The Sharing Economy Opens a Debate with San Diego Housing Rentals

It isn’t hard to find examples how new technology is disrupting traditional methods of conducting business when these examples are right in your backyard. Homeowners are renting their beach abodes for extra money but putting pressure on local communities that lack parking and resources. Recent meetings with The Smart Growth and Land Use Committee offers opportunities to take public testimony and listen to reports to get a better grasp of how the sharing economy works. 

The problem is not yet a huge one but certainly could get bigger in the future as the sharing economy grows. Getting a handle on it now makes sense. There are around 1,800 registered owners of rental properties but 3,100 properties available for rent (as cited by Fox 5). This means that officials are unaware of how many people are renting homes and whether or not they are complying with regulations.

These rental arrangements are growing in other areas beyond the posh beach communities. Trendy neighborhoods such as East Village, Little Italy and South Park also have their own short-term rental options (as cited by 10 News). It is likely that other communities may have an interest in getting their houses on the market as well.

San Diego is a vacation destination and certainly will have more incentives for homeowners to engage in short-term renting while year round residents feel overwhelmed by the fluctuating traffic. San Diego should not rush to come to grips looming issues in order to set the right tone for other popular resort cities across the country.

As new technology changes the market government must catch up and implement new rules, regulations, and processes to ensure public interest is protected. As government adjusts and changes to meet these new demands government will likely adjust local ordinance, laws, and processes to better manage the situation. The same process will occur throughout the country in other major cities. 

The problems experience in San Diego are not unique as all governments must come to new ways of handling changing trends. There are many legal challenges associated with house renting in the sharing economy and how U.S. policymakers can regulate micro-entreprenuers (Burnette, 2015). These processes will be worked out over time but will come with some turmoil.

At present it is important to hear both sides of the argument and available data to ensure that a solid grasp of the situation is at hand. The changes, legislation and solutions should fit within San Diego’s long-term strategic plan. It is often beneficial to see what other cities and states are doing and adjust those policies to what works best locally. Keeping information available and the public informed of changes is beneficial for community based compliance.

Burnett, J. (2015). When people become businesses. Capitol Ideas, 28 (2). 

Crowds expected at council hearing on vacation rentals (April 22, 2015). Retrieved http://fox5sandiego.com/2015/04/22/city-council-to-discuss-san-diego-vacation-rentals/

San Diego City Council to debate divisive vacation rental issue (April 22, 2015). Retrieved http://www.10news.com/news/san-diego-city-council-to-debate-divisive-vacation-rental-issue

 

Intuition and Scientific Advancement Among the Gifted Population

Giftedness is a trait that comes with high intensity, motivation, love of learning and emotional sensitivities that make a person highly functional in the environment. Many countries have gifted enrichment programs to ensure that such individuals can fully contribute to the development of society. The U.S. has not fully developed their programs. Understanding the power of giftedness and their intuition that leads to career success is important in fostering their abilities for the benefit of everyone. 

Science has moved beyond the definition of giftedness and is working on better ways to select and categories giftedness for better development (Porath, 2013). Intuition is one of those gifted traits that lead to higher mastery of the environment and scientific innovation through perceiving differences within the environment. That perception matched with the rigor of scientific logic encourages new discoveries.

Intuition can be extremely powerful and can culminate in all types of useful conclusions that would have taken years with the normal investigative process.  Intuition is seen as a cognitive style that has been described as the “sixth sense” where the unconscious recognizes patterns and solutions to those patterns before the conscious mind is aware (Pearson, 2013). Such processes can be used to make accurate decisions and investigated for clarity afterwards. 

Intuition is so powerful it can do things science cannot yet explain fully. For example, intuition can lead to health choices that put cancer in remission, picking a better deck of cards for better results, and selecting items behind screens without seeing anything that would tip a person off. According to Dr. Turner book Radical Remission the body picks up on environmental cues unconsciously and makes conclusions that manifest themselves in physiological responses (Turner, 2014). 

Gifted individuals have powerful senses of intuition and logic that can lead them to unique AND innovative methods of solving problems.  According to studies on highly intelligent and creative people, gifted individuals often display a preference for either rationality or intuition (Karwowski, 2008). The style they rely on will impact how they understand and approach their world. 

Intuition among the gifted is an interesting and often unexplored trait where their biological and psychological preference matches to create unique powers of understanding and reasoning. The same skill that allows them to find new discoveries in their respective fields also leaves many unable to follow their train of thought. Gifted individuals are considered relatively rare among the population and ensuring they have the social, legal, and intellectual support/protection is important for advancing society. 

Karwowski, M. (2008). Giftedness and Intuition. Gifted and Talented International, 23 (1).

Pearson, H. (2013). Science and intuition: do both have a place in clinical decision making? British Journal of Nursing, 22 (4). 

Porath, M. (2013). The gifted personality: what are we searching for and why? Talent Development & Excellence, 5 (2). 

Turner, K. (2014). The science behind intuition. Psychology Today. Retrieved https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/radical-remission/201405/the-science-behind-intuition

Middle Class Anxiety? A Factor of Employment and Savings

The middle class is the backbone of American society. It is a large slice of American pie that builds our cars, delivers our products, and sells us our next gadget. Like other classes, the middle class has their own concerns and fears over employment opportunities and the ability to put money away for the future.  Helping them transition to the new economy can go a long way in saving people from pending grief.

According to a Pew survey 47% feel they are solidly middle class, 11% upper middle class, and 29% lower middle class (As cited in Novak, 2015). Only 1% considers themselves upper class while 10% viewed themselves lower class. Entry into middle class is still an important part of the American dream and forms our class consciousness.

Without doubt the world is changing and jobs will change with it. A person in the middle class, earns around 30K to 100K per year based upon the state, obtains a college degree or trade certificate and can normally find gainful employment. They may run into a few hiccups here and there as they transition from one job to the next but still expect to support their families. 

The problem is that the economy is transitioning and some of the jobs are being phased out while others are growing. This means that occupational choices made a decade ago may not be relevant in the next decade. Training and education is one option in helping middle class workers find new occupations when job prospects dwindle. 

If this is the only problem then people should be jumping for joy as a training course, a college degree, or attending a few seminars should do the trick. Middle class people also have other challenges that include declining employment opportunities and high debt loads that make them less nimble for change. It can be difficult to make a transition when people are living paycheck-to-paycheck. 

 Middle class spending power is declining but pressure to buy more and do more with less is rising. Food, shopping and entertainment take an increasingly larger percentage of middle class and upper class disposable income creating a problem with savings (Marte, 2015). With less money in the bank the risks to catastrophic change rises creating higher levels of stress for families.

Helping people move from declining occupations to growing occupations where they can earn a bigger paycheck is important. Likewise, helping families with financial options that leads to a brighter future is beneficial for reducing long-term stress. The middle class is an important part of the American dream but they may need some help from time-to-time to make transitions when the economy changes. 

Marte, J. (2015). Some in upper-middle class also struggle to save. Dispatch. Retrieved http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2015/04/19/01-some-in-upper-middle-class-also-struggle-to-save.html

Novak, M. (2015). 87 percent of Americans call themselves some version of 'middle class'. Gismodo. Retrieved http://factually.gizmodo.com/87-percent-of-americans-call-themselves-some-version-of-1697524227

E-Learning and the New World of Warfare

The world of warfare is changing and is more technology driven than at any point in history. The pitched battles between two large armies in standard WWI and WWII trench style combat no longer exist in the same form. Today’s military will either take the form of highly professional, technology-driven, adaptable units or low technology, low professional, socially networked adaptable units. Professional units are incorporating more e-learning to ensure their soldiers are up to speed with modern technology and knowledge requirements. 

A paper in the eLearning & Software for Education Journal describes the modern battlefield and the need for additional e-learning (Eparu, & Atanasiu, 2014). The battlefield of 2015-2025 will be tridimensional, transparent, technology driven, dynamic pulsing, multi-directional, cybernetic, digitized, integrated, and multinational.  Technology to handle change, communication, and run robotics will put pressure on traditional militaries to change. 

This means that higher skill levels are needed among current military members. They will integrate their actions more with digital technology and robotic systems working seamlessly on the field. The days of digging trenches and following simple commands are slowly disappearing to more adaptable systems where soldiers can work collaboratively and independently to achieve objectives. 

To work independently requires the ability to learn at new levels and continue to incorporate new knowledge for self-improvement that impacts the entire unit. This is expensive for militaries that seek to run the process over and over on new recruits in an effort to make them ready for battle. E-learning affords the opportunity to keep those costs affordable and keep soldiers learning from any place in the world. 

The process may include basic training, occupational schooling, and weapons training but will also require higher forms of knowledge-based learning. E-learning affords the opportunity to remotely train using forums, support networks, simulation games, decision making software, and much more. Our next generation of soldiers will rely heavily on e-learning after their initial training has been successfully integrated. 

Eparu, D. & Atanasiu, M. (2014). New training requirements for a successful military action. eLearning & Software for Education, 3.