The Problem. Progress as a Notion that ‘Speaks Itself’ 9
The Problem. Progress as a Notion that ‘Speaks Itself’ Narratives of progress in international law texts, such as the ones listed above, have something in common. Beyond expressing a conviction or aspiration relating to a concrete legal situation, they seem to ‘speak themselves’. With this phrase I do not refer to the lack of supportive evidence or arguments, although that may also be the case. I rather suggest that expressions, such as “social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom” (Preamble UN Charter), refer to some type of progress that occurs in a manner independent from subjective judgment. This idea of progress is not a political one that is made up by the author of its statement based on ideological grounds but, rather, it can be found unfolding before our eyes in a world out there. For progress to be ‘true’ it must not be invented or concocted by the author of a text (let it be an individual, institution, group, or the “founding fathers”). For progress to be ‘true’ it needs to be merely recorded or, at best, discovered by the author of a progressive discourse. This is a very important point that is often missed. Although we all have different ideas about what true democracy is and how to achieve it, we all think that achieving more democracy means progress for society because there ultimately is such a thing as democracy (democratic institutions, democratic processes, etc.) which transcends our individual definitions and constitutes a greater good, irrespective of (or even against) our views. Similarly, ‘true’ progress needs to have some properties that transcend the subjectivity of the author and exist in some objective (immanent, obvious, true, neutral, universal, transcendental, etc.) dimension. Something is progress not because I say so but because it is so, regardless of whether I say so or not. Beneficiary must be not only the author of the claim but also a totality (e.g. international community, humankind, civilization, etc.). This is certainly the case with the UN Charter’s Preambular commitment to “social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom” but also in debates about more international law, more democracy, more rule of law, more human rights, more international criminal law, more international tribunals, and so on. Progress may be realized by an author institution, but it may also occur without and beyond the author. The use of a notion of progress that ‘speaks itself’ is a legitimating rherotical move. The conten...
The Problem. This operation changed in late 1994, when a pier on the south approach span to the bridge shifted as a train passed over, throwing the track out of alignment (see Figure 3). Conrail, which had seen freight traffic slowly decline on the NEC, chose not to repair the bridge, instead re-routing trains into an alternate yard in Newark, Delaware (”Chrysler Yard”). Edgemoor Yard was essentially abandoned, and local freight to shippers north of Wilmington was handled via Philadelphia or moved through Wilmington’s passenger station. Freight for and from southern Delaware, the Delmarva Peninsula (a peninsula divided between Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia – hence the name Delmarva – and separated from land to the west by Chesapeake Bay), and the Port of Wilmington moved from Harrisburg and points west via Perryville, Maryland, thence north on Amtrak’s NEC to the Chrysler Yard and then via Xxxxxx to the Delmarva Secondary. Most traffic from the south moved north from Washington, DC on Amtrak’s NEC to the Chrysler Yard, thence via Xxxxxx. The line between Xxxxx and the Shellpot Bridge saw only train movements to and from the Port of Wilmington. The State of Delaware grew concerned that the awkward routing used by Conrail to serve the Port of Wilmington and the southern part of the state represented an economic cost in terms of foregone rail traffic, increased truck traffic, longer transit times and poorer service. The state has a program to subsidize rail service on two “short line” (small) railroads and a general interest in moving more freight traffic by rail rather than on the highway. However, before the state could initiate discussions with Conrail executives, other events intervened. In 1996, CSX Transportation announced an agreement with Conrail’s Board of Directors for CSX to purchase and merge with Conrail. Norfolk Southern Corporation immediately announced its opposition and mounted a hostile tender offer for Conrail stock. The bidding war to capture Conrail shareholders’ favor eventually drove the price of Conrail stock to a total value of $10.4 billion. The Conrail Board of Directors in March of 1997 finally agreed to allow CSX to reach a separate agreement with NS that would permit the two railroads to acquire Conrail as a stock purchase7 and then split Conrail between them on the basis of long term leases of the assets. NSC received rights to 58% of the track mileage and CSXT to 42%.8 The two railroads decided what parts of Conrail would go to each. NS ...
The Problem. Housing options, including emergency, transitional, supportive, and low-income, are insufficient. There are a limited number of emergency shelter beds for homeless single men. There are long waiting lists of people seeking Section 8 vouchers and affordable housing solutions. Landlords are abandoning property and renters are being compromised. Foreclosures continue to rise. NIMBY16 continues to negatively impact potential relocation of homeless persons.
The Problem. There is insufficient access to and provision of health services to meet the needs of the current homeless and the near homeless children and adults. These circumstances have led to either lack of healthcare services or the costly utilization of emergency facilities for non-emergent care.
The Problem. Predominantly, a coordinated system of supportive services and programs is lacking, hence, individuals and families accessing services must do so through multiple points of access and entry. This leads to service gaps, redundant service provision, and unmet needs.
The Problem. 2α Fix α ∈ (0, ∞) and consider the two hyperbolae Ct := {(x, y) ∈ R2 | y ≥ 0, y − x = (1 − t) }, 0 ≤ t ≤ 1, (3.1.1) 2α and Ct := {(x, y) ∈ R2 | x ≥ 0, x − y = (t − 1)
The Problem. The Emergency Shelter for Families has been a safe haven for hundreds of individuals and families since its inception in 2015. The two buildings which houses the ESF programs were built in 1965 and 1969 and acquired by the housing authority many years
The Problem. The above interactions between CBE, residents, and industrial companies marked the formative stages of CBE’s efforts to negotiate terms of continued operation with each oil refinery in the Bay Area, through a combination of good neighbor agreements and consent orders following litigation. Chevron offered the next proving ground for this model of citizen-driven environmental regulation. On August 11, 1993, a Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) was distributed for public review.36 The document, prepared by Environmental Science Associates for the City of Richmond, outlined the scope of the proposed Chevron Reformulated Gasoline and FCC Plant Upgrade Project. The project was announced at a moment of heightened scrutiny of petrochemical plants in the Bay Area. In addition to the accidents listed in Table 1, a defining event took place less than two weeks before the DEIR was issued. The General Chemical Company, collocated on the Chevron property, was involved in an accident similar to what was experienced in the Swansea-Elyria communities in North Denver: a safety valve on a railroad car manufactured by GATX Corporation ruptured, sending a cloud of sulfuric acid over parts of Richmond and thirteen other communities.37 The effects of the accident were felt on a far greater scale than during the incident in Colorado:
The Problem. The Italian EU SILC is based on a stratified twostage sampling design. First stage units are given by municipalities, stratified according to Administrative Province and demographic size (288 strata). Among municipalities those with at least 30,000 inhabitants are considered self representative and form a takeall stratum. Secondary sampling units are given by households. In Italy, the survey is designed to obtain reliable estimates at the level of 20 Administrative Regions (NUTS2 according to the EU “Nomenclature of Units for Territorial Statistics”; see xxxx://xxxxxx.xx.xxx/comm/eurostat/xxxxx/; see also Istat, 2008). Since our domains of interest are obtained subdividing the population of Administrative Regions (NUTS2 level) by Province and then by “Health Society” and Municipalities (NUTS3, NUTS4 level – or LAU1, LAU2 level), the sample in many of these domains can be too small to obtain enough reliable estimators for meaningful analyses. In terms of households, the domain specific sample sizes range from a minimum of 24 to a maximum of 201; 25th, 50th and 75th percentiles are respectively 29, 33 and 38. Eventually, we note that Provinces and Municipalities are in some way planned domains (i.e. they are strata), while the other domains of interest Health Society can be obtained as a union of strata (i.e. as union of Municipalities). Thus, the domains of interest are Municipalities (LAU1 level) or aggregation of Municipalities (LAU2 level). These administrative regions correspond to levels of governance for which policy makers need to have relevant and accurate figures on poverty and living conditions. The target parameters are poverty indicators. These are mainly linear or non linear combinations of totals and means (see Deliverable 4 for a review of traditional poverty indicators). Here we refer to the estimation of area totals or area means. Moreover, we focus here on direct estimation of the target quantities under the EU SILC sample design. In Deliverable 8, on the other hand, the reader can find the description of the modelbased approach and more details on the estimation of linear and non linear combinations of totals and means, and on the estimation of quantiles of the cumulative distribution function of income.
