Blog
Blog
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
U.S. cities can learn from Stockholm’s citizen democracy
American cities are obviously a mess. They are plagued by crime, corruption, homelessness, drug addiction, failing schools and vast inequalities of wealth. The underlying problem isn’t rocket science. It’s partly due to our professional politicians, whose motivational interests often do not coincide with the common good of city residents. It ...
Blog
Remember PRI in your 2024 year-end giving
There’s nothing more contagious than a bad idea
Since our founding 45 years ago, PRI has established itself as one of the leading free-market think tanks in America. We fight against an overreaching government that thinks it should have more control over our lives than we do. Our work would not be possible without the support of individuals ...
Blog
Read the latest on California's growing crime problem
The De-crminialization, De-carceration, and De-legitimization Decade
The passage of Prop 47, Prop 57, the Racial Justice Act, and the progressive agenda of reducing so-called “mass incarceration” has meant that California was no longer prosecuting drug crime and a host of racial inequity arguments that have redefined crime led to dangerous criminals being released. The 2022 PRI ...
Blog
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
SF’s Muni punishes its own riders for funding shortfalls
Muni’s latest data shows ridership on the city’s system of buses, cable cars, streetcars and light rail has rebounded dramatically from pandemic levels. It reports that ridership is at 74% of pre-pandemic levels and 92% of those levels on the weekends. The agency also trumpeted reductions in the number of ...
Blog
Grants Pass and Prop 36 Will Help Policymakers Control California’s Homeless Crisis
Between 2007 and 2014, homelessness declined faster in California than the rest of the country – an 18 percent total decline in California compared to a 9 percent total decline in the rest of the country. And then something happened in 2014. While the number of homeless in California began ...
Agriculture
Read a Christmas wish for California's farmers
A farmer’s ag policy Christmas wish
Early this year, the 2022 Census of Agriculture was released by the USDA. The data was alarming. California lost 7,387 farms in five years. That works out to be 1,477 farms and ranches a year; 28 a week; four a day. More staggering was the land in farms lost. Between ...
Blog
Read the latest on Gov. Newsom's green mandates
Biden Greenlights California’s Unworkable Green Car Mandates on Way Out the Door
As expected, the Environmental Protection Agency granted on Dec. 17 permission for California to go outside of federal law. California and other states need exemptions from the EPA to enact stricter air quality standards than those set by the 1970 Clean Air Act. And the Biden White House is clearly ...
Blog
Growing federal debt will take its toll on city budgets
Growing federal debt will take its toll on city budgets John Seiler | December 20, 2024 IT HAS TO END SOMETIME. The national debt has soared above $36 trillion – and counting. And when the party does end, cities are going to be hit. How hard is for the future. ...
Blog
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
The market, not politics, should drive office conversions
At least everyone agrees there’s a problem. Americans’ preference for commute-free employment has yielded a surfeit of office vacancy. The phenomenon is a calamity for lessors plagued by plummeting income. Earlier this month, The Seattle Times reported that one of the city’s “most aggressive, and tenacious, developers” has “defaulted on a $240 million loan ...
Blog
Read about wind energy's latest challenges
Should California Go Full Steam Ahead on Offshore Wind Farms? Latest Evidence Says No
One, the concept is untried on an industrial scale. Floating offshore wind turbines, which California believes will provide a full quarter of the state’s electric power by 2045, “is largely underdeveloped in the United States,” host Kevin Sliman says in an interview with two Penn State University Institute of Energy and ...
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
U.S. cities can learn from Stockholm’s citizen democracy
American cities are obviously a mess. They are plagued by crime, corruption, homelessness, drug addiction, failing schools and vast inequalities of wealth. The underlying problem isn’t rocket science. It’s partly due to our professional politicians, whose motivational interests often do not coincide with the common good of city residents. It ...
Remember PRI in your 2024 year-end giving
There’s nothing more contagious than a bad idea
Since our founding 45 years ago, PRI has established itself as one of the leading free-market think tanks in America. We fight against an overreaching government that thinks it should have more control over our lives than we do. Our work would not be possible without the support of individuals ...
Read the latest on California's growing crime problem
The De-crminialization, De-carceration, and De-legitimization Decade
The passage of Prop 47, Prop 57, the Racial Justice Act, and the progressive agenda of reducing so-called “mass incarceration” has meant that California was no longer prosecuting drug crime and a host of racial inequity arguments that have redefined crime led to dangerous criminals being released. The 2022 PRI ...
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
SF’s Muni punishes its own riders for funding shortfalls
Muni’s latest data shows ridership on the city’s system of buses, cable cars, streetcars and light rail has rebounded dramatically from pandemic levels. It reports that ridership is at 74% of pre-pandemic levels and 92% of those levels on the weekends. The agency also trumpeted reductions in the number of ...
Grants Pass and Prop 36 Will Help Policymakers Control California’s Homeless Crisis
Between 2007 and 2014, homelessness declined faster in California than the rest of the country – an 18 percent total decline in California compared to a 9 percent total decline in the rest of the country. And then something happened in 2014. While the number of homeless in California began ...
Read a Christmas wish for California's farmers
A farmer’s ag policy Christmas wish
Early this year, the 2022 Census of Agriculture was released by the USDA. The data was alarming. California lost 7,387 farms in five years. That works out to be 1,477 farms and ranches a year; 28 a week; four a day. More staggering was the land in farms lost. Between ...
Read the latest on Gov. Newsom's green mandates
Biden Greenlights California’s Unworkable Green Car Mandates on Way Out the Door
As expected, the Environmental Protection Agency granted on Dec. 17 permission for California to go outside of federal law. California and other states need exemptions from the EPA to enact stricter air quality standards than those set by the 1970 Clean Air Act. And the Biden White House is clearly ...
Growing federal debt will take its toll on city budgets
Growing federal debt will take its toll on city budgets John Seiler | December 20, 2024 IT HAS TO END SOMETIME. The national debt has soared above $36 trillion – and counting. And when the party does end, cities are going to be hit. How hard is for the future. ...
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
The market, not politics, should drive office conversions
At least everyone agrees there’s a problem. Americans’ preference for commute-free employment has yielded a surfeit of office vacancy. The phenomenon is a calamity for lessors plagued by plummeting income. Earlier this month, The Seattle Times reported that one of the city’s “most aggressive, and tenacious, developers” has “defaulted on a $240 million loan ...
Read about wind energy's latest challenges
Should California Go Full Steam Ahead on Offshore Wind Farms? Latest Evidence Says No
One, the concept is untried on an industrial scale. Floating offshore wind turbines, which California believes will provide a full quarter of the state’s electric power by 2045, “is largely underdeveloped in the United States,” host Kevin Sliman says in an interview with two Penn State University Institute of Energy and ...
