Free Cities
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E-bikes are fun, but cities need to enforce reasonable traffic laws
On a fine October day in 2024 I was walking my Pomeranian show dog, Ollie, to my favorite Irvine coffee shop, the Lost Bean on Barranca Parkway. Suddenly I was on the ground. Two youths on e-bikes were riding on the sidewalk at maybe 25 mph and one cut in ...
Blog
California flips out over investors who flip distressed properties
California flips out over investors who flip distressed properties Government efforts that rig the system to produce more affordable housing are neither effective nor noble — especially when policymakers target a trend that has captured the public’s imagination while improving and increasing the housing stock. Home flippers have become prominent ...
Blog
Indiana’s Bears play could put taxpayers behind an $8 billion franchise
Illinois has plenty of problems. Its tax system is complicated, its approval process is slow, and its politics made the Arlington Heights path harder than it needed to be. In this case, though, Illinois not rushing into a special deal for the Bears was not the main policy failure. Indiana ...
Blog
Cities still grappling with the fallout 17 months after LA’s wildfires
Cities still grappling with the fallout 17 months after LA’s wildfires By John Seiler | June 19, 2026 Since the January 2025 wildfires devastated Pacific Palisades and Eaton, what have policymakers done to make sure California cities are better protected from future outbreaks? Policies should be split into “three buckets,” ...
Blog
The Trump administration tries to kill aid to dependent cities
You know about the bridge to nowhere. The electric tugboat? Probably not. In 2020, the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District received a unique grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Awarded under the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA), the $2,017,660 subsidy paid for the eWolf, “America’s first all-electric ...
Blog
Facing a housing crisis, Boise focuses on incentives, not mandates
Facing a housing crisis, Boise focuses on incentives, not mandates By Sarah Downey | June 12, 2026 The familiar adage of the carrot and the stick helps sum up what Boise is doing to manage a fast-growing population mixed with a housing crunch. Instead of employing a regulation-heavy stick approach, ...
Blog
Is California Coastal Commission finally getting its comeuppance?
California has one of the world’s most spectacular coastlines, which meanders 1,100 miles from Imperial Beach to Crescent City. And, of course, everyone wants to “Save Our Coast” and assure public access to beaches, which is why Californians voted 55% to 45% in 1972 for Proposition 20. It promised to protect ...
Blog
SMART bomb: Wine country’s commuter-rail catastrophe
SMART bomb: Wine country’s commuter-rail catastrophe By D. Dowd Muska | June 5, 2026 BOOK REVIEW: “The Great Train Heist: The California SMART Taxpayer Rip-off” They tried in 1990. It didn’t work. They tried in 1998. Nothing doing. They tried in 2000. Voters declined. They tried in 2006. No dice. ...
Blog
Newsom’s May budget portends future crises for local governments
Gov. Jerry Brown’s last budget spent $140.4 billion in the general fund for fiscal year 2018-19. Newsom’s May Revision to his 2026-27 budget exploded that to $246.6 billion. That’s a 76% increase in eight years at a time the state’s population didn’t grow and the Consumer Price Index rose just ...
Blog
Lacking oversight: How to fix California’s system for selecting judges
Lacking oversight: How to fix California’s system for selecting judges By Michael Warnken | May 29, 2026 California’s judicial selection process has undergone significant changes since the state’s admission to the Union in 1850. Today, trial judges are chosen through a hybrid system of judicial elections and gubernatorial appointments, as ...
E-bikes are fun, but cities need to enforce reasonable traffic laws
On a fine October day in 2024 I was walking my Pomeranian show dog, Ollie, to my favorite Irvine coffee shop, the Lost Bean on Barranca Parkway. Suddenly I was on the ground. Two youths on e-bikes were riding on the sidewalk at maybe 25 mph and one cut in ...
California flips out over investors who flip distressed properties
California flips out over investors who flip distressed properties Government efforts that rig the system to produce more affordable housing are neither effective nor noble — especially when policymakers target a trend that has captured the public’s imagination while improving and increasing the housing stock. Home flippers have become prominent ...
Indiana’s Bears play could put taxpayers behind an $8 billion franchise
Illinois has plenty of problems. Its tax system is complicated, its approval process is slow, and its politics made the Arlington Heights path harder than it needed to be. In this case, though, Illinois not rushing into a special deal for the Bears was not the main policy failure. Indiana ...
Cities still grappling with the fallout 17 months after LA’s wildfires
Cities still grappling with the fallout 17 months after LA’s wildfires By John Seiler | June 19, 2026 Since the January 2025 wildfires devastated Pacific Palisades and Eaton, what have policymakers done to make sure California cities are better protected from future outbreaks? Policies should be split into “three buckets,” ...
The Trump administration tries to kill aid to dependent cities
You know about the bridge to nowhere. The electric tugboat? Probably not. In 2020, the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District received a unique grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Awarded under the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA), the $2,017,660 subsidy paid for the eWolf, “America’s first all-electric ...
Facing a housing crisis, Boise focuses on incentives, not mandates
Facing a housing crisis, Boise focuses on incentives, not mandates By Sarah Downey | June 12, 2026 The familiar adage of the carrot and the stick helps sum up what Boise is doing to manage a fast-growing population mixed with a housing crunch. Instead of employing a regulation-heavy stick approach, ...
Is California Coastal Commission finally getting its comeuppance?
California has one of the world’s most spectacular coastlines, which meanders 1,100 miles from Imperial Beach to Crescent City. And, of course, everyone wants to “Save Our Coast” and assure public access to beaches, which is why Californians voted 55% to 45% in 1972 for Proposition 20. It promised to protect ...
SMART bomb: Wine country’s commuter-rail catastrophe
SMART bomb: Wine country’s commuter-rail catastrophe By D. Dowd Muska | June 5, 2026 BOOK REVIEW: “The Great Train Heist: The California SMART Taxpayer Rip-off” They tried in 1990. It didn’t work. They tried in 1998. Nothing doing. They tried in 2000. Voters declined. They tried in 2006. No dice. ...
Newsom’s May budget portends future crises for local governments
Gov. Jerry Brown’s last budget spent $140.4 billion in the general fund for fiscal year 2018-19. Newsom’s May Revision to his 2026-27 budget exploded that to $246.6 billion. That’s a 76% increase in eight years at a time the state’s population didn’t grow and the Consumer Price Index rose just ...
Lacking oversight: How to fix California’s system for selecting judges
Lacking oversight: How to fix California’s system for selecting judges By Michael Warnken | May 29, 2026 California’s judicial selection process has undergone significant changes since the state’s admission to the Union in 1850. Today, trial judges are chosen through a hybrid system of judicial elections and gubernatorial appointments, as ...