Where to Be Rich in LA

House hunting brings out the demographer/sociologist in me. I haven't lived here long enough to have a total handle on what are the "good" and "bad" areas, but I'm starting to get some ideas.

(I apologize in advance for all the feathers I'm about to ruffle.)

Areas that are good tend to have:

• Rich people
• White people
• Maybe Asian people
• "Good" schools as defined by a score of 8+ on Great Schools
• Well-funded public services
• Crime that is not overt

Areas that are bad tend to have:

• Poor people
• Brown people
• Black people
• Asian people who aren't integrated into mainstream American culture
• "Bad" schools (scores 1-3)
• Poorly funded public services
• Visible crime, graffiti, gangs
• Noise and/or pollution

You know what I see as the main differences on these lists? Socioeconomic status and race. So if I ask myself, "Where should we live?" what I'm really wondering is, what kind of white people are we? Statistically speaking, our income puts us in the third quartile for Pasadena (between 50-75% of median). I feel awkward calling myself rich, but I think it might be true.

Then I see these lists like "Best Places to Raise a Family Around LA" which should be titled "Where Rich People Live." I mean seriously, #1 on the list is Manhattan Beach, where the average sales price of a three bedroom home is $1.8 million. So I guess my family is richer than we are poor, but we're not rich rich.

The point I'm trying to make here is that one can't just choose to be rich. In many cases, the deck is stacked against you from the start. And we can't keep using socioeconomic status as a proxy variable for everything in life. Which leads me to the following scatter plot:



(If that's not displaying properly on your device, or you'd like to see the supporting data, click here.)

What are we seeing in this chart? 
A correlation between a school's rating on Great Schools and the percentage of its student body that is low income, which means qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. (As an aside, that is really poor around here because there's no adjustment made to the calculations to factor in cost of living in your particular area within the lower 48 states.)

What are we not seeing?
A large portion of the not-low-income families in Pasadena that are not represented on this chart, because their children aren't enrolled in these schools.

Pasadena Unified School District has kind of a mixed reputation around here. In the 1970s, the district was ordered to bus students to end de-facto segregation, a bit of history I haven't found anyone too eager to talk about. As of 2016, only 55% of students living in PUSD boundaries attended public schools. The rest are in charter, private, home school, or transfer out of the district. At the same time, there are several schools with new magnet programs focused on STEM, Arts, and IB, and they also offer dual language options. I'm familiar with a group called Pasadena Education Network that seems to be doing good work towards promoting integrated schools. So overall, I'm observing some positive trajectory.

Where should I try to buy a house, then? (I mean, assuming we stay in Pasadena. We also have been looking around Glendale and Eagle Rock, which is a whole other ball of wax.) To complicate matters, PUSD offers open enrollment, meaning that if you don't want your student to attend your neighborhood school, you can go through a lottery system to obtain a seat for your child at a different school. So it doesn't even really matter, school-wise, where we buy because we can put the kids in a different school. We just have to give them a ride.

But you see that? How privileged am I that the need to provide transportation daily to/from a school a few miles away wouldn't even give me pause? We are a two parent family with only one of us working outside the home right now. We have the resources to pay for a vehicle, gas, and insurance. I'm not trying to work two minimum wage jobs just to keep food on the table here. And I have the mental bandwidth to think about all these things two years before my kids will even start kindergarten.

What a world we live in.

If you want to learn more about these topics, here are some resources I recommend:

• How America's Public Schools Keep Kids in Poverty (TED talk by Kandice Sumner)
• Follow Integrated Schools on Facebook
• "The Problem with Great Schools" inspired me to write this post

iVote

Today, we have a guest post from DF. Well, the idea is his; I'm his ghostwriter.

By way of introduction, DF (my husband) is politically moderate. He's voted for candidates on both sides of the political spectrum. He's been pondering this idea for most of his life - it did not come about as a reaction to the latest election. And he enjoys playing complex strategy board games in his spare time, so this line of thinking is fun for him.

Without further ado, I present to you Das Fenster's plan to revolutionize American democracy and return the power to the people: iVote.

Preamble:
Our current system of government, a constitutional federal republic, has some issues. Because the people have no direct voice, our wishes are not heard, or they are drowned out by shadowy special interest groups. When our country was created, the founders set up the best system they could at the time. Now, with advances in communications and technology, it's time to reboot our system to better serve our needs in the 21st century and beyond. We need more transparency and less obfuscation.

In order to make these changes, we'll have to amend the constitution a few times.

Note that the below plan only applies to the federal government. Each state can still choose its own system whether it wants to retain a traditional legislative branch, start its own iVote, or something else.

Step 1 (this is the most difficult hurdle to cross):
Disband congress as we know it. Some legislators are retained to create/promote/oversee the new iVote system, and write legislation. They no longer represent a specific geographical area, however. The people will vote for their preferred political party (there will be several to choose from), and legislative positions will be apportioned according to the percentage of votes each party receives. In this way, it's sort of like a parliamentary system.

We'll still have a president who is elected directly by the people. The president retains all the powers enumerated in the constitution including overseeing the cabinet. S/he can veto laws that are passed by iVote. (The people can overrule a presidential veto with a 2/3 majority vote.)

Step 2:
Create an electronic voting system for all citizens called iVote

iVote will be highly secure, built to withstand all forms of cyber attack/hacking, and prevent voter fraud. To set up an initial account, you must prove your identity with some type of verifiable record, like a birth certificate or driver's license. The system will also check death records also to make sure the person registering is a real, living person. Each voter must sign in to the system using biometric data (fingerprint or eye scan) to prevent impersonation. As technology improves, so will the security measures. We might need to record the IP addresses of where votes are coming from to make sure we aren't being hacked by foreign entities.

At all stages of the process, accommodations will be provided for low-income people, those who are home-bound, or others who might not have access to official documentation and/or the internet. Possible solutions include community voting centers at libraries, in-person voter registration offices where staff can look up birth certificate information if you don't have an official copy, and officials who visit people in their homes or other locations. Citizens who are not proficient in English will also have materials available to them in their dominant language.

Step 3:
Citizens submit petitions online for laws they think should be implemented. All the other citizens can go on to read the proposals and click "like" for the ones they want to move forward. The system records when you "like" something so you can only vote once, but the site doesn't actually publish your name a la Facebook.

Once a petition has received a like from 25% of citizens, it proceeds to a judicial review committee to make sure it's constitutional. If it passes that check, it will be voted on.

Step 4:
Voting

Voting happens once a month, from the 1st through the last day. All the petitions from the previous month that met the 25% threshold and were deemed constitutional are open to be voted on.

Now this part is really exciting - people can be paid to vote! There's an option on the vote screen for "Yes," "No," and "Paid Vote." You can click over to see who's offering payment, how much, and for which vote. Only U.S. citizens, U.S. institutions, or U.S.-based corporations can pay for votes. This system will help increase voter turnout and provide more transparency in campaign finance. The income earned from voting is taxable, just like any other income.

Another major reform is that political advertising will be severely restricted. There will only be one platform for political news (TV/radio/satellite/internet), and this is the only place that PACs, political parties, and other entities can advertise. The content on this platform will be submitted by the petition writers, then verified by fact checkers before being published/broadcast. Each party will also be allowed space on this platform to put forth their official positions. As noted above, the party system can become much more robust under iVote - there will be a lot more options than just Republican/Democrat.

Step 5:
How petitions pass/fail

A minimum voter turnout of 50% is required for any initiative to be adopted. If turnout is below 50%, the status quo will be maintained.

Certain types of elections will require a higher turnout, such as constitutional amendments which would need at least 75% voter turnout.

We aren't quite sure how to pass a federal budget under this system. It would probably require a budget committee (or a new Department of the Budget) hashing out the numbers in advance with all the various federal departments and agencies. Then citizens can just vote yes or no for the whole thing, similar to the omnibus spending bill that congress approves now. When you're voting, you'll be able to see the previous budget, proposed new budget, and an explanation for any increase or decrease. A good thing with iVote is that even if we don't have 50% voter turnout or the budget bill doesn't pass, the government would not shut down. Everyone would keep operating at the previous fiscal year's budget level until a new budget can be approved. (Continuing resolution by default)

Additional Notes:
Accommodations will be made in the system for any citizens who will be away from a secure internet connection for an extended period of time (e.g. serving in the Peace Corps in a remote area), so that they can still vote in monthly elections if they desire.

The president can send out an "URGENT!" call for a vote within 24 hours on truly pressing matters, like an authorization to declare war. Everyone will get an alert via iVote, similar to how our phones buzz now with severe weather warnings.

Jury Duty, Part II

As promised, here is the conclusion to my tale of jury duty. I selected this week to serve at the advice of a friend who said to pick a week with a federal holiday on Monday, since there are usually fewer trials. Good advice!

Here's what happened.

Last week, I had yet to receive a reminder notice in the mail (as had been promised). I emailed the jury commission and then miraculously, my notice appeared on Friday. It included reminders about the dress code, prohibited items, and where jurors can park at a discount. 

I arrived punctually on Tuesday morning to find the jury assembly room once again teeming with my fellow citizens. The jury commissioner went over a lot of the same information from back in December. Then she called roll. Most people were present. Then we sat around and waited.

A judge showed up to give us a rah-rah pep talk about the importance of serving jury duty. He rambled on and on. I figured I should be respectful and pay attention b/c if he saw me reading a book, he'd probably find some way to get me assigned to a sequestered jury case. But then he started in about Memorial Day and how anyone who tries to get out of jury duty is disrespecting those who lost their lives in service to our country. Oh my, that was a bit over the top, and I couldn't help rolling my eyes. Look, Mr. Judge, our armed forces defend our freedom. When you compel/manipulate/force people to do things, that isn't really freedom now, is it? Of course, I hope most people will fulfill their civic duty to serve on a jury, and we have laws in place about that sort of thing, but if taking a week off work to be on a jury presents a legitimate financial hardship, I don't think we should be guilt-tripping people about it.

The judge finally let us get back to doing nothing. Well actually, first we had to listen to the commissioner answer the same questions over and over because, seriously, some people can't pay attention. She also told us that the thermostat in the room was set at a temperature where most people should be comfortable, but if someone was unbearably hot/cold to let her know, and it would go up for a vote with a maximum of one thermostat-adjustment vote per day. Ha! I am betting that policy came up because of some unruly past jurors...

For some reason, they play music in the waiting room. Maybe it was supposed to pacify us. Some of my neighboring jurors felt compelled to sing along. Others were playing games or watching videos on their phones with the sound on. Grrr - audio pollution! I tried to zone them out while reading my book.

Once in awhile, the commissioner would come in and call a group of people to go serve on a jury pool. On about the fifth round, my name was called. I was excited! I had been chosen! I've always wanted to be on a jury since watching "12 Angry Men" in school. Someone has to be the voice of rationality in the room!

The person reading our names off told us to wait in the hallway, but (inefficiently) he did not tell us to stay in the same order that we'd been called. A deputy came out and asked if anyone needed to use the bathroom or move their car. After lots more waiting, she lined us up in our original order and assigned us a juror number. I was #7. There were about 35 in our group. We then walked in our line over to a neighboring courthouse. She also kept offering us bathroom breaks. I felt like I was on a preschool field trip.

At the courthouse, we had to go through a security screening where the guard was befuddled by a juror with a pacemaker who did not want to go through the metal detector or be swiped with a wand. I thought I was going to have to intervene to prevent catastrophe, but they worked it out amongst themselves. Then we slowly made our way up to our assigned courtroom.

In the interim, one of the jurors disappeared. She allegedly had to go move her car because she was parked at a meter, despite multiple announcements not to do that and several earlier opportunities to move her car. We waited and waited in the hallway. IDK if we were only waiting for her, or also for some court proceedings. It was super boring, and it was already 11:30am so I was getting hungry because I usually eat lunch pretty early.

Fiiiiinally, we went into the courtroom - all 35 of us (minus the missing juror). Since I was #7, I got to sit in the jury box. I felt so legit! The judge told us about how important the jury system is, good for you for being here, blah blah blah. Then we had to take roll again. The judge told us a little about the case. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to talk about it or not, so I'll just say it was a civil case/lawsuit. By then it was almost 12:30pm and we got a lunch break. She told us that after lunch, they'd start in on jury selection.

I found a nearby Cuban restaurant that was super delicious. I could hardly pick what to order because everything sounded so good! I decided that if the trial went on for a few days, maybe I'd come back again to try some of the other items. It felt weird to be out and about in the city, by myself, like a normal working person. And I was wearing work clothes instead of spit-up stained yoga pants. Strange!

After lunch, we all got in our numerical line again (including the missing juror, who had reappeared) and filed into the courtroom. I noticed that the plaintiff was no longer present. The lawyers asked to approach the bench. They had a hushed conversation with the judge. Then the judge said some more things to us about how wonderful jury trials are and if we ever have to go to trial, we better hope it's in the USA. She then swore us in as jurors only to tell us that the matter had been resolved and the case was being dismissed. Our jury service was complete; we were free to go. Well, that was anticlimactic! 

In Shelby Co., you only have to serve once every 10 years. I doubt I'll still be living here in another decade, so I guess this was my one day of jury duty. It turned out to be more interesting than I expected but not as dramatic as a legal thriller TV show or movie.

I know last time I posted about jury duty, I was ranting about how little is provided for jurors. I mean, you have to pay for your own transportation/parking, lunch, and child care. You get paid $11 per day. But then I was thinking about it some more and realized that I don't necessarily want to pay higher taxes so that all jurors can have free parking and free child care. It cost me less than $20 for parking two days (December and May) + one lunch. DF had the day off and stayed home with the boys, so no cost for child care. That is really not so bad. If the county offered reimbursements, I'm sure people would take advantage of that system. 

Good luck to anyone else serving jury duty soon. Your country appreciates it, I hear :)