Digital Commons Network^™

Against Flexibility, David A. Super

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Contemporary legal thinking is in the thrall of a cult of flexibility. We obsess about avoiding decisions without all possible relevant information while ignoring the costs of postponing decisions until that information becomes available. We valorize procrastination and condemn investments of decisional resources in early decisions.

Both public and private law should be understood as a productive activity converting information, norms, and decisional and enforcement capacity into outputs of social value. Optimal timing depends on changes in these inputs’ scarcity and in the value of the decision they produce. Our legal culture tends to overestmate the value of information that …

Olde Towne St Helens Historic Design Guidelines, Sadie Carney, Caitlin Francis, Drew Meisel, Victor Sanders

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

Throughout the northwest, portside communities are capitalizing on their rich cultural heritage by concentrating investment in their historic districts and waterfronts. From Astoria to Port Townsend, historic communities are benefiting from renewed economic vitality based on heritage tourism and the increased numbers of new businesses drawn to the district. As a former center of industry and manufacturing, Olde Towne St Helens boasts a rich heritage in its collection of buildings along the Strand and First Street. These structures offer a glimpse into the working-class, industrial past of the town and the era of shipbuilding and raw goods manufacturing that shaped …

Reimagining Weston, Nathan Emerson, Zach Gustafson, Holly Howell, Carrie Pipinich, Matthew Rohrbach

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

Weston was once a prosperous city, home to pioneers, farmers, and an active downtown. Today however, Weston faces many challenges common to communities throughout rural Oregon. The key question for this small city is: How can Weston capitalize on homegrown and regional assets in order to revitalize downtown and maximize the well-being of the community as a whole? Reimagining Weston provides a blueprint for the community to answer this question. This plan is a proactive effort by Weston residents to shape the livability and prosperity of their community over the next 20 years. Reimagining Weston consists of three primary parts: …

Ecolopolis 5.0: High Speed Rail In Cascadia, Portland State University

Regional Planning and Metropolitan Growth Management Research Projects

This is a working document and is the fifth report in this series. This report is the product of term-long projects conducted by graduate students from the two universities, and taught by Professor Daniel Carlson and Professor Ethan Seltzer. The courses engaged the questions of identifying the impacts, maximizing the benefits, and exploring implementation options for high speed rail development in the Cascadia corridor. Though passenger rail has long been a shared interest in the corridor, the recent U.S. initiative proposed by the Obama administration have accelerated high speed rail activity and discussions in Cascadia. The seven papers developed by …

Collective Efficacy And Intimate Partner Violence: Community Context, Catherine B. Cowling

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Intimate partner violence is a very serious issue in the United States. In spite of improvements, there is still much work to be done. Policies focusing on formal controls such as arrest, orders of protection, and prosecution have questionable potential. However, collective efficacy and the examination of community context have much to offer the field of intimate partner violence. Collective efficacy, comprised of social cohesion, social capital, and informal social control, may be more effective in reducing intimate partner violence than use of traditional formal social controls alone. These community context variables may also be of great assistance in improving …

Spatial Analysis Of Motor Vehicle Accidents In Johnson City, Tennessee, As Reported To Washington County Emergency Communications District (911)., Katharine D. Bennett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study spatially analyzes emergency 911 call-for-service records from January 1, 2000 through December 31, 2009 for motor vehicle accidents inside the corporate limits of Johnson City, Tennessee. Records were compared according to the land use classification for adjacent properties, roadway type, and traffic signal proximity. Data were evaluated through ArcGIS software using proximity analysis, point pattern analysis, and hotspot analysis.

Motor vehicle accidents evaluated during this study consist of accident locations reported to the Washington County Emergency Communications District concerning property damage, personal injury, and fatalities. Results indicate localized areas with the highest number of traffic accidents contain the …

Marginalized Stakeholders And Performative Politics: Dueling Discourses In Education Policymaking, Celina Su

Publications and Research

American urban education policy debates pivot around dueling lines of discourse on what ails inner-city youth; such students are portrayed as emblems of a largely African-American and Latino ‘culture of failure’, even as their voices remain largely absent from debates about them. In response, youth-led organizations attempt to forward youth as political stakeholders. I draw upon ethnographic data from two such organizations to examine the performative aspects of their campaign work. I focus on how they engaged in (1) counter-scripting, to imagine themselves as political stakeholders and substantively prepare themselves for their new roles, and in (2) counter-staging, to gain …

Ua3/4/2 President's Office-Downing Construction File, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records regarding the planning, construction and maintenance of buildings on the WKU campus. Downing held several positions at WKU before becoming president. Some of these records date to that earlier period.

Intergovernmental Collaboration In Emergency Management: The Case Of The September 2009 Georgia Flood, Mamadou M. Samba

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

The purpose of this study is to explore the various aspects of intergovernmental collaboration in emergency management at the local, state, and federal level. It provides a descriptive analysis of how these mechanisms interact with each other for effective emergency management. Most importantly, this study provides a unique insight on how Georgia prepared for, mitigated against, responded to, and recovered from the September 2009 flood. There are several important mechanisms for intergovernmental collaboration; among them are the national incident management system, the incident command system, and the emergency management assistance compact. During disasters these mechanisms interact with each other to …

Employment Of People With Criminal Records: An Exploratory Study Of The State Of Georgia, Michael Dutcher

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

Individuals in Georgia with criminal records have many barriers and collateral consequences which impact their ability to find employment upon release from prison. Collateral consequences are those repercussions which impact the ex-offender’s civil liberties after they are released from prison. Research has shown that ex-offenders who do not find gainful employment upon release from prison are more likely to return to prison than those who find gainful employment after they are released.

The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine the current state and federal programs along with nonprofit organizations and discuss how they affect Georgians with criminal records. …

Community's Safety Net: A Comparative Analysis Of The Role Of Nonprofit Hospitals In Barrow And Clayton Counties In Providing Services To Its Medicaid Population, Carlene Coggins, Julie John

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

Nonprofit hospitals serve as part of the healthcare safety net to deliver a significant level of care to low-income, uninsured, underinsured, Medicaid and other vulnerable groups in society. Safety net hospitals are defined as those hospitals where at least 10 percent of the costs of care provided is uncompensated. Nonprofit hospitals are granted tax exemptions from the government and in exchange they are required to meet community benefit standards which include offering care to a relatively large proportion of uninsured or socially disadvantaged individuals.

Increasing poverty levels due to rising unemployment, foreclosures and economic distress have placed the safety net …

Impacts Of Low-Speed Vehicles On Transportation Infrastructure And Safety, Katharine M. Hunter-Zaworski, Linda Cornell

TREC Final Reports

There are increasing numbers of low-speed electric vehicles (LSVs) on public roadways. These vehicles are designed to be used within protected environments and on roadways with a maximum posted speed of 25 mph. Currently these vehicles are not subject to the same federal requirements for occupant protection as passenger cars. This research project investigated safety standards, operating regulations, and LSV manufacturer materials from sources around the world. The purpose of the research was to determine positive and negative impacts that LSVs, including Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEVs) and Medium Speed Electric Vehicles (MSEVs), are likely to have for the Oregon Department …

Alignment Of Community Preferences, Economic Development Goals, And Policy: Considering Economic Development Goals, Their Expression, And Their Execution In Economically Struggling Communities, Rebecca Lynn Moryl

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Across the U.S., and particularly in the Northeast, cities known as former "mill towns" have been largely unsuccessful in attempts to revive their economic vigor. States and cities invest millions each year in efforts to reinvigorate these cities through economic development policies. Debates about the effectiveness of such policies in generating economic growth outcomes are prevalent in the literature. This thesis takes a different focus by considering the alignment of economic development goals and actions among citizens and government professionals. I consider, compare, contrast, and draw lessons from three Massachusetts cities of similar government structure. Each of these cities has …

Multiculturalism And The Struggle Of National Normative Challenges, Marc Alexander C. Gionet

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Globalization has not translated into a set of universal monolithic values. As populations relocate for various reasons, increasingly less effort is required not only to stay connected, but to remain within the home community via satellite television, radio, telecommunications, and locally concentrated diaspora. Henryk M. Broder has described such a phenomenon as the development of “ parallel societies, ” which result from immigrants’ failure or lack of interest in integrating into a host community. The question that many commentators have attempted to answer is: does the development of parallel societies, or even additional cultural diversity, represent a threat or a …

A City Club Report On Ballot Measure 74, City Club Of Portland (Portland, Or.)

City Club of Portland

No abstract provided.

Benchmarking And Evaluating The Comparative Efficiency Of Urban Paratransit Systems In The United States: A Data Envelopment Analysis Approach, Hokey Min, Thomas E. Lambert

Journal of Transportation Management

Passenger rail service is perceived to provide important benefits to Michigan communities. However, the extent of these benefits has never been quantified in a systematic way. The study reported on here involved the performance of a broad based assessment of the community level benefits of passenger rail serv ice. The main objective of the research project was to estimate the full range of these benefits at the community level, as opposed to at the state level. Benefits were estimated for individual travelers, Amtrak expenditures, and local businesses. This research indicates local communities currently realize $62.0 million annually in benefits. Additional …

Resilient Transportation Systems In A Post-Disaster Environment: A Case Study Of Opportunities Realized And Missed In The Greater New Orleans Region, 2010, James R. Amdal, Stanley L. Swigart

UNOTI Publications

Based upon our research in Post-Katrina New Orleans, we define transportation resiliency as a system’s ability to function before, during and after major disruptions through reliance upon multiple mobility options. The importance of a resilient transportation system becomes more apparent during disasters where multiple options for mobility are necessary for both passenger and goods movement due to the potential loss of one or more modes.

Post-Katrina New Orleans offers a unique opportunity to investigate pre-disaster planning and post-disaster recovery activities in a major metropolitan city where all modes of transportation were either severely damaged or completely destroyed. In response to …

Fluoridation In The City Of Santa Clara: A Cost Benefit Analysis For The City Of Santa Clara Potable Water System, Nina Hawk

Master's Projects

No abstract provided.

A City Club Report On Ballot Measure 73, City Club Of Portland (Portland, Or.)

City Club of Portland

No abstract provided.

Injury In Nevada, Michelle Chino, Jonathon Lavalley, Darlene R. Haff, Deborah A. Harris, Andrea R. Rivers

School of Public Health Faculty Research

Injury is a major threat to health and safety. In a typical day in the US, 400 people will die as the result of an injury, 7,500 will be hospitalized due to an injury, and more than 150,000 will suffer an injury severe enough to restrict activities and seek medical attention. Many of these deaths, hospitalizations, and disabling events will be the result of motor vehicle crashes. Others will result from vio­lence, falls, drowning, and poisoning – all of which are considered injuries.

The costs of injury are high. In the United States, the cost of injuries is estimated to …

Floods: The Next Phase, Ishrat Husain Dr.

Faculty Research - Newspaper and Magazine Articles

The devastation caused by the floods is unparalleled in Pakistan’s history. It has come at a time when Pakistan is already contending with the enormous losses incurred in fighting the terrorists and a global economic crisis.

No country with the resources and capacity of Pakistan could have been expected to meet the assault on the economy by these shocks. Pakistan’s response will depend upon the degree of stimulus provided by both the domestic and international community. Over the next few months, coordinated relief efforts to provide food, safe water and hygienic living conditions will have to be accelerated. As the …

A Qualitative Evaluation Of The California Arts-In-Corrections Program, Larry Brewster

Public and Nonprofit Administration

No abstract provided.

Envisioning Nevada’S Future: Goals & Strategies For Advancing Our Quality Of Life, Nevada Vision Stakeholder Group, Moody’S Analytics

Brookings Mountain West Publications

Nevada’s severe downturn has brought to light many of the long-term challenges facing the state. Not only is its economy subject to painful swings, but Nevada’s primary drivers— consumer services (primarily gaming, hospitality and housing) and resource extraction—will provide less support than they have in past business cycles. Less economic vitality will make it harder to offer Nevadans the quality of life they expect.

The importance of the economy to quality of life is equally clear—quality of life is a hollow promise without a healthy and supportive economy. Similarly, a proper fiscal structure—both in terms of spending and revenues—is critical …

Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District: Economic Impact Of Operating And Capital Expenditures, 2012– 2016, Ziona Austrian, Candice Clouse, Iryna Lendel

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

No abstract provided.

City Of Las Vegas, Department Of Building And Safety: Valuation Based Fee Schedule Analysis, Darcy Adelbai-Hurd, Vicki L. Brown, Josh Turley, Mary Ann Weidner

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The City of Las Vegas Building and Safety Department (B & S) is being forced to make a number of difficult decisions regarding the structure of fees charged for the various services it provides. Like many building departments nationwide, B & S is experiencing the financial impact of the current economic decline affecting the construction industry. These fees directly affect B & S’ ability to staff the department in a manner that enables them to deliver an adequate level of service. With construction permits issued by B & S plummeting from an all-time high of 19,147 in 2004 to 5,093 …

2010 August, Office Of Communications & Marketing, Morehead State University.

Morehead State Press Release Archive, 1961 to the Present

Press releases for August 2010.

201021 Obiter Dicta: Early August 2010, Steven Alan Samson

Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

The Joint Fire Science Program’S First 10 Years, Gail Wells

Joint Fire Science Program Digests

Fire scientists and managers at the 4th International Fire Ecology and Management Congress offer their thoughts about the Joint Fire Science Program’s accomplishments, challenges, and future direction

Social Networking For Emergency Management And Public Safety, A.M. Lesperance, M.A. Godinez, J.R. Olson

CUP Faculty Research

On March 10, 2010 the workshop titled Social Networking for Emergency Management and Public Safety was held in Seattle, WA. The objective of this workshop was to showcase ways social media networking technologies can be used to support emergency management and public safety operations. The workshop highlighted the current state of social networking and where this dynamic engagement is heading, demonstrated some of the more commonly used technologies, highlighted case studies on how these tools have been used in a variety of jurisdictions and engaged the private sector on how these tools might serve as a conduit for two way …

Preservation Ethics In The Case Of Nebraska's Nationally Registered Historic Properties, Darren Michael Adams

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation focuses on the National Register of Historic Places and considers the geographical implications of valuing particular historic sites over others. Certain historical sites will either gain or lose desirability from one era to the next, this dissertation identifies and explains three unique preservation ethical eras, and it maps the sites which were selected during those eras. These eras are the Settlement Era (1966–1975), the Commercial Architecture Era (1976–1991), and the Progressive Planning Era (1992–2010). The findings show that transformations in the program included an early phase when state authorities listed historical resources pertaining to the settlement of the …