Comments for Raul Pacheco-Vega, PhD

Comment on Neo-institutionalism at the forefront of the Nobel 2009 Prizes with Elinor Ostrom’s win by Monica P

Monica P — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:18:05 +0000

well…as Elionor Ostrom, herself, admitted , her work is only the beginning of a research for a theory which may develop a solution for the problem of collective action (or the “tragedy of commons”). I believe she forgot about Olson theory about the privileged groups and the small intermediate groups because she still cannot explain why is cooperation possible only in some small communities and in others not. We must search in other place for explanations, as she said, this kind of details are important and we need to discover them. Maybe John Stuart Mill had an ideea with his psihologist approach of methodological individualism.

Comment on A step-by-step policy analysis using Bardach’s Eight Step Model by Ajay Masala Puri

Ajay Masala Puri — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:07:57 +0000

health care and health care reform in Canada

Comment on Ann Markusen on “Researching and making the case for creative/cultural policy” by Yule Heibel

Yule Heibel — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:43:24 +0000

Thanks for that coverage, Raul. Sounds like a very interesting seminar – too bad (for me, for us readers!) that you had to cut it short…

What she was saying about exports: do you know if this relates in any way to Jane Jacobs’s ideas around import-stretching in cities? (It was one of her ideas around wealth-creation in urban settings. Kind of too tired to look it up properly right now or to explain it properly, but you can find relevant links online. Eg.:
http://www.pseudopodium.org/search.cgi?Jane+Jacobs

Thanks also for tweeting that link to her Markusen’s work online ( http://www.hhh.umn.edu/projects/prie/pub.html ). Good stuff…

Comment on A step-by-step policy analysis using Bardach’s Eight Step Model by isabella mori (@moritherapy)

isabella mori (@moritherapy) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:23:01 +0000

transportation!

Comment on Are River Basin Councils the Right Model of Water and Wastewater Governance in Mexico? by water management

water management — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:32:10 +0000

The misuse of water leads to the problems of water-logging, salt-imbalance, etc

Comment on Perceptions of drinking water quality in Vancouver (project in early stages) by Christopher Parsons

Christopher Parsons — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:21:34 +0000

I’ve had some extensive discussions about the problems surrounding bottled water – the ’solution’ that a colleague of mine had was fairly simple: if you buy ‘throwaway water bottles’ you pay a steep fee/tax to cover the landfill/recycling costs. Further, that tax pays for the (other) method of providing consumers with bottled water in a more eco-sensible way.

By paying some form of a subscription cost (similar to large tanks of bottled water) you could get X number of recycled and refilled bottles of water delivered to either a local drop off point or your home. The catch? At every refill, you need to return the same number of ‘bottles’ as you are receiving, and for every bottle that you don’t return are charged a steep fee (same as for throwaway bottles). This (a) enables continued use of bottled water – changing consumer habits away from a product is notoriously challenging, especially after all of the ‘education’ about how water is superior to other beverages; (b) by associating a cost for not returning something there is a psychological drive to save up items and recycle (I’ve seen a few studies that show how much more effective this kind of ‘punish’ system works than a coupon-based or many reward based systems); (c) leverages already existing product delivery systems that consumer already know about and are comfortable with.

Of course, this doesn’t get into issues of pollution in delivering water, etc etc. The aim, in essence, would be to leverage already existing consumer behaviours and attitudes, rather than trying to actively work against them. I think that the former can lead to success, the latter will lead to bad blood, poor PR, and upset tempers. This isn’t the way to ‘win’ hearts and minds of most (privileged) NA consumers.

Comment on Perceptions of drinking water quality in Vancouver (project in early stages) by Susan

Susan — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:59:05 +0000

I have tested the ph level of the drinking water in Vancouver and it is very acidic. Our bodies struggle to maintain an alkaline state of about 7.2 and our drinking water falls way below that level. Consequently, I have purchased a water ionizer from Ionways and have even joined the company because of the immediate health results I and my family have received from drinking this water. My husband’s IBS has cleared up, my dog’s skin conditions have disappeared, and my husband’s doctors wanted to amputate his leg and since drinking the water his leg has been healing and improving over time. These machines take out the chlorines and other toxic substances and add much needed minerals like calcium and magnesium which are lacking in our water. The machines double the oxygen content of the water, add billions of antioxidants to each glass, and restructure the water molecules so the clusters are smaller and more easily absorbed into our system. I won’t drink tap or bottled water again. (www.ionways.com/thomson)

Comment on In search of the right scale of governance: Cross-jurisdictional planning and policy issues in the Lower Mainland of Vancouver by Panamajack

Panamajack — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:58:11 +0000

Good article Raul. When did the GVRD rebrand itself as “Metro Vancouver” (an explanation is oddly absent on their website)? The rebranding process couldn’t have come cheap. Where’s the value proposition in doing this, besides simply wishing to differentiate itself organizationally from other Regional Authorities?

I think it’s important to add that local governments & regional authorities, far from “having a standing” in the Canadian constitiution, serve at the mercy of the Provincial Government. The BC Liberal governments reorganization of Translink (itself re-branded, rather unsuccessfully if you ask me to the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority ) and the replacement of elected officials with an appointed board is a example.

Comment on Are River Basin Councils the Right Model of Water and Wastewater Governance in Mexico? by In search of the right scale of governance: Cross-jurisdictional planning and policy issues in the Lower Mainland of Vancouver – Raul Pacheco-Vega, PhD

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:20:42 +0000

[...] basin councils (given that watersheds transcend jurisdictional and political borders) However, as I have indicated before, effective cross-jurisdictional governance requires strong cooperative intergovernmental relations [...]

Comment on Laneway housing, affordability and EcoDensity: Preliminary thoughts by Kevin_in_Denver

Kevin_in_Denver — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 17:15:14 +0000

Laneway housing WILL provide a certain amount of relief, but ultimately all the infill opportunities get used up, and you get back to unaffordable housing. NYC is the model, but rent control is usually a poor solution. There may not be a more important topic in public policy, if only because there’s no obvious solution yet. Good luck!