Archive
Technical innovation is no longer only about efficiency enhancements. It is about realizing the potential for transformative disruptive shifts.
Choice and competition may seem "inefficient" to old-line thinkers. Yet, the evidence suggests that these strategies produce higher service quality at less cost.
Talking to the feds is easier — and more important — in the Obama era.
A residential complex in Washington, D.C., is set to begin renovations into affordable housing using federal dollars to help fund state and local housing projects that have been stalled by the recession. The project is one of the nation's first to be funded by a new Treasury bond program.
With few exceptions, data sets being released were not assembled with the explicit intention of being made public, nor scrutinized. What we need to do is provide ways for the government community to address the state, quality and lineage of a data set--and encourage them to publish it anyway.
To take on the status quo in social services and education, people must be behind the innovative steps outlined in a new book.
Federal agencies released their Open Government Plans last month. Some of them were a lot better than others.
As elected officials contemplate a “new normal” where financial needs and wants will substantially outstrip financial resources for years, it’s worth asking how public executives should organize their administrations to address this systemic challenge.
An intriguing quote from the judge who decided the no-longer-endless Washington State governor's race yesterday: "Almost anyone who works in state and local government ...
O.K., it's time to admit publicly what people in the office have known for a while: I read Waste News. What's more, occasionally there's ...
Now that NYC's West Side stadium is dead, the NY Times today asks a good question: is it possible to build big stuff anymore? Surely ...
What does Newark, NJ (pop. 245,000) have in common with Newark, Missouri (pop. 100)? Nothing more than the name, of course. Apparently, that's enough for the mayor ...
This week the Washington Post is publishing a compelling series of articles on the region's Metro transit system, saying the the nation's second busiest subway ...
Don't you sometimes just want to blow the head off a bighorn sheep from the comfort of your living room? Not in Pennsylvania, if a ...
Having been raised in neighboring Minnesota, when I read that rural Hanson County, South Dakota, was the fourth-fastest-growing county in the nation, I had to ...
As the US Conference of Mayors convenes in Chicago this weekend, the city has never looked better. The sun is glistening off the new Millennium ...
At the US Conference of Mayors meeting this weekend in Chicago, I attended a session on how cities can make themselves more competetive in drawing ...
This past February Iowa lawmakers were considering eliminating the income tax on anyone 30 or younger to stop the state brain drain. In a 2000 Census study ...
The National Association of Counties is meeting next month in Honolulu, and county leaders across the country are getting a lot of flak from constituents ...
Going after NACO for convening in Hawaii may be a bit of a cheap shot, but it's one that local TV news will ...
Gambling as financial salvation? Not so fast. States that bring in slot machines do not witness an end to their tax and spend woes, according ...
In Chicago this past weekend, I noticed several police officers and other city security workers riding segways, those two-wheeled gyroscopic single-person modes of transportation introduced ...
Parks are there for people to use them, right? Then why is it so hard for cities to figure out how many people actually hang ...
Will somebody just cut up Kwame Kilpatrick's credit card? This time the Detroit mayor is in trouble for charging a trip to the Bahamas on ...
Los Angeles County this year has worked extra hard to get as complete a count as possible of the homeless people on its streets and ...
Smokestack chasing is so 20th century. Or is it? The presence of state economic development officials--and even a few governors--at the Paris Air Show indicates ...
With TX Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson out of the race for governor of the Lone Star State, it looks like we're going to see a ...
As we said last week, some county officials are feeling tropical-level heat for attending the National Association of Counties' annual meeting in Hawaii next month. ...
You read it here first: Kay Bailey Hutchison is running for president. The wildly popular senior U.S. senator from Texas, in deciding not to ...
Saw an interesting front-page New York Times article this morning about states requiring public universities to make sure instructors are proficient in English. As a ...
Texas Governor Rick Perry is being quoted all over the Internet and mainstream media today, for what he said to a reporter offhand after an ...
Newt Gingrich was up to his old tricks this morning at the American Enterprise Institute, spouting wise about ways the GOP could defeat Hillary Clinton ...
Maybe it's my Jetson-era upbringing, but I've always had a weakness for the Seattle monorail project. Some of it was just my own contrarianism, I ...
Earlier this month, Stephen Howard, a senior vice president at Lehman Bros., told Congress it should lift the cap on tax-exempt private activity bonds as ...
NGA and NASBO -- the groups that represent governors and state budget officers -- released their "Fiscal Survey of the States" today. There ...
Even Wal-Mart seems willing to admit that its traditional gray-blue mega-box stores are ugly. The question is, what do you do about it?
Too many ...
So you're driving home from work, and decide on a whim to call Mayor Bloomberg (home number: 212-772-1081) from your car. Being responsible, not ...
So you thought Mike Bloomberg, the billionaire mayor of NYC was out of touch with common folks? Think again. The NY Times reports today that ...
When the nation's governors convene in Des Moines this weekend for the annual meeting of the National Governors Association, ideas about good governance won't be ...
Can't America's politicians just grow up?
I know, it's an impossible request. But it would be great if people in the public arena would just ...
The DC Metro has announced it will allow riders to bring their Segways on subway trains (b ut not on buses). Although the ...
That's what Florida State Senator Gary Siplin told a local television reporter--48 TIMES!---when he was asked about alleged undocumented campaign spending. The Democrat from ...
Editors at the Boston Herald have a hunch as to why their rivals at the Boston Globe have a way of busting up the Herald's ...
Antonio Villaraigosa, L.A.'s first Hispanic mayor since 1872, shows us that the first thing on a new mayor's mind, in any language, is basically ...
The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission has approved a plan that will add six new hybrid electric models to the city's streets. ...
An Alaska wildlife official who is the state's point man on bear-human relations is under strict orders to not talk to the press, reports the ...
In an odd twist of patriotism and opportunism, Somerset County, PA, where United Airlines flight 93 crashed on 9/11/01, is now branding itself "America's County." ...
Those newly approved hybrid-electric New York City cabs I exalted last week may not be all that great after all. In a story unrelated to ...
The town of Easthampton, MA, recently put up road signs directing drivers to Routes 10 and 141. The signs sho wed the road numbers against a ...
Discovery Channel's "American Chopper" may meet its match yet. The Nevada legislative Committee on Prison Industries gave the official OK to a group ...
Tired of getting bad press? Why not start up your own newspaper? That's what the Miami-Dade County Commission did. Their paper is called The Chamber ...
Let's face it: a lot of state capitals are one horse towns. I know this because this magazine has sent me to such exciting power ...
Until now, Texas has always been a politically dynamic state. Known for the larger than life personalities of Sam Houston, LBJ, Bob Bullock, Ann Richards, ...
Last week, my family trekked from Washington, D.C., to Yellowstone National Park in hopes of seeing some bears (and wolves), which we did--mostly through ...
Want to see broadband competition in your city? Don't bet on seeing more than two high-speed internet providers: your cable company (selling cable-modem service) and ...
(Image: Metrostars/Rossetti)
New Jersey and Hudson County finally have a deal for a pro soccer stadium in the town of Harrison. And it's a ...
Put this on next year's summer reading list. Former NJ Governor and "gay American" Jim McGreevey has a book deal. The tell-all will ...
Andrew Rasiej is an obscure candidate running for an arcane office: He's campaigning to be the Democratic nominee in the race for New York City's ...
As the Newark Star Ledger reports this morning, acting New Jersey Governor Richard Codey just can't get enough titles. In addition to serving in one ...
Almost everyone knows that Starbucks coffee shops are everywhere. In fact, pointing out the ubiquity of Starbucks long since became passé. The Simpsons played off ...
Pennsylvania lawmakers gave themselves a pay raise last month cloak and dagger style. They crafted the package without debate or public scrutiny and left town, ...
Hundreds of the nation's legislators are in Seattle right now for NCSL's annual meeting, but the nation's leadingest legislator was in town for other business ...
Design matters. That's the message of two articles I read this past week: one on public works in New York City, the other on high-rise ...
The hopes of political junkies everywhere were dashed earlier this week when the most intriguing 2006 election failed to materialize. I'm not speaking of the reelection ...
As yet another round of plans are released for the 40-year-old landmark, the Astrodome, I can't help but wonder if it's time to implode the ...
There are a number of interesting storylines emanating from yesterday's New York Post article about secretly taped conversations involving a top aide of New York ...
What's in a name? Well, for a town willing to call itself "Dish," maybe some electronics equipment and a few HBO stations.
EchoStar ...
You just had to have 400-count sheets and an extra pillow, didn't you?
Hotel customers are apparently looking for nicer amenities these days, and hotel ...
DC mayor Tony Williams may know how to manage a big city. But Mayor Bow Tie is clearly having a harder time figuring out how ...
Denver, CO, residents could soon be allowed to smoke marijuana legally, if voters approve a ballot measure in November. The City Council there this week ...
Most city council members don't ask for too much: a hand in city planning, maybe a role in deciding which direction a city's heading.
But ...
A proposed ordinance in Phoenix to make it tougher to buy pseudoephedrine, a major ingredient in meth, is going to "send a powerful message." So ...
Last year a group of anti-government types, interested in creating a utopia free from the burdens of pesky social services, designated New Hampshire as a ...
These days, lots of people are noticing that there's, well, less to notice about Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. Since June 2003, the Guv has lost more ...
Serving jury duty has always been a "banausic, Tartarean nisus in reconditeness." Now, in California, it may just plain "suck."
The ...
Officials at the Golden Gate Bridge can add a new section to their online gallery: photos of the increasingly large and exotic animals crossing the ...
Yes, very hot indeed--at least according to this promo.
This is an ad for D.C.'s new "Downtown Circulator" bus. The Circulator ...
CBGB, the legendary punk-rock venue in New York City, could face eviction as early as tomorrow. The 32-year-old music landmark is in danger of losing ...
Today out the windows of the 13th Floor, I see fast-moving, billowy clouds and a fluttering American flag. They are innocuous remnants of Hurricane Katrina--and ...
What's it like to be the mayor of a large city with no residents? If total evacuation orders are fully carried out, New Orleans Mayor ...
It's a sad day for the American gubernatorial populace, the country of Austria, and iron-pumping aficionados worldwide: The Arnold Schwarzenegger museum is no more.
Officials ...
It's impossible to read a paper or watch a news broadcast right now without hearing about soaring prices at the nation's gas pumps. Prices that ...
Politicians, pundits and people everywhere are shaking their heads and wondering why people in New Orleans didn't evacuate when they were told to.
For starters, ...
The California Senate last week approved legislation that would legalize marriage between two consenting adults, regardless of gender. In passing the measure, the Senate became ...
Texas' past legislative session produced 1,000 new laws going into effect this month that deal with everything from teen drivers to a resolution outlawing gay marriage ...
Houston and zoning aren't often used in the same sentence. But then, Hurricane Katrina changed a lot of things. Yesterday, in Americ a's largest city ...
Over the past few days, a great deal of discussion has focused on what officials at all levels of government did wrong when responding to ...
I've been arguing for years that nobody in national politics really believes in federalism--not as an end in itself. Federalism and devolution are just ideological ...
With the New York mayoral race and the New Jersey governor's race both looking like snoozers, only one contest on the ballot in 2005 stands to ...
It's rare that a state fair can be described as freakin ' sweet.
But the Utah State Fair, which kicks off today, tapped a popular ...
Yesterday's news that California's legislature passed a bill to legalize gay marriage, becoming the first legislature to do so without judicial prodding, marked a substantial ...
When it happened in San Francisco, the problem was that a city official was trying to usurp state law through local action. Civics lesson learned? ...
Governing Staff Writer Alan Greenblatt has just returned from the scene of a municipal disaster. And I'm not talking about New Orleans.
Rather, Alan has ...
Debates about whether employees of local governments should live in the municipalities they serve have been around for a long time. In fact, Governing ran ...
At least 23 states are now taking in evacuees from areas hit by Hurricane Katrina. It's a tremendous show of generosity, and will certainly cost the ...
Some Chicago tourists were miffed yesterday, when they showed up at the city's famous Millennium Park, only to be turned away. Toyota had rented the ...
Appearing on "The Tonight Show" on March 1, 2004, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said it would be "fine with me" if state law ...
A few months ago, I wrote an article in Governing (scroll to bottom) about the ways state courts are trying to make jury service easier ...
Tales from the housing bubble continue. City Paper, the alternative weekly here in Washington, has an interesting story about a man who sold his Capitol ...
With all the disasters and crises lately, there's no shortage of Giuliani moments for local officials. Or, I should say, potential Giuliani moments (I suppose ...
Two weeks after Katrina, a little clarity is finally settling in about what went wrong in New Orleans between the feds, the state and the ...
Kudos to DC Mayor Tony Williams, who is picking up the pace on his blog. Williams took some heat on the 13th floor a few ...
For once, we journalists get to complain about politicians quoting us out of context.
Now in its final weeks, the race for Virginia governor has ...
Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. of Utah could hardly be more old school. Sure, he doesn't listen to disco (as far as I know) or drive ...
How does a city or state pay off its bonds if a big chunk of its tax base disappears? That's one of the lingering questions ...
Brownie speaks out. Surprise! It was all Governor Blanco's fault. My mom always told me, if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't......
Daniel Groves, longtime top aide to Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher, has become the second administration official to resign in recent days. His resignation comes amidst ...
The New York Police Department has joined the growing ranks of bloggers across the country who want to make their voices heard. They've started a ...
Colorado's upcoming vote on whether to temporarily suspend its Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) is shaping up as one to watch. There's more at stake ...
Rebuilding New Orleans is obviously a monumental task. So it's worth remembering at this difficult moment that other cities have been reborn following, incredibly, even ...
Food, water, shelter. Monitors, servers, network cables. Hey, the basic necessities are different for everyone after Katrina's onslaught. For Freddie Manint, the chief information officer ...
I really like public transportation. I prefer to commute with my head buried in a book or magazine, and let someone else do the driving. ...
The branch library a half-mile from my home in suburban Montgomery County, Maryland, is adequate for most of my leisure reading needs and my sons' ...
Why did so many people stay in New Orleans despite Ray Nagin's mandatory evacuation order? We've all got our own theories. People are stubborn; they've ...
Since all signs suggest that New Orleans will, in fact, be rebuilt, the important thing is to do it right. A number of ideas were ...
A week ago, my colleague Chris Swope wrote that New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin no doubt wishes he could take back some of his immediate ...
Those rumors you've always heard about Alaska paying its residents to live there? All true. As true as the love found each month in the ...
Yesterday, polling firm SurveyUSA released the latest rendition of their 50-state survey of governors' job-approval ratings. The simultaneous polls make it easy to draw broad ...
L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is starring in an episode of ABC-TV's "The George Lopez Show," set to air October 5. I suppose we ...
There's a phenomenon we've been talking about on the 13th floor for years. We call it the "absentocracy." The concept comes down to ...
Things just keep getting worse better for Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher, who may be found guilty of a crime punishable by up to 6 months in ...
Earlier this week, my colleague Ellen Perlman wrote about a plea from the CIO of Louisiana's court system asking for private-sector donations of high-tech equipment ...
You can do anything in New York City: Have baby food delivered at 4:30 am. Take the subway to a primeval forest. Gawk at an island ...
Everybody knows Eliot Spitzer. The New York attorney general has garnered national attention in the past few years for taking on everyone from power plants ...
As Rita nears, the conventional wisdom seems to be that Katrina's lessons have already been learned. I guess we'll find out soon enough if that's ...
Does congestion pricing on highways create "Lexus lanes" that only rich drivers can afford?
It depends, as two examples currently under review in ...
Now the lessons learned from Rita are coming in.
The biggie for now has to do with evacuating a giant city like Houston--and that massive ...
Tourism officials in Fairfax County, Virginia yesterday announced a new marketing logo for the county: they're calling it "fxva." The new brand name ...
The pups up here on the 13th floor are too young to remember the post-Watergate bumper sticker, "Don't Blame Me, I'm From Massachusetts." ...
The Supreme Court today announced a dozen cases it will hear during its term beginning next week. A couple of them will be important to ...
Most people peruse classified sections and send out resumes when they want a new job. Arkansas state Rep. Charles Ormond has decided to try and ...
No, this isn't from the Onion. For real: Tennessee State Rep. Stacey Campfield, pictured here, has been asking what it would take for him to ...
I'm not here to argue the merits or morality of prostitution.
But I have seen the difference in the sleaze factor between legalized and outlawed ...
The two big-city mayors here in the national capital area each unveiled their plans for the future this week. The difference in what the men ...
If it feels a bit drafty around your state's capitol these days, the breeze may be coming from all those telephone and cable lobbyists chatting ...
Be careful what you blog. Fernando Ferrer, the Democrats' hopeful for NYC mayor, is in trouble for a mistake on his campaign blog. In a ...
Ism alert! The New York Times Magazine assesses:
Spitzerism: "Spitzer's approach...has infuriated Republican critics and helped individual Democrats win statewide office, [but] so ...
I know even less about Harriet Miers, President Bush's new Supreme Court pick, than most people blogging about her today. But there's one thing about ...
Today, my friends the Kulicks should be celebrating their second daughter's first birthday. But Victoria won't be blowing out a little candle on a cake. ...
It's often interesting when the journalists here on the 13th Floor have occasion to interact as private citizens with the state and local governments we ...
Regionalism is a hot topic lately. City and county leaders in Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and other cities have been talking about merging departments for efficiency's ...
People who believe that cities should provide wireless Internet for all their citizens are feeling pretty good this week. Philadelphia picked Earthlink to build and ...
The big news out of New Orleans late yesterday was, of course, Mayor Ray Nagin's announcement that the city was laying off 3,000 employees--half of its ...
My friend Jim is a travel fanatic. He is also a list man. He is intent on stepping foot in all 50 states and their capitals, ...
Ten states have adopted smoking bans in the past decade, including California, New York and Massachusetts, as well as several hundred individual cities and counties. ...
"Only a fraction of [the city's] population remained, thousands having...fled the town. Those inhabitants who had chosen to stay in the hopes of ...
I wasn't thrilled to see this piece in yesterday's New York Times about how avid bicycling can contribute to male impotence and, well, other boy ...
