(Photo by Jon Tyson)
Welcome back to The Weekly Wrap, our Friday roundup of stories that explain the problems oppressing people in cities and elevate the solutions that bring us closer to economic, environmental and social justice.
Have news, resources or events that should be included in this newsletter? Let us know. We’re reachable at wrapped@nextcity.org.
Nassau County Bans Masks in Public Places
This week in dumb legislative decisions: New York’s Nassau County has banned the use of face coverings for the purposes of hiding one’s identity, with a $1,000 fine or possible jail time. The law ostensibly has exemptions for health or religious reasons, but leaves it to the discretion of police officers, who are famously not medical professionals or religious experts. The law is a legal landmine that rights groups, including the New York City Civil Liberties Union, plan to challenge. The ban was approved by 12 Republicans, with the seven Democrats in Nassau County’s legislature politely refraining from voting one way or the other.
A similar law has been proposed in New York City and has the support of Mayor Eric Adams, who, along with allies including the Urban League and Anti-Defamation League, compared people who mask in public to members of the Ku Klux Klan. In reality, people who mask in public are disproportionately women, low-income and people of color. According to a 2023 study, Black and Latino men were the most likely to fear that wearing a mask would bring attention from law enforcement but were still more likely to mask than their white counterparts.
Anti-Trans Ballot Initiatives Flop in Colorado
Every anti-trans ballot initiative in Colorado failed to garner enough signatures to appear on the state’s ballot, Truthout reports. A group called Protect Kids Colorado was responsible for two ballot initiatives, including a “forced outing” bill that would have required parents to be notified by school officials about any “incongruence” between a child’s assigned sex at birth and gender presentation. Another initiative would have barred trans girls from competing in school sports with other girls. An earlier effort by the same group to ban gender-affirming care for youth also failed to make it onto the ballot.
Undocumented Immigrants Pay $96 Billion a Year in Taxes
According to a new report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion in federal, state and local taxes in 2022. That includes $59.4 billion paid to the federal government and $37.3 billion to state and local taxes. Undocumented people paid $25.7 billion in social security, $6.4 billion to Medicare, and $1.8 billion in unemployment insurance, all services they are barred from accessing. Most of this comes from sales taxes, but also includes property and income taxes. According to the report, “In a large majority of states (40), undocumented immigrants pay higher state and local tax rates than the top 1 percent of households living within their borders.”
Dozens of Rent-Controlled Apartments in Los Angeles Are Short-Term Rentals
In Los Angeles, several dozen rent-controlled apartment buildings with hundreds of units are being illegally used as short-term rentals on AirBnB and other websites, according to ProPublica and Captial & Main. A 2018 law formally banned the practice, but the city’s housing department has done little to enforce it. In one case, the housing department referred a violator to the city’s planning department, which claimed it could not find evidence of short-term rentals. Yet in 2021, the same building was so notorious as an AirBnB that a musician named their Grammy-nominated album after the address, the outlets report.
Tulsa to Study Reparations 100 Years After Massacre
Over a century after the Tulsa Race Massacre that killed over 300 Black people and destroyed an economically vibrant community, the city’s mayor announced the formation of a task force to study how to provide reparations to descendants and the two remaining survivors, the Washington Post reports. The commission’s 13 members will create a housing-based reparations plan, according to the Post. Recommendations from an earlier task force convened by the city suggested a range of reparations including tuition assistance and direct cash payments. Separately, archaeologists have been unearthing a Tulsa cemetery with unmarked graves to identify some of those murdered during the massacre.
Curated by The Next City team
MORE NEWS
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In September, New York City’s local Planned Parenthood chapter will pause providing abortions at 20-plus weeks or “deep sedation” for patients, citing “challenges pushing New York’s abortion access ecosystem to the limit.” The City
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Chicago is taking advantage of a new state law for a lawsuit that accuses Glock of manufacturing pistols with designs that allow modification and failing to make changes that would protect the public. ProPublica
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A report from the Metro safety watchdog highlights the issue of exhausted and drunk drivers on Metro trains and urges rule changes. Washington Post
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Michigan court ruling clears the way for higher wages and phasing out a lower wage for tipped workers. New York Times
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Utah outlaws books by Judy Blume, Sarah J. Maas, Margaret Atwood and four other authors in first statewide ban. The Guardian
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Across the country, public housing tenants are battling to keep their homes after receiving erroneous bills and eviction filings from housing authorities. Washington Post
RESOURCES & OPPORTUNITIES
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Happy Cities and Hey Neighbour recently published their Building Social Connections Toolkit, which explores “evidence-based design solutions to address the private and public health disaster of social isolation.”
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The Community Planning Collaborative just launched ADUGallery.org, a tool to help streamline the expansion of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) in California. It is a demo for a new tool for cities/counties to display locally approved ADU designs and a free public resource for California homeowners.
EVENTS
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August 13 at 10 a.m. Pacifi: Common Future is hosting a series of panels called Accelerating Justice: Spotlighting the Economic Future We Deserve. The conversations will feature BIPOC women on the front lines of building a just economic future. Register here.
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Sponsored: Aug. 14 at 1 p.m. Eastern: ThirdSpace Action Lab and Next City are hosting “Do the Right Thing,” a webinar looking at the past, present and future of the community development sector. Register here.
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August 28 at 2 p.m. Eastern: The Urban Institute is hosting a discussion on the challenges and opportunities for developers of color and the most effective ways to expand their contributions. Register here.