Free Cities
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Private transit worked in the past. Could it help cities again?
On the surface, Tokyo and Los Angeles couldn’t be more different — one city known for its safety, cleanliness, walkability and vibrancy, while the other is often criticized for sprawl, dysfunction and decay. But there was a time when Los Angeles was known for the former — in part, by ...
Blog
Cities bury power lines to halt wildfires, but state slows progress
Cities bury power lines to halt wildfires, but state slows progress by John Seiler | November 14, 2025 California’s wildfires burned more than a half-million acres this year, with the Pacific Palisades and eaton wildfires counting among the nation’s most devastating wildfires ever. While some wildfires are inevitable in such ...
Blog
Denver wisely repeals its minimum parking mandates
Denver wisely repeals its minimum parking mandates By Sal Rodriguez | November 7, 2025 The post-World War II years brought with it many things Americans have taken for granted: economic prosperity, suburban living and minimum parking requirements. Along with the growing prevalence of personal vehicles through the 1950s and 1960s ...
Blog
No need for hysteria over federal cuts to homeless housing
The usually levelheaded CalMatters reported that the expected deep cuts are the “latest blow in a seemingly endless barrage of bad news for the California agencies tasked with fighting homelessness.” The “news has sent counties throughout California into a panic” and they are “bracing to lose hundreds of millions of dollars,” the ...
Blog
Western governors try to boost housing as population grows
Western governors try to boost housing as population grows By D. Dowd Muska | October 31, 2025 What do Houston, Los Angeles, San Antonio, Fort Worth, Phoenix, Seattle, San Jose and Las Vegas have in common? U.S. Census Bureau data show that each made the list of the 15 cities ...
Blog
Corporate home buyers are not ‘plundering’ U.S. neighborhoods
Tucker Carlson, for one, has been for years carping about corporations buying single-family homes. In 2021, when he still had a show on Fox News, Carlson objected to “private-equity firms like BlackRock” buying “entire neighborhoods of single-family homes and turning them into rentals.” His guest that evening was Chronicles Magazine’s Pedro Gonzalez, ...
Blog
Prop. 50 will reduce the voting strength of cities and counties
Prop. 50 will reduce the voting strength of cities and counties By Daniel M. Kolkey | October 24, 2025 Proposition 50 – an admitted gerrymander of California’s congressional districts that is the subject of November 4’s special election – will not only harm voters by making our congressional districts less ...
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Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Seattle’s public-housing experiment is heading toward disaster
It’s long been obvious that America’s history with government-run housing projects has been an unmitigated disaster. They were quite the rage when I grew up around Philadelphia in the 1960s and 1970s, but these public-housing projects always ended up as dangerous, poorly designed, soulless and racially segregated – places that ...
Blog
If you build it, they will socialize? Public spaces and loneliness
If you build it, they will socialize? Public spaces and loneliness By D. Dowd Muska | October 17, 2025 Urbanists have a new item for cities’ to-do lists: Fix America’s loneliness crisis. And their preferred tool? Public spaces. The William Penn Foundation’s Shawn McCaney is typical. He believes the nation’s ...
Blog
Congestion pricing an open question, but equity concerns are bogus
Congestion pricing an open question, but equity concerns are bogus by Rafael Perez | October 10, 2025 New York City in January became the first city in America to implement congestion charges in an effort to curb traffic, reduce pollution and raise funds to improve transit systems. Los Angeles is ...
Private transit worked in the past. Could it help cities again?
On the surface, Tokyo and Los Angeles couldn’t be more different — one city known for its safety, cleanliness, walkability and vibrancy, while the other is often criticized for sprawl, dysfunction and decay. But there was a time when Los Angeles was known for the former — in part, by ...
Cities bury power lines to halt wildfires, but state slows progress
Cities bury power lines to halt wildfires, but state slows progress by John Seiler | November 14, 2025 California’s wildfires burned more than a half-million acres this year, with the Pacific Palisades and eaton wildfires counting among the nation’s most devastating wildfires ever. While some wildfires are inevitable in such ...
Denver wisely repeals its minimum parking mandates
Denver wisely repeals its minimum parking mandates By Sal Rodriguez | November 7, 2025 The post-World War II years brought with it many things Americans have taken for granted: economic prosperity, suburban living and minimum parking requirements. Along with the growing prevalence of personal vehicles through the 1950s and 1960s ...
No need for hysteria over federal cuts to homeless housing
The usually levelheaded CalMatters reported that the expected deep cuts are the “latest blow in a seemingly endless barrage of bad news for the California agencies tasked with fighting homelessness.” The “news has sent counties throughout California into a panic” and they are “bracing to lose hundreds of millions of dollars,” the ...
Western governors try to boost housing as population grows
Western governors try to boost housing as population grows By D. Dowd Muska | October 31, 2025 What do Houston, Los Angeles, San Antonio, Fort Worth, Phoenix, Seattle, San Jose and Las Vegas have in common? U.S. Census Bureau data show that each made the list of the 15 cities ...
Corporate home buyers are not ‘plundering’ U.S. neighborhoods
Tucker Carlson, for one, has been for years carping about corporations buying single-family homes. In 2021, when he still had a show on Fox News, Carlson objected to “private-equity firms like BlackRock” buying “entire neighborhoods of single-family homes and turning them into rentals.” His guest that evening was Chronicles Magazine’s Pedro Gonzalez, ...
Prop. 50 will reduce the voting strength of cities and counties
Prop. 50 will reduce the voting strength of cities and counties By Daniel M. Kolkey | October 24, 2025 Proposition 50 – an admitted gerrymander of California’s congressional districts that is the subject of November 4’s special election – will not only harm voters by making our congressional districts less ...
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Seattle’s public-housing experiment is heading toward disaster
It’s long been obvious that America’s history with government-run housing projects has been an unmitigated disaster. They were quite the rage when I grew up around Philadelphia in the 1960s and 1970s, but these public-housing projects always ended up as dangerous, poorly designed, soulless and racially segregated – places that ...
If you build it, they will socialize? Public spaces and loneliness
If you build it, they will socialize? Public spaces and loneliness By D. Dowd Muska | October 17, 2025 Urbanists have a new item for cities’ to-do lists: Fix America’s loneliness crisis. And their preferred tool? Public spaces. The William Penn Foundation’s Shawn McCaney is typical. He believes the nation’s ...
Congestion pricing an open question, but equity concerns are bogus
Congestion pricing an open question, but equity concerns are bogus by Rafael Perez | October 10, 2025 New York City in January became the first city in America to implement congestion charges in an effort to curb traffic, reduce pollution and raise funds to improve transit systems. Los Angeles is ...
