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Arizona and Colorado Report: Power-hungry cities kill pro-housing zoning-reform bills

Arizona and Colorado Report: Power-hungry cities kill pro-housing zoning-reform bills by Sal Rodriguez Colorado and Arizona had a shot at passing substantive reform of development-stifling land-use regulations this year. But both efforts went down in the last few months thanks in large part to fierce opposition from city governments, which
Blog

City services will get slammed as public pay goes up

Consider these recent increases: University of California Health. In February, unionized medical residents at UC’s six urban medical centers (in Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside and Orange) were prescribed 16-percent raises over two years. Los Angeles. In April, teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School district went
California

Lee Ohanian – Why Californians Are Fleeing the State

Our guest this week is Hoover Institution senior fellow and UCLA professor Dr. Lee Ohanian.
Blog

Read latest from Free Cities Center

Coercion-free planning can lead to glorious results

Central planning, no matter if the target is an economy or a community, has generally had historically disastrous results. When the government plots and schemes the future, people are ultimately doomed to lower living standards at best, and misery, all too often. Yet central planning can work – but only
Blog

Read latest from Free Cities Center

San Diego offers pragmatic model to restore downtown life

According to Neighborhood Scout, a data-driven organization that provides detailed insights into local crime rates at a far more granular level than national statistics, San Diego has 4 violent crimes and 19.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents. In contrast, Los Angeles has 8.4 violent crimes and 24.6 property crimes per
Book

New PRI Book Release

State Planners Focus Too Much on Social Engineering Rather Than Transportation Engineering

NEW PRI BOOK RELEASE PUTTING CUSTOMERS FIRST Re-Envisioning Our Approach to Transportation Planning Steven Greenhut State Planners Focus Too Much on Social Engineering Rather Than Transportation Engineering Focus Should Be Easing Gridlock, Not Prodding People Out of Cars State and local transportation officials are planning transportation projects around social engineering,
California

Watch PRI webinar

Watch: How Do We Stop California’s Outmigration Problem with Dr. Lee Ohanian

Watch Hoover Institution senior fellow and UCLA professor Dr. Lee Ohanian discuss California’s growing outmigration problem with Dr. Wayne Winegarden, PRI senior fellow in business and economics. They discuss cost of living problems worsened by poor state public policies that are increasing housing costs across the state and worsening quality
Blog

Private cities bypass ossified governments. Will California follow?

Private cities bypass ossified governments. Will California follow? By Thibault Serlet California’s public discourse about urbanism has become extremely pessimistic. A glimpse into some of the large-scale private cities – generally known as Special Economic Zones, or SEZs – popping up in developing countries might offer us some well-needed hope.
Blog

Will we see the return of redevelopment agencies?

Redevelopment failed cities, but keeps trying for a comeback

This column was originally published in the American Spectator. Say what you will about Jerry Brown, but I’ll always think fondly of him because of his crowning achievement in his more-recent stint as governor. In 2011, he eliminated the state’s noxious, property-rights-destroying redevelopment agencies. He didn’t axe these locally controlled agencies entirely
Blog

Read latest from Free Cities Center

Sense of community makes city living worth the hassles

It took my parents a long time to understand why I loved Philadelphia. Their confusion was understandable. They’d grown up and then lived in small Kansas towns pretty much their entire adult lives. I’d been raised in those same towns, went to college there, and then spent the first decade
Blog

Arizona and Colorado Report: Power-hungry cities kill pro-housing zoning-reform bills

Arizona and Colorado Report: Power-hungry cities kill pro-housing zoning-reform bills by Sal Rodriguez Colorado and Arizona had a shot at passing substantive reform of development-stifling land-use regulations this year. But both efforts went down in the last few months thanks in large part to fierce opposition from city governments, which
Blog

City services will get slammed as public pay goes up

Consider these recent increases: University of California Health. In February, unionized medical residents at UC’s six urban medical centers (in Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside and Orange) were prescribed 16-percent raises over two years. Los Angeles. In April, teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School district went
California

Lee Ohanian – Why Californians Are Fleeing the State

Our guest this week is Hoover Institution senior fellow and UCLA professor Dr. Lee Ohanian.
Blog

Read latest from Free Cities Center

Coercion-free planning can lead to glorious results

Central planning, no matter if the target is an economy or a community, has generally had historically disastrous results. When the government plots and schemes the future, people are ultimately doomed to lower living standards at best, and misery, all too often. Yet central planning can work – but only
Blog

Read latest from Free Cities Center

San Diego offers pragmatic model to restore downtown life

According to Neighborhood Scout, a data-driven organization that provides detailed insights into local crime rates at a far more granular level than national statistics, San Diego has 4 violent crimes and 19.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents. In contrast, Los Angeles has 8.4 violent crimes and 24.6 property crimes per
Book

New PRI Book Release

State Planners Focus Too Much on Social Engineering Rather Than Transportation Engineering

NEW PRI BOOK RELEASE PUTTING CUSTOMERS FIRST Re-Envisioning Our Approach to Transportation Planning Steven Greenhut State Planners Focus Too Much on Social Engineering Rather Than Transportation Engineering Focus Should Be Easing Gridlock, Not Prodding People Out of Cars State and local transportation officials are planning transportation projects around social engineering,
California

Watch PRI webinar

Watch: How Do We Stop California’s Outmigration Problem with Dr. Lee Ohanian

Watch Hoover Institution senior fellow and UCLA professor Dr. Lee Ohanian discuss California’s growing outmigration problem with Dr. Wayne Winegarden, PRI senior fellow in business and economics. They discuss cost of living problems worsened by poor state public policies that are increasing housing costs across the state and worsening quality
Blog

Private cities bypass ossified governments. Will California follow?

Private cities bypass ossified governments. Will California follow? By Thibault Serlet California’s public discourse about urbanism has become extremely pessimistic. A glimpse into some of the large-scale private cities – generally known as Special Economic Zones, or SEZs – popping up in developing countries might offer us some well-needed hope.
Blog

Will we see the return of redevelopment agencies?

Redevelopment failed cities, but keeps trying for a comeback

This column was originally published in the American Spectator. Say what you will about Jerry Brown, but I’ll always think fondly of him because of his crowning achievement in his more-recent stint as governor. In 2011, he eliminated the state’s noxious, property-rights-destroying redevelopment agencies. He didn’t axe these locally controlled agencies entirely
Blog

Read latest from Free Cities Center

Sense of community makes city living worth the hassles

It took my parents a long time to understand why I loved Philadelphia. Their confusion was understandable. They’d grown up and then lived in small Kansas towns pretty much their entire adult lives. I’d been raised in those same towns, went to college there, and then spent the first decade
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