Internet Explorer 11 is not supported

For optimal browsing, we recommend Chrome, Firefox or Safari browsers.
alan-greenblatt

Alan Greenblatt

Alan Greenblatt is a former editor of Governing. He is the co-author of a standard textbook on state and local governments. He previously worked as a reporter for NPR and CQ and has written about politics and culture for many other outlets, print and online. He can be reached at Alan.greenblatt@outlook.com and on X at @AlanGreenblatt.

Legislators in many states this year, faced with huge budget shortfalls and difficult choices, must have been tempted to just sign off on any plan...
New Jersey has just 21 counties, but it has more than 600 school districts. Although merging small districts is a problem everywhere, New Jersey's system is so...
South Carolina is one of the most Republican states in the country, but picking a successor to Governor Mark Sanford is going to be a...
Parking has gotten worse in Chicago, and many see Mayor Richard Daley's decision to privatize parking meters as the culprit. Daley has been a privatization...
People complained for decades that the New York State Senate was dysfunctional. But that was before it shut down altogether. In April, a special committee...
San Diego just closed an $83 million hole in its budget and is looking at a shortfall conservatively estimated at $115 million next year. For a place...
Given a climate of national recession, Maine's budget process went pretty smoothly in 2009. Despite some scary revenue shortfalls, the legislature passed a $5.8 billion budget bill...
Ron Dellums never really wanted to be mayor of Oakland. He expressed doubts when civic leaders recruited him to run in 2006, and ever since then,...
Transportation might seem like the one issue best suited for local, state and federal cooperation. No transit system is built without affecting the planning process...
Fiscal shortfalls in the tens of billions of dollars are virtually an annual occurrence in California. But this year, the state's voters seem even more...