Urban Renewal

Free Cities

PRI Sacramento Policy Conference – Reimagining Our Cities

This is the final podcast recording of PRI’s Annual Sacramento Policy Conference.  The theme of this panel discussion is “Reimagining Our Cities.” 
California

Watch: Videos from 2023 PRI California Ideas in Action Conference

Keynote Speaker: Keith Knopf of Challenges and Opportunities of Doing Business in California Keith Knopf, the president and CEO of The Raley’s Companies, shares how state policies like Prop. 47 and green mandates affect the challenges and opportunities of doing business in California. Success Stories Turning Around Urban Communities Watch ...
Book

Cities Can Save Money, Improve Services, Boost Economic Opportunity By Embracing Private Sector, Finds New PRI Book

NEW BOOK RELEASE Dynamism or Decay? Getting City Hall Out of the Way Sal Rodriguez Depending on what city you’re living in can make the difference between the success or failure of businesses and communities concludes a new book released today by the Free Cities Center at the nonpartisan, free-market ...
Free Cities

Watch: How Art Can Improve Urban Life with Roberta Ahmanson

Watch as Steven Greenhut of PRI's Free Cities Center discusses how art can improve the quality of life in urban centers.
Blog

About Free Cities Center

Cities throughout the West face rising crime, soaring housing costs, a sprawling homelessness crisis and devastated downtown areas following two years of COVID restrictions and the aftermath of destructive protests. Policymakers typically address these and other urban problems in a piecemeal fashion. They fail to understand what makes great cities ...
Book

NEW BOOK RELEASE – Back from Dystopia: A New Vision for Western Cities

NEW BOOK RELEASE Back from Dystopia: A New Vision for Western Cities Steven Greenhut Cities throughout the West face rising crime, soaring housing costs, a sprawling homelessness crisis and devastated downtown areas following two years of COVID restrictions and the aftermath of destructive protests. Policymakers typically address these and other ...
Blog

First thing we do, let’s retrain all the planners

As a group of rebels bantered about the possibilities of an England with a new king in William Shakespeare’s “Henry The VI,” Dick the Butcher suggests “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” Though the (likely sarcastic) comment resonates with many, we need to keep lawyers around. ...
Blog

Want to save cities? Then revamp urban schools

Want to Save Cities? Then Revamp Urban Schools There are many reasons for the decline of America’s cities, but one of the key reasons why many families flee older urban areas is because of the poor quality of urban public schools. Research has shown, however, that one way to reverse ...
Blog

The Very Thin Blue Line – Police staffing is down, and homicides are up

In Oakland in 2021, 133 people were killed and another 537 were shot, making Oakland one of California’s most dangerous cities. To put the numbers in perspective, more Oakland residents were killed per capita than the entire fatal casualties experienced by the US Armed Forces in the 1990-1991 Gulf War. ...
California

New Report Shows How “CEQA Gauntlet” Hinders Housing, School, Infrastructure, Climate Projects

With 3,000 prospective UC Berkeley students facing rejection due to a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) lawsuit, the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute today released “The CEQA Gauntlet,” a new research project detailing how CEQA adds expense and delay to – and in some cases halts – critical California projects including ...
Free Cities

PRI Sacramento Policy Conference – Reimagining Our Cities

This is the final podcast recording of PRI’s Annual Sacramento Policy Conference.  The theme of this panel discussion is “Reimagining Our Cities.” 
California

Watch: Videos from 2023 PRI California Ideas in Action Conference

Keynote Speaker: Keith Knopf of Challenges and Opportunities of Doing Business in California Keith Knopf, the president and CEO of The Raley’s Companies, shares how state policies like Prop. 47 and green mandates affect the challenges and opportunities of doing business in California. Success Stories Turning Around Urban Communities Watch ...
Book

Cities Can Save Money, Improve Services, Boost Economic Opportunity By Embracing Private Sector, Finds New PRI Book

NEW BOOK RELEASE Dynamism or Decay? Getting City Hall Out of the Way Sal Rodriguez Depending on what city you’re living in can make the difference between the success or failure of businesses and communities concludes a new book released today by the Free Cities Center at the nonpartisan, free-market ...
Free Cities

Watch: How Art Can Improve Urban Life with Roberta Ahmanson

Watch as Steven Greenhut of PRI's Free Cities Center discusses how art can improve the quality of life in urban centers.
Blog

About Free Cities Center

Cities throughout the West face rising crime, soaring housing costs, a sprawling homelessness crisis and devastated downtown areas following two years of COVID restrictions and the aftermath of destructive protests. Policymakers typically address these and other urban problems in a piecemeal fashion. They fail to understand what makes great cities ...
Book

NEW BOOK RELEASE – Back from Dystopia: A New Vision for Western Cities

NEW BOOK RELEASE Back from Dystopia: A New Vision for Western Cities Steven Greenhut Cities throughout the West face rising crime, soaring housing costs, a sprawling homelessness crisis and devastated downtown areas following two years of COVID restrictions and the aftermath of destructive protests. Policymakers typically address these and other ...
Blog

First thing we do, let’s retrain all the planners

As a group of rebels bantered about the possibilities of an England with a new king in William Shakespeare’s “Henry The VI,” Dick the Butcher suggests “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” Though the (likely sarcastic) comment resonates with many, we need to keep lawyers around. ...
Blog

Want to save cities? Then revamp urban schools

Want to Save Cities? Then Revamp Urban Schools There are many reasons for the decline of America’s cities, but one of the key reasons why many families flee older urban areas is because of the poor quality of urban public schools. Research has shown, however, that one way to reverse ...
Blog

The Very Thin Blue Line – Police staffing is down, and homicides are up

In Oakland in 2021, 133 people were killed and another 537 were shot, making Oakland one of California’s most dangerous cities. To put the numbers in perspective, more Oakland residents were killed per capita than the entire fatal casualties experienced by the US Armed Forces in the 1990-1991 Gulf War. ...
California

New Report Shows How “CEQA Gauntlet” Hinders Housing, School, Infrastructure, Climate Projects

With 3,000 prospective UC Berkeley students facing rejection due to a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) lawsuit, the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute today released “The CEQA Gauntlet,” a new research project detailing how CEQA adds expense and delay to – and in some cases halts – critical California projects including ...
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