Free Cities
Blog
Yes In God’s Back Yard: YIGBYs fight for more housing
Yes In God’s Back Yard: YIGBYs fight for more housing by D. Dowd Muska | October 3, 2025 When it’s time to thwart an unwanted land use, NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yarders) consult a list of hardy perennials. Parking. Traffic. Crime. Noise. Property values. “Preserving the character of the ...
Blog
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Insurers return to California, but we’re not yet out of the woods
California’s property insurance market had been on the precipice before the massive wildfires wreaked havoc in Pacific Palisades and Altadena this year, with insurers fleeing the state following a series of costly wildfires from 2017 to 2021. January’s fires were among the worst in the state’s history, with estimated industry ...
Blog
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
It’s not just AI: California city minimum wages also kill jobs
As if it didn’t kill enough jobs, 39 cities have imposed their own, even higher minimums. A dozen of the cities did so on July 1. The highest general minimum is Emeryville’s, at $19.90. Some cities also mandate higher minimums for certain jobs. For the city of Los Angeles, the ...
Blog
California loosens housing regs, but they still slow construction
California loosens housing regs, but they still slow construction By Sarah Downey | September 26, 2025 As the rate of homeownership declines in California, it’s raising more questions about the bureaucratic costs that make housing development in the Golden State much slower than other parts of the country. New data ...
AI
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Cities should rethink their zeal for subsidizing AI data centers
Kate Gallego has had it. In her 2025 State of the City address, Phoenix’s mayor called on lawmakers to eliminate Arizona’s special tax treatment for “new data centers.” Calling it “a holdover from a time before our economy was the magnet for job growth that it is today,” Gallego declared ...
Blog
YIMBYs win political victories, but where are the new houses?
Gov. Gavin Newsom even held up passage of the state budget until lawmakers approved two reforms to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Assembly Bill 130 exempts a broader number of environmentally friendly infill housing projects from CEQA. Senate Bill 131 exempts nine types of projects from CEQA. These include ...
Blog
Mayor Daniel Lurie slashes red tape in San Francisco
Mayor Daniel Lurie slashes red tape in San Francisco By Sal Rodriguez | September 15, 2025 Since taking office in January, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has made streamlining his city’s notoriously challenging regulatory processes a top priority. In February, Lurie established PermitSF, a multi-agency effort tasked with speeding up ...
Blog
Los Angeles Faces an Olympian Task
The city and county of Los Angeles have struggled to jump-start home and business reconstructions eight months after wildfires destroyed Pacific Palisades and Altadena, with only 17 permits issued for the Palisades and fewer than 300 for all the affected areas combined. State and local officials have waived myriad building ...
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 Editor’s 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 ...
Blog
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
L.A. homeless counts fall before World Cup, Olympics
According to the 2025 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count from July, “For the second straight year, homelessness is down across Los Angeles County, falling 4% to 72,308. Homelessness also declined in the city of Los Angeles, falling by 3.4% to 43,699.” That contrasts with a 3% increase in California in ...
Yes In God’s Back Yard: YIGBYs fight for more housing
Yes In God’s Back Yard: YIGBYs fight for more housing by D. Dowd Muska | October 3, 2025 When it’s time to thwart an unwanted land use, NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yarders) consult a list of hardy perennials. Parking. Traffic. Crime. Noise. Property values. “Preserving the character of the ...
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Insurers return to California, but we’re not yet out of the woods
California’s property insurance market had been on the precipice before the massive wildfires wreaked havoc in Pacific Palisades and Altadena this year, with insurers fleeing the state following a series of costly wildfires from 2017 to 2021. January’s fires were among the worst in the state’s history, with estimated industry ...
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
It’s not just AI: California city minimum wages also kill jobs
As if it didn’t kill enough jobs, 39 cities have imposed their own, even higher minimums. A dozen of the cities did so on July 1. The highest general minimum is Emeryville’s, at $19.90. Some cities also mandate higher minimums for certain jobs. For the city of Los Angeles, the ...
California loosens housing regs, but they still slow construction
California loosens housing regs, but they still slow construction By Sarah Downey | September 26, 2025 As the rate of homeownership declines in California, it’s raising more questions about the bureaucratic costs that make housing development in the Golden State much slower than other parts of the country. New data ...
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Cities should rethink their zeal for subsidizing AI data centers
Kate Gallego has had it. In her 2025 State of the City address, Phoenix’s mayor called on lawmakers to eliminate Arizona’s special tax treatment for “new data centers.” Calling it “a holdover from a time before our economy was the magnet for job growth that it is today,” Gallego declared ...
YIMBYs win political victories, but where are the new houses?
Gov. Gavin Newsom even held up passage of the state budget until lawmakers approved two reforms to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Assembly Bill 130 exempts a broader number of environmentally friendly infill housing projects from CEQA. Senate Bill 131 exempts nine types of projects from CEQA. These include ...
Mayor Daniel Lurie slashes red tape in San Francisco
Mayor Daniel Lurie slashes red tape in San Francisco By Sal Rodriguez | September 15, 2025 Since taking office in January, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has made streamlining his city’s notoriously challenging regulatory processes a top priority. In February, Lurie established PermitSF, a multi-agency effort tasked with speeding up ...
Los Angeles Faces an Olympian Task
The city and county of Los Angeles have struggled to jump-start home and business reconstructions eight months after wildfires destroyed Pacific Palisades and Altadena, with only 17 permits issued for the Palisades and fewer than 300 for all the affected areas combined. State and local officials have waived myriad building ...
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 Editor’s 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
L.A. homeless counts fall before World Cup, Olympics
According to the 2025 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count from July, “For the second straight year, homelessness is down across Los Angeles County, falling 4% to 72,308. Homelessness also declined in the city of Los Angeles, falling by 3.4% to 43,699.” That contrasts with a 3% increase in California in ...
