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Positive deviance is deviating from the norm, but in a positive way. The Wikipedia article in the link above really misconstrues the possibilities of positive deviance. It’s not about being “more effective” or finding “superior practices.” It’s about doing good things for your community because it improves your community. Young Pakistanis Take One Problem Into Their Own [...] What to do? I am now officially over-educated and underpaid. My life as a student came to a close this past weekend, and the job search continues. I have a dozen projects I’m considering, but I’m not sure which one will really capture my interest and keep me busy while I hunt for work and work [...] For those of you who live in Florida District 58 (like me) don’t forget that there is a special election Tuesday, January 26 to replace Representative Michael Scionti. Here’s a .pdf map of the district. This is the primary election. The Special General Election will be held February 23, 2010. Learn more here. Your candidate choices [...] Brian Ries at CL’s Daily Loaf reports that a new restaurant is coming to Seminole Heights. Michelle and Greg Baker of the Trib’s Culinary Sherpas and owners of Cook & Company will soon sign the papers to buy a spot in Seminole Heights to open The Refinery. …the new spot will be called The Refinery [...] Florida Progressive Blog has this great post about the Palm Beach County Progressive Round Table meetings. “Almost fifty different progressive organizations with presence in Palm Beach County are invited to PRT quarterly meetings, where a representative from each group in attendance gets a strictly enforced five minutes of presentation time to update everyone else in attendance [...] Good job Equality Florida! EF’s recent Tampa Gala raised over $70,000 to help them in their ongoing work to secure equal rights for all. “And the crowd – what can you say? Overwhelming. Perhaps the largest LGBT Political fundraiser ever in Tampa Bay. We made many, many, many new friends during the Gala. And what a [...] Foreclosure Prevention and Assistance [...] Some Seminole Heights residents are considering novel ways to pour money into improving their neighborhood by creating a non-profit org. “As a nonprofit organization, residents would be able to make tax-deductible donations for improvements in their own neighborhoods. Baron says these donations could be made to the general pot of money, or for specific projects.” CBSnews reports - “In addition to listing specific earmarks he finds the most reprehensible, McCain said he has been twittering the “top ten” most egregious and that at this rate it would take him “almost three years” to list all of the 9,000 pork projects present in the bill.” 9,000! Why, that’s outrageous. Or, to put it [...] I hate billboards. They’re an eyesore, and Tampa has way too many of them. But, they’re not going anywhere soon, and the Tampa City Council has a decision to make Thursday about whether to allow an increase in the number of digital billboards in the city. This increase in digital billboards is part of a [...] I recently emailed Mark Flynn, the Public Relations Coordinator at City of Tampa Television (CTTV), asking when they’re going to start webcasting. It turns out they already are. All of CTTV is webcast in real time here. A program schedule can be found here. CTTV also keeps some video-on-demand material here. There’s nothing too exciting on the [...] Here’s an awesome page by John R. documenting the history of the gay pride ban instituted by Hillsborough County in 2005. This is a great resource for anyone who wants to learn more. A lot of this was unfamiliar to me and I want to thank John for his work in putting it together and [...] This article (Tampa police use Taser to subdue agitated lawyer by Rebecca Catalanello and Janet Zink, Times staff writers) has two things I hate – Taser abuse and historic preservation codes. First, as City Council member Joseph Caetano notes at the end of the article, “You can die from being Tasered.” That’s right! And, this guy [...] In the same vein as my AHA (Ad Hoc Action) Committees, techPresident considers a “Craigslist for service.” “It’s wildly speculative to wonder if a true peer-to-peer Craigslist for service — one that connected people together, creating new social opportunities, not just plugging people into existing ones — could work, but that’s the fun part. “Without carrying the [...] I’m deeply immersed in writing a paper, but that’s no reason to stop blogging. But, since I really should get back to wasting time on Facebook writing my paper here’s a round-up of what’s been going on lately in the Tampa blogosphere. At Sticks of Fire Tommy takes a look at the incredible shrinking Tampa Tribune. [...] Media revolutionary David Harris just posted (whoops, I mean posted just over a month ago) this great look at the Hillsborough County Citizen Advisory Council (CAC) in Tampa, Florida. Technology opens government doors “Citizens are allowed and invited, hell begged, to watch the broadcast either on their local cable access channel or online on-demand. The excuse [...] OK, so now that the campaigning is over perhaps we can return to a world somewhat based on facts and reality. Despite the accusations that Obama never reached across the aisle, one of his key bipartisan accomplishments during his time in the Senate was the Coburn-Obama Bill to create the Internet Database of Federal Spending. Coburn, [...] There’s probably a whole movement already organized to do this, but I’m not aware of them yet. Last night over beers ML and I agreed there should be a national holiday every first Tuesday of November – Democracy Day, where we spend the long weekend (since most people will end up taking off that Monday) talking [...] Even if you oppose same-sex marriage you should vote no on Florida amendment 2. It is such a poorly worded law that it will affect everyone in a non-traditional marriage, including all common-law marriages, and all long-term couples just “living together.” The amendment would add these words to the Florida constitution - “Inasmuch as marriage is the [...] Over at Boingboing Douglas Rushkoff presents a brilliant idea for focusing community money on community projects. “So Halko’s idea is to sell VIP cards. For every dollar a customer spends on a card, they receive the equivalent of $1.20 worth of credit at either restaurant. If I buy a thousand dollar card, I get twelve [...] Hmmm, I’m not sure what prompted the action, but a (non-city) work crew showed up at the abandoned house and cut the lawn, trimmed the overgrown bushes, and carried all the trash away. This is great and awesome, and I’m wondering who to thank, but I’m also nervous that there’s more trash lurking inside that [...] As I mentioned in an earlier post, there’s a house down the street that was abandoned and is now owned by Bank of America. There was lots of crap inside the house that was also abandoned and someone about 6 weeks ago cleaned out the house and piled all the garbage bags in the front [...] I’m sure we’re not the only block to suffer from the eyesore of abandoned homes. As I walk around the neighborhood there are several obviously abandoned homes with overgrown lots. One particular eyesore is just down the street from me. After contacting Bank of America, and the Realtor on the sign out front, I contacted Code [...] Tommy at Sticks of Fire is looking for suggestions on how to increase voter turnout, especially elections that don’t involve presidential candidates and don’t take place in November. Here are the suggestions I offered. 1. Voting registration drives in the political off-season. During the heat of a political season, wary citizens are afraid of being bamboozled [...] Mariella lays out the case against Brian Blair here. And, the Ybor City Stogie has been collecting info about Blair for some time at The Blair Watch Project Re/Creating Tampa supports transparency in government and candidates who shun lobbyist lucre. Blair’s alliance with developers casts a pall over every decision he makes as commissioner. Hillsborough County will [...] I recently posted a suggestion about how to create a social network among Tampa metropolitan area neighborhood associations. On Monday I met a Re/Creating reader who told me about Tampa Homeowners, An Association of Neighborhoods (THAN). Looking it over I see that THAN is a pretty good resource, well worth checking out (I’ve put it in the [...] The Official Unofficial Seminole Heights Blog recently asked about local neighborhood associations “What does it take to get more to volunteer and make a difference? … Can we organize and unite to be a more productive group?” While SH was writing specifically about Seminole Heights neighborhood associations, this morning an idea occurred to me about a [...] Excellent meditation on the current state of journalism and news organizations by Billy Townsend at Lakeland Local. Recommended. “It’s not newspapers that face a very real death very soon – it’s institutional journalism, the centralized daily coverage of city hall and crime and whose daughter is singing at Carnegie Hall and whose Little League team is [...] PRESS RELEASE FROM HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS BUDDY JOHNSON FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Elections Office Upcoming Community Outreach – August 21, 2008 – August 24, 2008 HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY: Buddy Johnson, Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections, and staff will travel into the community to register new voters, update voter records and [...] Be sure to check out this video at Greening Tampa about the Summer Streets program in NYC. It looks awesome. |
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