RETURNING TO A SUPERIOR LAKE

It’s been two years since we were last in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Here on the shore of Lake Superior I was inspired then to start blogging. After blogging weekly for a year and then monthly for another year, this is my 2nd year anniversary of sharing my perspectives thru U2Cando!

It’s only fitting to be drafting this 64th blog here in Grand Marais as I look out at a calm lake this sunny morning before starting the journey home. Another good vacation but one I’m not yet ready to end. Can’t help but think what it would be like to spend two months up here in the UP [preferably September & October not January & February].

Writing and reading before a mid-morning beach walk. Deciding over lunch where to hike or kayak in the afternoon. Starting dinner in time to be done for sunset on the deck and finally hoping it will be clear enough for a plethora of stars as it was last night.

Now you may understand with that daily schedule why I’m hesitant to start loading the car and would rather grab the latest Daniel Silva thriller and head out to the deck instead. Perhaps there may be time at least for a short beach walk before departure.

Two years ago I wasn’t even thinking about climate change; now Lake Superior is my safe haven. I now prefer sweatshirt weather in the UP to worrying if Chicago’s heat may send me to the ER a third time. The lake and the wind were too cold this trip to even consider a “Superior” swim however short.

I did get some quality “dog time” these five days with Minnie & BowWow. They are the resident philosophers of my inspiration blogger Jan, who was blogging daily two years ago when we visited. Now she is an award winning blogger and still an inspiration.

Yes, there was a lighthouse visit as we hiked the trail to the Au Sable Lighthouse in the Picture Rocks National Lakeshore. Although we missed the National Park’s 100th Birthday Party by two days, I still tweeted congrats on job well done in saving our national treasures.

I know where I will hopefully be a year from now. Not sure when we’ll be returning to the UP but even if it’s another two years, I’ll look forward to this as a “Superior” memory to relive.

May your voyage be a safe one, well lit and with the wind at your back.

 

RECLAIMING AMERICA ON COLUMBUS DAY

As a college sophomore in October of 1968, I marched as part of the ROTC color guard at the front of the Columbus Day parade in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. Those were challenging times for our country. I chose to leave ROTC less than a year later as protests against the Vietnam War called our political leadership into question.

Little did I know then, that questioning political leadership would become a career choice and there would be several significant Columbus Days ahead. You see less than five years later as a graduate student, I met Gale Cincotta.

Gale was a most ordinary working class woman without a formal education who managed to do extraordinary things with other everyday people from different races, cultures, and communities.

Gale Cincotta
Reclaims America
October 13, 1980

Gale Force: Gale Cincotta The Battles for Disclosure and Community Reinvestment, by Michael Westgate with Ann Vick-Westgate, tells her story. It is also an exceptional oral history of the 1970s and the growth of the neighborhood movement as a direct descendant of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. As I noted in my book review for SHELTERFORCE, this book is extremely relevant today in these troubled economic and political times.

One of the first major battles was the “Battle of New Orleans” in October 1979, when Gale and over 300 community leaders from across the country converged on the American Bankers Association’s annual conference there. The ABA was opposed to extending the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act [HMDA] passed by Congress in 1975 and was already attempting to repeal the Community Reinvestment Act [CRA], which had finally become law on February 5, 1979 after having been passed by Congress in 1977. There were many actions that weekend with creative lyric re-writing to serenade the bankers.

Five years later in the Fall of 1982, Gale stood in front of the George Washington statue on Wall Street to keynote the “Wall to Wall on Wall Street” battle and challenge corporations to invest in rebuilding our nation’s communities. She quoted 1890 populist Mary Lease:

“Wall Street owns the country. It is no longer a government of the people, by the people and for the people, but a government of Wall Street, by Wall Street and for Wall Street.”

It was 34 years ago on Columbus Day October 13, 1980, when Gale gave her Reclaim America speech after the Voyage of Santa Maria II arrived at Chicago’s McCormick Place for that year’s ABA convention.

We are: Reclaiming the right to a job!
Reclaiming the right to good health care!
Reclaiming the right to affordable energy!
Reclaiming the right to a safe neighborhood!
Reclaiming the right to decent and affordable housing!
Reclaiming the right of equal rights for all!
Reclaiming the right to live all our years in dignity!
We are Reclaiming America!

These are more than words we should remember. They remain today’s agenda and call to action.

Tonight I hear the neighborhood drummer sound
I can feel my heart begin to pound
You say you’re tired and you just want to close your eyes
and follow your dreams down
We made a promise we swore we’d always remember
No retreat No surrender

“No Surrender”
Bruce Springsteen

Somnambulant Regulators & Greedy Bank Executives Still Best of Friends

The story may be long and complicated; but I expected more media coverage. Then it is the story that Goldman Sachs does NOT want you to read. So there may have been a few phone calls made.

I sure hope Fed Chair Janet Yellen reads “Inside the New York Fed: Secret Recordings and a Culture Clash” by Jake Bernstein published by ProPublica on September 26th and broadcasted by This American Life from WBEZ Chicago.

The story revolves around bank examiner Carmen Segarra, who filed a wrongful termination lawsuit in October 2013 alleging that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York fired her after she refused to go soft on Goldman Sachs. Now it turns out Segarra made a series of audio recordings which raise major questions about whether Goldman Sachs was missing a policy to handle conflicts of interest and had accomplished “regulatory capture” whereby banks co-opt regulators.

On October 1st, National Public Radio’s Steve Inskeep interviewed Sen. Elizabeth Warren about the audio tapes made by Segarra:

“Supervisors are actually telling examiners not to report accurately the damning things they heard from bank executives during meetings. I mean, wow. If there’s not even an accurate record of what’s going on, then the regulators can’t hope to do their jobs….
You know, the regulators seemed to think that it was a victory just to raise an issue, even if they took absolutely no action to address the issue. And that’s the kind of approach that allowed banks to take on massive risks before the financial crisis.
You know, think about that: The regulators seemed to think that fussing at banks behind closed doors was their toughest sanction. Does anyone believe that Goldman Sachs is gonna give up a deal that would yield millions of dollars because someone fussed at them behind closed doors?

We need regulators who understand that they work for the American people, not for the big banks.”

Over six years ago, in one of my early posts on SHELTERFORCE Rooflines, “Bush Legacy: Unregulated Speculation Destroying Economy and Communities,” I shared comments from Gretchen Morgenson’s July 13, 2008 New York Times column that unfortunately are still relevant today:

“It’s dispiriting indeed to watch the United States financial system, supposedly the envy of the world, being taken to its knees. But that’s the show we’re watching, brought to you by somnambulant regulators, greedy bank executives and incompetent corporate directors.”

Yes, I looked up the definition: Sleepwalking then when awaken, not remembering what occurred during their “somnambulant” state.

No one listened then to the calls for outlawing predatory lending. No one wanted to consider that financial speculation was not a productive economic use of capital. Today, regulators still like to be friends with greedy bank executives.

Segarra is ringing the alarm. It’s time for the Fed to wake up from its sleepwalking and do its job.

The banker man grows fat, working man grows thin
It’s all happened before and it’ll happen again
It’ll happen again, yeah they’ll bet your life
“Jack Of All Trades”
Bruce Springsteen

When Will Attitudes Change Towards Solar?

It was a bright sunny day in Chicago on September 24th. The celebrants were singing “You Are My Sunshine” as the solar panels were already saving $64 since the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA) in the US had started them up just a few hours earlier.

With 483 panels (each producing 310 watts), ICA’s 166,000 square foot landmark building in Chicago’s Uptown community now has the largest number of solar panels on a building outside of downtown. Yearly savings are projected to exceed $16,000 and reduce the 8-story building’s dependency on external supply of electricity by 23% with over 150 kilowatts of solar power.

Terry Bergdall, ICA-USA’s CEO, shared that the ICA GreenRise Uptown Learning Laboratory sign on the building had just been completed the day before the celebration. He emphasized:

 “The installation of the solar panels is a huge step toward our ambition of taking our building off the grid and providing guidance to other organizations for incorporating green technology. It’s not just about the dollars but more importantly taking action on Climate Change. The long-term return on investment is taking care of our earth.”

So how long before we all learn to tap the sun? A lot longer if the Koch brothers continue to buy politicians’ votes to repeal and weaken green policies. But they are not the only ones opposing solar. The Chicago Tribune ran a story by Evan Halper on August 18th “Sunny, with slim chance of solar” reporting how utilities in the South back laws that keep people from installing solar panels by banning leasing arrangements.

Illinois has passed legislation to allow “net metering” which guarantees homeowners and businesses with solar panels on their roofs the right to sell excess electricity back into the power grid at attractive rates. This is recognized as the cornerstone of the solar energy business model.  However, utilities here have delayed implementation, curtailing market demand for solar and the green jobs we are still awaiting.

As the largest nonprofit service center in the Midwest, ICA is not only creating a learning lab here in Chicago but also demonstrating a sustainable future for us all; so we don’t go insane.

It’s those changes in latitudes,
Changes in attitudes; nothing remains quite the same.
With all of our running and all of our cunning,
If we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane.

Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes
Jimmy Buffett

How Can I Keep from Singing?

I’m a choir spouse.  But for your sake, my wife does not encourage me to sing. However, I do sneak it in at Sunday mass while she’s in the alto section on the other side of the altar.

We have been parishioners of Old St. Pat’s for over 22 years, since our son started kindergarten there. OSP, as it is referred to locally, was recently highlighted on Chicago’s local PBS station for its 30 years of growth in programs and parishioners.  Legend has it that in 1984 there were only four and that included the housekeeper and her dog. Having survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, it is the oldest public building in the city of Chicago.

Old St. Pat’s / Chicago
by James Caufield

One of the many OSP programs that resonate with me is the designation of September as the “Season for Social Justice.”  This year’s focus is Peace and Nonviolence; not only relevant globally but locally on the streets of Chicago.

I attended the kick-off workshop on Restorative Justice by Alex Wiesendanger of the Community Renewal Society [CRS]. The key questions Alex suggests we ask are: How can harm be repaired? How can we all be restored to right relationships?

CRS promotes Peace Hubs as a community space to intervene and reduce violence and as a more effective alternative to our current punitive justice system.  They are a collaborator for The Reclaim Campaign.

The current Cook County criminal justice system is spending over $500 million dollars per year. But only a mere $1.9 million goes to violence prevention grants for community organizations. 90% of Cook County Jail’s population are pretrial detainees. 70% are nonviolent detainees. The Campaign is calling on County officials to divert low-level offenders and support those re-entering their communities and budget at least a $1 million increase in funding for the Violence Prevention, Intervention and Reduction Grants—with a focus on community-based restorative justice programs.

We are blessed with many good preachers at OSP. One of our regulars is Fr. Ed Foley from the Catholic Theological Union.  One particular homily back in May clicked with me when he encouraged the congregation to be “Traders in Hope.” I have met many such traders during my community development career. We certainly need more of them, like Alex, if we are to restore justice.  Communities here at home or abroad can’t develop if they are plagued with violence.

There are messages of hope we must keep on singing.

In prison cell and dungeon vile,
Our thoughts to them go winging;
When friends by shame are undefiled,
How can I keep from singing?

How Can I Keep from Singing?
Verse added by Doris Plenn &
popularized by Pete Seeger in the 1950s