Free Cities

Free Cities

WATCH: Are more public transit subsidies the key to improving urban living?

Watch as Free Cities Center’s Steven Greenhut sits down with Professor William Anderson to discuss whether more subsidies for public transit are the key to improving urban living.
Blog

Learn about push for congestion pricing

Urbanists to suburbanites: Stay out of our trendy ‘playgrounds’

In New York, the city has introduced a “congestion tax” – effectively, a cordon tax – for all cars entering lower Manhattan. In Cincinnati, the City Council voted for a ban on new surface parking lots downtown. In Indianapolis, the state Legislature is trying to prevent the city from halving ...
Blog

Despite big budgets, homeless agency is clueless in Seattle

Despite big budgets, homeless agency is clueless in Seattle By Jeremy Lott | February 8, 2024 An optimistic headline topped the joint news release from Washington state’s most-populous city and its most-populous county in December 2019 heralding the formation of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority. This effort would create a “new unified regional ...
Blog

Read latest from PRI's Free Cities Center

Well-run California cities grow, while badly run ones shrink

I’ve come up with a unique way to measure how well California cities are doing. It shows those with well-run finances grow in population, while those badly run shrink. It’s a generality. There are exceptions. But look at the trend line on this chart. Notice the trend line, the dotted ...
Free Cities

Steve Greenhut and Wayne Winegarden – Giving Housing Supply a Boost

Our guests this week are Steve Greenhut, director of PRI’s Free Cities Center and Wayne Winegarden, senior fellow in business and economics.  The two have joined forces to produce PRI’s latest mini book from the Free Cities Center, “Giving Housing Supply a Boost: How to Improve Affordability and Reduce Homelessness.” ...
Blog

Lessons from Africa: Private utilities offer a way forward

Lessons from Africa: Private utilities offer a way forward By Scott Beyer | February 2, 2024 I was exploring a rural Kenyan village last spring when noticing an infrastructure dichotomy – one I later realized is characteristic of Africa. The government in Wamunyu, a farm town two hours from Nairobi, ...
Blog

Markets and subsidies: Exposing the delusions of urbanists

To understand the “rules” regarding the role of the internal combustion engine powered by fossil fuels, Calvinball comes to mind, created in the comic strip, “Calvin and Hobbes.” Calvinball players make up the rules as they go along, and other players cannot make sense of what is happening. To hear ...
Book

New Free Cities Book

Reforms to Increase Affordability, Homebuilding Would Go Far to Alleviate State’s Housing, Homeless Crises

SACRAMENTO – Rolling back policies that have created unaffordable costs of living and made homebuilding prohibitively expensive can alleviate the state’s housing and homeless problems, finds a new book released today by the Free Cities Center at the nonpartisan, free-market think tank, the Pacific Research Institute. Click here to download ...
Blog

Creating a bigger bureaucracy won’t fix Bay Area transit

Creating a bigger bureaucracy won’t fix Bay Area transit By Steven Greenhut | January 26, 2024 Note:  This is a longer version of an op-ed that ran earlier this week in the East Bay Times. When government agencies face daunting problems, it’s not uncommon for lawmakers to propose some “solution” ...
Commentary

A bigger bureaucracy won’t fix Bay Area’s transit problems

When government agencies face daunting problems, it’s not uncommon for lawmakers to propose some “solution” that amounts to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic — i.e., a pointless bureaucratic revamping that does nothing to address the obvious iceberg. The latest example involves the San Francisco Bay Area’s myriad transit ...
Free Cities

WATCH: Are more public transit subsidies the key to improving urban living?

Watch as Free Cities Center’s Steven Greenhut sits down with Professor William Anderson to discuss whether more subsidies for public transit are the key to improving urban living.
Blog

Learn about push for congestion pricing

Urbanists to suburbanites: Stay out of our trendy ‘playgrounds’

In New York, the city has introduced a “congestion tax” – effectively, a cordon tax – for all cars entering lower Manhattan. In Cincinnati, the City Council voted for a ban on new surface parking lots downtown. In Indianapolis, the state Legislature is trying to prevent the city from halving ...
Blog

Despite big budgets, homeless agency is clueless in Seattle

Despite big budgets, homeless agency is clueless in Seattle By Jeremy Lott | February 8, 2024 An optimistic headline topped the joint news release from Washington state’s most-populous city and its most-populous county in December 2019 heralding the formation of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority. This effort would create a “new unified regional ...
Blog

Read latest from PRI's Free Cities Center

Well-run California cities grow, while badly run ones shrink

I’ve come up with a unique way to measure how well California cities are doing. It shows those with well-run finances grow in population, while those badly run shrink. It’s a generality. There are exceptions. But look at the trend line on this chart. Notice the trend line, the dotted ...
Free Cities

Steve Greenhut and Wayne Winegarden – Giving Housing Supply a Boost

Our guests this week are Steve Greenhut, director of PRI’s Free Cities Center and Wayne Winegarden, senior fellow in business and economics.  The two have joined forces to produce PRI’s latest mini book from the Free Cities Center, “Giving Housing Supply a Boost: How to Improve Affordability and Reduce Homelessness.” ...
Blog

Lessons from Africa: Private utilities offer a way forward

Lessons from Africa: Private utilities offer a way forward By Scott Beyer | February 2, 2024 I was exploring a rural Kenyan village last spring when noticing an infrastructure dichotomy – one I later realized is characteristic of Africa. The government in Wamunyu, a farm town two hours from Nairobi, ...
Blog

Markets and subsidies: Exposing the delusions of urbanists

To understand the “rules” regarding the role of the internal combustion engine powered by fossil fuels, Calvinball comes to mind, created in the comic strip, “Calvin and Hobbes.” Calvinball players make up the rules as they go along, and other players cannot make sense of what is happening. To hear ...
Book

New Free Cities Book

Reforms to Increase Affordability, Homebuilding Would Go Far to Alleviate State’s Housing, Homeless Crises

SACRAMENTO – Rolling back policies that have created unaffordable costs of living and made homebuilding prohibitively expensive can alleviate the state’s housing and homeless problems, finds a new book released today by the Free Cities Center at the nonpartisan, free-market think tank, the Pacific Research Institute. Click here to download ...
Blog

Creating a bigger bureaucracy won’t fix Bay Area transit

Creating a bigger bureaucracy won’t fix Bay Area transit By Steven Greenhut | January 26, 2024 Note:  This is a longer version of an op-ed that ran earlier this week in the East Bay Times. When government agencies face daunting problems, it’s not uncommon for lawmakers to propose some “solution” ...
Commentary

A bigger bureaucracy won’t fix Bay Area’s transit problems

When government agencies face daunting problems, it’s not uncommon for lawmakers to propose some “solution” that amounts to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic — i.e., a pointless bureaucratic revamping that does nothing to address the obvious iceberg. The latest example involves the San Francisco Bay Area’s myriad transit ...
Scroll to Top