Free Cities
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California cities turn to tax hikes to deal with overspending
Two years ago, 125 local tax measures appeared on ballots. Ninety, says the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, passed. A number of cities now have local sales taxes that exceed 10%. Several cities in “conservative” Orange County are likewise asking voters to approve various local tax increases. We won’t know until the deadline in August how ...
Blog
Buying local: The new push to legalize neighborhood businesses
Buying local: The new push to legalize neighborhood businesses by D. Dowd Muska | July 17, 2026 Your mission, NIMBYs, should you choose to accept it: Stop accessory commercial units, or ACUs. Accessory dwelling units (ADUs) have won bipartisan, pan-ideological support in blue and red states. But advocacy for ACUs — ...
Blog
‘Like, bye’: Two words that define Wilson’s start as Seattle mayor
Democratic socialist Katie Wilson took office as mayor of Seattle at the start of the year with big promises and lots of excitement. “We have to do big new things,” she said in her inaugural address. “And I’m going to be calling on all the brilliance and creativity and dedication ...
Free Cities
Watch: Learn How California’s New Reforms Are Making it Easier to Build ADUs
Watch below as a Sacramento-area homeowner gives us a tour of her family’s newly-build ADU and learn how California’s new reforms are making it much easier to build new ADUs.
Blog
Berkeley overcomes its exclusionary history by legalizing housing
Over a century ago, Berkeley, Calif., pioneered an approach to land-use policy that would go on to stifle housing production all over the country. In 1916, Berkeley became one of the first cities in the country to enact single-family zoning. The policy was championed by one of the major developers ...
Blog
E-bikes are fun, but cities need to enforce reasonable traffic laws
On a fine October day in 2024 I was walking my Pomeranian show dog, Ollie, to my favorite Irvine coffee shop, the Lost Bean on Barranca Parkway. Suddenly I was on the ground. Two youths on e-bikes were riding on the sidewalk at maybe 25 mph and one cut in ...
Blog
California flips out over investors who flip distressed properties
California flips out over investors who flip distressed properties Government efforts that rig the system to produce more affordable housing are neither effective nor noble — especially when policymakers target a trend that has captured the public’s imagination while improving and increasing the housing stock. Home flippers have become prominent ...
Blog
Indiana’s Bears play could put taxpayers behind an $8 billion franchise
Illinois has plenty of problems. Its tax system is complicated, its approval process is slow, and its politics made the Arlington Heights path harder than it needed to be. In this case, though, Illinois not rushing into a special deal for the Bears was not the main policy failure. Indiana ...
Blog
Cities still grappling with the fallout 17 months after LA’s wildfires
Cities still grappling with the fallout 17 months after LA’s wildfires By John Seiler | June 19, 2026 Since the January 2025 wildfires devastated Pacific Palisades and Eaton, what have policymakers done to make sure California cities are better protected from future outbreaks? Policies should be split into “three buckets,” ...
Blog
The Trump administration tries to kill aid to dependent cities
You know about the bridge to nowhere. The electric tugboat? Probably not. In 2020, the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District received a unique grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Awarded under the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA), the $2,017,660 subsidy paid for the eWolf, “America’s first all-electric ...
California cities turn to tax hikes to deal with overspending
Two years ago, 125 local tax measures appeared on ballots. Ninety, says the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, passed. A number of cities now have local sales taxes that exceed 10%. Several cities in “conservative” Orange County are likewise asking voters to approve various local tax increases. We won’t know until the deadline in August how ...
Buying local: The new push to legalize neighborhood businesses
Buying local: The new push to legalize neighborhood businesses by D. Dowd Muska | July 17, 2026 Your mission, NIMBYs, should you choose to accept it: Stop accessory commercial units, or ACUs. Accessory dwelling units (ADUs) have won bipartisan, pan-ideological support in blue and red states. But advocacy for ACUs — ...
‘Like, bye’: Two words that define Wilson’s start as Seattle mayor
Democratic socialist Katie Wilson took office as mayor of Seattle at the start of the year with big promises and lots of excitement. “We have to do big new things,” she said in her inaugural address. “And I’m going to be calling on all the brilliance and creativity and dedication ...
Watch: Learn How California’s New Reforms Are Making it Easier to Build ADUs
Watch below as a Sacramento-area homeowner gives us a tour of her family’s newly-build ADU and learn how California’s new reforms are making it much easier to build new ADUs.
Berkeley overcomes its exclusionary history by legalizing housing
Over a century ago, Berkeley, Calif., pioneered an approach to land-use policy that would go on to stifle housing production all over the country. In 1916, Berkeley became one of the first cities in the country to enact single-family zoning. The policy was championed by one of the major developers ...
E-bikes are fun, but cities need to enforce reasonable traffic laws
On a fine October day in 2024 I was walking my Pomeranian show dog, Ollie, to my favorite Irvine coffee shop, the Lost Bean on Barranca Parkway. Suddenly I was on the ground. Two youths on e-bikes were riding on the sidewalk at maybe 25 mph and one cut in ...
California flips out over investors who flip distressed properties
California flips out over investors who flip distressed properties Government efforts that rig the system to produce more affordable housing are neither effective nor noble — especially when policymakers target a trend that has captured the public’s imagination while improving and increasing the housing stock. Home flippers have become prominent ...
Indiana’s Bears play could put taxpayers behind an $8 billion franchise
Illinois has plenty of problems. Its tax system is complicated, its approval process is slow, and its politics made the Arlington Heights path harder than it needed to be. In this case, though, Illinois not rushing into a special deal for the Bears was not the main policy failure. Indiana ...
Cities still grappling with the fallout 17 months after LA’s wildfires
Cities still grappling with the fallout 17 months after LA’s wildfires By John Seiler | June 19, 2026 Since the January 2025 wildfires devastated Pacific Palisades and Eaton, what have policymakers done to make sure California cities are better protected from future outbreaks? Policies should be split into “three buckets,” ...
The Trump administration tries to kill aid to dependent cities
You know about the bridge to nowhere. The electric tugboat? Probably not. In 2020, the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District received a unique grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Awarded under the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA), the $2,017,660 subsidy paid for the eWolf, “America’s first all-electric ...