United States. # {#article-title-2} Holdren wisely avoids getting into the morass of cultural factors that affect the usage and management of the U.S. energy supply. However, the effect of one such factor is so profound that it cannot be ignored: states' rights in regulating electricity supply and prices. It made sense to leave such regulation to the states when electricity was generated and mainly used locally. Now, however, electricity is bought from generators half the nation away from the points of end use, and transported through a nationally connected electric power grid. In these circumstances, the action of any state can profoundly affect the electricity supply and prices in a large fraction of the nation ([1][2]). We have seen this effect in the recent California debacle, where the governors of several other western states expressed concern about California's impact on their own state's electricity supplies and prices. Surely, this aspect of energy supply should qualify for federal action under the interstate commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution ([2][3]), to ensure efficient and equitable distribution of electricity from a secure, nationally guided electric power generation and distribution system, much as we manage the interstate transportation systems. Yet this need has nowhere been mentioned in any public discussions of the California electric power crisis and its aftermath. This seems to be a clear case of our ideology getting in the way of our common sense, to the detriment of our national welfare. 1. [↵][4]1. T. J. Overbye , Am. Sci. 88, 220 (2000). [OpenUrl][5][Web of Science][6] 2. [↵][7] The Constitution of the United States , Article 1, Section 8. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1059435 [2]: #ref-1 [3]: #ref-2 [4]: #xref-ref-1-1 View reference 1 in text [5]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DAm.%2BSci.%26rft.volume%253D88%26rft.spage%253D220%26rft.atitle%253DAM%2BSCI%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [6]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=000086496700020&link_type=ISI [7]: #xref-ref-2-1 View reference 2 in text

This qualitative case study explores food insecurity, provision and quality within three food relief organizations that provide meals in metropolitan Australia. Interviews were conducted with a manager, staff member, and volunteer from each food relief organization (n = 9). Observational data were gathered over five days to record food preparation, service, and client/staff relationships. Four themes emerged from interview data: 1) donations and budget restrictions, 2) food provision and access, 3) food quality, and 4) food as a tool for dietary and social support. Although food relief organizations experience many challenges to addressing individual’s food security, food was a conduit for initial contact, building trust, and facilitating client access to support services.