By Christopher Cook I'm proposing a detailed investigative report on wealth and poverty in San Francisco, examining the local wealth divide and explaining its ramifications for the local economy and politics.
This will be an innovative, in-depth look at San Francisco's richest and poorest neighborhoods: the Marina/Cow Hollow, and the Tenderloin.
My report would reveal income disparities, wealth disparities, and also poignantly portray the stark contrasts on a human scale. I want to show on both macro and micro levels the daily realities and impacts of the astounding gaps in wealth and poverty here. I believe this story would be high-impact, and would potentially have policy ramifications in terms of influencing local politicians to explore ways of increasing public wealth through taxing or otherwise leveraging private wealth for the common welfare. This report would be journalistic, both investigative and explanatory.
This investigation would help both expand and deepen public awareness of wealth and poverty issues, and potentially influence local policymakers in their attempts to leverage private wealth for the public good. This report would also explain the economic and political implications of wealth gaps, and thus increase understanding and action on remedies to address poverty.
I've conducted intensive investigations on labor, employment, poverty and related issues, and done business reporting, for Mother Jones, The Economist, The Christian Science Monitor, Harper's, and other national publications. You can see more of my work at www.christopherdcook.com.
The piece, roughly 2000 words in length, will examine extreme quality of life divides - and efforts to change the disparities - through the lenses of census tract and zip code data, and interviews with residents, experts, and activists. I will deliver a polished, professional and publishable investigative report to a major local/regional newspaper or magazine, in a form that is ready for editing and final fact-checking.
