Countless written guides exist for re-opening a restaurant, furniture store, salon or gym. These guides are essential aids to the businesspeople who might not otherwise know how to prevent COVID-19 spread. We want these businesses open – albeit safely – to refuel our local economies. However, there is very little guidance offered to local and
Columbia, South Carolina moved quickly to respond when COVID-19 was declared a health pandemic. Mayor Stephen Benjamin declared a state of emergency in March and Columbia’s City Council approved a stay-at-home order weeks before a similar order was issued statewide. Hear from Mayor Benjamin why it was important to move with speed to support local
In Charleston, WV, the city approved a $98.9 million budget in fiscal year 2019 but is on track to end with a $2 million deficit. The city of Boulder, CO, projects a shortfall of approximately $21 million in the general fund and a $41 million overall budget deficit. In New Orleans, LA, city officials estimate
We’re approximately one month in to taking Coronavirus seriously as a society. As more and more states and localities issue stay-at-home orders to keep us safe and healthy, businesses are shuttering, and unemployment is skyrocketing. Although protecting the U.S. from even graver and more rampant cases is priority number one, cities are also trying to
America’s cities have a problem: There isn’t enough affordably priced housing to go around. Today, city leaders and home-seekers alike are frequently left wondering why builders won’t simply build more housing that is affordable to a wider range of incomes, particularly middle- and lower- income households. For starters, the math doesn’t work. Private developers face
The National League of Cities’ latest report, Local Economic Conditions: The Untold Story of the Varied Middle, finds that 84 percent of cities say their local economies have improved since 2016. The new analysis reveals a dynamic economic landscape that has given rise to five distinct types of local economies: a highly rural cluster; a
Urban scholar and commentator Neal Peirce released his book Citistates (How Urban America Can Prosper in a Competitive World) all the way back in 1993. The themes concerning successful and globally competitive cities and regions were compelling then and his findings have been borne out by authors including Michael Porter (The Competitive Advantage of the
The words come at you harshly and powerfully. Decay. Ruin. Emptiness. America’s Pompeii. These words accompany images of Detroit from photographers Andrew Moore and Camilo Jose Vergara. The photos have been part of two exhibitions at the National Building Museum in Washington, Detroit Disassembled and Detroit Is No Dry Bones. Using a large-format presentation, Moore
Imagine my surprise at how quickly the attention paid to mortgage borrowers suffering through foreclosures, short-sales and default notices is quickly abandoned as good news continues to arrive in the form of rising home prices and sales. As with wars, famines, natural disasters and celebrity meltdowns, issue fatigue is finally sweeping the mortgage foreclosure crisis
Last week the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released preliminary revised unemployment estimates. It appears that the economy actually netted 386,000 jobs this year, but only after accounting for a loss of 67,000 government jobs. This recent news compounds figures suggesting that as of August 2012, local government employment in the U.S. had decreased by
