Free Cities
Blog
Let people live as they want, with or without cars
Let people live as they want, with or without cars By Sal Rodriguez | March 13, 2026 Many urbanists were excited by a recent study from Arizona State University researchers reporting that “nearly one fifth of urban and suburban U.S. car owners express a definite interest in living car-free (18%), and an ...
Blog
Rooms for improvement: single-room occupancy in your state
Rooms for improvement: single-room occupancy in your state By D. Dowd Muska | March 12, 2026 “I would never want to live like that, so therefore [insert housing type] should be illegal.” Online chatter generates intense heat, and measly light, but occasionally, a profound truth is posted. The quote above ...
Blog
Failed Los Angeles fire recovery proves need for self-governance
But why? In Los Angeles, and the rest of the state’s major cities, the public sector has become the city’s dominant political force, drowning out the votes and priorities of everyday citizens. With this imbalance making local politics an often-forgone conclusion, it’s time to consider a possible reform that could restore the competitive ...
Blog
California doubles down on the bullet-train boondoggle
There’s nothing intrinsically wrong — and a lot that’s right — about building a high-speed rail system that speedily transports people across vast tracts of land. Some family members recently returned from a trip to Japan, where they traveled the country on the Shinkansen network of bullet trains. Begun in 1964, the ...
Blog
Hailing a flight: Cities drone on about advanced air mobility
Hailing a flight: Cities drone on about advanced air mobility By D. Dowd Muska | February 27, 2026 It’s time to talk about flying taxis. Snicker all you want, but serious people — and deep pockets — are committing considerable resources to making airborne intra-city travel a thing. What the ...
Blog
San Diego shows LA how to address the region’s housing shortage
Last fall, the Los Angeles Times reported that “Almost no one is building new apartments in Los Angeles.” Fewer than 19,000 apartment units were under construction in the third quarter of last year. It was a 30% dip from three years earlier, the Times reported, based on a review from real ...
Blog
Arizona cities should be blocked from blocking short-term rentals
Ten years ago, then-Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed Senate Bill 1350 into law, preventing local governments from banning short-term rentals in their respective jurisdictions. “For thousands of hardworking citizens, opening up their home to out-of-state guests provides the financial breathing room they need to provide for their family or enjoy ...
AI
Who will win the battle between robots and public-employee unions?
Who will win the battle between robots and public-employee unions? By Rafael Perez | February 20, 2026 For decades, artificial intelligence has been heralded for its potential to revolutionize the labor market and the creation of goods and services. Recent advancements in large language model (LLMs) performance by developers such ...
Blog
Warning signs: Four California cities are facing fiscal crises in 2026
Many California cities will not fare so well on the fiscal roulette wheel. They’re not in Silicon Valley. Their local companies do not include Apple, NVIDIA, Meta/Facebook or Alphabet/Google (whose co-founders are leaving the state, while corporate HQ will remain). Those and many other companies’ rising stock valuations shed tax ...
Blog
Tariffs: The high price homebuilding pays for protectionism
Reality-television stars are rarely consulted on matters of public policy. But in April, Realtor.com asked Tarek El Moussa to comment on the White House’s “Liberation Day” tariffs.. The Southern California entrepreneur, who rose to fame on the popularity of HGTV’s Flip or Flop franchise, warned that higher import taxes would harm “new-home builders” ...
Let people live as they want, with or without cars
Let people live as they want, with or without cars By Sal Rodriguez | March 13, 2026 Many urbanists were excited by a recent study from Arizona State University researchers reporting that “nearly one fifth of urban and suburban U.S. car owners express a definite interest in living car-free (18%), and an ...
Rooms for improvement: single-room occupancy in your state
Rooms for improvement: single-room occupancy in your state By D. Dowd Muska | March 12, 2026 “I would never want to live like that, so therefore [insert housing type] should be illegal.” Online chatter generates intense heat, and measly light, but occasionally, a profound truth is posted. The quote above ...
Failed Los Angeles fire recovery proves need for self-governance
But why? In Los Angeles, and the rest of the state’s major cities, the public sector has become the city’s dominant political force, drowning out the votes and priorities of everyday citizens. With this imbalance making local politics an often-forgone conclusion, it’s time to consider a possible reform that could restore the competitive ...
California doubles down on the bullet-train boondoggle
There’s nothing intrinsically wrong — and a lot that’s right — about building a high-speed rail system that speedily transports people across vast tracts of land. Some family members recently returned from a trip to Japan, where they traveled the country on the Shinkansen network of bullet trains. Begun in 1964, the ...
Hailing a flight: Cities drone on about advanced air mobility
Hailing a flight: Cities drone on about advanced air mobility By D. Dowd Muska | February 27, 2026 It’s time to talk about flying taxis. Snicker all you want, but serious people — and deep pockets — are committing considerable resources to making airborne intra-city travel a thing. What the ...
San Diego shows LA how to address the region’s housing shortage
Last fall, the Los Angeles Times reported that “Almost no one is building new apartments in Los Angeles.” Fewer than 19,000 apartment units were under construction in the third quarter of last year. It was a 30% dip from three years earlier, the Times reported, based on a review from real ...
Arizona cities should be blocked from blocking short-term rentals
Ten years ago, then-Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed Senate Bill 1350 into law, preventing local governments from banning short-term rentals in their respective jurisdictions. “For thousands of hardworking citizens, opening up their home to out-of-state guests provides the financial breathing room they need to provide for their family or enjoy ...
Who will win the battle between robots and public-employee unions?
Who will win the battle between robots and public-employee unions? By Rafael Perez | February 20, 2026 For decades, artificial intelligence has been heralded for its potential to revolutionize the labor market and the creation of goods and services. Recent advancements in large language model (LLMs) performance by developers such ...
Warning signs: Four California cities are facing fiscal crises in 2026
Many California cities will not fare so well on the fiscal roulette wheel. They’re not in Silicon Valley. Their local companies do not include Apple, NVIDIA, Meta/Facebook or Alphabet/Google (whose co-founders are leaving the state, while corporate HQ will remain). Those and many other companies’ rising stock valuations shed tax ...
Tariffs: The high price homebuilding pays for protectionism
Reality-television stars are rarely consulted on matters of public policy. But in April, Realtor.com asked Tarek El Moussa to comment on the White House’s “Liberation Day” tariffs.. The Southern California entrepreneur, who rose to fame on the popularity of HGTV’s Flip or Flop franchise, warned that higher import taxes would harm “new-home builders” ...