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
Lansing, Michigan – The Spartans of old were the lightly armed, highly determined warriors that defended the pass at Thermopylae in 480 B.C. against a vastly superior force of Persians, bent on the complete destruction of Greece. The modern Spartans are the lightly armed and highly determined municipal officials who battle to prevent Michigan from
What might Hill & Knowlton, Fleishman-Hillard or Edelman Public Relations do if they were given the marketing campaign for INFRASTRUCTURE? It’s a terrible word in desperate need of rebranding. What self-respecting PR firm would not jump at the chance to persuade Americans to spend their hard earned dollars on infrastructure instead of tablets or timeshares?
This is the sixth in a seven-part series about mayors’ 2011 State of the City speeches. Mayor John Monaco of Mesquite, Texas quoted late President Ronald Reagan in his 2011 State of the City speech when he said, “A recession is when your neighbor loses his job…a depression is when you lose yours.” While neighboring
This is the first in a seven-part series about mayors’ 2011 State of the City speeches. From our office in Washington, D.C., NLC staff address local issues on behalf of city leaders from across the country. We think we know where city leaders’ heads are, but how do they actually view their cities’ progress? And
