Free Cities

Charter School

Watch: Charter Schools Can Improve Urban Learning Options

Watch as Steven Greenhut of PRI’s Free Cities Center talks with Natomas Charter School Executive Director Dr. Joe Wood and tours the innovative campus that is changing lives in a diverse Sacramento community.
Blog

Many cities are zoning people out of their homes

Many cities are zoning people out of their homes By Wayne Winegarden A growing housing unaffordability problem is now plaguing cities across the country. The roots of this crisis are errant monetary and fiscal policies that, before they stoked our current bout of inflation, incentivized a surge in housing prices. ...
Education

COVID-19 Gave a Boost to Urban Homeschooling

COVID-19 gave a boost to urban homeschooling BY LANCE IZUMI Students in urban traditional public schools have struggled for years, but recent state and national test-score results show that student performance fell even more in the wake of the COVID pandemic, which is why so many urban parents have decided ...
Commentary

Privatization saves money and improves city services

What is the purpose of city government? If you’re an ordinary person, you might figure something like the establishing of certain types of rules (mainly around business and building) and the providing of certain types of services (from parks to policing). City residents, business owners, developers and visitors pay taxes ...
Commentary

Healthy cities matter – and not just to urbanites

Healthy cities matter – and not just to urbanites By Steven Greenhut Progressives loves cities, yet refuse to address the degree to which their policies have made urban life a bigger chore than needed. Conservatives depict cities as dystopian hellholes. They delight in highlighting the crime problems, poorly functional school ...
Commentary

Boost police accountability to help improve urban policing

Especially as crime has increased in many cities the past two years, Americans want safe streets, but with responsible policing. They don’t want to get mugged, but also don’t want abuses such as the beating of Rodney King by the LAPD in 1992 or the death of George Floyd in ...
Blog

A river runs through it: Revitalizing the Los Angeles River

A river runs through it: Revitalizing the Los Angeles River By Edward Ring “And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; ...
Blog

U.S. land ‘shortage’ is result of artificial growth limits

Some of the social-media responses to a Wall Street Journal article in September headlined, “The U.S. is Running Short of Land for Housing,” were heated. They proved – for anyone who has yet to realize it – that Tweeters and Facebook users might not always read posted articles particularly carefully ...
Crime

Marjy Stagmeier – Improving Low-Income Communities

Our guest this week is Marjy Stegmeier, a successful Georgia developer and author of the new book Blighted: A Story of People, Politics, and an American Housing.
Blog

‘Urban growth boundaries’ make cities less affordable

‘Urban growth boundaries’ make cities less affordable by John Seiler At a time when many Western officials are reducing housing restrictions to promote building and thereby ease the affordable-housing crisis, they also are embracing a policy that runs contrary to these goals. Most Western states continue to create Urban Growth ...
Charter School

Watch: Charter Schools Can Improve Urban Learning Options

Watch as Steven Greenhut of PRI’s Free Cities Center talks with Natomas Charter School Executive Director Dr. Joe Wood and tours the innovative campus that is changing lives in a diverse Sacramento community.
Blog

Many cities are zoning people out of their homes

Many cities are zoning people out of their homes By Wayne Winegarden A growing housing unaffordability problem is now plaguing cities across the country. The roots of this crisis are errant monetary and fiscal policies that, before they stoked our current bout of inflation, incentivized a surge in housing prices. ...
Education

COVID-19 Gave a Boost to Urban Homeschooling

COVID-19 gave a boost to urban homeschooling BY LANCE IZUMI Students in urban traditional public schools have struggled for years, but recent state and national test-score results show that student performance fell even more in the wake of the COVID pandemic, which is why so many urban parents have decided ...
Commentary

Privatization saves money and improves city services

What is the purpose of city government? If you’re an ordinary person, you might figure something like the establishing of certain types of rules (mainly around business and building) and the providing of certain types of services (from parks to policing). City residents, business owners, developers and visitors pay taxes ...
Commentary

Healthy cities matter – and not just to urbanites

Healthy cities matter – and not just to urbanites By Steven Greenhut Progressives loves cities, yet refuse to address the degree to which their policies have made urban life a bigger chore than needed. Conservatives depict cities as dystopian hellholes. They delight in highlighting the crime problems, poorly functional school ...
Commentary

Boost police accountability to help improve urban policing

Especially as crime has increased in many cities the past two years, Americans want safe streets, but with responsible policing. They don’t want to get mugged, but also don’t want abuses such as the beating of Rodney King by the LAPD in 1992 or the death of George Floyd in ...
Blog

A river runs through it: Revitalizing the Los Angeles River

A river runs through it: Revitalizing the Los Angeles River By Edward Ring “And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; ...
Blog

U.S. land ‘shortage’ is result of artificial growth limits

Some of the social-media responses to a Wall Street Journal article in September headlined, “The U.S. is Running Short of Land for Housing,” were heated. They proved – for anyone who has yet to realize it – that Tweeters and Facebook users might not always read posted articles particularly carefully ...
Crime

Marjy Stagmeier – Improving Low-Income Communities

Our guest this week is Marjy Stegmeier, a successful Georgia developer and author of the new book Blighted: A Story of People, Politics, and an American Housing.
Blog

‘Urban growth boundaries’ make cities less affordable

‘Urban growth boundaries’ make cities less affordable by John Seiler At a time when many Western officials are reducing housing restrictions to promote building and thereby ease the affordable-housing crisis, they also are embracing a policy that runs contrary to these goals. Most Western states continue to create Urban Growth ...
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