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.
John 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).
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.
Pundits keep predicting the religious group's decline as a political force. But they may actually be gaining influence.
Is one of corporate America’s savviest companies reconsidering its reliance on subsidies, or is it seeking to avoid further regulation?
Like many other Sunbelt cities, Music City is trying to figure out what kind of place it wants to be.
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.
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.
Once seen as a laggard in public administration, the state is now a leader.
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?
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.
Economists, sociologists and political scientists have recently identified single-family zoning as a major obstacle to building more of it. Could that change soon?
They’re into more than showmanship. They’re struggling to turn the gambling mecca into a thriving 21st century urban place.
The Dallas police chief was hailed as a national leader, yet his own cops wanted him to quit.
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.
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.
Can the strategy, which was originally developed to reduce gang violence, be replicated elsewhere?
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?
As states around the country embrace Tennessee’s turnaround model, the experience of one Memphis high school shows policymakers about its potential and perils.
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.
Driven by fear and frustration, protesters are starting to drown out the supporters of the nation's most ambitious attempt to fix failing schools.
Fixing a failing school may require a complete change in culture. That’s not an easy thing to achieve, but Memphis is trying.
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.
What happens in Memphis will reveal the power -- and limits -- of education reform.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
On the eve of the implementation of one of Obamacare’s most significant provisions, Governing spoke to Harvard economist David Cutler.
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.
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.
Extreme goals are ambitious and attention grabbing. They also often seem impossible -- and that can be a problem.
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?
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.
Rob Sampson’s Great American City points the way toward a new understanding of how cities function.
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.
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.
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’s Rod Bremby is finding novel ways to connect health and human services.
Elected officials across the nation from both political parties have begun to examine ways to replace a tough corrections policy with a smart one.
North Carolina is achieving big savings with a very different approach.
Commonwealth Care Alliance CEO Bob Master has a plan to change health-care delivery — and it doesn’t involve Medicaid managed care.
These nine topics will shape debate in state legislatures in 2012.
Governing: State and local government news and analysis
The South has more green jobs than any other region. But will politicians keep investing in something many Southern voters don’t believe in?
TennCare Director Darin Gordon has distinguished himself by asking hard questions about the impact of the Affordable Care Act.
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 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.
States are testing several strategies in an effort to reduce Medicaid costs. Experts assess those approaches.
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.
Former Indiana Medicaid director Melanie Bella is leading the effort to build bridges between Medicare and Medicaid programs.
One officer’s battle with cancer inspired him to take a new approach to policing.
Governing: State and local government news and analysis
Triumph of the City author Edward Glaeser challenges long-accepted views on urban planning, promoting a more market-friendly set of policies.
Arkansas Medicaid Director Gene Gessow is leading the state's efforts to create the nation’s first statewide payment system.
Is Medicaid in its current form sustainable? And if not, is welfare reform the right model for change?
Harvard professor William Hsiao brings Taiwan’s health-care system to Vermont.
Governing's John Buntin speaks with the new director of Utah's health exchange on how it's progressing.
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.
Volunteers are taking on jobs once performed by public employees.
Once dismissed as a relic, Maryland's all-payer rate setting system is getting a second look.
The new head of the National Association of Medicaid Directors discusses the challenges of heath reform.
Indiana's health information exchanges show what electronic medical records can do.
Rhode Island Health Insurance Commissioner Christopher Koller set out to transform an industry.
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
Northeastern states have developed an efficient way to reduce greenhouse gases. So why won't the feds follow suit?
Light rail may have sex appeal, but a growing number of cities are jazzing up a more affordable alternative--bus rapid transit.
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?
The number of children with learning disabilities is surging. Some say the real problem is schools' failure to teach students how to read.
The Supreme Court's Olmstead decision has states picking up the pace on home and community-based care--or else.
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.
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.
Nursing homes are out of favor. Assisted living is in. Should regulators keep their hands off this fast-growing form of care?
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?
Ever hear of 'prescribing psychologists'? One state thinks they can fill gaps in mental health care. Psychiatrists doubt it.
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.
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.
Capitalizing on new flexibilities in health insurance for the poor, states are inching closer to health coverage for all.
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.
A new generation of billionaires is remaking American cities. The cities are better off; the democratic process sometimes suffers.
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?
States have been feasting on the bounty of a booming economy for half a decade. Now what?
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.
When it comes to delivering social services, church-state cooperation is rife with possibility--and controversy.
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.
Tense relations between police and fire departments, long a fact of life in many cities, are now emerging as a serious domestic- preparedness problem.
Hospital infection rates are rising and killing 90,000 patients a year. Can the states put a stop to it?
Anthony Thigpenn has spent years promoting reconciliation among blacks and Hispanics. L.A.'s new mayor needs him.
There's a growing focus in welfare policy on a long-neglected part of the problem: fatherhood.
Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson can charter a new school anytime he wants. That gives him lots of power--and lots of headaches as well.
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.
John Buntin interviews Brookings' Alan Berube and Bill Frey on the Metropolitan Policy Project's latest report, "The State of Metropolitan America."
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu has a rare chance to turn the city around.
Governing: State and local government news and analysis
How America's reddest state -- and most notorious prison -- became a model of corrections reform.
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.
Cal eConnect will oversee the state health care system's move from a paper-based industry to one reliant on electronic health records.
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.
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."
Policymakers in Washington are debating whether states need more stimulus money, or whether it's time for them to start cutting.
Israel "Izzy" Colon is spearheading Philadelphia's efforts to become an immigrant hub.
Is the LAPD misplacing something important in the process of building the next generation of police stations?
A striking infographic shows how New Orleans has fared since Katrina.
Health care action, Supreme Court rulings and justice nominations makes this week one with huge impacts for state and local government.
A helpful, complete rundown by USA Today explains rotaries, roundabouts, traffic circles, and everything full circle.
The Brookings Institution Metropolitan Studies Program's maps offer a wonderful look into the changing demographics of the United States.
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.
A delightful animation of Dan Pink's ideas on how to motivate employees.
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.
Cigarette and alcohol taxes should be higher. Soda taxes are a good idea too.
Talking to the feds is easier — and more important — in the Obama era.
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 ...
Can police Chief George Gascón clean up this San Francisco district without pushing the poor out?
Dr. Patricia Gabow molds Denver's public health system into a national model.
I recently "put to bed" (as we say in the magazine biz) a story about San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon's efforts ...
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....
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...
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino is an urban legend - the closest thing the East Coast has to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. So when Menino stood...
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 ...
Sunday's New York Times Magazine examines a "violence interruption" program in Chicago that is premised on an affirmative answer to this provocative question. ...
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 ...
Does a new prison boost the local economy? The Nacogdoches, TX, Daily Sentinel investigates... (Hat-tip to Crime and Justice News .)
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Confused by credit default swaps? Baffled by the fact that most municipalities can't issue debt at affordable rates? Fuzzy about Gödel's critique ...
It's hard to know what's more heartening -- the fact that "broken windows" policing seems to be working in Lowell, M....
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Is excellent individual design what public buildings should aspire to, or is there still a place for civic architecture?
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 ...
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 the next 2-3 weeks, Washington will be consumed by one thing -- health reform. Although the House only returned to work yesterday (and the ...
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 ...
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, ...
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, ...
A big day in the health reform world. First, Kaiser Health News reports that insurers across the nation are raising insurance premiums dramatically -- and ...
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. ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
We all make mistakes. If it's a really big mistake (say, an unauthorized "hike along the Appalachian trail") and you're an ...
Today's Guardian has a story that describes the urban mega-city as "the greatest design challenge" of our time. Given the numbers that ...
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...
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...
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....
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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....
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...