| Housing crumbles in jaws of vise
It didn't fit the city's Comprehensive Plan. It would diminish surrounding property values.It would attract low-income persons of possible disrepute.So Coeur d'Alene planning commissioners, on a 3-1 vote, rejected the affordable-housing rich Pennsylvania Highlands project on the east side of town.They denied it after hours of emotional testimony last week, sending the developers back to the drawing board and leaving unbiased parties wondering what's the magic formula for affordable housing in our community.Now let's take a slightly more global view, to the great state of Idaho.The following day, state Rep. Wendy Jaquet, the House minority leader from Ketchum, introduced legislation that would force developers to provide affordable housing by allowing cities to charge them higher impact fees, ostensibly to help the cities pay for affordable housing.
Men have it easier than Women Mr.Chapin.
Your last name stays put. The garage is all yours. Wedding plans take care of themselves. Chocolate is just another snack. You can be President. You can never be pregnant. You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park. You can wear NO shirt to a water park. Car mechanics tell you the truth. The world is your urinal. You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky. You don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt. Same work, more pay. Wrinkles add character. Wedding dress $5000. Tux rental-$100. People never stare at your chest when you're talking to them. New shoes don't cut, blister, or mangle your feet.
Mickey Kaus
In this context, despite my generally well-to-the-left-of-center-leanings, I came to conclude, most reluctantly, that the teacher's union was part of the problem, not the solution. This is not to absolve the elected board of education or the administration of any responsibility, but the union steadfastly refused to work with either in addressing the educational and budgetary issues. In the mind of the leadership, cooperation was capitulation. Even between negotiations, it pursued an adversarial strategy designed to undermine the authority of management which, in practice, meant it wanted administrators to fail and, by implication, setting back educational progress for the kids. ... _____ Ezra, what kind of logic is that. Teacher unions don't explain bad schools: I went to a good school with unionized teachers.
Readers forum: What do you think of the Pennsylvania's state store ...
Critics say the LCB is an arcane relic that imposes exorbitant taxes and burdensome rules. We asked readers what they thought of Pennsylvania's state store system. Below is a selection of their reponses.
To the Editors: Your excellent series of articles on the LCB highlight just how perverse the system is in Pennsylvania. I grew up in The 'burgh and remember trailing my parents once into the State store. Even at the age of 10, I found the whole experience tawdry as a speakeasy and about as inspiring as a Moscow grocery store under the Communists: the clerk would ask for your order, then go into the back and get the wines while you waited. No browsing; just THE LIST. Thank God my parents later introduced me to the pleasures of wine and showed me how wonderful this and other alcoholic beverages can be, IN MODERATION.
A Miami actor's great performance captured for posterity
When you see a [recorded] show in the archives or on TV, it doesn't begin to approach what happened in the theater. But it has power and meaning,'' Esparza says. ``It's Steve's work, our version of an important and really significant work.'' Certainly the Tony voters agreed when they named Company last season's best revival of a musical. Esparza lost the best-actor Tony to Curtains star David Hyde-Pierce but won the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards for his electrifying performance as a cool, disengaged charmer who finally embraces the exhilarating emotions of his climactic song, Being Alive. Part of what made Company on Broadway so memorable was director Doyle's approach to the show, one he also used in staging an earlier Broadway revival of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd and in a number of productions at his home theater in England.
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