Sioux Falls 136th-Safest City in America

CQ Press has just released its list of the most dangerous cities in America. Sioux Falls is not one of them... but interestingly, Sioux Falls is not one of the very safest, either. Based on rates of murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, and motor vehicle theft, Sioux Falls ranks 136th out of 400 cities with over 75K population. (See the full methodology here.)

Sioux Falls is still 12.5% below the national average crime rates. Here's a comparison with some other metros within a day's drive:

City	Rank	Score (% above or below nat'l crime rate)
Madison (WI)	99	–31.0
Cedar Rapids	123	–20.0
Lincoln	134	–13.1
Sioux Falls	136	–12.5
Sioux City	140	–12.1
Fargo	149	–7.8
Davenport	221	31.2
Des Moines	236	37.0
Omaha	239	38.8
St. Paul	298	74.7
Minneapolis	353	127.5
Kansas City	380	186.01

And now for your daily paradigm-buster: Remember last year when Senator Thune made some silly comment about how Central Park would be safer with some gun-toting Sioux Falls tourists to keep the peace? Golly, they must have gone there: New York City is ranked 132nd safest, better than Sioux Falls at 14.5% below the national crime rate average. Go figure!

Empire State Building Seeks 40% Energy Savings with Everyday Tech

Anyone think the climate change goals of the American Clean Energy and Security Act are too lofty, too reliant on future technology that doesn't exist yet?

Nuts to that: Engineers working on the Empire State Building have a plan to cut the building's energy use by 40%, reduce its carbon footprint by 105,000 metric tons, and save $4.4 million a year, largely with better insulation:

Given the regal stature of the building, which was completed in 1931, most of the solutions seem relatively mundane. The project sponsors said that half of the energy reductions will result from adding a coated film between two glass panes on the windows and insulating the space between radiators and walls. The building's cold water, ventilation and light systems also will be improved.

Many estimates place the operation of buildings as responsible for 50 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions in the United States. In big cities, that percentage can be higher. In New York, for instance, 78 percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from the city's buildings [Bob Selna, "Empire State Building Goes Green the Retro Way," San Francisco Chronicle, 2009.11.06].

No carbon sequestration, no fusion reactors, just better building materials that you can probably get at Home Depot. Boy, keep retrofitting skyscrapers and prairie buildings with tech like that, and we'll never need to build another coal-fired plant again.

And you folks thought fighting climate change would be hard. We have the tools to fight climate change right now. It's just a question of finding the will to change the way we build and do other business... and passing a little legislation to urge that will along in the marketplace.

NYC Charter School Hires Teachers for $125,000

My post yesterday on South Dakota's expenditures on standardized tests and turn toward national curriculum standards provoked a little discussion of how we motivate teachers.

Want motivation? How about paying teachers $125,000 a year? Last year I blogged about New York City's Equity Project Charter School, which plans to pay its teachers $125K a year, plus performance bonuses (boni!). This morning, an eager reader sends a link to an update on the eight-teacher "dream team" the Equity Project has hired. What does a million bucks get you for teaching staff? Among those chosen from 600 apps:

• A 30-year veteran teacher from Arizona whose salary a couple years ago was $40K.
  
• Two Ivy-League grads.
• North Carolina social studies teacher Casey Ash, whose principal cried describing what a treasure he is.
• Joe Carbone, phys-ed teacher, former L.A. Lakers trainer (his résumé includes, "Developed Kobe from 185 lbs. to 225 lbs. of pure muscle over eight years"—how's that for an interview-getter?)

The teachers get high pay, but they also can be fired at will. Is that enough motivation to perform? We'll find out when classes start this fall for 120 lucky fifth graders. The Equity Project will add another 120 kids (and, we can hope, another "dream-team" of teachers) each year until they have a full 5th-grade-thru-8th-grade middle school. Wish them luck... although if the free market works, this school won't need much luck at all.

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By the way, these educational innovators will be following what looks like an old-fashioned semester schedule. What, no trimesters? No block?

Mayor Bloomberg Offers Gov't Money to Unemployed Wall Streeters

Shall I throw the class warfare flag? You tell me....

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is reaching out to help the unfortunate in New York City. He's offering $45 million in city money for job retraining as well as seed capital and office space for new business ventures.

The intended recipients of these handouts? New York's unemployed investment bankers, traders, and other Wall Street types whose greed, gambling, and incompetence got us into this economic mess.

Government retraining programs for MBAs who were pulling down six-figure salaries while they wrecked the economy—must be part of Bloomberg's effort to win the good graces of the Republican Party.