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12 ON THE WEB WEBSITES TO GET TO KNOW. Do you begin the day with the best intentions and then wind down wondering where the day went? In this constantly connected age, chances are you're spending way more of your day than you'd expect being anything but productive. RescueTime helps you keep more of those productive moments from slipping through your fingers. RescueTime runs in the background of your computer, quietly keeping track of how much time you spend on various website categories, ranging from Business and Utilities to the time sink known as Entertainment. You also can set RescueTime to pop up alerts when you're spending more time recreating than getting things done and tracks your overall "productivity ratio." If you have a group project in the works, there's a good chance ProofHub can make your life easier while you do it. e cloud-hosted project management tool creates a real-time collaboration workspace that allows file sharing, task management, workflow management, proofing tools, time tracking, and group chat. You also can assign custom roles to different users that controls which levels or areas of a project they can access and generate project reports to see how it's all tying together. ProofHub also lets you set up discussion threads so conversations can happen in a shared space without having to keep track of long email threads. e blessing and the curse of the internet is that there are a million different things to capture your attention. e browser extension Strict Workflow recognizes this truth and works to keep you on task when it matters. Using the time- management strategy known as the Pomodoro Technique, Strict Workflow divides your work into 25-minute stretches, interspersed with five- minute breaks. e periodic breaks can give your brain a rest and remind you to get up and stretch your legs, but Strict Workflow also includes some upgrades for the digital age—during those 25-minute windows, Strict Workflow will automatically block your access to any distracting site you select, such as Facebook or YouTube. PROOFHUB.COM 2 RESCUETIME.COM 1 STRICT WORKFLOW FOR CHROME 3 U.S. MAYORS SOUND OFF ON HOUSING High housing costs are one of the chief factors driving people away from certain cities and into others—that's according to the results of an annual survey that polls the mayors of major American cities. e Boston University Initiative on Cities released the 2017 results of their annual Menino Survey of Mayors in late January. e survey compiled data from interviews conducted in the summer of 2017. e Boston University survey contacted mayors of 467 American cities with populations of 75,000 or more. Of the 115 mayors who responded, 65 percent were Democrats and 22 percent were Republicans. Breaking things down by region, 39 percent of responses came from cities in the West, 27 percent from the South, 25 percent from the Midwest, and 9 percent from the Northeast. e mayors were 74 percent male, 26 percent female, and predominantly White (85 percent, with 11 percent of respondents Black and 4 percent Latino). In spite of all those differences, the majority of surveyed mayors (51 percent) all agreed that rising housing costs were one of the top factors that would drive people to move away from their cities. e remaining factors cited, in descending order, included: Jobs (45 percent), Schools (44 percent), Public Safety (28 percent), Taxes (27 percent), Nightlife/Food (22 percent), Transit (17 percent), Recreation/Amenities (10 percent), Racial/Equity Concerns (9 percent), Beauty/Aesthetics (7 percent), and Cleanliness (5 percent). According to the survey, "Mayors were split, however, on whether to prioritize addressing problems in the rental or homeownership markets." Only 13 percent of mayors said the housing stock in their city fit their residents' needs "very well" or "extremely well." However, 57 percent said they believed their city's housing stock at least fit the needs of their constituents "moderately well." e survey found that housing concerns were most pronounced in the Western states, and concerns about housing stocks were pronounced across cities with "vastly different median housing prices." e survey reads in part, "Popular, but not universal, aspirations for changes to housing stock included more affordable multibedroom units, increased home ownership, and upgrades to older housing. Other mayors cited priorities such as rental stability at one end of the spectrum and more high-end units at the other. e most commonly cited obstacles to improving housing access included a lack of government funding (especially for low- income residents); the challenges residents face obtaining bank financing or a lease; and the costs of upgrading older housing stock."

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