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The Planetizen News Brief

9 October 2008 - 5:00am
Smart City Radio

The Planetizen News Brief is a weekly rundown of some of the most interesting and important news and issues of the past week.

The Planetizen News Brief airs every week on the nationally-syndicated radio program "Smart City", which is broadcast in cities across the U.S. Learn more about Smart City and listen to archived shows.

Full Transcript

Cartography was once a challenging pursuit-- typically only handled by a few highly trained professionals. But now with ever-advancing technology, map making is as easy as Google. Technological strides have put cartography into the hands of the average person, and the average person likes it. A recent article from the Globe and Mail looks at the rising tide of amateur mapmakers who are taking advantage of free online mapping technology from Microsoft and Google. They’ve created their own mashups of maps and spatial data on such various topics as crime reports, good local restaurants, and even the location of public toilets. But while the amount of maps being created today is exponentially larger than what it was only a few years ago, many cartographers and geographers worry that untrained map-makers could lead to a plague of inaccurate maps.

And in New Orleans, officials continue to struggle with the city’s clean up and revival since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Many have called the aftermath of Katrina an opportunity to redevelop the city into a more sustainable urban place. A recent editorial in New Orleans City Business argues that the rush to redevelop could create a huge scar on the city. As derelict buildings and urban blight is demolished to make room for redevelopment, officials should be wary about destroying too much of the city’s historic character. Nearly 200 demolition permits were issued during a two-week window following Hurricane Gustav recently, and the editorial claims that new standards and oversight are needed before the wrecking ball claims too much of New Orleans culture and history.

Finally, in Mexico, police corruption is widespread and notorious. Rising gang violence of late has put this corruption in the spotlight as one of the nation’s most challenging problems. But officials may be on to a solution. The Associated Press reports that state officials in Michoacan are hoping to battle unscrupulous behavior in the police force by turning officers into homeowners. More than 4,000 local and state officers and prison guards will become eligible for affordable mortgages, which their current salaries can’t possibly pay for. The government has partnered with a homebuilder to make these mortgages available, and hope that giving officers a physical stake in their community will deter harmful criminal activity. The officers will have to pass background checks to qualify for the mortgages, which officials hope to branch out into other Mexican states. But some critics say offering mortgages to low-level officers may not do much to stem corruption, as much of the problem lies in upper ranks.

Stories discussed in this week's Planetizen News Brief

The Rise of the Amateur Mapmaker

Continued Demolition Threatens New Orleans Character

Mexico Fighting Police Corruption Through Homeownership

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