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Latest Blog Posts

• When Cheaper Isn't Better
• Posted By: Bob Graves |   February 25, 2013
• Governments are beginning to look at energy and other life-cycle costs in their purchasing. It's about more than saving money.
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• Giving Citizens Numbers They Can Understand
• Posted By: Mark Funkhouser |   February 25, 2013
• 'Citizen-centric' financial reporting is a way for governments to improve transparency and accountability. It isn't hard, so why aren't more jurisdictions doing it?
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• 5 Comments

• Municipal Securities and the Waiting Game
• Posted By: Mark Funkhouser |   February 21, 2013
• Federal law gives the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board the authority to protect issuers, but it can't do that job until the SEC gives it a tool it needs.
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• Our Ebbing Urge to Incarcerate
• Posted By: Mark Funkhouser |   February 7, 2013
• California seems to be finding a way out of its prison-overcrowding problems. Have we decided that locking up so many people isn't the best way to keep the public safe?
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• 3 Comments

• The Emerging Power of China's Auditors
• Posted By: Mark Funkhouser |   January 31, 2013
• Cracking down on corruption is critical to China's growth.
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• The Real Role of Cities
• Posted By: Mark Funkhouser |   January 31, 2013
• As one thoughtful city manager see it, in our focus on service delivery we're lost sight of a fundamental purpose of government.
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• 2 Comments

• Lighting the Way to Cleaner Air
• Posted By: Bob Graves |   January 28, 2013
• The way we light our streets can do more than save money for the taxpayers. It can contribute significantly to reducing air pollution.
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• Can You Run a Government on $9.90 an Hour?
• Posted By: Mark Funkhouser |   January 28, 2013
• There are signs that the pendulum is swinging away from the anti-public-employee rhetoric of recent years. That's good for governments and for the people they serve.
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• 8 Comments

• Bringing a 'Green Tint' to Sacramento
• Posted By: Mark Funkhouser |   January 23, 2013
• Mayor Kevin Johnson has big ideas for California's capital. Will the drive that made him an NBA star serve him as he tries to remake his city?
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• 1 Comments

• Lincoln and the Dirty Business of Politics
• Posted By: Mark Funkhouser |   January 16, 2013
• Appealing to rightness and reason is rarely enough to achieve big things. Politics requires dealing with human beings, and human beings are flawed.
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• 5 Comments