A few months short of its 42nd birthday, the California-based sundries-and-more chain 99 Cents Only is going to die. An Orange County columnist for the Los Angeles Times delivers this fond obituary while visiting a store in Santa Ana that I used to patronize, and captures much of the appeal. He doesn’t mention the long-running,Continue reading “A Dollar Store with a Difference”
Category Archives: Newsfeed
YIMBY Can Populate Conference Halls
This weekend’s New York Times article marvels over the apparent embrace of New Urbanist notions of densified and commercially active housing corridors by a seemingly fresh breed of market-oriented libertarians. They have come together under various banners of YIMBY–Yes In My Back Yard–to address a scarcity of “affordable” homes in many areas of the country.Continue reading “YIMBY Can Populate Conference Halls”
Chase Is Happy to Be ‘Just Another Bank’
This Wall Street Journal article of the past week spotlights the unusual (for today) strategy of opening numerous bank branches by the nation’s largest such financial institution, J.P Morgan Chase. It comes at a time when most other banks are retreating from the branch ubiquity approach, something many had embraced in urban areas not 15Continue reading “Chase Is Happy to Be ‘Just Another Bank’”
Losing the Virtue of Volunteerism
The Wall Street Journal last week published this ungenerous review of Chris Anderson’s new book, Infectious Generosity. And I can’t say the critic was wrong to zing the boss of TED Talks for “embarrassing naivete” in his plea for more universal kindness. But after reading the work and listening to Anderson make his case toContinue reading “Losing the Virtue of Volunteerism”
Long Island Supe Wants to Build
Even with diminished editorial resources, like most “dailies,” Newsday remains often the only public-affairs coverage resource for much of its home base of Long Island, N.Y. So this week it reported the striking pledge of the new town supervisor in Brookhaven to open up housing development there. Republican Dan Panico said he would seek to eliminateContinue reading “Long Island Supe Wants to Build”
Trashy People in Fancy Zip Codes
Litter and large-scale refuse dumping is a continuing–perhaps even worsening–problem in the towns of Southampton and East Hampton, N.Y., as this week’s article in the local Star reports. As more McMansion residents accumulate more furnishings, go through more food wrappings in their industrial-scale kitchens and collect more yard waste from their lavish grounds, the potentialContinue reading “Trashy People in Fancy Zip Codes”
A Top College for Long Island–Two Cheers
The New York Times at year end caught up with a significant academic story in its backyard, the emergence of Stony Brook University on Long Island as a prestige state research institution. But, being today’s Times, it had to worry whether this “will come at the cost of equity.” As a newly minted flagship ofContinue reading “A Top College for Long Island–Two Cheers”
Tight End of the College Sports Craze
Sometimes journalists look for the opposite of the silver lining. That’s the case with this month’s New York Times report on how the now-giant business of “college” football has tightened the home-rental markets in university towns hosting big sports events. Viewed commercially, one great aspect of the NCAA-bred fandom is that it has spread wealthContinue reading “Tight End of the College Sports Craze”
Down by the Hamptons’ Riverside
Long Island’s town of Southampton covers 295 square miles including a varied range of communities, some quite different from the village of Southampton that is familiar to seasonal visitors. One hamlet, called Riverside, is a pocket of relative distress, greatly Black and Latino-immigrant. It sits on the south side of the Peconic River, separating it fromContinue reading “Down by the Hamptons’ Riverside”
An Old, Internal WSJ Divide Has Gone National
My former Wall Street Journal colleague Paul Gigot (he’s now the commentary boss there) was aptly and well honored by the American Enterprise Institute earlier this month and delivered remarks (see below) about how many on the political right aren’t up to the challenge of defending the U.S., and world freedom. This mirrored personal exchangesContinue reading “An Old, Internal WSJ Divide Has Gone National”
Tim W. Ferguson 