Alan Ehrenhalt

Recent Articles

• The Great Transit Turnaround
• Aug 1, 2000
• In the mid-1980s, when metropolitan Portland first began planning a light-rail line, the downtown merchants in suburban Gresham, Oregon, discussed the issue and reached a quick consensus: They didn't want it.

• Scapegoating in Salt Lake
• Aug 1, 2000
• Philosophy students occasionally wile away idle moments by arguing over what constitutes a truly victimless crime. It's a more complicated issue than one might suppose.

• A Job Even Mr. Rogers Might Not Want
• Jul 1, 2000
• On a wall at my neighborhood community house, in Arlington County, Virginia, there are two gold plaques with 43 names on them.

• Political Pawns
• Jul 1, 2000
• Millions will be spent in this year's battle for the Wisconsin legislature. But the candidates won't know where most of the money is coming from. They'll be bystanders in their own campaigns.

• A Job Even Mr. Rogers Might Not Want
• Jul 1, 2000
• On a wall at my neighborhood community house, in Arlington County, Virginia, there are two gold plaques with 43 names on them. They are the names of all the people who have served as president of the Lyon Village Citizens Association since 1926, the year the neighborhood was created.

• Why Too Much Safety is Dangerous
• Jun 1, 2000
• We've told this story in Governing before, but it makes the point so well that I hope you'll indulge my telling it one more time: There's a common pesticide called Atrazine that's used by farmers in many of the grain fields of the Midwest.

• The Residency Rebellion
• May 1, 2000
• On the far west side of Detroit, between the murky River Rouge and the suburb of Dearborn, sits a little neighborhood called Copper Canyon. It's a pleasant community of modest brick bungalows, manicured lawns and peaceful streets. It's also one of the few integrated neighborhoods remaining in the city.

• Sprawl, Passion and Common Sense
• Apr 1, 2000
• Most of the time, it doesn't bother me when people talk about political issues in moral language. In fact, it bothers me when they don't.

• Memorial Disservice
• Mar 1, 2000
• There was a time, not too long ago, when almost everyone in Seattle remembered Caspar Sharples. He was a revered physician and educator during the early years of this century, the founder of two hospitals and a guiding force behind development of the city's school system.

• Bob Keenan: Mental Adjustment
• Mar 1, 2000
• All things being equal, Bob Keenan is a man who prefers to have government stay out of the way and let private enterprise tackle the tough societal jobs.

• Vermont's Judicial Distillery
• Feb 1, 2000
• I'm not a lawyer, so I've never aspired to being a judge. But I sometimes indulge in fantasies about the sort of judge I would be, if given the chance. I'd be a wonderful judge--patient, fair-minded, even-tempered, witty, self-deprecating--but above all, restrained.

• Fighting Poverty from the Front Porch
• Jan 1, 2000
• There are two significant things to say right off the bat about Florida's new statewide anti-poverty program.