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Read the latest about the fight to end government green mandates

Senate may save California from itself by ending EV mandate

The Senate voted 51-44 vote to revoke an EPA waiver that allowed the state to set emission standards stricter than those set by the federal government. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump signed the measure as well as two related ones. In 2020, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order ...
Free Cities

Watch the Free Cities Center tour of Roseville’s thriving downtown

Watch as Free Cities Center director Steven Greenhut takes a tour of the city of Roseville’s thriving downtown.  Learn what makes this downtown so vibrant and why it is so important for suburban communities to have downtowns.   We’ll also visit of one of the downtown Roseville’s successful businesses – ...
Blog

Despite fast-track promises, LA rebuilding is mired in red tape

More than 18,000 structures were burned in Los Angeles County in January. The greatest losses were in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena. While updating the recovery “progress” more than three months ago, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass vowed that she was “committed to rebuilding” this community at “lightning speed.” “I just ...
Blog

Regulation bottlenecks impede state’s infrastructure grants

Regulation bottlenecks impede state’s infrastructure grants by Sarah Downey  | June 26, 2025 Editor’s Note: While the Free Cities Center advocates for regulations that encourage market-rate construction rather than affordable-housing subsidies, it’s useful to look at the status of the myriad grant programs that the state government is offering—and the ...
Blog

Getting it all wrong about the other city by the bay

To be charitable, miners brave enough to go digging can discover occasional nuggets of value in Madrigal’s ponderous, and entirely predictable, jeremiad. For example: Oakland had its own version of the urban-renewal thuggery that would eventually lead to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Kelo v. City of New London. In ...
Blog

Irony alert: California Dems tackle ‘cost of living’

Irony alert: California Dems tackle ‘cost of living’ Don’t expect high-priced California cities to become more affordable any time soon. By Steven Greenhut  |  June 13, 2025 The latest news about the California Legislature’s efforts to tackle the state’s preposterously high cost of living should cause Californians to snigger. “California ...
Blog

California cities may now dodge bullet train destruction

In his May budget revision for fiscal year 2025-26, which began on July 1, Gov. Gavin Newsom earmarked $1 billion a year for the next 20 years from the state’s cap-and-trade system toward the rail project. Like the wounded Black Knight in the “Tis but a scratch scene” in “Monty ...
Blog

San Diego’s ADU program so successful it’s drawing a backlash

San Diego’s ADU program so successful it’s drawing a backlash by Sal Rodriguez | June 6, 2025 Over the past decade, California lawmakers have enacted several laws legalizing and facilitating the development of accessory dwelling units. Also known as granny flats or casitas, ADUs are typically small units built on ...
Blog

Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center

Dwelling on it: ADUs advance on the coasts and inland

Comedian George Carlin believed that the word “bipartisan” means a “larger-than-usual deception is being carried out.” But the comedian’s legendary cynicism might dissolve, at least a bit, if confronted by the across-the aisle progress underway with a key affordable-housing tool. Neighbor Blog’s Grant Ongstad defines an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) ...
Blog

Months after election, is crime still a potent urban issue?

Months after election, is crime still a potent urban issue? Passed by 68% of voters last November 5, Proposition 36 increased penalties for certain drug offenses and for thefts under $950. On the same day, Nathan Hochman defeated Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón, 65% to 35%. Gascón was a ...
Blog

Read the latest about the fight to end government green mandates

Senate may save California from itself by ending EV mandate

The Senate voted 51-44 vote to revoke an EPA waiver that allowed the state to set emission standards stricter than those set by the federal government. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump signed the measure as well as two related ones. In 2020, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order ...
Free Cities

Watch the Free Cities Center tour of Roseville’s thriving downtown

Watch as Free Cities Center director Steven Greenhut takes a tour of the city of Roseville’s thriving downtown.  Learn what makes this downtown so vibrant and why it is so important for suburban communities to have downtowns.   We’ll also visit of one of the downtown Roseville’s successful businesses – ...
Blog

Despite fast-track promises, LA rebuilding is mired in red tape

More than 18,000 structures were burned in Los Angeles County in January. The greatest losses were in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena. While updating the recovery “progress” more than three months ago, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass vowed that she was “committed to rebuilding” this community at “lightning speed.” “I just ...
Blog

Regulation bottlenecks impede state’s infrastructure grants

Regulation bottlenecks impede state’s infrastructure grants by Sarah Downey  | June 26, 2025 Editor’s Note: While the Free Cities Center advocates for regulations that encourage market-rate construction rather than affordable-housing subsidies, it’s useful to look at the status of the myriad grant programs that the state government is offering—and the ...
Blog

Getting it all wrong about the other city by the bay

To be charitable, miners brave enough to go digging can discover occasional nuggets of value in Madrigal’s ponderous, and entirely predictable, jeremiad. For example: Oakland had its own version of the urban-renewal thuggery that would eventually lead to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Kelo v. City of New London. In ...
Blog

Irony alert: California Dems tackle ‘cost of living’

Irony alert: California Dems tackle ‘cost of living’ Don’t expect high-priced California cities to become more affordable any time soon. By Steven Greenhut  |  June 13, 2025 The latest news about the California Legislature’s efforts to tackle the state’s preposterously high cost of living should cause Californians to snigger. “California ...
Blog

California cities may now dodge bullet train destruction

In his May budget revision for fiscal year 2025-26, which began on July 1, Gov. Gavin Newsom earmarked $1 billion a year for the next 20 years from the state’s cap-and-trade system toward the rail project. Like the wounded Black Knight in the “Tis but a scratch scene” in “Monty ...
Blog

San Diego’s ADU program so successful it’s drawing a backlash

San Diego’s ADU program so successful it’s drawing a backlash by Sal Rodriguez | June 6, 2025 Over the past decade, California lawmakers have enacted several laws legalizing and facilitating the development of accessory dwelling units. Also known as granny flats or casitas, ADUs are typically small units built on ...
Blog

Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center

Dwelling on it: ADUs advance on the coasts and inland

Comedian George Carlin believed that the word “bipartisan” means a “larger-than-usual deception is being carried out.” But the comedian’s legendary cynicism might dissolve, at least a bit, if confronted by the across-the aisle progress underway with a key affordable-housing tool. Neighbor Blog’s Grant Ongstad defines an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) ...
Blog

Months after election, is crime still a potent urban issue?

Months after election, is crime still a potent urban issue? Passed by 68% of voters last November 5, Proposition 36 increased penalties for certain drug offenses and for thefts under $950. On the same day, Nathan Hochman defeated Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón, 65% to 35%. Gascón was a ...
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