Free Cities

San Francisco new commission struggles to shut down commissions Sal Rodriguez | April 10, 2026 San Francisco has too many government commissions. Who could’ve guessed? On January 30, the city’s Commission Streamlining Task Force issued a 134-page report on the 152 boards, commissions and similar bodies operating in the city under ordinance ...

The “landmark” measure — imposed at the behest of environmentalists and agricultural interests — was designed to stop urban sprawl, protect open space and promote transit use. “Observing the loss of farmland and greenspaces, as well as poorly planned development in other states, Oregonians saw that they could no longer ...

Students can’t be expected to learn in schools plagued by violence By Rafael Perez | April 3, 2026 A U.S. News & World Report comparison of public schools ranks California’s Pre-K-12 schools 38th in the nation. In California, 51.2% of our students fail to meet English standards and 62.7% fail ...

Can 3D printers help solve the housing-affordability crisis? by Kerry Jackson | March 27, 2026 The best thinkers have been unable to solve California’s housing crisis, not because their ideas haven’t had merit, but due to policymakers’ resistance to reasonable reform. Technology, though, might soon override the obstructionists. A recent study published by ...

Focus on transit: How to save BART without raising taxes San Francisco’s “beloved” BART system is “on the brink of collapse,” says the New York Post, and the only thing that will save it is for voters to agree to raise taxes for it in November. While I question how “beloved” ...

California needs more oversight, not another homeless agency By Sarah Downey | March 20, 2026 As California continues to struggle with homelessness, state leaders are rebranding the bureaucracy by rolling out a different agency with many of the same players and goals. This comes after a series of distressing audits ...

California cities struggling to implement latest housing law  By John Seiler | March 19, 2026 Since 2017, the California Legislature has passed and governors Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom have signed about 215 housing-related bills. There’s no master list. But the Terner Center at UC Berkeley tallied almost 100 from ...

Let people live as they want, with or without cars By Sal Rodriguez  |  March 13, 2026 Many urbanists were excited by a recent study from Arizona State University researchers reporting that “nearly one fifth of urban and suburban U.S. car owners express a definite interest in living car-free (18%), and an ...

Rooms for improvement: single-room occupancy in your state By D. Dowd Muska  |  March 12, 2026 “I would never want to live like that, so therefore [insert housing type] should be illegal.” Online chatter generates intense heat, and measly light, but occasionally, a profound truth is posted. The quote above ...