City News 2.28

• CHICAGO: The third largest city in America is poised to elect its first black female mayor as spring runoff election is set (USA Today)
• PHOENIX: Facebook content moderators take drugs and have sex on the job to deal with stresses of the job (TheVerge)
• SAN FRANCISCO: What rents for $4,000/month in San Francisco (SFCurbed)
• SAN JOSE: Massive co-living project approved by City Council (KTVU)
• NEW YORK CITY: NYC named the most expensive dating city in the county—San Francisco and San Jose ranked and #2 and #3 respectively (New York Post)
• LOS ANGELES: A look at the unconventional landmarks of the City of Angels (Los Angeles Magazine)

Toulimin Model: The Gentrification Debate (In-Class)

For the past 30 years, a debate has raged over the effects of gentrification. Gentrification, the process of reshaping urban, working-class (often ethnic) neighborhoods by means of an influx of more affluent residents, has been a contentious issue in every large city in America. Working-class neighborhoods, as diverse as Los Angeles’ Silverlake, Chicago’s Lincoln Park, and Atlanta’s Pittsburgh, have been transformed into newly desirable, up-and-coming locales. Proponents argue that gentrification economically revitalizes neighborhoods by infusing then with fresh development dollars and higher-income residents. Opponents say that all of this comes at the expense of long-time, often poorer, residents, who are forced out due to rising costs and/or eviction. For this in-class assignment, you will utilize the Toulmin Model to construct a rhetorically-sound claim for or against the process of gentrification. This claim will be supported by two distinct sets (I & II) of grounds, warrants, backings, etc.

Use THIS template to present your claim in outline form.

Done in class on 2.28

WEEK 6: Miami, Florida – Magic City

WEEK 6: Miami, Florida – Magic City
Tue 2.26/Thu 2.28
READ: EVICT—Ch. 3: Hot Water - Ch. 6: Rat Hole; eR—“In the Scooter Wars of 2018, It's Not Really About the Scooters” (USA Today); “Electric Scooters are Loathed by City Regulators. They Shouldn't Be.” (Vox), “How Electric Scooters are Transforming Cities” (US New & World Report), “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Electric Scooters” (New York Times)
CLASS: TOULMIN METHOD; Reading Discussion; Multimedia presentations; Watch—“People in San Francisco are Pissed Over These Electric Scooters” (Vice News), “Don't Blame Scooters. Blame the Streets.” (Vox), “Why the Rise of the Electric Scooter Has Been a Bumpy Ride” (PBS News); Lecture—“Infographics 101”

Upcoming:

WEEK 7: Los Angeles, California – The City of Angels
Tue 3.5/Thu 3.7
READ: EVICT—Ch. 7: The Stick - Ch. 10: Hypes for Hire; Read: eR—“The 100 Best Infographics" (Creative Bloq), “10 Tips for Designing Better Infographics” (DotDash), “12 Warning Signs that Your Infographic Sucks” (Visme)
CLASS: Reading Discussion; Multimedia presentations; Writers Workshop
DUE: DRAMATISTIC PENTAD

City News 2.21

• CHICAGO: Police: Actor Jesse Smollett faked hate crime over dissatisfaction over his salary (TheHill)
• WASHINGTON DC: Active Coast Guard lieutenant—and self-identified white nationalist—found stockpiling weapons in plot to kill liberal media and political figures (HuffPost)
• LAS VEGAS: Snow blankets the Strip (CNN)
• LOS ANGELES: Snow to make rare appearance in low-lying SoCal areas (KCAL9)
• PORTLAND: City to probe "friendly" texts between police and right-wing leader to be investigated (NBC News)
• MIAMI: City starts to face a future with higher sea levels (New York Times)

Week 5: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – The City of Brotherly Love

WEEK 5: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – The City of Brotherly Love

Tue 2.19/Thu 2.21

READ: EVICT—Prologue: Cold City - Ch. 2: Making Rent

CLASS: Reading Discussion; Guest speaker (TBA); Multimedia presentations; Lecture—“Inside the Narrative: Burke’s Dramatistic Pentad”
DUE: REFLECTION 1

Upcoming:

WEEK 6: Miami, Florida – Magic City
Tue 2.26/Thu 2.28
READ: EVICT—Ch. 3: Hot Water - Ch. 6: Rat Hole; eR—“In the Scooter Wars of 2018, It's Not Really About the Scooters” (USA Today); “Electric Scooters are Loathed by City Regulators. They Shouldn't Be.” (Vox), “How Electric Scooters are Transforming Cities” (US New & World Report), “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Electric Scooters” (New York Times)
CLASS: TOULMIN METHOD; Reading Discussion; Multimedia presentations; Watch—“People in San Francisco are Pissed Over These Electric Scooters” (Vice News), “Don't Blame Scooters. Blame the Streets.” (Vox), “Why the Rise of the Electric Scooter Has Been a Bumpy Ride” (PBS News); Lecture—“Infographics 101”

City News 2.14

• NEW YORK CITY: Amid community pressure, Amazon pulls out of planned HQ2 deal in Queens (New York Times)
• CHICAGO: Study calls Chicago the most corrupt city in America (ABC7 Chicago)
• EL PASO: City officials contradict Trump's claim of a border crisis in town (Washington Post) 
• LOS ANGELES: LA is largest city in the US to ban fur (TheHill)
• OAKLAND: City, Raiders reopen talks to keep team in town for 2019 season (NBCSports)

Reflection 1: San Jose, Streetwise—On the Principles of an Attractive City

In 2015, philosopher Alain de Botton laid out his vision for what makes for an aesthetically-pleasing city in his presentation, "How To Make an Attractive City." Though he admits that the overwhelming amount of cities in the world (especially those in America) are ill-designed and/or aesthetically uninspiring, he offers "Six Fundamental Things a City Must Get Right":

1. Not too chaotic, not too ordered: The balance of variety and order in buildings
2. Visible life: Is a street alive or is it dead—and why?
3. Compactness: How dense is a city?
4. Orientation and mystery: Is it city's grid well designed—and does it still leave room for people to get pleasantly lost?
5. Scale: What are the biggest buildings in a city and what do they honor?
6. Make it local: A place must look unique, have it's own local character.

For your first reflection, consider the merits of downtown San Jose as defined by de Botton's criteria. Based upon your observations on our walk, answer each of the six points in 4-5 sentences each.

Additionally, as Google has spurred a developing boom in downtown, here are a few of the over two dozen projects in various stages of planning or construction:

• Silvery Towers (under construction across from San Pedro Square Public Market)
• Miro (under construction across from San Jose City Hall)
• The Graduate (under construction two blocks from SJSU)
• Boston Properties' Tech Campus (proposed for Discovery Meadow)
• Adobe Tower 4 (construction begins 2019)
• Museum Place (proposed adjacent to The Tech)
• Sobrato Towers (proposed across from Plaza de Cesar Chavez) 
• Dillabough Valley Title Property (proposed in SoFA, across from Original Joe's) 
• Starcity Co-Living Proposal (proposed south of San Pedro Square)

Required:

• MLA Style
• 375-500 words

Due: Thu 2.21

Week 4: New Orleans, Louisiana – The Big Easy

WEEK 4: New Orleans, Louisiana – The Big Easy

Tue 2.12/Thu 2.14           

READ: eR—“How to Stop Gentrification” (The New Republic), “We Shouldn't Stop Gentrification, but We Can Make it Less Painful” (Forbes), “How an LA Community is Fighting Back Against Gentrification” (Marketplace)

CLASS: Downtown San Jose city walk*; Watch—“What Happens When Neighborhoods Gentrify?” (Vice News), “Why We Stay: Gentrification’s Damage” (The Nation), “What it’s Like to Get Kicked Out of Your Neighborhood” (Buzzfeed); Lecture—“Inside the Toulmin Model”

*Please be on time.

Upcoming:

WEEK 5: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – The City of Brotherly Love

Tue 2.19/Thu 2.21

READ: EVICT—Prologue: Cold City - Ch. 2: Making Rent

CLASS: TOULMIN METHOD; Reading Discussion; Guest speaker (TBA); Multimedia presentations; Lecture—“Inside the Narrative: Burke’s Dramatistic Pentad”
DUE: REFLECTION 1

City News 2.7

• SAN JOSE: Boston Properties announces massive tech development at Discovery Meadow (San Jose Mercury News)
• PHILADELPHIA: Trump Administration aims to block city's safe-injection sites (Wall Street Journal)
• SAN DIEGO: City repeals law forbidding people from living in cars (USA Today)
• SEATTLE: Study sees no increase in grocery prices as a result in $15/hr minimum wage increase (MyNorthwest)
• HONOLULU: City hygiene center sees big jump in users (HawaiiNewsNow)
• AUSTIN: City sees one of the first electric scooter-related fatalities in the country (Curbed Austin)

Flash Multimedia Presentation

This semester, you will be responsible for a flash, five-minute multimedia presentation.

Requirements:

• The presentation must be no more than 5 minutes in length.
• There should be at least six slides (including introduction and conclusion) and should contain least one video clip—absolutely no more than two minutes in length.
• On the day of your presentation, email your presentation (or a link) to me at dhdelao@gmail.com.

Also:

• You must provide your own laptop.
• You may utilize any presentation program you like (e.g PowerPoint, Keynote). However, please sort out any technical issues BEFORE your presentation date (our room's projection system can be found throughout campus).
• Macs will require an Apple-specific adapter to connect to the university’s projection system. Newer model PCs with HDMI-only connections will also require special adapters. 
• You must present from a downloaded version of your presentation (e.g. PowerPoint, Keynote); DO NOT present directly from Google Docs online.
• Presentations without an introduction and/or conclusion cannot score higher than a C You may be docked for a lack of preparedness

Topics:

1. When Disaster Strikes: The Great Chicago Fire of 1871
2. How Traffic Affects Your Health
3. Risen From the Ashes: One World Trade Center
4. Madam Mayor: Susanna Madora, America’s First  Female Mayor
5. The Hottest Ticket in Town: The 1964 New York World’s Fair
6. What Happens If a Great Quake Hits the Pacific Northwest?
7. The Cost of Living: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
8. The Least Educated Cities in America
9. The Bay Area 101
10. An Oasis in the Desert: How Las Vegas Came to Be
11. How We Vote: Rural vs. Urban
12. The Most Diverse Cities in America
13. Better Bikeways SJ: What to Know
14. The Cost of Living: Denver, Colorado
15. The City on Film: La La Land’s Los Angeles
16. The Story of the Golden Gate Bridge
17. California’s Japantowns
18. “Shanghaied” in Portland
19. The Most Dangerous City in America
20. Cal 3: The Plan to Split California
21. What is a Food Desert?
22. The Nightmare City: Visions of Gotham City
23. Are City Dwellers More Stressed and Depressed?
24. The City on Film: Manhattan’s New York City
25. The Most Educated Cities in America
26. When Disaster Strikes: The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906
27. Reboot: How Silicon Valley Came to Be
28. The City on Film: Ferris Beuller’s Day Off’s Chicago
29. Going Nowhere Fast: Why the US Doesn’t’ Have a High Speed Rail System
30. The Cost of Living: Cleveland, Ohio
31. W4M: The Single Woman in "Man Jose" 
32. In the Depths: American Cities and Rising Sea Levels
33. America's Best Urban Parks
34. Back in the Day: In the Valley of Heart's Delight 
35. The City on Film: Rocky's Philadelphia

Schedule:
 
Sec. 2-

Week 5: Tue 2.19/Thu 2.21 

1. Jerry Y. - How We Vote: Rural vs. Urban

Week 6: Tue 2.26/Thu 2.28 

1. Minh M. - What is a Food Desert?
2. Tiffany H. - The Cost of Living: Denver, Colorado
3. Murisa B. - When Disaster Strikes: The Great Chicago Fire of 1871

Week 7: Tue 3.5/Thu 3.7

1. Jenny N. - How Traffic Affects Your Health
2. Ganna M. - The Story of the Golden Gate Bridge

Week 8: Tue 3.12/Thu 3.14    

1. Amanda W. - The Most Diverse Cities in America
2. Xiaoguang Y. - What Happens If a Great Quake Hits the Pacific Northwest?
3. Yu Ju L. - “Shanghaied” in Portland

Week 9: Tue 3.19/Thu 3.21

1. Joshua K. - An Oasis in the Desert: How Las Vegas Came to Be
2. Brizelda C. - In the Depths: American Cities and Rising Sea Levels

Week 10: Tue 3.26/Thu 3.28        

1. Edward H. - America's Best Urban Parks
2. Desteny S. - The Nightmare City: Visions of Gotham City
3. Billy T. - The City on Film: Manhattan’s New York City

Week 12: Tue 4.9/Thu 4.11

1. Jasmine K. - The Bay Area 101
2. Eric N. - Risen From the Ashes: One World Trade Center

Week 13: Tue 4.16/Thu 4.18        

1. Vy T. - California’s Japantowns
2. Derek N. - The City on Film: Ferris Beuller’s Day Off’s Chicago

Week 14: Tue 4.23/Thu 4.25

1. Elizabeth O. - Reboot: How Silicon Valley Came to Be
2. Ryan B. - When Disaster Strikes: The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906

Week 15: Tue 4.30/Thu 5.2     

1.  Jasmine M. - W4M: The Single Woman in "Man Jose"
2.  Zhaorui L. - Going Nowhere Fast: Why the US Doesn’t’ Have a High Speed Rail System

Week 16: Tue 5.7/Thu 5.9

1. Devin Ramos - Back in the Day: In the Valley of Heart's Delight

***

Sec. 4-

Week 5: Tue 2.19/Thu 2.21 

1. Kayla P. - The Most Dangerous City in America

Week 6: Tue 2.26/Thu 2.28 

1. Pardeep K. - The Bay Area 101
2. Jared M. - W4M: The Single Woman in "Man Jose"        

Week 7: Tue 3.5/Thu 3.7

1. Brenda L. - California’s Japantowns
2. Melanie M. - The City on Film: La La Land’s Los Angeles
3. Ryan C. - An Oasis in the Desert: How Las Vegas Came to Be

Week 8: Tue 3.12/Thu 3.14    

1. Paulina Y. - Better Bikeways SJ: What to Know
2. Anthony L. - What Happens If a Great Quake Hits the Pacific Northwest?
3. Debasmita R. - The Story of the Golden Gate Bridge

Week 9: Tue 3.19/Thu 3.21

1. Ashley C. - Are City Dwellers More Stressed and Depressed?
2. Jennifer R. - The Most Educated Cities in America 
3. Collin M. - The Hottest Ticket in Town: The 1964 New York World's Fair

Week 10: Tue 3.26/Thu 3.28        

1.  Michelle T. - How Traffic Affects Health
2.  Brianna P. - What is a Food Desert?
3. Analisa F. - Risen From the Ashes: One World Trade Center

Week 12: Tue 4.9/Thu 4.11

1. Angel R. - The Least Educated Cities in America
2. Brandon V. - The Nightmare City: Visions of Gotham City

Week 13: Tue 4.16/Thu 4.18        

1. Asrita B. - When Disaster Strikes: The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906
2. Emmanuel Z. - Going Nowhere Fast: Why the US Doesn’t’ Have a High Speed Rail System?

Week 14: Tue 4.23/Thu 4.25

1. Zacharia S. - In the Depths: American Cities and Rising Sea Levels
2. Aryssa T. - Back In the Day: In the Valley of Heart's Delight   

Week 15: Tue 4.30/Thu 5.2     

1. Jorge G. - The Cost of Living Denver, Colorado

Week 16: Tue 5.7/Thu 5.9

1. Shannon D. - Reboot: How Silicon Valley Came to Be
2.