Below the Fold - 🚗 cities driven by incomplete data

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TOGETHER WITH

California is about to launch the largest free school lunch program in the country. Ahead of schools reopening this Fall, the state announced that all 6.2 million public school kids will have access to free meals regardless of their family’s income levels. Made possible by a budget surplus, the historic change is being applauded by school officials, lawmakers, anti-hunger organizations, and parents who see it as a way to both feed hungry children and remove the stigma around accepting free lunches.

TRAFFIC

Crash data driving city safety efforts is incomplete
Thu Jul 15

If a crash isn't reported, did it really happen? It’s a good question when looking at the work done by Vision Zero, an initiative started in 1997 aimed at eliminating traffic deaths by working with a diverse set of stakeholders to recommend safety fixes for everything from speed limits to street engineering. Now, Vision Zero is a global network of cities committed to making those safety fixes using hard data.

Problem is, they rely on local police to record car crashes, which a new analysis proves can be an incomplete data source. The analysis compared what was heard in Washington, D.C.’s open police scanners to its official crash ledgers and found that:

10% of vehicle-only crashes did not appear in official crash ledgers managed by local police from March 18 to April 30
Specifically looking at car crashes with a cyclist or pedestrian, 30% of those crashes went unreported, a major concern as fatalities in such crashes are on the rise, even in Vision Zero cities
Both scenarios worsen in predominantly Black neighborhoods where up to 37% of crashes did not appear in their respective crash ledgers — possibly due to distrust, as illustrated in a 2016 study where Black neighborhoods saw a drop in 911 calls following police violence against unarmed Black men

Now, a daily count of unreported crashes is available through software that automates the analysis with an expanded set of other sources such as Twitter. Both this software and original findings were born out of a collaborative investigation from safety advocates, including Basil Labs who published the report, with the hope that cities will follow suit — especially as traffic fatalities rise even through the pandemic.

Some cities are already waking up to the pitfalls of narrow data sources and are working to expand the Vision Zero data universe. For example, San Francisco’s department of public health and transportation are supplementing data from police with hospital case data. And in New York City, city vehicles detect collisions through the use of telematics (a method of monitoring).

Some additional resources...

→ Initial coverage: Bloomberg
→ Dashboard showing gaps in data: Basil Labs
→ Vision Zero’s mission: Harvard
→ Rise in cyclist and pedestrian fatalities: Bloomberg
→ 2016 study on police calls in Black neighborhoods: USA Today

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AGRICULTURE

A ban on U.S. GMO corn could be an economic boom for Mexico
Mon Jul 19

As the debate over whether glyphosate is carcinogenic or not continues, Mexico is moving forward in plans to ban both the herbicide and imports of genetically modified (GMO) corn, largely from the U.S.. Before we dig into the big economic implications for both countries, here’s a quick refresher on the glyphosate controversy.

First off, glyphosate is a drying agent that speeds harvesting, thereby increasing farmer productivity.
But from 2015 to 2017, conflicting reports emerged between the WHO and EPA on whether or not glyphosate can cause cancer.
Then in 2018, corporate studies (which critics say are based on flawed and outdated science) decreed it safe, at least at tested levels.
By 2019, researchers reviewed all the published studies and warned high exposure increased the risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer that starts in white blood cells.
And in December 2020, Mexico announced the phasing out of glyphosate and GMO corn imports by 2024, citing the cancer risks and harm to pollinators such as bees.

Understanding the depth of Mexico’s decision requires an understanding of NAFTA, a 1994 free trade agreement that eliminated trade tariffs between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. This benefited the U.S. by reducing barriers to trade but hurt rural economies in Mexico by flooding their markets with cheap, subsidized U.S. corn. Ultimately, an estimated two million farmworkers were unable to survive the resulting 70% price drop for corn and had to abandon the countryside. Now Mexico hopes to “rebuild self-sufficiency and reclaim food sovereignty” through the new ban.

While green advocates celebrate the move, American farmers are alarmed. With 25% of U.S. corn going to Mexico, the switch to local Mexican production means a loss of $2.7B annually for American corn producers. To make up for these imports, Mexico will have to increase domestic corn production by nearly 60% — some Mexican farmers are enthused by this opportunity while others fear glyphosate-free production will increase costs to consumers. And this only applies to yellow corn, which Mexico uses for livestock feed. The country already produces all its white corn domestically, used for its famous tortillas among other foods.

Some additional resources...

→ Extensive coverage: The Counter
→ Mexico moving forward with ban: Reuters
→ Concerns the ban will raise food prices: Cornell
→ Glyphosate controversy history: Below the Fold

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ASCII OF THE WEEK

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     |@#@#@#|   btf
     |#@#@#@|
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    .|#@#@#@|.
   //;\#@#@/;\\
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How did the U.S. take over Mexican corn?

They corn-ered the market!



Art Credit: Below the Fold

Below the Fold

2261 Market St # 4135

San Francisco, CA 94114-1612

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Below the Fold - 🚗 cities driven by incomplete data

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