Christopher Conte

Recent Articles

• Lois Weisberg: Culture and Whimsy
• Nov 1, 2001
• Promoting fun on city streets

• Lois Weisberg: Culture and Whimsy
• Nov 1, 2001
• Promoting fun on city streets

• James Mejia: Park Fixer
• Sep 1, 2001
• James Mejia owes a lot to his boss, Denver Mayor Wellington Webb. And now Webb is asking much in return: He wants Mejia to clean up the city's scandal-ridden parks and recreation department and, in the process, protect the mayor's own legacy.

• Ruben Barrales: Beyond Cheerleading
• May 1, 2001
• Here's a challenge: Name a White House director of intergovernmental affairs who has ever been a major player in federal policy. If you are stumped, you are in good company. Nominally the liaison between the president and state and local governments, he or she has tended to serve as a glorified social secretary--an aide who leads cheers for the president's programs and handles the protocol when the chief executive gets together with the relevant officials outside Washington, D.C.

• Boss Thy Neighbor
• Apr 1, 2001
• Homeowner associations are an increasingly prevalent--and troubled-- form of local government.

• Gwendolyn Faison: Mother Camden
• Mar 1, 2001
• When Mayor Milton Milan was convicted in December on corruption charges, it seemed that the so-called "Curse of Camden" had dropped this dysfunctional New Jersey city to a new low. Milan was the third mayor in 20 years to plead guilty to felony charges, and his fall came as the state of New Jersey, which already supervises some of the city's finances, was pressing for legislation to assume complete control of city operations. But the Camden City Council earned at least a temporary reprieve by making an unorthodox choice as Milan's replacement.

• The Boys of Sprawl
• May 1, 2000
• Free-market think tanks are working hard to convince Americans that Smart Growth is a stupid idea.