Salon's Blueprint for Change: Relief for Homeowners, Public Works & Carbon Pricing

The draft "New Declaration of Independence," which is intended to empower the "99%" and to bring the U.S. back on track towards a more sustainable and just future, contains several points of interest to urban planning:

"1. Debt Relief

"[R]eal and widespread relief for homeowners in crisis is urgent. Even millions of homeowners who 'did everything right' find themselves underwater, or illegally foreclosed upon by banks running roughshod over the rights of homeowners by robo-signing fraudulent foreclosure documents by the thousands.

2. A substantial jobs program

Most American cities are filled with beautiful old buildings and monuments and parks dating back to the recovery programs of the New Deal, as well as increasingly decrepit bridges and roads and structures that have been neglected by the last couple of decades of shrinking infrastructure investment. A real, direct jobs program, done in the WPA style, would rebuild our cities and towns in addition to putting thousands of people back to work.

7. Tackle climate change

We may be rapidly approaching the catastrophic point of no return when it comes to preventing major, devastating climate change. At the very least - and this is literally the very least the government should be doing right now to combat climate change - a price should be put on carbon emissions, either in the form of a direct tax or as part of a cap-and-trade scheme."