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Read how to revitalize urban downtowns

Revitalizing downtowns means focusing on the basics

It’s a scenario unfolding in downtowns across the U.S. after a pandemic that turned millions of Americans into remote workers, afflicting cities with vacant storefronts, crime concerns and fiscally strained transit systems,” reports Bloomberg. But it’s not just a matter of empty offices. People are spending less time in many downtowns. ...
Blog

Blame Bad Urban Planning for Youth Mental-Health Crisis

Blame bad urban planning for youth mental-health crisis By Kenneth Schrupp | October 27, 2023 The fundamental cause of the escalating mental-health crisis among young Americans is a topic of fierce debate. New state laws – such as Ohio’s Social Media Parental Notification Act – point the finger at social ...
Blog

Post-COVID travel has recovered – except for urban transit

Highways, airlines, and Amtrak all carried more travel in August 2023 than the same month before the pandemic, according to data recently released by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Urban transit, however, is languishing at less than 72%, and it would be even lower except that August had one more ...
Free Cities

Watch latest Free Cities Center video tour

Watch Video: Reimagining Scalable Solutions to Homelessness

Watch a video tour of Dignity Moves, a San Francisco non-profit that is reimagining scalable solutions to homelessness. Founder and CEO Elizabeth Funk takes PRI’s Wayne Winegarden on a tour of its San Francisco facility, then discusses her group’s work to address homelessness through interim supportive housing.
Commentary

Read about CA's growing outmigration problem

Californians are voting against Big Government, at least with their feet

People are clearly leaving California because of bad public policy choices.  The state’s roads are poorly maintained. The cost of living is unaffordable. The streets are unsafe, the homelessness problem continues to fester, and economic opportunities are becoming scarcer. These results are consistent with the new Pacific Research Institute Free ...
Blog

Greening the ‘food desert’ by farming vacant urban land

Greening the ‘food desert’ by farming vacant urban land Edward Ring | October 20, 2023 When it comes to food, America’s cities enjoy precarious abundance. We take for granted the remarkable system that allows us close proximity to chilled and gleaming shelves, loaded with apricots from Spain, avocados from Mexico, ...
Blog

Will new California laws finally ease the housing shortage?

California’s twin housing and homelessness crises continue to fester. The Legislature in recent years passed some useful bills promoting housing construction by streamlining the local approval process, such as Senate Bills 9 and 10 from 2021. Yet cities remain plagued with homeless encampments. Housing prices, despite soaring interest rates that ...
Blog

‘Nail houses’ Serve as Monuments of Resistance to Planners

‘Nail houses’ serve as monuments of resistance to planners KERRY JACKSON | OCTOBER 13, 2023 Swedish economist Assar Lindbeck famously has said that outside of bombing it, rent control is the best way to destroy a city. Though not nearly as efficient as either of those, both planners and the ...
Blog

Read latest from Free Cities Center

Union-backed bills pose biggest challenges to cities

Cities are creatures of the state, so they have to obey. Residents are likely to suffer more and bigger potholes, further declining school test scores and higher taxes – meaning more people will flee the state or head to the suburbs. Here’s a look at some of the worst urban-related ...
Blog

California Bill Would Loosen Housing Rules Along the Coast

California bill would loosen housing rules along the coast National commentators always have a field day discussing the unusual new progressive legislation that California’s lawmakers send to the governor, with the latest eye-popping new law raising the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $20 an hour. This year’s “crazy list” ...
Blog

Read how to revitalize urban downtowns

Revitalizing downtowns means focusing on the basics

It’s a scenario unfolding in downtowns across the U.S. after a pandemic that turned millions of Americans into remote workers, afflicting cities with vacant storefronts, crime concerns and fiscally strained transit systems,” reports Bloomberg. But it’s not just a matter of empty offices. People are spending less time in many downtowns. ...
Blog

Blame Bad Urban Planning for Youth Mental-Health Crisis

Blame bad urban planning for youth mental-health crisis By Kenneth Schrupp | October 27, 2023 The fundamental cause of the escalating mental-health crisis among young Americans is a topic of fierce debate. New state laws – such as Ohio’s Social Media Parental Notification Act – point the finger at social ...
Blog

Post-COVID travel has recovered – except for urban transit

Highways, airlines, and Amtrak all carried more travel in August 2023 than the same month before the pandemic, according to data recently released by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Urban transit, however, is languishing at less than 72%, and it would be even lower except that August had one more ...
Free Cities

Watch latest Free Cities Center video tour

Watch Video: Reimagining Scalable Solutions to Homelessness

Watch a video tour of Dignity Moves, a San Francisco non-profit that is reimagining scalable solutions to homelessness. Founder and CEO Elizabeth Funk takes PRI’s Wayne Winegarden on a tour of its San Francisco facility, then discusses her group’s work to address homelessness through interim supportive housing.
Commentary

Read about CA's growing outmigration problem

Californians are voting against Big Government, at least with their feet

People are clearly leaving California because of bad public policy choices.  The state’s roads are poorly maintained. The cost of living is unaffordable. The streets are unsafe, the homelessness problem continues to fester, and economic opportunities are becoming scarcer. These results are consistent with the new Pacific Research Institute Free ...
Blog

Greening the ‘food desert’ by farming vacant urban land

Greening the ‘food desert’ by farming vacant urban land Edward Ring | October 20, 2023 When it comes to food, America’s cities enjoy precarious abundance. We take for granted the remarkable system that allows us close proximity to chilled and gleaming shelves, loaded with apricots from Spain, avocados from Mexico, ...
Blog

Will new California laws finally ease the housing shortage?

California’s twin housing and homelessness crises continue to fester. The Legislature in recent years passed some useful bills promoting housing construction by streamlining the local approval process, such as Senate Bills 9 and 10 from 2021. Yet cities remain plagued with homeless encampments. Housing prices, despite soaring interest rates that ...
Blog

‘Nail houses’ Serve as Monuments of Resistance to Planners

‘Nail houses’ serve as monuments of resistance to planners KERRY JACKSON | OCTOBER 13, 2023 Swedish economist Assar Lindbeck famously has said that outside of bombing it, rent control is the best way to destroy a city. Though not nearly as efficient as either of those, both planners and the ...
Blog

Read latest from Free Cities Center

Union-backed bills pose biggest challenges to cities

Cities are creatures of the state, so they have to obey. Residents are likely to suffer more and bigger potholes, further declining school test scores and higher taxes – meaning more people will flee the state or head to the suburbs. Here’s a look at some of the worst urban-related ...
Blog

California Bill Would Loosen Housing Rules Along the Coast

California bill would loosen housing rules along the coast National commentators always have a field day discussing the unusual new progressive legislation that California’s lawmakers send to the governor, with the latest eye-popping new law raising the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $20 an hour. This year’s “crazy list” ...
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