Economy
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 …
Free Markets Fuel Outdoor Dining
Cities should maintain flexible outdoor dining programs
One of the few silver linings of the coronavirus pandemic was that governments were forced to think outside-of-the-box in order to make things happen. In the early months of the pandemic, local governments across the country loosened regulations to allow restaurants and bars to serve customers outdoors. They made it …
Latest San Francisco Public Bank Proposal Doomed to Fail
According to the proposal prepared by consultants, the bank would focus “its initial lending activities on affordable housing development and affordable homeownership, local enterprises (small businesses), and green investments and environmental justice.” The “fundamental need for a city-owned bank,” it says, “stems from the historic inability of traditional financial institutions …
