Matthew Fleming
Blog
Patronage or problem solving? San Fran debates its proliferation of iffy commissions
Patronage or problem solving? San Fran debates its proliferation of iffy commissions Matthew Fleming | July 18, 2024 History of SF’s myriad commissions The first 21 commissions were founded in 1898 with the city and county charter, but the list has ballooned to 115 today for the city of around ...
Blog
Read about latest push for rent control
Even as rents fall, progressives push local rent controls
These local measures usually come with a tough cap on rent increases, as well as the creation of a new board of bureaucrats to monitor rents while diverting millions of dollars from other core city services. While local measures have fared better at the ballot box than the statewide efforts ...
Blog
Read latest from Free Cities Center
With motivation, even California can clean up its cities
Why can’t it be like this all the time? The efforts were criticized because so much of San Francisco has fallen into a state of disrepair, with pervasive homelessness, drug abuse, petty crime and even human feces (so much so that a map was created to document the location of poop) ...
Blog
How will scandal impact reforms?
Aftermath of a scandal: Anaheim council spars over reforms
The recent reform effort, led by Mayor Ashleigh Aitken, comes at a wild time at City Hall. Aitken’s predecessor, Harry Sidhu, recently agreed to plead guilty to federal corruption charges. The findings of an explosive independent investigation were recently published and support much of what the federal authorities alleged last ...
Blog
Read latest on state's housing crisis
‘Inclusionary zoning’ will only exacerbate the housing crisis
San Francisco’s inclusionary zoning laws require that when proposing residential developments of 10 or more units, developers must take at least one from a handful of actions to create housing for lower-income families, including setting aside a percentage of units to be sold or rented at below market rate (either ...
Blog
California sends mixed messages on housing mandates
California sends mixed messages on housing mandates by Matt Fleming | June 22, 2023 Is California inching towards solving the housing crisis? Not exactly. But the same government that has perpetuated the crisis is at times taking modest actions to get out of the way. One of those ways began ...
Blog
Bullet train won’t improve urban transportation
(image courtesy California High-Speed Rail Commission) Even on its best day, California’s high-speed rail project was always going to struggle to deliver on its grandiose promises – a best day that was unfortunately Nov. 4, 2008. That was the day California voters approved a modest and fantastical version of what ...
Blog
Is lefty San Francisco moving in a rightward direction?
Apparently, everyone has a breaking point and for San Franciscans things broke around COVID-19. While public schools shut down amid the pandemic and parents were openly frustrated, the school board took several actions that landed it on the wrong side of voters. That led to the recall of three members ...
Blog
Free money plan is thin gruel for cities’ starving artists
Starve no more, Sacramento artists. The City Council is apparently moving forward with a plan to offer guaranteed income to creative types in the city. Guaranteed income, often called Universal Basic Income, gives free money to those deemed in need of it by the government. Focusing this latest effort on ...
Blog
How a freedom-friendly city descended into chaos
“How Far a ‘Freedom Friendly’ City Has Strayed” was an appropriate observation about Anaheim in 2016 – and it still works today. Back then, The Orange County Register was condemning the city’s war on short-term rental sites like Airbnb and VRBO. That issue seems so quaint now in the ...
Patronage or problem solving? San Fran debates its proliferation of iffy commissions
Patronage or problem solving? San Fran debates its proliferation of iffy commissions Matthew Fleming | July 18, 2024 History of SF’s myriad commissions The first 21 commissions were founded in 1898 with the city and county charter, but the list has ballooned to 115 today for the city of around ...
Read about latest push for rent control
Even as rents fall, progressives push local rent controls
These local measures usually come with a tough cap on rent increases, as well as the creation of a new board of bureaucrats to monitor rents while diverting millions of dollars from other core city services. While local measures have fared better at the ballot box than the statewide efforts ...
Read latest from Free Cities Center
With motivation, even California can clean up its cities
Why can’t it be like this all the time? The efforts were criticized because so much of San Francisco has fallen into a state of disrepair, with pervasive homelessness, drug abuse, petty crime and even human feces (so much so that a map was created to document the location of poop) ...
How will scandal impact reforms?
Aftermath of a scandal: Anaheim council spars over reforms
The recent reform effort, led by Mayor Ashleigh Aitken, comes at a wild time at City Hall. Aitken’s predecessor, Harry Sidhu, recently agreed to plead guilty to federal corruption charges. The findings of an explosive independent investigation were recently published and support much of what the federal authorities alleged last ...
Read latest on state's housing crisis
‘Inclusionary zoning’ will only exacerbate the housing crisis
San Francisco’s inclusionary zoning laws require that when proposing residential developments of 10 or more units, developers must take at least one from a handful of actions to create housing for lower-income families, including setting aside a percentage of units to be sold or rented at below market rate (either ...
California sends mixed messages on housing mandates
California sends mixed messages on housing mandates by Matt Fleming | June 22, 2023 Is California inching towards solving the housing crisis? Not exactly. But the same government that has perpetuated the crisis is at times taking modest actions to get out of the way. One of those ways began ...
Bullet train won’t improve urban transportation
(image courtesy California High-Speed Rail Commission) Even on its best day, California’s high-speed rail project was always going to struggle to deliver on its grandiose promises – a best day that was unfortunately Nov. 4, 2008. That was the day California voters approved a modest and fantastical version of what ...
Is lefty San Francisco moving in a rightward direction?
Apparently, everyone has a breaking point and for San Franciscans things broke around COVID-19. While public schools shut down amid the pandemic and parents were openly frustrated, the school board took several actions that landed it on the wrong side of voters. That led to the recall of three members ...
Free money plan is thin gruel for cities’ starving artists
Starve no more, Sacramento artists. The City Council is apparently moving forward with a plan to offer guaranteed income to creative types in the city. Guaranteed income, often called Universal Basic Income, gives free money to those deemed in need of it by the government. Focusing this latest effort on ...
How a freedom-friendly city descended into chaos
“How Far a ‘Freedom Friendly’ City Has Strayed” was an appropriate observation about Anaheim in 2016 – and it still works today. Back then, The Orange County Register was condemning the city’s war on short-term rental sites like Airbnb and VRBO. That issue seems so quaint now in the ...
