Free Cities
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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 ...
Blog
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Albuquerque’s fumble on modest upzoning to promote housing
With a projected housing need of 55,000 new units by 2045, the city has passed some minor housing reforms in recent years, including legalizing accessory dwelling units and allowing more housing near major transit lines. But the city has been reluctant to undertake citywide zoning reforms, despite the city’s housing ...
Blog
Under reformist mayor, San Francisco continues to self-correct
Under reformist mayor, San Francisco continues to self-correct San Francisco has long been a whipping post for conservatives who like to portray it as the case study for progressive zaniness, an ever-present example of the kind of public policies that other cities ought to avoid. The city has often deserved ...
Blog
Not seeing much progress: The failure of cities’ Vision Zero
But as is often the case with feel-good, word-salad progressivism, Vision Zero’s results fall somewhere between mixed and disappointing. San Diego, Portland, Las Vegas, Denver, Charlotte, Philadelphia — the list of underperformers isn’t short. One elected official in Seattle grew so frustrated, he requested an investigation. In April, Rob Saka ...
Blog
Finding the missing middle: How to build more starter homes
“Affordable housing” has become a commonly used phrase in California because there is so little of it. Activists demand it and policymakers promise they can produce lots if it through their clever legislating. But their plans usually include housing where they want it (near public transit centers), not necessarily where ...
Blog
Higher pay, fewer trips: What Seattle’s gig law got wrong
According to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University analyzing Seattle’s law in a National Bureau of Economic Research study, the average base pay per delivery jumped from about $5.37 to $12.52, but tips fell so much that more than one-third of that gain disappeared, and monthly earnings for highly active drivers were ...
Commentary
A $20,000 model trashcan showcases San Francisco’s dysfunction
Three years ago, my East Coast relatives flew to San Francisco for my daughter’s wedding. At the time, national publications were having a field day depicting the city as a pit of decay filled with poop-covered sidewalks and rampant homelessness. My relatives were primed to see an urban landscape beset ...
Blog
Beyond trailer parks: Modular housing can boost affordability
The nation enjoys a “very high rate of economic activity,” yet “housing construction hasn’t been high.” Inflation’s a major factor — “land is several times more expensive than it’s been in the past,” and costs for “materials have gone way up.” Paradoxically, “we’ve been losing ground in meeting housing needs ...
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 ...
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Albuquerque’s fumble on modest upzoning to promote housing
With a projected housing need of 55,000 new units by 2045, the city has passed some minor housing reforms in recent years, including legalizing accessory dwelling units and allowing more housing near major transit lines. But the city has been reluctant to undertake citywide zoning reforms, despite the city’s housing ...
Under reformist mayor, San Francisco continues to self-correct
Under reformist mayor, San Francisco continues to self-correct San Francisco has long been a whipping post for conservatives who like to portray it as the case study for progressive zaniness, an ever-present example of the kind of public policies that other cities ought to avoid. The city has often deserved ...
Not seeing much progress: The failure of cities’ Vision Zero
But as is often the case with feel-good, word-salad progressivism, Vision Zero’s results fall somewhere between mixed and disappointing. San Diego, Portland, Las Vegas, Denver, Charlotte, Philadelphia — the list of underperformers isn’t short. One elected official in Seattle grew so frustrated, he requested an investigation. In April, Rob Saka ...
Finding the missing middle: How to build more starter homes
“Affordable housing” has become a commonly used phrase in California because there is so little of it. Activists demand it and policymakers promise they can produce lots if it through their clever legislating. But their plans usually include housing where they want it (near public transit centers), not necessarily where ...
Higher pay, fewer trips: What Seattle’s gig law got wrong
According to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University analyzing Seattle’s law in a National Bureau of Economic Research study, the average base pay per delivery jumped from about $5.37 to $12.52, but tips fell so much that more than one-third of that gain disappeared, and monthly earnings for highly active drivers were ...
A $20,000 model trashcan showcases San Francisco’s dysfunction
Three years ago, my East Coast relatives flew to San Francisco for my daughter’s wedding. At the time, national publications were having a field day depicting the city as a pit of decay filled with poop-covered sidewalks and rampant homelessness. My relatives were primed to see an urban landscape beset ...
Beyond trailer parks: Modular housing can boost affordability
The nation enjoys a “very high rate of economic activity,” yet “housing construction hasn’t been high.” Inflation’s a major factor — “land is several times more expensive than it’s been in the past,” and costs for “materials have gone way up.” Paradoxically, “we’ve been losing ground in meeting housing needs ...