Free Cities
Blog
It’s Finally Infrastructure Week . . . But Is That a Good Thing?
At long last, it’s finally “Infrastructure Week.” On Wednesday, a group of Republican and Democrat senators resolved their final differences with President Biden and reached a long-elusive agreement on a bipartisan infrastructure bill authorizing $550 billion in new spending over 5 years. Later that night, the Senate voted 67 to ...
Business & Economics
It’s The Private, Not Public, Sector That Will Overcome Our Challenges
Whether it is investing in infrastructure or addressing the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, President Biden and the Democratic Congress continue to believe that the government is the main driver of growth and innovation. This errant belief threatens our fiscal solvency and our ability to solve the serious problems we face as ...
Blog
The Mean Streets Of San Francisco Crime: Perception or Reality?
The official word is that the videos of San Francisco shoplifters are not accurate representations of crime in the city. The San Francisco Chronicle recently reported that Police Chief Bill Scott and Mayor London Breed have “sought to tamp down growing perceptions – fueled in part by the viral videos ...
Blog
George Lucas, Reluctant YIMBY?
The wages of California city planning spare no man—not even George Lucas. As recently as late 2020, the filmmaker sued the California town of San Anselmo to clear up a “surveying error” that may revert a portion of his property to the heirs of its 1920s owners. It’s a trivial ...
Blog
Despite Ring Scandal, Public-Private Partnerships Can Bring About True Community Policing
A few weeks ago, a neighbor knocked on my door. “My windows were smashed last night, but nothing was stolen,” she explained, clearly stressed, “my Ring camera caught the crime on film, but I could not identify the man or see the vehicle he left in.” She waited expectantly. Confused, ...
California
Steven Greenhut Joins KFBK Morning News to Talk Drought, Water
Steven Greenhut, author of PRI’s “Winning the Water Wars,” talks about California’s drought, water storage, the policy of “water abundance,” and what’s next for Californians.
Agriculture
Key Supreme Court ruling protects Californians’ private property rights
“I’m going to take this to the Supreme Court,” is almost always an empty, baseless threat generated by in-the-moment fury from someone who believes they were wronged. But sometimes cases get that far. Sometimes the offended party wins. And on occasion, that victory undergirds the framework of a free society. ...
Blog
Getting CEQA Out of the Way of Missing Middle Housing
California is in the grips of an unprecedented housing crisis, which has sent hundreds of thousands of Californians packing for affordable states like Arizona and Nevada. Here in Los Angeles, both home prices and homelessness have hit record highs, a sign of the ironic situation of the Golden State. At ...
Agriculture
Progress in California Road Repairs Lagging Despite Gas Tax Hike
Four years ago, Will Kempton, then executive director of Transportation California and a former Caltrans director, said the state’s roads were “the worst I have seen.” A few months later, the state began collecting revenue from a $52 billion, 10-year fuel tax hike to raise enough revenue to bring up to date ...
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 ...
It’s Finally Infrastructure Week . . . But Is That a Good Thing?
At long last, it’s finally “Infrastructure Week.” On Wednesday, a group of Republican and Democrat senators resolved their final differences with President Biden and reached a long-elusive agreement on a bipartisan infrastructure bill authorizing $550 billion in new spending over 5 years. Later that night, the Senate voted 67 to ...
It’s The Private, Not Public, Sector That Will Overcome Our Challenges
Whether it is investing in infrastructure or addressing the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, President Biden and the Democratic Congress continue to believe that the government is the main driver of growth and innovation. This errant belief threatens our fiscal solvency and our ability to solve the serious problems we face as ...
The Mean Streets Of San Francisco Crime: Perception or Reality?
The official word is that the videos of San Francisco shoplifters are not accurate representations of crime in the city. The San Francisco Chronicle recently reported that Police Chief Bill Scott and Mayor London Breed have “sought to tamp down growing perceptions – fueled in part by the viral videos ...
George Lucas, Reluctant YIMBY?
The wages of California city planning spare no man—not even George Lucas. As recently as late 2020, the filmmaker sued the California town of San Anselmo to clear up a “surveying error” that may revert a portion of his property to the heirs of its 1920s owners. It’s a trivial ...
Despite Ring Scandal, Public-Private Partnerships Can Bring About True Community Policing
A few weeks ago, a neighbor knocked on my door. “My windows were smashed last night, but nothing was stolen,” she explained, clearly stressed, “my Ring camera caught the crime on film, but I could not identify the man or see the vehicle he left in.” She waited expectantly. Confused, ...
Steven Greenhut Joins KFBK Morning News to Talk Drought, Water
Steven Greenhut, author of PRI’s “Winning the Water Wars,” talks about California’s drought, water storage, the policy of “water abundance,” and what’s next for Californians.
Key Supreme Court ruling protects Californians’ private property rights
“I’m going to take this to the Supreme Court,” is almost always an empty, baseless threat generated by in-the-moment fury from someone who believes they were wronged. But sometimes cases get that far. Sometimes the offended party wins. And on occasion, that victory undergirds the framework of a free society. ...
Getting CEQA Out of the Way of Missing Middle Housing
California is in the grips of an unprecedented housing crisis, which has sent hundreds of thousands of Californians packing for affordable states like Arizona and Nevada. Here in Los Angeles, both home prices and homelessness have hit record highs, a sign of the ironic situation of the Golden State. At ...
Progress in California Road Repairs Lagging Despite Gas Tax Hike
Four years ago, Will Kempton, then executive director of Transportation California and a former Caltrans director, said the state’s roads were “the worst I have seen.” A few months later, the state began collecting revenue from a $52 billion, 10-year fuel tax hike to raise enough revenue to bring up to date ...
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 ...
