In South Philly, a battle over parking in Broad St.’s median

median parking on Broad St in Philly
Jake Blumgart reports for PlanPhilly:
In South Philadelphia, the median of the Broad Street thoroughfare is usually full of parked cars. It’s a long-standing tradition in these densely packed rowhouse neighborhoods, one that provokes astonishment and bemusement in visitors.
But critics of the practice say it is dangerous. Crashes occur when pedestrians dart out from the column of parked vehicles or when a car attempts to jet into traffic from a direction other drivers aren’t expecting.
For the past year, a campaign lead by the urbanist PAC 5th Square sought to pressure the city into removing the vehicles, which technically are illegally parked. Neither the police nor the PPA punish those who flout the law, though, except during special events like the Democratic National Convention.
Now 5th Square is suing the Philadelphia Police Department and the PPA to compel them to enforce the law.
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Ridgewood loses over water rates charged to neighbors

The following was reported today by NorthJersey.com:


A judge has found in favor of three municipalities that
sued the village of Ridgewood over ordinances that increased water rates 31 percent over the years 2010-2012.


Superior Court Judge Lisa Perez Friscia on Thursday determined that Ridgewood had enacted rate increases for Ridgewood Water customers that were “arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable” and must recalculate rates and pay refunds to customers.


The plaintiffs, Glen Rock, Midland Park and Wyckoff, are all served by Ridgewood Water, a utility owned and operated by the village of Ridgewood. The municipalities claimed in their lawsuit that Ridgewood had overcharged customers millions of dollars by enacting the rate hikes to offset village operating expenses. 


For example, the plaintiffs said, the costs of Ridgewood police and fire salaries, legal expenses, and health insurance costs for non-utility workers were all shifted to customers of the the water utility. The goal, they said, was augmenting the village budget and easing the burden on Ridgewood taxpayers at the expense of water customers.


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Federal flood insurance program learns lessons from Sandy

Current NFIP is underwater with debt, overhaul would address that problem, be more responsive to homeowners, and cap the cost of annual increases

black mold flood

Credit: Faith Liguori


























John Reitmeyer reports for NJ Spotlight:
With a hard deadline for reauthorizing the National Flood Insurance Program now a little more than two months away, federal lawmakers from New Jersey are backing a bipartisan proposal that would both renew the program and overhaul it in a way that incorporates lessons learned from Superstorm Sandy.
The flood-insurance program, or NFIP, underwrites policies for thousands of New Jersey homeowners who live in coastal zones or other flood-prone areas, but it was roundly criticized by New Jersey storm victims in the wake of Sandy, for what they said were questionable denials of claims and delayed payments.
The program is also deep in debt, partly because of the flood of claims filed in the wake of Sandy, making it a major fiscal headache for Congress.

Affordable and responsive


A reauthorization bill that seeks to make the NFIP both more affordable and more responsive to homeowners was formally introduced in the House of Representatives earlier this week by U.S. Reps. Bill Pascrell (D-9th) and Frank Pallone (D-6th). Their legislation mirrors a bipartisan bill in the Senate that was unveiled last month by U.S. Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and John Kennedy (R-LA). Time is also of the essence for the reauthorization effort since the NFIP is facing a September 30, 2017 expiration date.
The changes proposed in the six-year reauthorization bill include capping annual premium increases to homeowners; freezing interest payments that the program owes the federal government for funds that have been borrowed to pay out claims; and limiting profits that private-sector insurance companies can make while underwriting program policies.
The proposed reauthorization also seeks to give the flood-insurance program a more preventive approach by offering incentives like low-interest loans for homeowner flood-mitigation projects. It would also encourage the use of more modern flood-mapping technologies.



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Sean Spicer resigns as White House press secretary

Anthony Scaramucci (left) is in. Sean Spicer is out. 



Abby Phillip, Ashley Parker and Damian Paletta report
for The Washington Post

White House press secretary Sean Spicer resigned Friday, following the appointment of wealthy financier Anthony Scaramucci as White House communications director, according to a White House official.
Spicer’s abrupt and angry departure — which caught even senior West Wing staffers by surprise — reflects the latest upheaval in a White House that has been consumed by chaos and staff infighting since almost the day President Trump took office.
 Scaramucci has previously had a tense and fraught relationship with both Spicer and White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, who both vehemently objected to Trump’s decision to install Scaramucci in the top communications job. Scaramucci has coined a particularly crude nickname for Priebus, and Priebus previously blocked the financier from several other top White House roles. 
Scaramucci had been in talks with the president and senior staff all week. But the shake-up comes amid intensifying tumult at the White House as Trump moves to respond to the widening special counsel probe into his campaign’s possible collusion with the Russian government and searches for ways to revive the administration’s stalled legislative agenda.
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That French plan to attract climate scientists? It’s working


Emma Foehringer Merchant writes for Grist:

After his election, French president Emmanuel Macron created a program setting aside $69 million to fund researchers, especially from the U.S., to ply their trade in France. “Here, you are welcome,” Macron told scientists via Twitter, in a not-so-subtle jab at President Trump.

A month later, it appears researchers took Macron seriously. According to France’s national research agency, hundreds of climate scientists from around the world have applied for the program. Many hail from the U.S. The agency says most applicants are looking for short sabbaticals, but more than 150 applied to stay for four or more years.
Macron’s idea has its detractors. French researchers felt snubbed because their president built a shiny website to attract new talent at a time when domestic science needed more funds, according to Science. Grist’s own Nathanael Johnson pleaded with leading American climate researchers to “resist France’s allure” because their smarts are so needed here. 

But when the U.S. administration casts aside scientists every chance it gets, it’s hard to argue with researchers’ interest in going where they’re wanted. One tenured climate expert told Nature that if her position were more precarious, she’d be “jumping at the opportunity.”
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Global warming melts ice, alters fabled Northwest Passage


Frank Jordans reports for The Associated Press:


More than a century has passed since the first successful transit of the treacherous, ice-bound Northwest Passage by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen in 1906. Now The Associated Press is sending a text, video and photo team through the passage, where global warming is melting sea ice and glaciers at an historic rate, altering and opening up the Arctic in a way unprecedented in recorded history.

Although the passage presents an attractive shortcut for maritime traffic between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, only a dozen or two vessels attempt to navigate the poorly charted Canadian Arctic Archipelago during the brief summer window each year. Many are sturdy coast guard icebreakers, adventure cruises and thrill-seekers in small, nimble boats hoping to pick their way through fields of floating ice that can easily strand unprepared mariners.


Some also consider the Northwest Passage a future alternative for freighters aiming to save fuel on the route from Asia to Europe, and there have been several test runs over the years. The region has become a magnet for nations wanting to tap into the Arctic’s rich oil reserves and other natural resources and for scientists seeking to understand global warming and its impacts on the sea and wildlife.

The AP is accompanying an international group of researchers for a weeks-long expedition on MSV Nordica, a 27-year-old Finnish government-owned icebreaker, to view firsthand the changes taking place in one of the planet’s most forbidding corners.

This is the first post from the voyage, which began July 5 in Vancouver, British Columbia, entered the passage at the Bering Strait nine days later and ends in Greenland toward the end of July.
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