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Joyce Clark Unfiltered

For "the rest of the story"

Disclaimer: The comments in this blog are my personal opinion and may or may not reflect an adopted position of the city of Glendale and its city council.

On Friday, August 23rd, I attended the Trump rally at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, AZ. As the Councilmember representing the Yucca district which encompasses Westgate and the arena, I was excited to attend.

Trump Rally at Desert Diamond Arena, Glendale AZ

The arena was packed and is typical of Trump rallies, there were thousands more who couldn’t fit into the arena. The line up of speakers were:

  • Sheriff Mark Lamb
  • Riley Gaines
  • Bob, CEO and President of Goya Foods
  • Glendale’s very own Mayor, Jerry Weiers
  • Tyler Bower
  • Maricopa County Schools Supervisor candidate Shelli Boggs
  • Congressman Eli Crane
  • Congressman Paul Gosar
  • Sheriff candidate Jerry Sheridan
  • Congressman Andy Biggs
  • Maricopa County Recorder candidate Justin Heap
  • US Congressional candidate Abe Hamadeh
  • Turning Point President Charlie Kirk
  • US Senate candidate Kari Lake
  • President Donald Trump

Mayor Weiers did a great job of welcoming all attendees to Glendale and offered some

Mayor Jerry Weiers
Glendale AZ

Glendale highlights before he spoke about the importance of reelecting President Trump.  In my opinion, there were two speakers who were outstanding. Their speeches had fire and passion. One was Congressman Andy Biggs who questioned the state of our nation today and contrasted that with  the country when President Trump left office. The other was Charlie Kirk who spoke about the importance of this election and rallied all to get involved and to make the effort to encourage others to vote. Each was able to electrify the crowd.

President Trump was his usual warm and amusing self and gave the speech I had seen

President Trump
Robert Kennedy Jr.

on TV many times. The highlight of the event was the appearance of Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The crowd went wild, chanting, “Bobby, Bobby.” Kennedy announced that he was suspending his campaign and endorsing President Trump. He urged unity between both groups. It was obvious that he could no longer be a part of the Democrat party in this election as it had worked to kick him off the ballot in numerous states. He basically said the Democrat party was no longer the party that his Father had once led. It was an amazing event, and I am so glad I was able to witness what was an historic political event.

Am I voting for Trump? You bet I am. If for no other reason (and there are plenty of them) than the cost of food and the cost of gas. Just ask yourself, “Are you better off financially than you were four years ago?” The American Dream is no longer attainable for our young.

I urge you to vote in November and to cast your vote for Donald Trump.

© Joyce Clark, 2024    

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such material. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Disclaimer: The comments in this blog are my personal opinion and may or may not reflect an adopted position of the city of Glendale and its city council.

The current administration is not going to give up on increasing our misery index. In addition to rampant inflation and a possible recession, it is hell bent on removing local zoning protection.

Cases in point. Here are some recent examples. Lawmakers in Arlington County, Virginia, a northern suburb adjacent to Washington, D.C., may do away with single-family zoning across the county of 240,000. It is a product of a years-long study that considered the role these medium-density homes can play in expanding the housing supply in an increasingly expensive metropolitan area.

Yet another example is happening in Atlanta, Georgia under Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. What her administration’s “housing plan” proposes to do, as found starting on page 43 of the 88 page document called ‘Atlanta City Design Housing’ is to:

  • End single-family zoning, allowing any property owner by right to build an additional dwelling unit (called an “Accessory Dwelling Unit”, or ADU) on any lot now zoned for one family residence (p57).
  • Some accessory dwelling units could be built with modular technology, assembled offsite and transported to a final location.
  • Allow the property owner by right to then subdivide the lot and sell the ADU separately on its own “flag lot” (p67), then presumably build another and repeat the process, completely overbuilding the property
  • “Loosen” the building requirements, such as size and height, for ADU’s (p69), making them cheaper, and likely less attractive in the neighborhood
  • Reduce minimum lot sizes, and minimum set-backs from the street and adjacent properties (p82), in order to get more buildings onto every property
  • End minimum residential parking requirements citywide (p74), so that new apartment and condominium buildings would not have to provide parking for their residents, but can rather require them to park on neighborhood streets

The New York Times in a recent article said, “Single-family zoning is practically gospel in America, embraced by homeowners and local governments to protect neighborhoods of tidy houses from denser development nearby. But a number of officials across the country are starting to make seemingly heretical moves. The Oregon legislature this month will consider a law that would end zoning exclusively for single-family homes in most of the state. California lawmakers have drafted a bill that would effectively do the same. In December Minneapolis City Council voted to end single-family zoning citywide.”

Biden says that he wants to “eliminate local and state housing regulations that perpetuate discrimination.” Biden then identifies “exclusionary zoning” as the kind of housing regulation he wants to “eliminate.” “Exclusionary zoning” is Biden’s term for what is more commonly called “single-family zoning.”

Add that President Biden has promised that he will eliminate “exclusionary zoning” with the HOME Act of 2019, co-sponsored by Senator Cory Booker and House majority whip James Clyburn. The HOME Act of 2019 requires any municipality receiving Community Development Block Grants from HUD or benefiting from federal Surface Transportation Grants for highway construction and repair, to submit a plan to “reduce barriers” to high-density low-income housing. The plan must choose from a menu of items, most of which in some way limit or eliminate single-family zoning.

In a July 18, 2022, Phoenix Business Journal article, using a report from a Washington, D.C. think tank called Up for Growth, says Arizona’s housing deficit has increased 1,377% since 2012 — representing 122,683 homes. In the same article, Steven Hensley, advisory manager for the Zonda housing market research firm, said the approval and permitting process at the municipal level is delaying projects, which results in less development. He went on to say that local municipalities must address these issues and allow more building and more density to improve housing costs.

Why the sudden and intractable need for more affordable housing? The American birth rate fell for the sixth consecutive year in 2020, with the lowest number of babies born since 1979. About 3.6 million babies were born in the US in 2020 – marking a 4% decline from the year before. It’s not that the U.S. population is increasing.

So, what is creating the need for large amounts of affordable housing? Can you say ‘open borders’? Can you say that nearly 2 million illegal immigrants have arrived since the start of the Biden administration? Where are they going to live?

This new desire for affordable housing, requires that you to give up the American Dream of a single-family home.

In my next blog I will share how affordable housing can affect you directly.

© Joyce Clark, 2022      

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such material. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Disclaimer: The comments in this blog are my personal opinion and may or may not reflect an adopted position of the city of Glendale and its city council.

The current administration is not going to give up on increasing our misery index. In addition to rampant inflation and a possible recession, it is hell bent on removing local zoning protection.

Cases in point. Here are some recent examples. Lawmakers in Arlington County, Virginia, a northern suburb adjacent to Washington, D.C., may do away with single-family zoning across the county of 240,000. It is a product of a years-long study that considered the role these medium-density homes can play in expanding the housing supply in an increasingly expensive metropolitan area.

Yet another example is happening in Atlanta, Georgia under Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. What her administration’s “housing plan” proposes to do, as found starting on page 43 of the 88 page document called ‘Atlanta City Design Housing’ is to:

  • End single-family zoning, allowing any property owner by right to build an additional dwelling unit (called an “Accessory Dwelling Unit”, or ADU) on any lot now zoned for one family residence (p57).
  • Some accessory dwelling units could be built with modular technology, assembled offsite and transported to a final location.
  • Allow the property owner by right to then subdivide the lot and sell the ADU separately on its own “flag lot” (p67), then presumably build another and repeat the process, completely overbuilding the property
  • “Loosen” the building requirements, such as size and height, for ADU’s (p69), making them cheaper, and likely less attractive in the neighborhood
  • Reduce minimum lot sizes, and minimum set-backs from the street and adjacent properties (p82), in order to get more buildings onto every property
  • End minimum residential parking requirements citywide (p74), so that new apartment and condominium buildings would not have to provide parking for their residents, but can rather require them to park on neighborhood streets

The New York Times in a recent article said, “Single-family zoning is practically gospel in America, embraced by homeowners and local governments to protect neighborhoods of tidy houses from denser development nearby. But a number of officials across the country are starting to make seemingly heretical moves. The Oregon legislature this month will consider a law that would end zoning exclusively for single-family homes in most of the state. California lawmakers have drafted a bill that would effectively do the same. In December Minneapolis City Council voted to end single-family zoning citywide.”

Biden says that he wants to “eliminate local and state housing regulations that perpetuate discrimination.” Biden then identifies “exclusionary zoning” as the kind of housing regulation he wants to “eliminate.” “Exclusionary zoning” is Biden’s term for what is more commonly called “single-family zoning.”

Add that President Biden has promised that he will eliminate “exclusionary zoning” with the HOME Act of 2019, co-sponsored by Senator Cory Booker and House majority whip James Clyburn. The HOME Act of 2019 requires any municipality receiving Community Development Block Grants from HUD or benefiting from federal Surface Transportation Grants for highway construction and repair, to submit a plan to “reduce barriers” to high-density low-income housing. The plan must choose from a menu of items, most of which in some way limit or eliminate single-family zoning.

In a July 18, 2022, Phoenix Business Journal article, using a report from a Washington, D.C. think tank called Up for Growth, says Arizona’s housing deficit has increased 1,377% since 2012 — representing 122,683 homes. In the same article, Steven Hensley, advisory manager for the Zonda housing market research firm, said the approval and permitting process at the municipal level is delaying projects, which results in less development. He went on to say that local municipalities must address these issues and allow more building and more density to improve housing costs.

Why the sudden and intractable need for more affordable housing? The American birth rate fell for the sixth consecutive year in 2020, with the lowest number of babies born since 1979. About 3.6 million babies were born in the US in 2020 – marking a 4% decline from the year before. It’s not that the U.S. population is increasing.

So, what is creating the need for large amounts of affordable housing? Can you say ‘open borders’? Can you say that nearly 2 million illegal immigrants have arrived since the start of the Biden administration? Where are they going to live?

This new desire for affordable housing, requires that you to give up the American Dream of a single-family home.

© Joyce Clark, 2022      

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such material. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Disclaimer: The comments in this blog are my personal opinion and may or may not reflect an adopted position of the city of Glendale and its city council.

It’s no secret that I have never supported cannabis (marijuana in all forms). I am disappointed that Arizona has legalized marijuana. It, along with CRT being pushed in our schools, the effort to demonize religion and the proliferation of the LGBTQ lifestyle, signal a moral decay within our country. I believe I represent the silent majority of Americans that abhor these initiatives.

Today I ran across an article written by a UK journalist in support of my position. I know that after reading this, there will be some pro-cannabis enthusiasts that will then cite articles demonstrating that cannabis is safe. We are all entitled to our own opinions on the subject.

Here is the link to the article: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-10976437/How-Californias-legal-cannabis-dream-public-health-nightmare.html . It’s entitled “How California’s legal cannabis dream became a public health nightmare.”

In California and elsewhere the use of this substance has become glamorized, trendy and often billed as a health supplement. That’s not what is being heard from ERs throughout the country. One doctor stated, ‘We’ve been seeing the problems for a while now: depressive breakdowns, psychosis, suicidal thoughts, all related to cannabis. The patients are regular people, not down-and-outs.” It has led to a new syndrome called ‘scomiting’ when patients are admitted to the ER screaming and vomiting simultaneously. Not a pretty thought, is it?

It turns out that frequent use is not worth the risks. “Studies have shown that frequent ingestion of cannabis can increase the risk of serious mental illness like psychosis and schizophrenia, as well as insomnia, social anxiety disorder and suicidal thoughts.” The article states, “In California, hospital admissions for cannabis-related complications have shot up – from 1,400 in 2005 to 16,000 by 2019. In California, and the other 18 states that have legalised (sic) cannabis, rates of addiction are nearly 40 per cent higher than states without legal cannabis, according to research by Columbia University.”

One of the reasons pushed for legalization was that it would dry up black market sales. Well, that proved to be wrong as well. Why? Because black market charges less than regulated markets. After all, they have no overhead and can sell for much less. It is estimated that the black market is raking in twice the dollars of regulated shops. Oops…that didn’t work out as planned.

It was also touted that with legalization police would be free to enforce more serious crime prevention. Again, wrong assumption.  It has led to a proliferation of burglaries, break-ins, car thefts, etc. The list has become endless.

What has legalization created? Regulated shops that glamourize much stronger products than ever before, in order to sell as much as possible. People who regularly and frequently use are more likely to end up in an ER with any one of a variety of mental illnesses. Addiction rates soaring in the 18 states that have legalized marijuana. Instead of eliminating illegal sales, business for them is booming and crime related to its use have skyrocketed. Its use is contributing to the social and moral decay of our country.

Is this what we want? Those who voted for its legalization in Arizona were sold a bill of goods, none of which materialized. At what point will we realize that this social experiment failed? It’s time to consider repeal of its legalization.

© Joyce Clark, 2022      

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such material. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Our country in crisis

Posted by Joyce Clark on November 14, 2021
Posted in City of GlendaleNational issues  | Tagged With: , , , , , | 1 Comment

Disclaimer: The comments in this blog are my personal opinion and may or may not reflect an adopted position of the city of Glendale and its city council.

Perhaps you don’t believe our country is in crisis. Perhaps you don’t regret having voted for Biden as our President. The signs of crises are all around us. Let’s begin with those issues that tangibly affect us every day.

Have you bought gas for your vehicle recently? I did the other day. I used to spend about $30 to fill up my car. I just paid $55 to fill her up. This is a crisis that affects all of us, especially those, like seniors, on a fixed income and the poor. Paying extra for gasoline means that you have fewer dollars to spend on other essentials, like food.

Have you been to the grocery store lately? I went to my local store yesterday and the cold cut section was virtually empty. Most of the shelves in this area were empty. Some of the products that I use are simply not there anymore. Not only that but I tend to buy the same items weekly. I used to pay about $200 a week or less. Now, for the very same items the cost is closer to $300. Take milk. Last year it was $1.29 a gallon. Now it is $2.29 a gallon. What about your Thanksgiving dinner? Each and every item for your dinner will cost more. Christmas? Forget it. We are told to buy now if it is a Christmas item or present. We are told to ‘settle’ or ‘accommodate’ to this new normal.

Our supply chain is broken. I’ve heard all the excuses… trucker shortage, onerous regulations…it goes on an on but the basic premise of manufacturing products in our country has been destroyed. With its destruction comes the destruction of our economy. Construction supplies are difficult to obtain. Customers must wait for delivery that might occur seven months from now and those supplies cost a great deal more. It’s not just new car prices climbing higher and higher. It has caused used car prices to climb as well. Do you need a new refrigerator or washing machine? Be prepared to wait and not only that but pay more for it.

Inflation continues to skyrocket. The official inflation rate is pegged at about 5% nationally but we are living the lesson that the rate is higher than the official number. Our dollars are worth less and therefore we need more of them to buy the same things we bought a year ago.

Our national debt is dangerous to all of us. The country needs more money to pay for the recently passed infrastructure bill. No problem. The Treasury will print more. The more it prints the less each dollar is worth.

I guess we can thank our lucky stars that we don’t live in cold country because the cost of heating has increased by over 50%. Why? Because of Biden’s energy policy. He immediately shut down the Keystone pipeline and is now considering closing the pipeline in Minnesota. All in the name of a ‘climate crisis’. Jen Psaki, Biden’s press secretary, said this action is designed to drive us all to accept renewable energy. Unfortunately, wind and solar energy is not reliable nor abundant. Has it occurred to anyone that fossil fuel and gasoline derivative products are needed to make wind and solar components and infrastructure?

We are experiencing labor shortages. Why work when the government provides more money not to work? The labor shortage will abate with greater numbers of green card holders as well as the inundation of illegals willing to take your job.

Our relationship with other countries is disturbing and frightening. Russia is a provocateur in Eastern Europe and China is threatening Taiwan as it drives to become the dominant world power. The Afghanistan withdrawal was botched leading to the deaths of 13 service members, leaving behind billions of dollars’ worth of equipment and the abandonment of Americans and Afghanistan nationals who worked for us. Some remain trapped in that country to this day. North Korea is saber rattling once again. The Biden administration has abandoned its support of the only true democracy in the Middle East, Israel, and the consequence of such action is now the Middle East is on the verge of a new series of hot wars.

Please tell me why it’s good to have a wall around President Biden’s home or Nancy Pelosi’s. It’s obvious. Walls keep the bad guys out and protect property. But a wall along our southern border is bad? It’s illogical. More than a million illegals have entered our country with many of them being dumped in cities in the dark of night. There is no background vetting, no shots, and no check for Covid. These illegals are no longer exclusively Mexican or Central American. They are from all over the world including the Middle East. It’s just a matter of time before this foolishness results in another 911 event. Along with this mass illegal migration into our country is increased human smuggling and opioid smuggling. Human trafficking and opioid deaths have increased dramatically. The very idea of paying illegal families $450,000 to a million each for separation of members during the commission of illegal entry into this country is obscene. It’s 4 times the amount paid to a gold star family because of the death of a family member.

The mishandling of Covid is causing people to distrust the government as more and more people refuse to take a booster shot followed by another and another…ad nauseum. If masks and distancing really worked, we would have seen a decline in this illness followed by its eventual eradication. Instead, now the government is imposing more draconian mandates. We ‘rubes’ are beginning to wake up with police, nurses, airline pilots, fire fighters and all kinds of essential workers willing to be fired instead of taking the jab. I took the first two shots, so I am not an “anti-vaxxer.” I do, however, believe in the American right of freedom and individual choice. No one should be forced to take a shot or punished or ostracized for not doing so.

We now have a two-tiered justice system when you see January 6th participants in solitary confinement in jail and yet those who participated in the Summer of 2020 riots that resulted in deaths are not even arrested. We see examples of blatant shop lifting every day with no consequences. We see violent criminals being released and repeating the very same offences against us. What has happened to our bedrock principle of ‘equal justice for all’?

Critical Race Theory is being taught to children in elementary schools. How can a philosophy that teaches white children to hate themselves for their whiteness while teaching children of color that they are oppressed and can never rise above it, be healthy for our county? Instead of embracing the eradication of racial division this philosophy encourages it. Thankfully, parents are fighting back and succeeding at the local level. CRT has no place in an open and healthy society.

There, I’ve gotten my concerns off my chest. Some of you will read this and discount these crises with what you believe are rational explanations for each and every one. That’s fine. That’s your right in a free society but at some point, when conditions become even worse, you will be forced to remove your blinders. I just hope it doesn’t come too late.

I still believe in these words. Do you? Read it carefully and thoughtfully: “I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

© Joyce Clark, 2021       

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such material. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Disclaimer: The comments in this blog are my personal opinion and may or may not reflect an adopted position of the city of Glendale and its city council.

There’s a saying, “As California goes, so goes the rest of the nation.” Let’s hope California’s influence has waned and this is no longer true.

The American Dream is under assault across the country, but nowhere is it more evident than in California where social justice activists and Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom are invading single-family home neighborhoods with plans to replace them with multi-unit properties. Expect to see similar action occurring in many other blue states as they rush to fulfill the Biden mandate to build more affordable, multi-family housing.

Recently Governor Gavin Newson signed Senate Bill 9. S.B. 9 effectively ended single-family zoning in a state with a population of 40 million. The bill legalizes duplexes statewide and allows people to subdivide single-family lots. California’s cities have lost the power to prevent the building of backyard units. Within the bill, state legislators mandated the reduction of development fees, requires cities to issue permits within a few weeks, and prohibits the requirement of dedicated parking spots.

In San Diego, its city council allowed bonuses for up to 6 units per lot no matter the lot size if some of the new multi-family units are dedicated to low to moderate income households. As a result of S.B 9 and expanded laws in many counties, slightly over ten percent of the state’s new housing (about 13,000 permits) consisting of multi-family units are being built in backyards throughout the state. In Southern California, four-unit multi-family buildings are surging in backyards. One can drive down a street and see a cute little bungalow with a 4-unit apartment complex in its backyard.

There are, of course, unintended consequences. Single family properties are becoming even more unaffordable for purchase by the average homeowner. By allowing these small apartment complexes in backyards, the value of single-family properties has sky rocketed and what was once marginally affordable is now completely unaffordable. Instead, developers are buying up single family lots and adding apartment complexes on the lots.

Add to the mix the plethora of Anti-Discrimination laws in the state. A developer who purchased a single-family lot and then added a 4-unit multi-family apartment complex is, in essence, an absentee landlord. Their reputation proceeds them as they do not care about the quality of the tenancy as long as the rent is paid (by somebody…the state? The feds?). The propensity to increase crime in the neighborhood is always a looming possibility.

Make no mistake. Biden’s ultimate goal is to urbanize the suburbs resulting in all of the things people originally moved away from. The American Dream of a home with a backyard in which the kids can play and the opportunity to become part of a small community is under threat of disappearing. America, as we have always known it and loved it, is slowly being taken away from us.

© Joyce Clark, 2021       

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such material. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Disclaimer: The comments in this blog are my personal opinion and may or may not reflect an adopted position of the city of Glendale and its city council.

Today, July 7, 2021, former President Trump announced that he will be the lead in a civil class action suit against Twitter, Google and Facebook as well as their founders and/or CEOs, Jack Dorsey (founder of Twitter), Sundar Pichai (CEO of Google) and Mark Zucherberg (co-founder of Facebook) personally.

The results of such an effort are obviously, unknown but we can expect such a suit to take years to reach the Supreme Court for final settlement. To understand what is occurring there are basic concepts that we should understand – the First Amendment, 47 U.S. Code Section 230 and the concept of the public square.

The First Amendment states, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” It specifically guarantees freedom of expression by prohibiting Congress from restricting the press or the rights of individuals to speak freely.

The Communications Decency Act of 1996 includes Section 230. The law was established 25 years ago when the internet was in its infancy. Since that time, the internet has matured at warp speed and the seminal question becomes does a trillion- or billion-dollar private company still need the protections provided in Section 230? The findings in Section 230 recognize, “The Internet and other interactive computer services offer a forum for a true diversity of political discourse, unique opportunities for cultural development, and myriad avenues for intellectual activity…Increasingly Americans are relying on interactive media for a variety of political, educational, cultural, and entertainment services.”

It protects information content providers from civil liability,  “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be held liable on account of— any action voluntarily taken in good faith to restrict access to or availability of material that the provider or user considers to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected; or any action taken to enable or make available to information content providers or others the technical means to restrict access to material described in paragraph.” An information content providermeans any person or entity that is responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation or development of information provided through the Internet or any other interactive computer service.

We will hear the term, public square, used often as this suit makes its way through the judicial system. Merriam Webster defines the public square as, “an open public area in a city or town where people gather.” The public square in the digital age has no shape or no physical place but is generally accepted to be any place or space where information and opinion can be shared and includes newspapers, magazines, books, websites, blogs, songs, broadcast stations and channels, street corners, theaters, conferences, government bodies and more.

One Supreme Court decision of note in 2017 recognized broadly in principle that using social media is a constitutional right. The case is Packingham v. North Carolina. North Carolina passed a law prohibiting sex offenders from accessing social media and made it a felony if they posted on any social media platform.

The Supreme Court viewed it as a free speech rights issue and unanimously held that states cannot broadly limit access to social media because cyberspace “is one of the most important places to exchange views.” “A fundamental First Amendment principle is that all persons have access to places where they can speak and listen, and then, after reflection, speak and listen once more,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote.

The one aspect that will not be addressed in this class action suit is the anti-trust issue. There is no dispute that Google, Twitter and Facebook are billion dollar monopolies. That will not be the issue of this suit but rather violations of our First Amendment free speech rights. The final decision is unknown and there will be twists and turns in this saga. Stay tuned and hang onto your hats…it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

© Joyce Clark, 2021       

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such material. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Disclaimer: The comments in this blog are my personal opinion and may or may not reflect an adopted position of the city of Glendale and its city council

Recently Tucker Carlson had a segment on affordable housing and its impact on Buckhead, Georgia. More about this later in this article. It reminded me of the blog I posted this February about the federal government’s push to create more affordable housing throughout the country.

The Progressives in the Biden administration are working overtime to require more affordable housing everywhere. Under the HOME Act in a strategy to increase affordable housing stock, CDBG grantees, such as Glendale, requires “Each grantee receiving assistance under this title shall—

 ‘‘(A) include in the consolidated plan required under part 91 of title 24, Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor thereto) a strategy to support new inclusive zoning policies, programs, or regulatory initiatives that create a more affordable, elastic, and diverse housing supply and thereby increase economic growth and access to jobs and housing;

and‘‘(B) include in the annual performance report submitted under section 91.520 of title 24, Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor thereto) the progress and implementation of the strategy…”

Measures to increase the amount of affordable housing include:

  • “Increasing both the percentage and absolute number of affordable units
  • “Authorizing high-density and multifamily zoning
  • “Eliminating off-street parking requirements
  • “Establishment of density bonuses
  • “Streamlining or shortening permitting processes and timelines
  • “Removing height limitations
  • “Establishing by-right development
  • “Using property tax abatements
  • “Relaxing lot size restrictions
  • “Prohibiting source of income discrimination
  • “Taxing vacant land or donating vacant land to nonprofit developers
  • “Allowing accessory dwelling units
  • “Establishing development tax or value capture incentives
  • “Prohibiting landlords from asking prospective tenants for their criminal history
  • “Provide that affordable housing units should, to the maximum extent practicable—be designated as affordable for not less than 30 years; comprise not less than 20 percent of the new housing stock in the community; and be accessible to the population served by the program established under this title”

Let’s take a snapshot of Glendale. There are 82,810 housing units (homes and apartments). Of those, 2,629 are affordable apartments in 25 low income complexes in Glendale. This represents 3% of the current housing stock as affordable and a far cry from the 20% required under the soon-to-be enacted federal HOME Act. Here are the 25 apartment complexes:

  • Vista Alegre

6549 W Maryland Ave

Glendale, Arizona

Income Based 1 BR Subsidized 62+ Accessible Elderly Supportive Housing

  • Landmark Senior Housing

8232 N 59th Ave

Glendale, Arizona

Income Based 1 BR 62+

  • Brook Creek Apartments

4937 W. Myrtle Avenue Glendale, AZ 85301

Glendale, Arizona

$475-600 1-2 BR

  • Good Shepherd West

6113 N. 60th Ave

Glendale, Arizona

Call For Rent Studio BR Subsidized 62+ Accessible Elderly Supportive Housing

  • Kachina Place Apartments

6238 N 63rd Avenue

Glendale, Arizona

Call For Rent Studio-1 BR Subsidized 62+ Accessible Elderly Supportive Housing

  • Casa Bill Soltero

6001 W Missouri Ave

Glendale, Arizona

Subsidized 62+ Accessible Elderly Supportive Housing

  • Valley of the Sun School 6

5239 W Tonto Rd

Glendale, Arizona

Subsidized Accessible Accessible Disabled Supportive Housing

  • Bethany Glen Apartments

4788 W Bethany Home Rd

Glendale, Arizona

Subsidized

  • Waymark Gardens

5325 W Butler Dr

Glendale, Arizona

Subsidized 62+ Accessible Elderly Supportive Housing

  • Glencroft Towers

8620 N 65th Ave

Glendale, Arizona

Subsidized 62+ Accessible Elderly Supportive Housing

  • Manistee Manor

7987 N 53rd Ave

Glendale, Arizona

Subsidized 62+ Accessible Elderly Supportive Housing

  • John’s Manor

7229 N 51st Avenue

Glendale, Arizona

Subsidized 62+ Accessible Elderly Supportive Housing

  • San Remo Apartments

5755 N 59th Ave

Glendale, Arizona

  • Valley of the Sun School 5

4649 W Haywood

Glendale, Arizona

Subsidized Accessible Accessible Disabled Supportive Housing

  • Tanner Terrace

7138 N 45th Ave

Glendale, Arizona

Subsidized 62+ Accessible Elderly Supportive Housing

  • Palms at Glendale

6112 N 67th Ave

Glendale, Arizona

  • Desert Eagle

6917 N 71st Ave

Glendale, Arizona

  • Faith House a L a Prospect Park Apartments

8581 N 61st Ave

Glendale, Arizona

  • Villas Solanas

6755 N 83rd Ave

Glendale, Arizona

  • Glendale Homes

6617 N 52nd Ave

Glendale, Arizona

  • San Martin Apartments

6802 N 67th Ave

Glendale, Arizona

  • Town Square

5136 W Glenn Dr

Glendale, Arizona

  • Glendale Enterprise

6839 N 63rd Ave

Glendale, Arizona

  • Los Vecinos Housing Development, Inc

7131 N 54th Ave

Glendale, Arizona

  • Shadow Creek II

10854 N 60th Ave

Glendale, Arizona

Ten of these complexes are for elderly housing and two complexes are for disabled housing. Thirteen are non-restrictive subsidized housing. Note that almost all are in the Ocotillo District—an unhealthy situation for that district at best.

Obviously, Glendale as a federal recipient of Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) and Surface Transportation Block Grants (STBG) would be subject to this federal law or become ineligible to receive either of these block grants. Practically, Glendale in its annual report, would have to show that it is using any or all of the measurements listed above to achieve a goal of 20% of its housing units as affordable and that they would remain so for 30 years (for a generation).

How does this situation apply to Buckhead, Georgia? Buckhead, unlike Glendale, is not an incorporated city but rather a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia. Therefore, it is subject to whatever zoning code amendments are enacted by the Atlanta City Council and its Mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms. Much of what is in the federal HOME Act is suggested for use in Buckhead as well as other communities considered to be the suburbs of Atlanta proper.

In March of this year, Atlanta issued a report, Atlanta City Design Housing. It says, “The first step toward making Atlanta a more inclusive place to live should be to end exclusive single-family zoning by allowing an additional dwelling unit in all existing single-family zoned areas in the city.” Other ideas promoted in this report include reducing minimum lot sizes, allowing small apartment buildings in some neighborhoods currently limited to single-family homes, and mandating those wealthy neighborhoods have their per-capita share of ‘affordable housing’.“ Yet other strategies include: creating basement apartments, converting garages, allowing accessory dwelling units on the same lot; elimination of parking minimums for apartments complexes; elimination of low density housing; reduction of minimum lot size requirements; distribute affordable housing throughout the city including wealthy neighborhoods; creation of overlay affordability districts; and the use of city owned vacant land for affordable units.

There is also the creation of an Atlanta Housing Affordability Tracker which “provides a snapshot of progress made in reaching the goals of (1) creating or preserving 20,000 affordable homes by 2026 and increase overall supply and (2) investing $500 million from City-controlled public sources in the production and preservation of affordable housing as part of the larger goal of investing $1 billion (the other $500 million coming from private and philanthropic sources).”

In the name of diversity or equality what is happening in this country? When, not if, this amendment to the HOME Act becomes law, the incentive to work hard and become successful will be disincentivized. It doesn’t matter if you are black, white or brown. The most important and meaningful purchase of anyone’s life will have been diminished. It smacks of reverse discrimination not based on skin color but rather on one’s ability to be financially successful in life.

We live on an acre of land in a 3,000 SF home. For 30 years our family lived in a typical R1-6 residential subdivision. Twenty years ago, we were fortunate and found our current home and large lot property. We worked hard all our lives to have the necessary funds to buy. If the HOME Act amendment becomes federal law, our opportunity to live on a large lot today would evaporate.

I suspect that the residents of Buckhead and other Atlanta suburbs have the same attitude, and it will not surprise me in the least if they take Atlanta’s zoning amendments to court—perhaps even the Supreme Court. It is clearly a “takings” issue.

© Joyce Clark, 2021       

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such material. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Disclaimer: The comments in this blog are my personal opinion and may or may not reflect an adopted position of the city of Glendale and its city council.

We knew that Biden would seek to eliminate as much of Trump’s policies as possible and that is exactly what is occurring no matter whom it hurts. The flurry of his Executive Orders (EO) will be felt by all in the coming months and years. I am going to focus on just a few of them. Covering all 30 that have been issued would require a book.

One of his EOs mandates that all educational institutions receiving federal funding permit biological males to join female sports teams and to use ladies’ locker rooms and restrooms. Parents, has it occurred to you that if your school, be it pre-school, elementary, middle-school, high school, etc., has a free breakfast or lunch program it is receiving federal funding? Now biological males, not just transgender, will be using girls’ bathrooms and showers. Are you comfortable with that?

Feminist groups have said, Allowing men to shower with women is absolutely wrong in schools, workplace, etc. It’s setting things up for an absolute nightmare of rapes and horrific incidents in America.” The incentive to become a female athlete has evaporated. I read in a recent article that 30% of all high school male athletes can beat all premier female athletes’ records in any given sport. All the years of establishing female athletic programs designed to provide a venue for excellence have disappeared with the stroke of a pen.

Another EO Biden issued wipes out Trump mandated lower drug prices for insulin and epinephrine. This hurts seniors and low income people tremendously. Remember the stories of people rationing their prescriptions because they couldn’t afford them? Trump heard that and created a policy to rectify that situation. Now, thanks to yet another Biden EO a segment of our population will once again ration their medicine because of its cost.

Another EO action taken was revoking the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, intended to carry Canadian crude to the U.S., and issuing a 60-day moratorium on the leasing of fossil energy resources and new permits for drilling and mining on public lands.

The Canadians are mad and planning to sue the United States after they invested over one billion dollars in infrastructure.

The Indians are mad as stated in a Ute Indian Tribe letter to Biden, “Your order is a direct attack on our economy, sovereignty, and our right of self-determination.”    

The state of New Mexico is mad because “The federal government’s 60-day suspension of new oil and gas leasing and drilling permits on public lands sent shockwaves through the industry in New Mexico…” the Albuquerque Journal reported Friday. The Wall Street Journal reported, “the order interrupts the development of infrastructure that connects new and existing wells to pipelines, forcing operators to flare methane emissions rather than recovering them.”

The Unions are mad, chief among them the Union Pipefitters who stated, Wall, pipelines, gas, coal, etc., all of these work sites are closing on a daily basis thanks to his EO’s…we are being told to call back in a few weeks, some calls aren’t even answered.” Recent news reports state the loss of over 70,000 jobs and approximately $1.6 billion in lost wages…in just the first week.

Another Biden EO ends the Trump administration’s Migrant Protection Protocol and stops construction of border wall systems. From the peak of the migrant border in May 2019 to February 2020, federal Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) reported a 92 percent reduction in the number of Central American migrant families crossing the border from Mexico.

Last weekend, thousands Honduran migrants forced their way across the Guatemalan border with an intent to make their way to the United States after Biden took office. Listen to just one caravan migrant, “He’s given us 100 days to get to the U.S. and give us ‘legalment (sic)’ paper so we can get a better life for our kids and family.”

In addition, about 70% of those who had been scheduled for immediate deportation have criminal records, many of them for serious offenses. All of them are required to be released immediately…into your community.

More COVID. More serious crime. More human trafficking. More sex trafficking. More drug trafficking. That’s what Joe Biden’s open-borders policies will quickly bring to American communities. The results will be devastating for our future.

There are more Executive Orders that promise to have major impacts upon us such as his EO on abortion but I will save those for another blog.

There were 75 million Americans that voted for Trump not necessarily because they even liked him but they did like the outcomes achieved by his policies. Biden never told us what his policies would be other than he would be a National Education Association (NEA) advocate in the White House.  The NEA publicly admitted that its prime directive is to protect teachers…not your children. Are your children back in school? Have you noted the increase in child suicides? Have you noted that children are failing in the basics of reading and math? He said he would not ban fracking and he lied.

So, for all of you who voted for Biden because you hated Trump (“Orange man bad”) I will not be surprised when you finally realize the extent to which his policies will upend your lives. Have you noticed that gasoline prices are already going up? You can expect your electricity prices to rise as well as the industry still uses a majority of fossil fuels to generate electricity. Don’t be surprised when the 10 million Americans out of work suddenly find it even harder to get a job as they are forced to compete with an influx of migrants competing for those very same jobs.

Biden is a figurehead, a shell of a man. He is being directed by the most radical elements of the Democrat party, not the moderates. All of his talk of unifying the country sounds good but in reality 75 million of us are being targeted and there is open discussion of “deprograming” us. I am not a conspiracy nut or a Nazi or a racist. Yet that is what we are called continually. The hatred for us has not diminished with this election and if anything, it has intensified with Democrat control of the Presidency, the Senate and the House. There will come a breaking point for some and I fear the outcome and what it portends for our nation.

© Joyce Clark, 2021       

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such material. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Disclaimer: The comments in this blog are my personal opinion and may or may not reflect an adopted position of the city of Glendale and its city council.

My mission was to get my Covid shot as soon as was permissible. On Monday the state opened up to the 1B group which includes those individuals over 75. Yaaa…that was me! I got on the state site on Monday shortly after 9am to make an appointment to get my shot at State Farm Stadium. The website is crazy and convoluted. I managed to make an appointment for myself for this past Wednesday at 12:06 PM. When I tried to make an appointment for my husband it forced me to go back to the beginning and as a result, I couldn’t make an appointment for him until 2 days later then my appointment, this Friday. Inconvenient but workable.

They advise that you arrive 15 minutes before your appointment time and to wear a mask. The vaccination site is actually in the parking lot to the west of the stadium on the west side of 95th Avenue. I would advise approaching the site from the north. If you come in from the south you will have to turn around and get on 95th Avenue southbound.

There were scads of people waiting for the shot but I must say the site was well organized and well run. They had some national guard directing cars and all of the workers were volunteers, primarily from Blue Cross Blue Shield. Kudos to Blue Cross Blue Shield for allowing their employees to volunteer.

You stay in your car the entire time. Make sure you bring the appointment paperwork generated when you make your appointment online. It includes an ID number that you will need. You must bring ID and if you are not over 75 but are a teacher, first responder, care giver, etc., you need to bring a pay stub or something similar that proves you are eligible for Group 1B.

The vehicle lines were long but wait times were relatively short. In the first line they check your paperwork and with a grease marker they will write your ID number and appointment time on your windshield.

You are then directed to a second line with about 8 lanes. Each land is a shot dispensing site. After waiting about 10 minutes I got to the front of the line. I was asked which arm I preferred for the shot. The shot is done with a very fine needle and frankly, you don’t even feel it. I was repeatedly asked during the process if I was allegoric to anything or on a blood thinner. I was negative to both questions.

After you get the shot you are given a card that lists the kind of vaccine received (Pfizer), the date received and a suggested date for the second shot. You must go back to the state website to make your second appointment.

They then direct you to a parking area and ask that you wait 15 minutes at that location to ensure that there are no adverse reactions. I had absolutely no reaction to the shot. No chills, fever, allegeric reaction, etc. My arm is slightly sore but no different than getting a flu shot.

In conclusion, I arrived at about 11:40 AM and was done at about 12:45 PM. In total, the process took about an hour.

Today, one day after the shot I feel fine. I have had no adverse reactions at all. I understand after the second shot some people experience mild, flu-like symptoms. I will report back after my second shot.

If you are in the 1B Group or later when shots are available to all, I strongly urge you to get the vaccination. It’s painless and not overly time consuming. I look forward to being 95% protected after I receive my second dose. I won’t have to worry about getting it or transmitting it to a family member. If you are eligible now…please do it.

© Joyce Clark, 2021       

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such material. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.