How California Got Broken to Pieces

The State’s Problem Is Not Big Government, but Too Many Small and Stupid Governments

Wherever you live in California, your county probably doesn’t fit you.

In mountainous and rural areas, your county may be too small to do the big things you need; 24 of the 58 California counties have populations under 140,000, the number of people who live in my hometown of Pasadena. Yet in inland exurbs, your county is so sprawling that it can take more than three hours to get to the county seat; San Bernardino County is twice as big as the state of Massachusetts.

And in the big metropolitan regions …

By Joe Mathews | March 24, 2016

Stay Artsy, San Diego

America’s Finest City Is a Hotbed for Creativity—but It Needs More Media Coverage of the Arts, Financial Support, and a High-Profile International Event

By Joe Mathews | February 22, 2016

San Diego is rich in the arts but, to become richer, it needs to take steps such as knitting together existing arts institutions and advancing arts education, said panelists at …

How to Get L.A. to Update Its Community Plans—Finally

The City Lacks Clear Guidelines on Local Land Use at a Time When It Wants to Create More 'Livable' Neighborhoods

By Dick Platkin | December 30, 2015

Update the community plans now!

That is the good government proposal of choice in Los Angeles, the recommendation that candidates, elected officials, and blue-ribbon commissions make over and over. The theory …

Why Car-Crazy Cities Are Now Riding the Rails

With New Demands for Housing and Activities Downtown, Sun Belt Metropolises Are Rethinking How Their Residents Get Around

By William Fulton and Kyle Shelton | September 16, 2015

Rail tracks are being laid in the unlikeliest of places.

Phoenix voters recently approved a transportation tax hike that should provide decades of funding for new light rail lines. Dallas …

Trains Are Great! But What L.A. Needs Are Bus Lanes

Seven Transportation Experts Push for a Bolder and More Inclusive Transportation System

August 17, 2015

“Nobody walks in L.A.,” or so goes the 1984 song by Missing Persons. That refrain is an exaggeration, of course, but L.A. is ranked below other cities in walkability and …

Katy Perry’s Not the Only One Who Wants to Live in a Convent

Repurposing Religious Buildings Should Be Done With Sensitivity and Purpose

By Megan Sweas | July 22, 2015

I moved into a convent 10 years ago this summer.

My roommates were not Catholic sisters, but other recent college graduates, who sometimes acted a little too much as if …

urban planning