City/School District Solicits Family Housing Study
Mindful of a looming family housing crisis brought on by the passage of last November's Measure J school bond, the city and the school district has commissioned a housing study by the University of California Goldman School for Public Policy to address the extreme lack of family housing in Emeryville. The study, a first of its kind for Emeryville, will focus on how the city's housing policy effects student academic performance and will expand the city council's options in addressing the dire shortage of family friendly housing.
A policy memorandum will be produced as a result of the study and will be completed by May.
Emeryville schools have been plagued by high 'mobility' rates among the out-of-district transfer students. Mobility refers to transience of parents moving their residences and repeatedly enrolling their children in different school districts. Students that live within Emeryville are thought to have a lower rate of mobility than their classmates from outside the district. The district has an unusually high ratio of students from out of the district.
Classically, high mobility rates negatively effect student academic performance.
If the study makes these findings, the city's lack of decent family housing will be shown to be a contributing factor to the low academic achievement of the district as a whole and will tend to bolster the arguments of those who have been calling for more family housing.
The Goldman School for Public Policy is an internationally recognized graduate program that endeavours to empower decision makers with better policy tools and to encourage more transparency in public policy formulation. The $7,500 commissioned study is part of a Memorandum Of Understanding between the city and the school district.
I thought the study was being done by a STUDENT at the Goldman school. I don't know if that student is being paid or not. So while the Goldman school is nationally recognized, I don't know whether the student is. Your story is misleading and I think warrants a clarification.
ReplyDeleteThe Goldman School is a graduate school and the whole idea is for interns provide their public policy expertise in the public realm outside the confines of the school itself. The city and school district is paying for the service. You'll note I didn't include the intern's name in the piece; also not germane to the story.
ReplyDeleteThey need to spend $7,500 on a study to show the obvious? What a joke.
ReplyDeleteHere's a way to save $7,500: Just let Nora draw up the conclusions. You know that's going to be the final outcome anyway. If the study conforms with Nora's version of reality it will be hailed with great fanfare as confirmation of her vision. If it doesn't, the report will quietly disappear.
I came on here to comment and someone hhad already said exactly what I was going to say. Thanks 7:16 commenter. The student's name might not be germane but the fact that the study is being done by a grad student is definitely germane. You conveniently left that information out of the story. In the world of consulting, $7,500 is peanuts and you don't get a good product for that. However, you also don't hire grad students to produce anything that carries any actual authority, so I'd say we are getting what we paid for: a good start that a future consultant could use as a reference.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, Brian has chosen to publish certain facts which he selects and leave out other relevant facts that do not support his opinion.
For the record, my opinion is that I think it's good to study the problem of the lack of family housing in Emeryville and even better to solve the problem.
ReplyDeleteThere are no facts to "conveniently" leave out since the study has not yet happened. If you can find any relevant facts that the story leaves out please share them here.
In May, after the release of the study, we may find that the "product" is no good. Further, it may be able to be proved that it's no good because it was produced by a grad student. If this comes to pass, you can rest assured the Tattler will post that story...in May. Until then, this is speculation.
The two naysayer commenters have good points. The story leaves out that the Goldman School is a school. On top of that who could have guessed a student would go to a school? The Tattler conveniently leaves that out. Brian doesn't tell readers that the Goldman School has many students AND teachers. Also, we don't know what grade point average the student doing the study has. Why? Because the Tattler doesn't report these and many other facts. What's Brian hiding? Once again Brian tries to hide the facts that don't support his opinion.
ReplyDeleteEvery peice of writing can be construed as biased insofar as the author picks what goes in and what is left out. Every topic has infinite permutations of the two variables of what goes in and what's left out. The above commentors are correct that I left out the fact that the Goldman School is a school. Going on from there, the amount of information I left out is infinite.
ReplyDeleteI bet the main reason that the committee even approved this contract is that Council member and Committe member Jennifer West is a student at the Goldman School. Sounds like cronyism to me. Why don't you report on that story? Oh, wait, it's because you are a supporter of Council member West and you only criticize Council members you don't support.
ReplyDeleteCronyism- serious charge. Show how council member West (or anyone else for that matter) is unduly benefiting and the Tattler will publish that story.
ReplyDeleteTo the February 27 Commenter-
ReplyDeleteStill waiting on information on your cronyism charge.
Please read the January 27 story 'Missing Trees...' and check the comments. I point out council member West's inaccurate information on her blog about the trees (which she has now corrected).
To read an entire story critical of council member West please go to the November 6 article entitled 'Council Member West's Website: Inaccurate Information'.
Cronyism is a serious charge, but that hasn't stopped you in the past from making the claim against those members of the Council which you are out to destroy. I have exactly as much evidence as you do when you assert the same claim. OK, now go ahead and point out all the measly evidence you have offered in the past which you think amounts to anything. I;m sure you have some. Trouble is most of it is speculation just like my claim.
ReplyDeleteCronyism is a serious charge and it should only be leveled with ample evidence. That's why the Tattler reported on January 6 'City's No Bid Contract Abuse' and showed how four council members voted to grant the Chamber of Commerce, a private business, a $25,000 no bid service contract with taxpayer's money. This was a job that could have been performed by many other private concerns possibly for less money but we'll never know that since it was only offered to the Chamber of Commerce.
ReplyDeleteThe Chamber, it should be noted, supported the re-election campaigns of the four council members in question with money and free advertising in the Chamber's newspaper. Additionally the Chamber endorsed the same four council members for re-election.
If you look up "cronyism" in the dictionary, you'll find this payback to the Chamber of Commerce qualifies.
The fact that council member West attends the Goldman School and the council voted (unanimously) to grant the service contract to them cannot be construed as cronyism. You need to show how council member West has enriched herself in some way. Even if you could, there's the problem of her colleagues all voting to also grant the contract to Goldman, are they also personally enriching themselves at the public's expense?
Please give credible evidence of cronyism here, or indeed anywhere at City Hall and I promise you that the Tattler will run a story on it, no matter the personalities involved.
Brian-
ReplyDeleteWhy do you bother engaging in it with this ass clown? Mr "Anonymous" sounds like Bukowski.
I personally know the student who is behind the study and I can assure everyone she is absolutely qualified to take on such an endeavor. Furthermore, she has extensive research and educational experience.
ReplyDeleteEveryone on this forum who claims to have inside information about the project, claims to know the personnel involved, or claims to know who is conducting the study is simply trying to cause distractions and can't offer any proof whatsoever. Please do not make outrageous claims that you "know" people or something special about the project.
ReplyDelete