Protesters against gender violence have left their imprint on Mexico City's streets and monuments.

On #InternationalWomensDay, they are expected to do it again.

@riostlorena reports: trib.al/9GobLCW Last September, in the middle of a roundabout along Mexico City's Paseo de la Reforma, feminist activists installed a wooden carving of a woman raising her fist to the sky.

Around it are the names of victims of Mexico's epidemic of violence against women

The U.S. housing market shifted into overdrive during the pandemic, with more than 6 million homes selling in 2021 despite skyrocketing prices in many cities.

In early 2022, there's no sign that cutthroat bidding and rising prices won't continue trib.al/nS39ovW "It's uniquely challenging for first-time buyers, since they're not benefitting from the increase in home prices," said Realtor.com chief economist Danielle Hale, who predicts more record-high home prices this year trib.al/91fVwCS

Homes are taxed as a function of their market value across much of the nation, but New York City's process is more complicated and problematic than most.

Hundreds of residents last year implored a special city commission to change the law: trib.al/ilH8H40 The 40-year-old state law that created the system was built to favor single-family homeowners over renters or commercial buildings.

It often hurts the low- and moderate-income owners of condos and co-ops

Take any major U.S. city and you're likely to find a historically Black neighborhood demolished or cut off from the rest of the city by a highway.

The legacy of this racist transportation policy continues to define urban landscapes. [THREAD] bloom.bg/3zJrbo2 This map shows the Rondo neighborhood in St. Paul, Minnesota.

In the first half of the 20th century it was home to most of the city's African American residents.

It was a key area to do business, meet, shop and socialize during segregation and the Jim Crow era.

The massive Art Deco "Guardians of Traffic" sculptures are the inspiration for Cleveland's new baseball team name.

What's the backstory? [THREAD] bloom.bg/2WgGIx5 Why name a sports team after sculptures on a bridge?

It's not completely unprecedented for a ballclub to look to transportation infrastructure for inspiration — see, most famously, the Brooklyn "Trolley Dodgers." bloom.bg/376ELFE

1/ When people moved out of expensive cities, where did they go?

A year of migration data reveals trends and interesting surprises: bloom.bg/3xCC4YB 2/ After much speculation about emptied downtowns and the prospect of remote work, a year of @USPS data gives the clearest picture yet of how people moved.

1/ Flooding is a rising threat across the United States, with homeowners facing as much as $19 billion in damages every year.

What puts a neighborhood at high risk? Geography is key, but new data reveal another factor, too: race.

Read the report: bloom.bg/38HXubN 2/ When appraisers mapped cities for the federal Homeowners' Loan Corporation in the 1930s, they assigned grades to neighborhoods based on several factors, race high among them.

Black and immigrant neighborhoods were deemed undesirable, marked by yellow or red lines.

1/ Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has unveiled legislation that offers billions in federal dollars for cities willing to demolish urban highways that razed or divided neighborhoods decades ago. bloom.bg/3pMf9pl 2/ The Economic Justice Act, a spending package worth over $435 billion, includes a $10 billion pilot program that would provide funds for communities to examine transit infrastructure that has divided them along racial and economic lines and potentially alter or remove them.

1/ America's states and cities are emerging from political exile bloom.bg/3ivSHhn 2/ President-elect Joe Biden's proposed cabinet includes at least six officials who have led municipalities or states, like Pete Buttigieg and Gina Raimondo.

That's in sharp contrast to President Trump, whose cabinet relied heavily on corporate and industry insiders.

This election is like no other — and cities are preparing for the worst.

A number of major U.S. cities are taking steps to avoid widespread voter intimidation and civil unrest ahead of Election Day.

bloomberg.com/news/articles/… Major cities that have rolled out plans to protect voters include:
➡️ NYC
➡️ Chicago
➡️ Philadelphia

But questions about how smaller communities are preparing remain.

bloom.bg/2GaPGV6

Demands for police accountability, criminal justice reform and racial justice have been translated from rallying cries and protest signs into initiatives on state and local ballots.

bloomberg.com/news/articles/… The protests have sparked a wave of change.

According to a @ballotpedia count, there are at least 20 local police-related measures that qualified for the ballot after the killing of George Floyd.

bloom.bg/35rBMXd

The plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is the latest example of the far-right/anti-government terrorism happening across the country, and researchers say it’s unlikely to be the last. bloom.bg/3m8nMbo Since the Minneapolis killing of George Floyd on May 25, professor @areidross has collected nearly 800 incidents.

Including the murders of two BLM protesters by 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha, WI. bloom.bg/3m8nMbo

Protests against police brutality and racism in the U.S. have sparked calls to defund police departments

Yet our analysis found that many of the largest cities are actually boosting police spending.

bloomberg.com/graphics/2020-… More than half of the 34 cities studied increased spending or kept it unchanged as a percentage of their discretionary spending.

trib.al/xW3mlA1

The Minneapolis police department has been making an average of 80% fewer traffic stops each week since May 25, the day of George Floyd’s death.

bloomberg.com/graphics/2020-… The drop during a summer of public police criticism is far more dramatic than a dip after the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

trib.al/QhZUIHC

For months, educators, policymakers, health experts and weary parents have debated how to return children to school, and how to do it safely.

They’re now about to see how those plans play out in real life.
bloomberg.com/news/features/… We decided to explore various back-to-school models and their trade-offs when it comes to coronavirus risk, overall well-being, child development and accessibility to all students.

trib.al/4LKdOUj

There’s one subject that has become central to Trump’s re-election bid: the suburbs. Trump has repeatedly directed warnings to “suburban housewives” that Democrats intend to “abolish the suburbs.”

But is he really targeting suburbanites, or white voters? trib.al/hzjlYev Trump is obsessed with the suburbs. But there’s one problem: No one’s quite clear what a “suburb” is.

It’s a question with real implications, as government programs, political campaigns and developers try to reach the vast body of "suburban Americans.” trib.al/0klF2rO

There really is no universal plan for students this school year. As stressful as it is for students, college towns also face a tough semester ahead.

bloomberg.com/news/articles/… Communities that rely on student spending and higher education jobs are struggling with fiscal woes and Covid-19 fears as the school year begins.

trib.al/PXmlELD

A group of several hundred urban planners is calling for the largest U.S. planning organization to support defunding the police.
bloomberg.com/news/articles/… Over 650 city planning professionals have called to reallocate some of the funds from “hyper-militarized police departments" to anti-racist planning efforts.
trib.al/VyauPRg

An estimated 27% of adults in the U.S. missed their rent or mortgage payment for July. That’s probably going to be worse in August.

bloomberg.com/news/articles/… Among renters alone, just over one-third said in a late-July survey that they had little to no confidence that they could make their August rent payment.

trib.al/KoOGc5m

Last week, the Trump administration introduced a new fair housing rule that winds back desegregation requirements — and flouts the review process, setting up a legal challenge.

This has been in the works for months.
bloomberg.com/news/articles/… These new federal regulations would weaken enforcement of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which requires communities that receive federal funds to undo their patterns of residential segregation.
trib.al/MNnNiJ7

Calls to defund the police have sparked interest in municipal budgets.

This illustrated guide by @arielabergriger will help get you started in understanding how your city spends money. (THREAD) bloomberg.com/news/articles/… The good news is that if you want to track down your city's budget, it is pretty easy to find.