Should a Private Tech Giant Be Designing Cities?
Google’s sister company wants to build the city of the future on Toronto’s waterfront, raising concerns over privacy and the role of government.
Authors
John Buntin |
Email : jbuntin@governing.comJohn Buntin is a staff writer at GOVERNING. He covers health care, public safety and urban affairs. A graduate of Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, he is the author of two books, "Governing States and Localities" (CQ Press) and "L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America’s Most Seductive City" (Harmony Books).
Evangelicals' Power Isn't Eroding in the Age of Trump. It's Adjusting.
Pundits keep predicting the religious group's decline as a political force. But they may actually be gaining influence.
Disney Walks Away From Millions in Economic Incentives
Is one of corporate America’s savviest companies reconsidering its reliance on subsidies, or is it seeking to avoid further regulation?
Amid Scandal and Explosive Growth, Nashville Ponders Its Future
Like many other Sunbelt cities, Music City is trying to figure out what kind of place it wants to be.
Outside Disneyland, a Reminder for Governments to Be Careful What They Wish for
Cities have become increasingly focused on doing whatever it takes to attract large corporations. But it's hard to govern a one-company town. Just ask Anaheim.
Police Departments Grapple With Who Should Hold Them Accountable
Scandals surrounding abuse and corruption are spurring cities across the country to adopt civilian oversight boards. But some argue they have the opposite effect that advocates are looking for.
Can Other States Tap Tennessee’s Secret Sauce for Government Efficiency?
Once seen as a laggard in public administration, the state is now a leader.
The Fight to Fix America's Broken Bail System
Jails are filled with low-risk offenders awaiting court dates. There's bipartisan support to change that, so why is it still hard to get anything done?
In Extreme Community Policing, Cops Become the Neighbor
One of the most dangerous small cities in the country, an hour outside Chicago, is paying officers to live where their relationship with residents is most broken.
In the Elusive Search for Affordable Housing, Clues Emerge
Economists, sociologists and political scientists have recently identified single-family zoning as a major obstacle to building more of it. Could that change soon?
Meet the Goodmans: Las Vegas’ Flamboyant Political Family
They’re into more than showmanship. They’re struggling to turn the gambling mecca into a thriving 21st century urban place.
David Brown's Career Highlights Difficulties of Reforming Police
The Dallas police chief was hailed as a national leader, yet his own cops wanted him to quit.
25 Years Later, What Happened to 'Reinventing Government'?
The ambitious public management crusade of the 1990s has made a mark on governments everywhere. But it’s fallen short of some of its goals.
Synthetic Drugs: An Emerging, Evolving Threat
While states are focused on the opioid epidemic, they may not be paying enough attention to the lab-created drugs that are hard to control.
How One City Solved Its Domestic Violence Problem
Can the strategy, which was originally developed to reduce gang violence, be replicated elsewhere?
The Man Supposed to Fix America’s Relationship With Cops
Obama called on Philadelphia Police Chief Charles Ramsey, among others, to change the future of law enforcement. Will his unorthodox ideas make a difference or just alienate his fellow officers?
Assessing the Nation’s Most Ambitious Education Reforms, 1 Year Later
As states around the country embrace Tennessee’s turnaround model, the experience of one Memphis high school shows policymakers about its potential and perils.
A Model for Decriminalizing Mental Illness in America
America’s jails are filled with people suffering from severe psychological problems. But largely thanks to one judge, Miami found ways to keep the mentally ill out of incarceration and in treatment.
In Memphis, Revolt Overshadows Education Reform's Successes
Driven by fear and frustration, protesters are starting to drown out the supporters of the nation's most ambitious attempt to fix failing schools.
Changing a Culture Inside and Out of School
Fixing a failing school may require a complete change in culture. That’s not an easy thing to achieve, but Memphis is trying.
What If States Just Sold Marijuana Themselves?
Voters legalized pot in three more places Tuesday, and now they have to decide how to regulate it. Some favor the government selling the drug directly to consumers over creating a for-profit pot industry.
The Nation’s Most Ambitious Effort to Fix Failed Schools
What happens in Memphis will reveal the power -- and limits -- of education reform.
Does Eric Garcetti Have a Big Enough Vision for L.A.?
In breaking with his predecessors, the mayor isn’t focused on one or two big priorities. Instead, he’s sweating the small stuff -- at least for now.
America’s Biggest Drug Problem Isn’t Heroin, It’s Doctors
Painkillers prescribed by both well-intentioned doctors and so-called "criminals in white coats" are driving the overdose epidemic. States and cities are pioneering ways to control it.
Rural Hospitals Are on Life Support
Hospitals may be rural America’s single most important and most endangered institution. Between having to serve some of the sickest and most expensive populations and federal cuts, can small town America save more from closing?
A Battle Over School Reform: Michelle Rhee vs. Diane Ravitch
As the No Child Left Behind era ends and Common Core begins, two education heavyweights face-off over what we’ve learned and where we’ve gone wrong.
William Bratton is the Right Man for the Job. Really.
New York City's new police chief, who previously led the force under Rudy Giuliani, is a controversial choice. But to understand why Bill de Blasio picked him, look at what Bratton accomplished in Los Angeles.
Chicago Fights Gang Violence with Facebook
After experiencing a homicide rate that earned it international attention last year, Chicago is upending the traditional style of policing and using social networks to rank people’s likelihood of killing and being killed.
10 Questions with One of Obamacare's Architects
On the eve of the implementation of one of Obamacare’s most significant provisions, Governing spoke to Harvard economist David Cutler.
California Republicans Try to Reenergize the GOP
The California Republican Party’s willingness to embrace unconventional leadership may provide insights into what the GOP will need to do to win elections nationally in the coming era of the white minority.
Should Local Government Be Run Like Silicon Valley?
Cities are contracting with Code for America -- what some call “the Peace Corps for geeks” -- in an effort to seed Silicon Valley virtues in local government.
The Power and Danger of Setting Extreme Goals
Extreme goals are ambitious and attention grabbing. They also often seem impossible -- and that can be a problem.
Milwaukee Police Give 911 a Facelift
Milwaukee has overhauled how it responds to serious crimes -- but not without criticism. Are the risks of challenging policing's status quo worth the rewards?
Cathy Lanier Changes Policing in D.C. and Maybe Nation
The police chief's rejection of zero-tolerance policing that’s driven urban crime fighting for a generation may change the future of public safety in America.
Neighborhood Watch
Rob Sampson’s Great American City points the way toward a new understanding of how cities function.
Can Universal Health Care Work Without a Mandate?
President Barack Obama and the 26 states trying to overturn his federal health reform law say no, but some states have some real-world experience that could answer that question.
Kitzhaber: Three-Time Governor Turning Oregon’s Tide
John Kitzhaber once called Oregon “ungovernable.” Now, he’s forging bipartisan alliances that are making it one of the best-governed states in the nation.
Ex-Police Chief William Bratton Discusses Government Collaboration in New Book
In Collaborate or Perish!, William Bratton and Harvard Kennedy School senior researcher Zachary Tumin tell governments how they can work together more often and more effectively.
Connecticut Moves Away from Medicaid Managed Care
Connecticut’s Rod Bremby is finding novel ways to connect health and human services.
How Game Theory is Reinventing Crime Fighting
Elected officials across the nation from both political parties have begun to examine ways to replace a tough corrections policy with a smart one.
Managing Care without Managed Care
North Carolina is achieving big savings with a very different approach.
A Doctor's Fix for Health-Care Delivery
Commonwealth Care Alliance CEO Bob Master has a plan to change health-care delivery — and it doesn’t involve Medicaid managed care.
Legislative Issues to Watch in 2012
These nine topics will shape debate in state legislatures in 2012.
Governing: State and local government news and analysis
Red States, Green Jobs
The South has more green jobs than any other region. But will politicians keep investing in something many Southern voters don’t believe in?
Thinking Through Health Exchanges
TennCare Director Darin Gordon has distinguished himself by asking hard questions about the impact of the Affordable Care Act.
Gov. Shumlin and the Push for Single-Payer Health Care
At a time when states are struggling to comply with healthcare reform, Vermont's governor sees his state's push for a single-payer system as common sense.
Health Reform’s IT Challenge
Health reform threatens to overwhelm state health IT systems. Virginia's health IT program manager discusses how his state is using newer and legacy systems to manage caseloads.
What Experts Think of Five Medicaid-Savings Strategies
States are testing several strategies in an effort to reduce Medicaid costs. Experts assess those approaches.
Coordinating More Care in Oregon
Mike Bonetto is leading Oregon's efforts to move more people on the Oregon Health Plan into coordinated care organizations that could improve health outcomes and decrease costs.
Dealing with the Dual Eligibles
Former Indiana Medicaid director Melanie Bella is leading the effort to build bridges between Medicare and Medicaid programs.
Governing: State and local government news and analysis
Is It Time to Retire Jane Jacobs' Vision of the City?
Triumph of the City author Edward Glaeser challenges long-accepted views on urban planning, promoting a more market-friendly set of policies.
Medical Residencies Serve as a New Model for Police Training
One officer’s battle with cancer inspired him to take a new approach to policing.
Rethinking Health-Care Payments in Arkansas
Arkansas Medicaid Director Gene Gessow is leading the state's efforts to create the nation’s first statewide payment system.
Ending Medicaid As We Know It
Is Medicaid in its current form sustainable? And if not, is welfare reform the right model for change?
The Single-Payer Solution
Harvard professor William Hsiao brings Taiwan’s health-care system to Vermont.
A Closer Look: Utah's Health Insurance Exchange
Governing's John Buntin speaks with the new director of Utah's health exchange on how it's progressing.
The Triumph of the City
Is it time to retire Jane Jacobs’s vision of the city? In two book reviews, John Buntin explores recent releases that challenge traditional urban theory in the 21st century.
Does Government Work Require Government Employees?
Volunteers are taking on jobs once performed by public employees.
Maryland's All-Payer Answer
Once dismissed as a relic, Maryland's all-payer rate setting system is getting a second look.
Managing Medicaid
The new head of the National Association of Medicaid Directors discusses the challenges of heath reform.
The Nation's Only Health Insurance Commissioner Takes on the Health-Care System
Rhode Island Health Insurance Commissioner Christopher Koller set out to transform an industry.
Hoosier Health IT
Indiana's health information exchanges show what electronic medical records can do.
A Governor's Take on Fixing Health Care
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen discusses health reform, the future of health IT and how states should approach regulating private insurers.
Governing: State and local government news and analysis
A Cap-and-Trade Program That Works
Northeastern states have developed an efficient way to reduce greenhouse gases. So why won't the feds follow suit?
A Closer Look at Medicaid and CHIP
Diane Rowland, chair of a commission to look at Medicaid and CHIP, explains how the group will study the federal-state programs' ability to provide affordable, quality care.
Harrisburg's Failed Infrastructure Project
A new incinerator was supposed to earn Harrisburg, Pa., $1 billion. Instead, it’s a cautionary tale for what happens when an infrastructure project goes bad.
Lessons from Maine’s Health Reform
In 2003, Maine passed the at-times controversial Dirigo Health reform initiative. Seven years later, what has Maine learned to help other states reform health care?
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's Evolving Leadership
Bobby Jindal took office with a mandate to change state government. Three years later, it’s the governor’s approach to leadership that has changed instead.
Governing: State and local government news and analysis
Mississippi's Corrections Reform
How America's reddest state -- and most notorious prison -- became a model of corrections reform.
Readings: Interview with Brookings' Metropolitan Policy Program Senior Fellows
John Buntin interviews Brookings' Alan Berube and Bill Frey on the Metropolitan Policy Project's latest report, "The State of Metropolitan America."
Fixing New Orleans
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu has a rare chance to turn the city around.
California's Health Information Exchange
Cal eConnect will oversee the state health care system's move from a paper-based industry to one reliant on electronic health records.
Down on Parchman Farm with Mississippi's Corrections Commissioner
Christopher Epps thought he would follow the path of his family members and get his Ph.D. Instead, he made a career at one of Mississippi's most fabled prisons, working his way up to state corrections commissioner.
Brotherly Love for Immigrants, Too
Israel "Izzy" Colon is spearheading Philadelphia's efforts to become an immigrant hub.
Readings: Growth Trends and Green Hopes
The Brookings Institution's "State of Metropolitan America" offers a look at the demographic future of America's 100 largest metro areas. In this installment: The growth patterns of the last decade don't bode well for those with green hopes.
Readings: The State of Metropolitan America
The Brookings Institution's "State of Metropolitan America" offers a look at the demographic future of America's 100 largest metro areas. In this post to kick off a series: the "cultural generation gap."
Will Washington Throw States a Lifeline, or Tell Them to Swim?
Policymakers in Washington are debating whether states need more stimulus money, or whether it's time for them to start cutting.
The Future of Los Angeles' Police Stations
Is the LAPD misplacing something important in the process of building the next generation of police stations?
A Big Week for State and Local Government
Health care action, Supreme Court rulings and justice nominations makes this week one with huge impacts for state and local government.
Traffic Circles, Rotaries, and Roundabouts
A helpful, complete rundown by USA Today explains rotaries, roundabouts, traffic circles, and everything full circle.
Remapping the United States
The Brookings Institution Metropolitan Studies Program's maps offer a wonderful look into the changing demographics of the United States.
The Amazing Health Data Giveaway
HHS is putting an amazing amount of health data out on the Web for free, including Community Clash, Google Hospital Finder, and Bing Health Maps.
How To Motivate Employees
A delightful animation of Dan Pink's ideas on how to motivate employees.
A Medicaid Fraud-Stopping Model
Five years ago, New York state was burned by revelations of pervasive Medicaid fraud. Now the state is showing other states how scams can be stopped.
Do Sin Taxes Pay?
Cigarette and alcohol taxes should be higher. Soda taxes are a good idea too.
Talking Heads Over the Years
Talking to the feds is easier — and more important — in the Obama era.
Protecting and Preserving the Tenderloin
Can police Chief George Gascón clean up this San Francisco district without pushing the poor out?
Mile-High Health Reform
Dr. Patricia Gabow molds Denver's public health system into a national model.
The Wave of Influence
In this era of instant climate information from The Weather Channel, Weatherunderground.com and Accuweather.com, the United States' 49 state climatologists might seem like dinosaurs....
Waste Not
Elkridge, Md.'s material recovery facility sorts 65 tons of recyclable material per hour.
Boston's Hip, New Chief of Staff
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino is an urban legend - the closest thing the East Coast has to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. So when Menino stood...
DNA Becomes Routine in Crime-Solving
It was as if, Detective Phil Stanford sometimes thought, Washington Park was being burglarized by ghosts. Most burglaries follow a pattern. Typically they occur during...
San Francisco's Populist Public Defender
Public defenders are often seen as the Rodney Dangerfields of local government: They get respect from neither the prosecutor-loving public nor other public officials. Not...
Health Care for the Needy
As the complex debate over health-care reform rages, local government hasn't really been figured in. While lawmakers in Washington at least considered the impact of...
Health-Care Reform: Similar States, Different Views
Twenty-nine-year-old Samantha Brooks has a health problem: She just got a job. In October 2008, Brooks went into the hospital for an emergency gall bladder operation....
Bernard Melekian
If all you knew about Bernard Melekian was that he had spent 13 years running the police force in Pasadena, California, you might wonder why the...
Fighting Foreclosures Using Emergency Management Tactics
As a young paramedic in Sarasota County, Florida, Bob Stuckey learned to respond to emergencies using a protocol known as the Incident Command System. Originally...
The Public Option and State-Level Competition
This week, the Senate is taking up the controversial issue of whether health reform should include a public option -- that is, a government-run health...
Turning Golf Courses into Parks
Ellen DiIorio, a resident of Union County, New Jersey, had always dreamed of building a first-class archery range. But while the county Parks Department was...
Health-Care Reform and Grandpa's Care
In 1982, President Ronald Reagan saw a chance to realign the relationship between Washington and the states. He offered to switch government responsibilities: The states would...
Gangbuster
To the casual motorist driving west on Wilshire from downtown Los Angeles, MacArthur Park comes as a pleasant surprise. With its wide lake and palm...
Swift and Certain: Hawaii's Probation Experiment
Steven Alm was no courtroom novice when he started handling felony cases as a circuit judge in Hawaii. He'd already been a judge for three...
'Death Panels' Rationed Care 50 Years Ago
Amidst the recent furor over so-called "death panels" and whether or not they are in national health care reform proposals, there's a side story that's...
Did Bill Bratton Succeed in Changing LAPD's Culture?
Dragnet. 77 Sunset Strip. As a boy growing up in Boston, Bill Bratton lapped up the exploits of the Los Angeles Police Department through his television....
Job Freedom
Can the lessons of welfare reform be applied to the prison system?
Seniors and the City
More than two decades ago, Michael Hunt noticed something interesting about Hilldale, a well-established neighborhood in Madison, Wisconsin. Elderly people were moving into its apartment...
A Baltimore Camera In Action
The Balitmore Police Department provided GOVERNING with footage from one of the city's cameras, located in a western section of downtown Baltimore. Police Commissioner Frederick...
Markets, not Mandates
For years, efforts to expand health insurance seemed like an exclusively "blue state" activity. Oregon, Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine enacted sweeping proposals designed to expand...
Lifeline
To some, Parkland Memorial Hospital will always be remembered as a place of death -- the hospital where President John F. Kennedy succumbed to gunshot...
Gundemic
Every day, a kid is brought in -- head hung, wrists cuffed behind his (or, occasionally, her) back, a police officer on each arm, steering...
Long Lens of the Law
It's Friday night, a few minutes past 9 o'clock, and people are pouring into the 13,500-seat Baltimore Arena. They're here to see one of the biggest...
A Matter of Record(s)
Ron Stollings believes in electronic health records, as both a family physician and a state legislator. Two years ago, he and the three doctors he...
What Is a Medical Home?
North Carolina has built a coordinated medical system for the poor that includes old-style house calls. And it's making a big difference. The patient-centered medical...
Health Care Comes Home
Dr. Jugta Kahai had a problem. One of her patients, a 9-month-old boy with asthma, kept showing up in the emergency room. He was struggling...
Minding the Detailers
It's a gray Friday morning in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Kristin Nocco is in the parking lot of Primary Care Associates, putting on her game face. She's...
Getting a Handle on Health Reform
The most recent issue of the Columbia Journalism Review includes a guide to health reform (PDF), courtesy of the Commonwealth Fund. Although it's designed ...
Downtown L.A.: The Future of San Francisco's Tenderloin?
I recently "put to bed" (as we say in the magazine biz) a story about San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon's efforts ...
Urban Planning: Urgent Necessity or Dangerous Distraction?
Today's Guardian has a story that describes the urban mega-city as "the greatest design challenge" of our time. Given the numbers that ...
How to Apologize Like Tiger Woods
We all make mistakes. If it's a really big mistake (say, an unauthorized "hike along the Appalachian trail") and you're an ...
Will Health Reform Result in Financial Armageddon?
That, basically, is the question taken up by health economists Michael Chernew and Katherine Baicker and Dr. John Hsu in their latest New England Journal ...
Ultimate Fighting + 2010 Census = ?
A promising innovation? That seems to be what Nevada thinks. In last month's issue of Governing, my colleague Josh Goodman examined how state local ...
Mapping State Efforts to Nullify Health Reforms
One of the most controversial tactics in the fight against health reform has been the conservative push to nullify health reform at the state level. ...
Boots on the Ground (Or, Adventures with David Kidd)
David Kidd is behind the camera, capturing John Buntin interviewing Sonny Jackson, public information officer with Denver Police Department. Governing has long been committed to ...
Is Health Reform Happening After All?
A big day in the health reform world. First, Kaiser Health News reports that insurers across the nation are raising insurance premiums dramatically -- and ...
Fixing Utah's Health Exchange
In the February issue of Governing, my colleague Josh Goodman wrote about Utah's health exchange -- a free-market alternative to the Massachusetts Commonwealth Connector. ...
Health Reform Moves to the States: The Case of Minnesota
The apparent collapse of health reform in Washington has shifted attention back to the question of what (if anything) states can do to control prices, ...
Health Reform: The Beginning of the End?
What does Scott Brown's victory mean for the future of President Obama's health reform agenda? In the immediate aftermath of Tuesday's vote, ...
Would health reform be good for Massachusetts?
All eyes are on Massachusetts special Senate election, which pits Republican state senator Scott Brown against Democratic attorney general Martha Coakley. Brown has sought to ...
Health Reform: The End Game
For the next 2-3 weeks, Washington will be consumed by one thing -- health reform. Although the House only returned to work yesterday (and the ...
How Exactly Will Health Reform Affect the States?
Despite the renewed attention on counterterrorism, health reform promises to be the issue that will consume Washington's attention this month, as negotiators from the ...
For Health IT Programs, There's Still Billions in Unclaimed Stimulus Money for States and Cities
Among the many goodies doled out by last year's stimulus package were some $2 billion for innovative health IT programs at the state and local ...
Courting Big Phrma
So far, it's Maine, zero; the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, two. The state's two attempts to pressure drug companies to extend lower Medicaid prices for medications to certain non-Medicaid recipients have been turned back by the courts.
Plague of Errors
Hospital infection rates are rising and killing 90,000 patients a year. Can the states put a stop to it?
Make Room for the Elderly
Nursing homes are out of favor. Assisted living is in. Should regulators keep their hands off this fast-growing form of care?
Not Your Father's Bus
Light rail may have sex appeal, but a growing number of cities are jazzing up a more affordable alternative--bus rapid transit.
Rainbow Strategist
Anthony Thigpenn has spent years promoting reconciliation among blacks and Hispanics. L.A.'s new mayor needs him.
Murder Mystery
In the 1990s, New York and Boston achieved dramatic decreases in homicide. One of them is still improving. The other is getting worse again. Why?
Spouting Off
St. Louis has the Gateway Arch; Seattle has the Space Needle. So when Dayton, Ohio, began redeveloping its waterfront as an urban park three years ago, civic leaders decided on a fountain as the defining landmark for their downtown skyline.
Battle of the Badges
Tense relations between police and fire departments, long a fact of life in many cities, are now emerging as a serious domestic- preparedness problem.
Dead-End Revolt
Cul-de-sacs have fallen out of favor with many urban planners.
Father Time
There's a growing focus in welfare policy on a long-neglected part of the problem: fatherhood.
The Incredibly Expansive Medicaid Machine
Capitalizing on new flexibilities in health insurance for the poor, states are inching closer to health coverage for all.
Setting Colleges Free
Higher ed wants to offer states a deal: Let us run things our own way, and then judge us by the result. Should states accept?
Texax Counties In The Driver's Seat
State cedes power to get new toll roads built.
Budget Shocks
States have been feasting on the bounty of a booming economy for half a decade. Now what?
Land Rush
Inner cities are becoming hot places to live. Does government have any business telling developers to keep out?
Relying on Faith
When it comes to delivering social services, church-state cooperation is rife with possibility--and controversy.
Gangbuster
Bill Bratton is going after crime in L.A. the way he did in New York. But it's a different place. Gangs are huge and the police force is very small.
ADA's Independence Days
The Supreme Court's Olmstead decision has states picking up the pace on home and community-based care--or else.
Special Ed's Dark Secret
The number of children with learning disabilities is surging. Some say the real problem is schools' failure to teach students how to read.
Solid Brass
Just how natural became apparent one day in 1975 when Bratton, a rookie sergeant with the Boston Police Department, got a call that would have made a veteran blanch: bank holdup; shot fired; possible hostage situation.
Schoolmaker
Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson can charter a new school anytime he wants. That gives him lots of power--and lots of headaches as well.
Sugar Daddy Government
A new generation of billionaires is remaking American cities. The cities are better off; the democratic process sometimes suffers.
Shrink Vs. Shrink
Ever hear of 'prescribing psychologists'? One state thinks they can fill gaps in mental health care. Psychiatrists doubt it.
Long Journey to Work
Improving mass transit is one way to help inner-city and rural welfare recipients get to where the jobs are. But it's not the only way.
Rx Relief
With prescription drug costs soaring, states are taking bold steps to bring them down.
Police Stations, Civic Architecture, and Story Ideas
Is excellent individual design what public buildings should aspire to, or is there still a place for civic architecture?
Arizona's Harsh Stance Against Illegal Aliens (The Outer-Space Kind)
A decade ago, a group of computer scientists in the Bay Area launched the first large-scale distributed computing project, SETI@Home. Its mission: to harness ...
To Protect and To Serve
It's been a day of encomiums for retiring LAPD police chief Bill Bratton, and no wonder. As my own post of yesterday made clear, the ...
Turnaround secrets
In 2004, former Wayne County, Michigan, prosecutor Mike Duggan became the chief executive of the troubled Detroit Medical Center. On day one, he was told the ...
Immigrants, Apples and Successful Cities
Friday night I was in Baltimore for the Lil' Wayne concert. I didn't actually go to the concert; I watched it with the Baltimore ...
Rethinking foot traffic
Urban planners tend to applaud when pedestrians replace cars (something NYC is now considering for Times Square.) But officials in Boston are now considering the ...
View from the Counties: Hard Times Through 2010, Real Help from D.C.
The National Association of Counties (NACo) begins its annual legislative conference tomorrow in Washington, DC. Earlier this afternoon, NACo President Don Stapley, a county supervisor ...
Bad Times -- and Weapons
What is it about bad times and weapons? The Los Angeles Times is reporting that courthouse screeners in L.A. County seized banned weapons last ...
Knowing What Works
It's hard to know what's more heartening -- the fact that "broken windows" policing seems to be working in Lowell, M....
Explaining the Current Economic Mess
Confused by credit default swaps? Baffled by the fact that most municipalities can't issue debt at affordable rates? Fuzzy about Gödel's critique ...
City Life = Brain Damage?
The evidence is surprisingly strong, some neuroscientists say. Attention and self-control are particularly harmed by urban life. The best antidote seems to be a big ...
Public university cuts, a surefire way to cut income
Among economists, one of the most talked about books of the past year has been The Race Between Education and Technology . This blandly named, data-rich ...
Are Drug Courts Our Best HOPE?
The New York Times has an interesting update on drug courts. Here's the money quote: "[R]ecidivism rates for participants are reduced by about 10 ...
Skid Row-style Health Care
First, Los Angeles area hospitals were caught dumping destitute patients in Skid Row. Now, they're allegedly filling beds (and bilking Medicare) by recruiting patients from ...
Prison construction as economic stimulus?
Does a new prison boost the local economy? The Nacogdoches, TX, Daily Sentinel investigates... (Hat-tip to Crime and Justice News .)
Thinking About Crime
James Q. Wilson, perhaps the nation's most influential criminologist (though he'd hate that label...), is guest blogging on Vololkh conspiracy this week. Here's a wonderfully ...
Is Urban Violence a Virus?
Sunday's New York Times Magazine examines a "violence interruption" program in Chicago that is premised on an affirmative answer to this provocative question. ...
"Green-Collar" Jobs -- Great Idea or Gimmick?
By now, anyone following the Democratic Presidential nomination has heard a great deal about so-called "green-collar" jobs. Barack Obama has promised five million ...