The 18th-century historic district in Charleston, South Carolina, has become so popular that very wealthy people are buying homes there to live in for a few weeks a year. What's wrong with that? It makes the area more like a museum than a real neighborhood.

"My fellow citizens, I rise today to speak in opposition to affordable housing, quality day care and the Baptist Church." I briefly considered saying those words a few weeks ago as I spent a long Saturday afternoon at a County Board meeting in Arlington, Virginia, waiting for the five minutes allotted to me as a citizen speaker on a public issue.

Some places in the United States are hoping to join hundreds of European and Asian cities already using a form of commuter transit that's cheaper than light rail: diesel multiple units.

A subway system trains commuters to help in an emergency.

Minneapolis has hired a manager to act as something of a customer service czar, responsible for deploying a new 311 call center, one- stop permitting and performance measurement.