Free Cities
Blog
Read the Free Cities Center's latest book review
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Centers of Progress: 40 Cities That Changed the World’
Post-COVID, are cities still the engines of civilization? Physicist Geoffrey West has called cities “the crucible of civilization.” That widely quoted metaphor is worth unpacking. A crucible is a mold that holds molten substances as they are cooling and gives them new form. The claim here is that cities are ...
Blog
As drivers struggle, Seattle should scrap gig-worker law
As drivers struggle, Seattle should scrap gig-worker law By Sal Rodriguez | April 12, 2024 Back in May 2022, the Seattle City Council approved so-called “PayUp” legislation imposing minimum wage standards on app-based delivery services. Under the rules, app-based delivery drivers must be paid a city-established minimum per minute and ...
Blog
Read latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Creating ‘Free Cities’ as Plan B for global societies
Editor’s Note: The Free Cities Foundation has no connection to the Pacific Research Institute’s Free Cities Center, but many of its ideas align with ours. The Foundation helps create real-world privatized cities across the globe, where market forces provide government services. PRI’s Center promotes myriad ideas to improve cities, including ...
Blog
Let the market decide the right number of parking spots
Let the market decide the right number of parking spots By Kenneth Schrupp | April 5, 2024 First published in 2005, David Shoup’s “The High Cost of Free Parking” is, after nearly two decades, driving a national reconsideration of parking minimums. But while some cities from Austin to San Jose ...
Blog
Read about problems with government transportation planning
Book Review: ‘Transit’s growth, decline and pending demise’
Who said the following? “The basic objective of our nation’s transportation system must be to assure the availability of the fast, safe, and economical transportation services needed in a growing and changing economy. … This basic objective can and must be achieved primarily by continued reliance on unsubsidized privately owned ...
Blog
Read latest on war on cars
Congestion pricing is mainly about punishing suburbanites
The privilege of working in or visiting Manhattan could soon be higher than the cost of lunch. As U.S. Reps. Mike Lawler and Josh Gottheimer put it in a recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece, a proposed increase in the tunnel toll is “a greedy and unnecessary cash grab.” It ...
Blog
Read latest about war on cars
Car wars and other progressive fantasies
Thanks to the wonders of social media, it’s easy to find large communities of car-loathing, bicycle-riding, transit-loving urbanists who view cars as “death machines” and insist they are the cause of every woe known to mankind. Many of these progressive scolds would love to ban them, or at least strictly ...
Blog
Read about SF's turn to the right
San Francisco voters turn to the right on crime and schools
The most controversial, Measure E, passed 54% to 46%. It allowed the following: After a public hearing, the chief of police could install surveillance devices without the approval of the Police Commission; Police could use drones to pursue vehicles and for investigations, including facial recognition, without the approval of the ...
Blog
Part 3
Why for-profit housing succeeds when subsidized housing fails
Los Angeles Case Study Part 3 Why for-profit housing succeeds when subsidized housing fails By Thomas Irwin | March 21, 2024 So what lessons can we draw from what Los Angeles has seen with Executive Directive 1, the city’s effort to streamline regulations for affordable-housing projects? First, people passionate about ...
Blog
Part 2
Why for-profit housing succeeds when subsidized housing fails
Los Angeles Case Study Part 2 Why for-profit housing succeeds when subsidized housing fails By Thomas Irwin | March 15, 2024 In the first part of this series, I reviewed the one bright spot in Los Angeles’ efforts to increase housing supply and reduce housing costs – the success of ...
Read the Free Cities Center's latest book review
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Centers of Progress: 40 Cities That Changed the World’
Post-COVID, are cities still the engines of civilization? Physicist Geoffrey West has called cities “the crucible of civilization.” That widely quoted metaphor is worth unpacking. A crucible is a mold that holds molten substances as they are cooling and gives them new form. The claim here is that cities are ...
As drivers struggle, Seattle should scrap gig-worker law
As drivers struggle, Seattle should scrap gig-worker law By Sal Rodriguez | April 12, 2024 Back in May 2022, the Seattle City Council approved so-called “PayUp” legislation imposing minimum wage standards on app-based delivery services. Under the rules, app-based delivery drivers must be paid a city-established minimum per minute and ...
Read latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Creating ‘Free Cities’ as Plan B for global societies
Editor’s Note: The Free Cities Foundation has no connection to the Pacific Research Institute’s Free Cities Center, but many of its ideas align with ours. The Foundation helps create real-world privatized cities across the globe, where market forces provide government services. PRI’s Center promotes myriad ideas to improve cities, including ...
Let the market decide the right number of parking spots
Let the market decide the right number of parking spots By Kenneth Schrupp | April 5, 2024 First published in 2005, David Shoup’s “The High Cost of Free Parking” is, after nearly two decades, driving a national reconsideration of parking minimums. But while some cities from Austin to San Jose ...
Read about problems with government transportation planning
Book Review: ‘Transit’s growth, decline and pending demise’
Who said the following? “The basic objective of our nation’s transportation system must be to assure the availability of the fast, safe, and economical transportation services needed in a growing and changing economy. … This basic objective can and must be achieved primarily by continued reliance on unsubsidized privately owned ...
Read latest on war on cars
Congestion pricing is mainly about punishing suburbanites
The privilege of working in or visiting Manhattan could soon be higher than the cost of lunch. As U.S. Reps. Mike Lawler and Josh Gottheimer put it in a recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece, a proposed increase in the tunnel toll is “a greedy and unnecessary cash grab.” It ...
Read latest about war on cars
Car wars and other progressive fantasies
Thanks to the wonders of social media, it’s easy to find large communities of car-loathing, bicycle-riding, transit-loving urbanists who view cars as “death machines” and insist they are the cause of every woe known to mankind. Many of these progressive scolds would love to ban them, or at least strictly ...
Read about SF's turn to the right
San Francisco voters turn to the right on crime and schools
The most controversial, Measure E, passed 54% to 46%. It allowed the following: After a public hearing, the chief of police could install surveillance devices without the approval of the Police Commission; Police could use drones to pursue vehicles and for investigations, including facial recognition, without the approval of the ...
Part 3
Why for-profit housing succeeds when subsidized housing fails
Los Angeles Case Study Part 3 Why for-profit housing succeeds when subsidized housing fails By Thomas Irwin | March 21, 2024 So what lessons can we draw from what Los Angeles has seen with Executive Directive 1, the city’s effort to streamline regulations for affordable-housing projects? First, people passionate about ...
Part 2
Why for-profit housing succeeds when subsidized housing fails
Los Angeles Case Study Part 2 Why for-profit housing succeeds when subsidized housing fails By Thomas Irwin | March 15, 2024 In the first part of this series, I reviewed the one bright spot in Los Angeles’ efforts to increase housing supply and reduce housing costs – the success of ...
