Free Cities
Blog
War on cars is a war on lower-income Californians
Recent research focusing on Los Angeles finds that the city’s poorest neighborhoods have the largest percentage of “hyper-commuters” – people who commute 90 minutes or more one way to work. The preponderance of those long-distance commuters – often construction workers and laborers who drive from inner-city Los Angeles to far-flung ...
California
PRI Sacramento Policy Conference: Improving the Quality of Life in Our Cities
Our podcast this week features a panel from PRI’s 5th Annual Ideas in Action Conference in Sacramento.
Blog
Government Size Boosts Corruption
Government Size Boosts Corruption John Seiler | March 10, 2023 Does the size of government reflect the level of corruption? I’ve come up with a way to test that. It involves two variables. First, U.S. city corruption scandals, 2020 to the present, where an official was convicted. Wikipedia lists 12. ...
Blog
Costly union-only agreements result in fewer city projects
From street repairs to building construction, municipal infrastructure projects are costly, but often necessary, endeavors. To get them done in the most cost-effective manner possible, city taxpayers are best served by having open, competitive markets for contracts to complete such projects efficiently and at the best price. This might sound like ...
Business & Economics
PRI Sacramento Policy Conference: The Best and Worst Big Cities in America
This podcast is a recording of a panel discussion on the conditions of America’s largest cities from PRI’s 5th Annual Ideas in Action Conference in Sacramento.
Blog
Here Come the Jetsons: Cities Developing in Futuristic Ways
Every since humans invented the built environment, and cities developed along major crossroads and on the forks of navigable rivers, meeting the challenge of providing adequate transportation has been a nonnegotiable prerequisite to continued growth and prosperity.
Blog
How parental choice can help save our urban areas
The following is an address delivered by Lance Izumi at the recent 2023 Pacific Research Institute Sacramento Conference at the Sutter Club. California’s urban areas are in decline, but empirical evidence shows that one possible solution holds out hope for the state’s distressed cities – expanding parental choice in education. ...
Business & Economics
Keith Knopf – President and CEO of Raley’s
Our guest this week is Keith Knopf, President and CEO of Raley’s. Mr. Knopf was the keynote speaker at this year’s PRI Sacramento conference.
Blog
Biden’s California Economy: Calling for national rent control
When running for president, Joe Biden often praised California’s governance and promised to nationalize many of the state’s policies. While Biden mostly has promoted the state’s infamous Assembly Bill 5, which was an attempt to largely outlaw independent contracting, the president also seeks to mimic the state in another way: ...
Blog
Progressives misread housing market with attack on investors
There seems to be mild panic regarding investors buying up housing. The Washington Post reported last year that, “investors bought a record share of homes in 2021,” almost “one in seven homes sold in America’s top metropolitan areas” as well as “the most in at least two decades.” Often the ...
War on cars is a war on lower-income Californians
Recent research focusing on Los Angeles finds that the city’s poorest neighborhoods have the largest percentage of “hyper-commuters” – people who commute 90 minutes or more one way to work. The preponderance of those long-distance commuters – often construction workers and laborers who drive from inner-city Los Angeles to far-flung ...
PRI Sacramento Policy Conference: Improving the Quality of Life in Our Cities
Our podcast this week features a panel from PRI’s 5th Annual Ideas in Action Conference in Sacramento.
Government Size Boosts Corruption
Government Size Boosts Corruption John Seiler | March 10, 2023 Does the size of government reflect the level of corruption? I’ve come up with a way to test that. It involves two variables. First, U.S. city corruption scandals, 2020 to the present, where an official was convicted. Wikipedia lists 12. ...
Costly union-only agreements result in fewer city projects
From street repairs to building construction, municipal infrastructure projects are costly, but often necessary, endeavors. To get them done in the most cost-effective manner possible, city taxpayers are best served by having open, competitive markets for contracts to complete such projects efficiently and at the best price. This might sound like ...
PRI Sacramento Policy Conference: The Best and Worst Big Cities in America
This podcast is a recording of a panel discussion on the conditions of America’s largest cities from PRI’s 5th Annual Ideas in Action Conference in Sacramento.
Here Come the Jetsons: Cities Developing in Futuristic Ways
Every since humans invented the built environment, and cities developed along major crossroads and on the forks of navigable rivers, meeting the challenge of providing adequate transportation has been a nonnegotiable prerequisite to continued growth and prosperity.
How parental choice can help save our urban areas
The following is an address delivered by Lance Izumi at the recent 2023 Pacific Research Institute Sacramento Conference at the Sutter Club. California’s urban areas are in decline, but empirical evidence shows that one possible solution holds out hope for the state’s distressed cities – expanding parental choice in education. ...
Keith Knopf – President and CEO of Raley’s
Our guest this week is Keith Knopf, President and CEO of Raley’s. Mr. Knopf was the keynote speaker at this year’s PRI Sacramento conference.
Biden’s California Economy: Calling for national rent control
When running for president, Joe Biden often praised California’s governance and promised to nationalize many of the state’s policies. While Biden mostly has promoted the state’s infamous Assembly Bill 5, which was an attempt to largely outlaw independent contracting, the president also seeks to mimic the state in another way: ...
Progressives misread housing market with attack on investors
There seems to be mild panic regarding investors buying up housing. The Washington Post reported last year that, “investors bought a record share of homes in 2021,” almost “one in seven homes sold in America’s top metropolitan areas” as well as “the most in at least two decades.” Often the ...
