Jeremy Lott
Blog
Violent crime lessons from D.C., as it faces spike in carjackings
Violent crime lessons from D.C., as it faces spike in carjackings Jeremy Lott | September 5, 2025 Editorâs Note: This is the first of two columns addressing crime in Washington, D.C. This one addresses the problem that has grown over the first half of this decade. The next one will ...
Jeremy Lott
September 5, 2025
Blog
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Why are urbanites more likely to embrace zero-sum thinking?
The well-worn stereotypes of urban sophisticates versus country bumpkins took a hit in July when an up-and-coming French economist explained her latest findings in The Economist, a publication with more than 1.2 million subscribers globally and significant influence with policymakers in the English-speaking world. âSome groups are more likely than others to see the world ...
Jeremy Lott
August 1, 2025
Blog
âAn idea so bad, Seattle hasnât done itâ
âHomelessness isnât an identity,â said a full-page ad in the Aug. 25 issue of the Spokaneâs Spokesman-Review newspaper. âTell the City Council to VOTE NO on making their hardship a protected class.â The ad, sponsored by the Washington Business Properties Association, included contact info for the Spokane City Council, which ...
Jeremy Lott
October 4, 2024
Blog
BOOK REVIEW: âBuild, Baby, Build!â by Bryan Caplan
âDrill, baby, drill!â Those words were first popularized at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. Republicans were widely mocked at the time for their sloganeering, but they largely carried the day. Domestic oil extraction came to 302.2 million metric tons in 2008. That was a 10-year low according ...
Jeremy Lott
June 14, 2024
Blog
Grand Caymanâs mini buses: Lessons for failing US transit
Grand Caymanâs mini buses: Lessons for failing US transit Jeremy Lott | May 17, 2024 Washington stateâs law on children in cars is quite something for parents to accommodate, as one illustrated state handout demonstrates. Your children must be in the back seat, in car seats facing backwards, for the ...
Jeremy Lott
May 17, 2024
Blog
Read the Free Cities Center's latest book review
BOOK REVIEW: âCenters of Progress: 40 Cities That Changed the Worldâ
Post-COVID, are cities still the engines of civilization? Physicist Geoffrey West has called cities âthe crucible of civilization.â That widely quoted metaphor is worth unpacking. A crucible is a mold that holds molten substances as they are cooling and gives them new form. The claim here is that cities are ...
Jeremy Lott
April 18, 2024
Blog
Despite big budgets, homeless agency is clueless in Seattle
Despite big budgets, homeless agency is clueless in Seattle By Jeremy Lott | February 8, 2024 An optimistic headline topped the joint news release from Washington stateâs most-populous city and its most-populous county in December 2019 heralding the formation of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority. This effort would create a ânew unified regional ...
Jeremy Lott
February 8, 2024
Blog
Shutting a homeless camp that resembled âLord of the Fliesâ – Part Two
Shutting a homeless camp that resembled âLord of the Fliesâ Part Two Political polarization shaped the battle over Spokaneâs misnamed âCamp Hopeâ Jeremy Lott | December 15, 2023 Jeffrey Finer is a lawyer who represented Jewels Helping Hands, one of the charities that was involved in bringing services to Spokane, ...
Jeremy Lott
December 15, 2023
Blog
Reason for hope or despair? Part 1
PART ONE Reason for hope or despair? Lessons from the battle over Spokaneâs âCamp Hopeâ homeless encampment Jeremy Lott | December 11, 2023 Camp Hope was, for a time, the largest homeless encampment in the state of Washington, but it was much more than that as well. The encampment regularly ...
Jeremy Lott
December 11, 2023
Blog
Read latest from Free Cities Center
Modern take on âflophousesâ could ease homeless problem
Letâs first look at the current situation. This yearâs approved budget for the King County Regional Homelessness Authority in Washington is $253.3 million. San Francisco spends at least $1.4 billion a year on the problem. Yet that money doesnât seem to be making a measurable dent in the problem. We ...
Jeremy Lott
September 28, 2023
Violent crime lessons from D.C., as it faces spike in carjackings
Violent crime lessons from D.C., as it faces spike in carjackings Jeremy Lott | September 5, 2025 Editorâs Note: This is the first of two columns addressing crime in Washington, D.C. This one addresses the problem that has grown over the first half of this decade. The next one will ...
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Why are urbanites more likely to embrace zero-sum thinking?
The well-worn stereotypes of urban sophisticates versus country bumpkins took a hit in July when an up-and-coming French economist explained her latest findings in The Economist, a publication with more than 1.2 million subscribers globally and significant influence with policymakers in the English-speaking world. âSome groups are more likely than others to see the world ...
âAn idea so bad, Seattle hasnât done itâ
âHomelessness isnât an identity,â said a full-page ad in the Aug. 25 issue of the Spokaneâs Spokesman-Review newspaper. âTell the City Council to VOTE NO on making their hardship a protected class.â The ad, sponsored by the Washington Business Properties Association, included contact info for the Spokane City Council, which ...
BOOK REVIEW: âBuild, Baby, Build!â by Bryan Caplan
âDrill, baby, drill!â Those words were first popularized at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. Republicans were widely mocked at the time for their sloganeering, but they largely carried the day. Domestic oil extraction came to 302.2 million metric tons in 2008. That was a 10-year low according ...
Grand Caymanâs mini buses: Lessons for failing US transit
Grand Caymanâs mini buses: Lessons for failing US transit Jeremy Lott | May 17, 2024 Washington stateâs law on children in cars is quite something for parents to accommodate, as one illustrated state handout demonstrates. Your children must be in the back seat, in car seats facing backwards, for the ...
Read the Free Cities Center's latest book review
BOOK REVIEW: âCenters of Progress: 40 Cities That Changed the Worldâ
Post-COVID, are cities still the engines of civilization? Physicist Geoffrey West has called cities âthe crucible of civilization.â That widely quoted metaphor is worth unpacking. A crucible is a mold that holds molten substances as they are cooling and gives them new form. The claim here is that cities are ...
Despite big budgets, homeless agency is clueless in Seattle
Despite big budgets, homeless agency is clueless in Seattle By Jeremy Lott | February 8, 2024 An optimistic headline topped the joint news release from Washington stateâs most-populous city and its most-populous county in December 2019 heralding the formation of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority. This effort would create a ânew unified regional ...
Shutting a homeless camp that resembled âLord of the Fliesâ – Part Two
Shutting a homeless camp that resembled âLord of the Fliesâ Part Two Political polarization shaped the battle over Spokaneâs misnamed âCamp Hopeâ Jeremy Lott | December 15, 2023 Jeffrey Finer is a lawyer who represented Jewels Helping Hands, one of the charities that was involved in bringing services to Spokane, ...
Reason for hope or despair? Part 1
PART ONE Reason for hope or despair? Lessons from the battle over Spokaneâs âCamp Hopeâ homeless encampment Jeremy Lott | December 11, 2023 Camp Hope was, for a time, the largest homeless encampment in the state of Washington, but it was much more than that as well. The encampment regularly ...
Read latest from Free Cities Center
Modern take on âflophousesâ could ease homeless problem
Letâs first look at the current situation. This yearâs approved budget for the King County Regional Homelessness Authority in Washington is $253.3 million. San Francisco spends at least $1.4 billion a year on the problem. Yet that money doesnât seem to be making a measurable dent in the problem. We ...