Blog
Blog
The Starbucks Index Shows California’s Growing Urban Crime Problem
For anyone who’s visited or lived in the American South, the much-loved Waffle House is everywhere. Open 24 hours, the Waffle House is known for its good service and consistent if not perhaps gourmet offerings. Of course, breakfast is served all day (and night). There are 1,981 Waffle Houses in ...
Blog
Learn what California needs to do on renewable energy
California Energy Lessons Waiting To Be Learned
California’s headlong rush toward an all-EV, zero-carbon-power-grid Camelot shows no signs of abating. It’s as if there are no possible alternatives. Of course, there are, but the signs can be hard to read while traveling at full speed. As so many of the planet’s 8 billion people know, because California ...
Blog
Southwest cities can continue freeing their housing markets through deregulation
This piece continues a two-part series review of the housing landscape in southwest cities. Part one linked here takes a look at the housing landscape in the states of Arizona and Colorado. Part two below looks to New Mexico and Utah, followed by the review’s conclusion. New Mexico In New ...
Blog
Getting back to work: strategies for permit and licensing reform
Getting back to work: strategies for permit and licensing reform By Anastasia Boden and Stephen Slivinski | July 13, 2023 Editor’s Note: This article was reprinted with permission from the Better Cities Project’s ‘Getting Back to Work’ – a blueprint for helping cities thrive following the COVID-19 disruptions. Although the ...
Blog
Read the concerning numbers in the 2022 Crime in California report
California’s 2022 Annual Crime Statistics Released – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
On June 30th, California Attorney General Rob Bonta released his 2022 Crime in California report as well as several other mandated statistical reports covering hate crimes, juvenile justice, and firearms. What the statistics tell us, like they have for the past three years, is that crime continues to rise. Violent ...
Agriculture
Learn about the new bill that proposes voluntary abandonment of farmland
No compensation for voluntary change of farmland status to save water
A U.S. Senator from California is proposing voluntary abandonment of farmland to help conserve water. Senator Alex Padilla, chair of the Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife introduced the Voluntary Agricultural Land Repurposing Act. The bill would address water conservation by offering federal money to tribes ...
Blog
New poll: More want to flee California
California, You Could Always Check Out, Now You Can Leave
Are policymakers, whose actions over decades are responsible for the “let’s get out of here” mood, going to let this happen? Or are they going to keep making things worse? The California Community Poll, conducted by Strategies 360 for a group of nonprofits and the Los Angeles Times, offered respondents ...
Blog
Southwest cities slowly freeing their housing markets
The southwest has not been immune to the “housing crisis” frequently talked about in more densely populated coastal states like California. Rising housing costs, which can put considerable strain on middle-class and lower-income individuals and families, have been aggravated and amplified by government policies constraining the ability of homebuilders to ...
Blog
Read about Canada's recent wildfires
Bad Policy Could Make Canada’s Recent Fires Regular Occurrence in California
When California is on fire, the rest of the country looks on with the same morbid curiosity it has when yet any of the many Old Testament plagues that shake, rattle, parch, blister and sometimes flood the Golden State. But tables do sometimes turn. Canada’s recent wildfires meant that for ...
Blog
Read about new study on minimum wage and homelessness
At The Intersection Of Homelessness And Minimum-Wage Hikes
It’s widely though not universally acknowledged that minimum-wage increases are job killers. When statutes require employers to pay wages above market value, they will take avoidance measures. In the 2020s, automation becomes an appealing alternative for many. But not all businesses can replace their workers with robots. They are left ...
The Starbucks Index Shows California’s Growing Urban Crime Problem
For anyone who’s visited or lived in the American South, the much-loved Waffle House is everywhere. Open 24 hours, the Waffle House is known for its good service and consistent if not perhaps gourmet offerings. Of course, breakfast is served all day (and night). There are 1,981 Waffle Houses in ...
Learn what California needs to do on renewable energy
California Energy Lessons Waiting To Be Learned
California’s headlong rush toward an all-EV, zero-carbon-power-grid Camelot shows no signs of abating. It’s as if there are no possible alternatives. Of course, there are, but the signs can be hard to read while traveling at full speed. As so many of the planet’s 8 billion people know, because California ...
Southwest cities can continue freeing their housing markets through deregulation
This piece continues a two-part series review of the housing landscape in southwest cities. Part one linked here takes a look at the housing landscape in the states of Arizona and Colorado. Part two below looks to New Mexico and Utah, followed by the review’s conclusion. New Mexico In New ...
Getting back to work: strategies for permit and licensing reform
Getting back to work: strategies for permit and licensing reform By Anastasia Boden and Stephen Slivinski | July 13, 2023 Editor’s Note: This article was reprinted with permission from the Better Cities Project’s ‘Getting Back to Work’ – a blueprint for helping cities thrive following the COVID-19 disruptions. Although the ...
Read the concerning numbers in the 2022 Crime in California report
California’s 2022 Annual Crime Statistics Released – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
On June 30th, California Attorney General Rob Bonta released his 2022 Crime in California report as well as several other mandated statistical reports covering hate crimes, juvenile justice, and firearms. What the statistics tell us, like they have for the past three years, is that crime continues to rise. Violent ...
Learn about the new bill that proposes voluntary abandonment of farmland
No compensation for voluntary change of farmland status to save water
A U.S. Senator from California is proposing voluntary abandonment of farmland to help conserve water. Senator Alex Padilla, chair of the Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife introduced the Voluntary Agricultural Land Repurposing Act. The bill would address water conservation by offering federal money to tribes ...
New poll: More want to flee California
California, You Could Always Check Out, Now You Can Leave
Are policymakers, whose actions over decades are responsible for the “let’s get out of here” mood, going to let this happen? Or are they going to keep making things worse? The California Community Poll, conducted by Strategies 360 for a group of nonprofits and the Los Angeles Times, offered respondents ...
Southwest cities slowly freeing their housing markets
The southwest has not been immune to the “housing crisis” frequently talked about in more densely populated coastal states like California. Rising housing costs, which can put considerable strain on middle-class and lower-income individuals and families, have been aggravated and amplified by government policies constraining the ability of homebuilders to ...
Read about Canada's recent wildfires
Bad Policy Could Make Canada’s Recent Fires Regular Occurrence in California
When California is on fire, the rest of the country looks on with the same morbid curiosity it has when yet any of the many Old Testament plagues that shake, rattle, parch, blister and sometimes flood the Golden State. But tables do sometimes turn. Canada’s recent wildfires meant that for ...
Read about new study on minimum wage and homelessness
At The Intersection Of Homelessness And Minimum-Wage Hikes
It’s widely though not universally acknowledged that minimum-wage increases are job killers. When statutes require employers to pay wages above market value, they will take avoidance measures. In the 2020s, automation becomes an appealing alternative for many. But not all businesses can replace their workers with robots. They are left ...
