Urban Renewal

Basic Income

Compton: cities learn wrong lessons from ‘free money’ program

Compton: cities learn wrong lessons from ‘free money’ program By Matthew Fleming | February 21, 2025 The results of the largest city-based experiment with what happens when low-income families receive free money from the government were just published and apparently nothing was learned. And nothing was learned because lovers of ...
Blog

Congestion pricing: Bold experiment or a money grab?

Congestion pricing: Bold experiment or a money grab? By Sal Rodriguez | February 6, 2025 Is New York City’s congestion pricing plan a bold experiment or just a money grab? After many years of debate, many thousands of pages of reports and no shortage of lawsuits, New York City on ...
Free Cities

Watch the Free Cities Center documentary

Watch the Free Cities Center documentary, “Colorado Springs: Letting Freedom Lead the Way”

 Colorado Springs ranked #3 nationwide and #1 in the west in PRI’s “Free Cities Index,” a ranking of America’s 50 largest cities for their pro-growth policies. “Talking to business owners, civic leaders, community activists and journalists, we found Colorado Springs to be a booming, thriving city thanks to a ...
Blog

Free cities in Honduras under attack by left-wing regime

The ruling, issued September 20, caps off a years-long campaign by the Central American country’s leftist President ​​Xiomara Castro to outlaw the ZEDEs. “Justice for the Honduran people means not selling off our territory piecemeal or privatizing our sovereignty,” she wrote on X after the ruling. Since 2013, Honduras has ...
Podcast

Tim Carney talks about his new book Family Unfriendly

Our guest this week is journalist Tim Carney. We recorded his talk on his new book, Family Unfriendly, at a recent PRI luncheon in Newport Beach, California. Tim discusses what’s ailing so many families these days – record rates of anxiety, depression and medication among children, and stress suffered by ...
Book

New Free Cities Book

Building Cities From Scratch

SACRAMENTO – The plan by a group of San Francisco Bay Area venture capitalists to build an entirely new city on ranch land in Solano County between the Bay Area and Sacramento has become one of the most controversial housing plans in Northern California in years. The East Solano Plan ...
Blog

The strange hypocrisy of the ‘just build housing’ YIMBYs

The strange hypocrisy of the ‘just build housing’ YIMBYs Steven Greenhut | October 2, 2024 Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from the Free Cities Center’s forthcoming booklet (“Building New Cities from Scratch: America’s Long History of Urban Experimentation”) about new cities, which was prompted by California Forever’s proposal to ...
Blog

Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center

States right to ‘pre-empt’ cities that violate citizens’ liberty

Conservatives and right-of-center types tend to believe in the Jeffersonian principle that “​​the government closest to the people serves the people best.” As brilliant as Thomas Jefferson was, he couldn’t possibly get everything right, and on this count, he’s only about half correct. Sure, it’s easier to march down to ...
Blog

LA shouldn’t abuse ‘historic’ zones to stop new housing

LA shouldn’t abuse ‘historic’ zones to stop new housing by Sal Rodriguez | May 31, 2024   Land-use restrictions and NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard-ism) come in many forms. One of the more creative is the invoking of “history” as a means of regulating or prohibiting housing some people ...
Business & Economics

Batya Ungar-Sargon – Second Class

Join us for a special episode featuring a speech by Newsweek opinion editor Batya Ungar-Sargon at a recent PRI luncheon in San Francisco. Ms. Ungar-Sargon discussed her latest book, “Second Class: How the Elites Betrayed America’s Working Men and Women.” Also, Ro and Tim discuss the legislature’s recent House of ...
Basic Income

Compton: cities learn wrong lessons from ‘free money’ program

Compton: cities learn wrong lessons from ‘free money’ program By Matthew Fleming | February 21, 2025 The results of the largest city-based experiment with what happens when low-income families receive free money from the government were just published and apparently nothing was learned. And nothing was learned because lovers of ...
Blog

Congestion pricing: Bold experiment or a money grab?

Congestion pricing: Bold experiment or a money grab? By Sal Rodriguez | February 6, 2025 Is New York City’s congestion pricing plan a bold experiment or just a money grab? After many years of debate, many thousands of pages of reports and no shortage of lawsuits, New York City on ...
Free Cities

Watch the Free Cities Center documentary

Watch the Free Cities Center documentary, “Colorado Springs: Letting Freedom Lead the Way”

 Colorado Springs ranked #3 nationwide and #1 in the west in PRI’s “Free Cities Index,” a ranking of America’s 50 largest cities for their pro-growth policies. “Talking to business owners, civic leaders, community activists and journalists, we found Colorado Springs to be a booming, thriving city thanks to a ...
Blog

Free cities in Honduras under attack by left-wing regime

The ruling, issued September 20, caps off a years-long campaign by the Central American country’s leftist President ​​Xiomara Castro to outlaw the ZEDEs. “Justice for the Honduran people means not selling off our territory piecemeal or privatizing our sovereignty,” she wrote on X after the ruling. Since 2013, Honduras has ...
Podcast

Tim Carney talks about his new book Family Unfriendly

Our guest this week is journalist Tim Carney. We recorded his talk on his new book, Family Unfriendly, at a recent PRI luncheon in Newport Beach, California. Tim discusses what’s ailing so many families these days – record rates of anxiety, depression and medication among children, and stress suffered by ...
Book

New Free Cities Book

Building Cities From Scratch

SACRAMENTO – The plan by a group of San Francisco Bay Area venture capitalists to build an entirely new city on ranch land in Solano County between the Bay Area and Sacramento has become one of the most controversial housing plans in Northern California in years. The East Solano Plan ...
Blog

The strange hypocrisy of the ‘just build housing’ YIMBYs

The strange hypocrisy of the ‘just build housing’ YIMBYs Steven Greenhut | October 2, 2024 Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from the Free Cities Center’s forthcoming booklet (“Building New Cities from Scratch: America’s Long History of Urban Experimentation”) about new cities, which was prompted by California Forever’s proposal to ...
Blog

Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center

States right to ‘pre-empt’ cities that violate citizens’ liberty

Conservatives and right-of-center types tend to believe in the Jeffersonian principle that “​​the government closest to the people serves the people best.” As brilliant as Thomas Jefferson was, he couldn’t possibly get everything right, and on this count, he’s only about half correct. Sure, it’s easier to march down to ...
Blog

LA shouldn’t abuse ‘historic’ zones to stop new housing

LA shouldn’t abuse ‘historic’ zones to stop new housing by Sal Rodriguez | May 31, 2024   Land-use restrictions and NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard-ism) come in many forms. One of the more creative is the invoking of “history” as a means of regulating or prohibiting housing some people ...
Business & Economics

Batya Ungar-Sargon – Second Class

Join us for a special episode featuring a speech by Newsweek opinion editor Batya Ungar-Sargon at a recent PRI luncheon in San Francisco. Ms. Ungar-Sargon discussed her latest book, “Second Class: How the Elites Betrayed America’s Working Men and Women.” Also, Ro and Tim discuss the legislature’s recent House of ...
Scroll to Top