Howard Thurman: Jesus and the Disinherited Mr. Thurman passed in 1981 but his insights continue to influence thinking today, especially about the intersection between religious faith and public policy.
Paul Tough: How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character The author of "Whatever It Takes," the story of Geoffrey Canada and the Harlem Children’s Zone, provides insight into the early development of children. What’s best? Cognitive or non-cognitive learning? Tough’s theory is that character is what really matters.
Anthony S. Bryk: Organizing Schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago In 1988, Chicago public schools decentralized, granted parents and faculty resources and authority to reform. This book reports on a seven-year study of what happened and identifies the practices and conditions that were essential for improvement of student academics. The authors arrived at their conclusions by researching 100 elementary schools that improved and 100 that didn't. The five essentials—school leadership, parent/community ties, professional capacity of faculty/staff, student-centered learning environment, and instructional guidance system.
David M. Kennedy: Don't Shoot: One Man, A Street Fellowship, and the End of Violence in Inner-City America Kennedy has shared his ideas with us and Seattle police successfully used his Drug Market Initiative along 23rd Avenue to stop decades of open drug trafficking. Now, Kennedy's new book tells the whole story, from the beginning to today. It's a story of reform, hard work, determination, and guts. It's about justice in the true sense of that word, a justice that infects a community and spreads. It's about the police and how their pursuit of excellence can inspire all of us. It's about cities and specific neighborhoods and how to create peace and community. If you want safe streets and sidewalks, if you want to end mass incarceration, if you want racial equity, if you want truth and fairness returned to the justice system, read this book!
Jan Gehl, Architect and Urban Quality Consultant: Cities for People Gehl is a global expert on urban places. His firm's 2008 conclusion that Seattle should move as many vehicles as possible underground and work to reduce surface traffic is a compelling argument. Read Gehl's book at the same time you read Edward Glaeser's "Triumph of the City." Both authors present persuasive arguments for city planning that focuses on people.
Our city just took an important step in our continuing effort to
welcome and embrace our immigrant neighbors.
The City Council voted a few minutes ago to unanimously confirm Magdaleno
Rose-Avila—he goes by Leno—as the first director of the City’s new Office of
Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, an office that I led the effort to create during
last fall’s budget deliberations.
Seattle is home to 103,173 foreign-born residents who actively
contribute to our city’s economic, social and cultural well being (2006-2010
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates). This population is incredibly
diverse, but shares some common strengths and common struggles.
The weather forecast called for rain throughout the day, yet the sun popped out and I was confident I could make it to and from City Hall on my scooter without getting drenched.
Then, on a day to celebrate the effective and necessary role of labor unions, along with a separate march celebrating the importance of immigrants and the need for immigration reform, chaotic violence and property destruction occurred downtown.
Self-described anarchists mingled with peaceful May Day demonstrators at Westlake Park, covered their faces with masks or bandanas and engaged in destructive acts of vandalism and violence. It stopped almost as quickly as it started; the anarchists pulled off their black clothing and melted away into the larger crowd once again, though not before some were arrested. (The Seattle Times has extensive coverage of all this in today’s newspaper.)
Many Americans have been shocked that a government commission in New York City gave the go-ahead this past week to an Islamic community center, including a Muslim worship facility, just two blocks north of Ground Zero. They wonder why the government of New York City would allow such a facility so close to the site of the World Trade Center towers that were attacked by terrorists in the name of Islam. Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives on that terrible day.
I had a different reaction. I wondered whether a Christian or a Jewish group would be able to build such a facility in Saudi Arabia or Pakistan or Iran or Iraq. No, they likely wouldn't. The religious freedom we have in our country has fostered a religious pluralism that is something to be cherished and celebrated. And it points to something else as well—a tolerance that has bred creativity and strength. Thomas Friedman says it better than I can in this piece in the New York Times from last Wednesday.
Here are some interesting facts about immigration that will debunk some of the more common myths surrounding this contentious, yet often misunderstood, issue.
Each passing day I grow more troubled by what the state of Arizona has done in adopting a new law that gives local police the power to stop, question and demand documents from anyone they suspect of being illegally in the country. It's not American. (Seattle journalist Timothy Egan has a biting piece on this topic in the New York Times. And Andrew Sullivan has an interesting perspective here.)
Yes, there are legitimate questions and concerns about illegal immigration, but the heavy-handed approach Arizona is taking is not the way to address those issues. We've already seen that border fences, increased patrols, even high-tech electronic surveillance can't stop
