Free Cities
Blog
Newsom UBI Plan: Expanding Government Dependency Without Increasing Economic Empowerment
By Wayne Winegarden and Tim Anaya After hiring defeated Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs as a special advisor and flush with a $75.7 billion budget surplus, it was probably inevitable that universal basic income would be included in Gov. Newsom’s massive billion May Revise budget proposal. True to form, Newsom’s budget ...
Agriculture
California Has Millions of Acre-feet of Water Waiting to Be Built
As part of its May Revise rollout, the Newsom administration announced $5.1 billion for water infrastructure and drought response. While the announcement invests on funding better data collection, continuing the implementation of Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, or SGMA, and maintaining current water infrastructure, nothing in Newsom’s proposed funding will solve ...
Blog
California DAs Hope to Slow the Flow of Early Inmate Releases
The planned early release of 76,000 inmates from California prisons is a big meal not well digested by prosecutors across the state. “Allowing the early release of the most dangerous criminals, shortening sentences as much as 50%, impacts crime victims and creates a serious public safety risk,” says Sacramento County ...
California
$12 billion to house the homeless, but ‘housing first’ doesn’t work
The governor has plans to spend an extraordinary sum of public money on the homeless, most of which would be used to put them up in hotels. Sounds compassionate. But it’s another empty promise. Housing-first policy is indistinguishable from housing-and-nothing-else. Part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $100 billion “California Comeback Plan” ...
Blog
Being An Entrepreneur In San Francisco Is A Financially Punishing Experience
Living in San Francisco is a dollar-burning experience. It’s the most expensive housing market in the country, and the cost of living is higher only in Manhattan. But what about building a business in the city that fancies itself as The City? Don’t even ask. Nevertheless, we’re here to tell, ...
Blackouts
Blackouts, Increasing Crime, Rampant Homelessness, And Man-Made Drought: Is This California Or A Third World Nation?
While still trying to process the unwelcome news that we’re going to have to grind through yet another year of drought, California energy officials told us to also be ready for the power to go out when the days grow long and warm. “The managers of California’s electricity system,” the ...
Blog
Early Release for 76,000 California Inmates
Last week, Gov. Newsom, in an “emergency declaration”, is giving 76,000 inmates — including violent and repeat felons — the opportunity to leave prison early in order to reduce the state’s prison population. Of the 76,000 inmates, 63,000 were convicted of violent crimes, including 20,000 serving life sentences with the ...
Business & Economics
Robert Poole – Pres. Biden’s “Infrastructure” Plan
This week’s podcast features Robert Poole, director of transportation policy at the Reason Foundation. Bob Poole, one of the leading transportation policy experts in the nation – discusses Pres. Biden’s so-called infrastructure plan and what’s really in it. Mr. Poole also discusses California’s poor infrastructure and ideas to improve it, ...
Blog
6 Factors Inhibiting Family Growth in California
California has some of the lowest fertility rates in the nation, coming in at 1.6 in 2019. The number is expected to decrease even more. One recent study projects that 25% of American millennial women will be childless, a significant uptick from historical U.S. trends. While reasons for lowered fertility ...
Blog
CEQA Strikes Again in Holding Up Major Homebuilding Project
Recently, the Southern California Association of Governments voted on new housing development goals for the region for the coming decade. Its vote requires cities and counties to make plans to zone for up to 1.34 million new homes by the end of the decade. The need to build additional new ...
Newsom UBI Plan: Expanding Government Dependency Without Increasing Economic Empowerment
By Wayne Winegarden and Tim Anaya After hiring defeated Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs as a special advisor and flush with a $75.7 billion budget surplus, it was probably inevitable that universal basic income would be included in Gov. Newsom’s massive billion May Revise budget proposal. True to form, Newsom’s budget ...
California Has Millions of Acre-feet of Water Waiting to Be Built
As part of its May Revise rollout, the Newsom administration announced $5.1 billion for water infrastructure and drought response. While the announcement invests on funding better data collection, continuing the implementation of Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, or SGMA, and maintaining current water infrastructure, nothing in Newsom’s proposed funding will solve ...
California DAs Hope to Slow the Flow of Early Inmate Releases
The planned early release of 76,000 inmates from California prisons is a big meal not well digested by prosecutors across the state. “Allowing the early release of the most dangerous criminals, shortening sentences as much as 50%, impacts crime victims and creates a serious public safety risk,” says Sacramento County ...
$12 billion to house the homeless, but ‘housing first’ doesn’t work
The governor has plans to spend an extraordinary sum of public money on the homeless, most of which would be used to put them up in hotels. Sounds compassionate. But it’s another empty promise. Housing-first policy is indistinguishable from housing-and-nothing-else. Part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $100 billion “California Comeback Plan” ...
Being An Entrepreneur In San Francisco Is A Financially Punishing Experience
Living in San Francisco is a dollar-burning experience. It’s the most expensive housing market in the country, and the cost of living is higher only in Manhattan. But what about building a business in the city that fancies itself as The City? Don’t even ask. Nevertheless, we’re here to tell, ...
Blackouts, Increasing Crime, Rampant Homelessness, And Man-Made Drought: Is This California Or A Third World Nation?
While still trying to process the unwelcome news that we’re going to have to grind through yet another year of drought, California energy officials told us to also be ready for the power to go out when the days grow long and warm. “The managers of California’s electricity system,” the ...
Early Release for 76,000 California Inmates
Last week, Gov. Newsom, in an “emergency declaration”, is giving 76,000 inmates — including violent and repeat felons — the opportunity to leave prison early in order to reduce the state’s prison population. Of the 76,000 inmates, 63,000 were convicted of violent crimes, including 20,000 serving life sentences with the ...
Robert Poole – Pres. Biden’s “Infrastructure” Plan
This week’s podcast features Robert Poole, director of transportation policy at the Reason Foundation. Bob Poole, one of the leading transportation policy experts in the nation – discusses Pres. Biden’s so-called infrastructure plan and what’s really in it. Mr. Poole also discusses California’s poor infrastructure and ideas to improve it, ...
6 Factors Inhibiting Family Growth in California
California has some of the lowest fertility rates in the nation, coming in at 1.6 in 2019. The number is expected to decrease even more. One recent study projects that 25% of American millennial women will be childless, a significant uptick from historical U.S. trends. While reasons for lowered fertility ...
CEQA Strikes Again in Holding Up Major Homebuilding Project
Recently, the Southern California Association of Governments voted on new housing development goals for the region for the coming decade. Its vote requires cities and counties to make plans to zone for up to 1.34 million new homes by the end of the decade. The need to build additional new ...
