Since Tuesday, when Californians shrugged
off Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's warning of "fiscal Armageddon"
and voted down a package of budget-balancing ballot measures,
everybody has wondered what the worst part of Armageddon might
be. Fire station closures? Prisoner releases? Education funding
cuts? Health care funding cuts? Messy public parks? The worst
part of Armageddon so far seems to be the not knowing. At least
that's the part most of us can agree about.
Contra Costa Times
Budget woes placing California into unknown territory
By Kevin Modesti
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Commentary
he
economic picture for thousands of working people across
Wisconsin won't improve until the job picture brightens. And on
the jobs front, there's some good news for Madison, which was
just rated No. 1 among medium-sized cities for so-called Next
Generation workers. These are younger, tech-savvy people who
want "a good job in a great city," according to Next Generation
Consulting, which produced the list.
Madison Capital Times
Madison job growth ranks in the middle of the pack
By Mike Ivey
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Commentary
For people seeking economic opportunity, Texas is becoming what
California has been since the Great Depression, says Los Angeles
urbanist and author Joel Kotkin. Texas recently "ran the table"
in a recent list of "Best Cities for Jobs" prepared by Kotkin
for New Geography and Forbes. Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Fort
Worth and Dallas were ranked as the top five large metro areas
in the country to find a job.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
From the Midwest to the Pacific, job seekers are heading to
Texas
"If you had to ride out this downturn, there is no better place
than Texas. The declines here have been nothing compared to
other states."
By Steve Campbell
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Commentary
The
industry's instability has shaken the Great Lakes region,
creating some of the highest unemployment figures since the
Great Depression. Yet the strings that have been attached to the
bailouts seem to favor downsizing-obsessed managers and foreign
investors looking for cheap entry into the US market.
The Nation
The Case for Kenosha
By John Nichols
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Commentary
So
here's how Kotkin and some of the analysts he interviewed see
recovery happening: Economic torpor will persist a little
longer, but when economies in the Northeast and California
stabilize, home prices in those areas will stop falling and
perhaps bounce back slightly. Consumers will be able to sell
their homes again, and Sunbelt cities can expect a fresh surge
of new residents freed from the constraints of dramatically
upside-down mortgages.
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Reports might signal rebound for Las Vegas, Sunbelt
Research: Sunbelt poised for revival.
By Jennifer Robison
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Commentary
Even though
oil prices have fallen sharply since last summer, energy jobs
and spending have kept unemployment rates in Tulsa lower than
other parts of the country, said Bob Ball, an economist with the
Tulsa Metro Chamber. "Certainly there are people losing jobs,
but there are people getting jobs," he said. "Before this
recession, we had a hard time getting enough people for skilled
positions."
Tulsa World
Tulsa ranks No. 2 for jobs
Forbes magazine says the city is one of the nation's best
for finding employment.
By Kyle Arnold
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Commentary
Kotkin,
who defended California during the early 1990s recession, now
believes it is decaying. In his view, the state has been
captured by environmentalists and slow-growth zealots who are
stymieing house-building and running down dirty industries like
agriculture and manufacturing. They are turning California from
a place of working- and middle-class opportunity into a
playground for the rich and a trap for the poor.
The Economist
Under the Tarnish, Still Golden
Its economy is dismal, its politicians worse. But nowhere can
reinvent itself so capably as California
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Commentary
And
there's hope for the future, KC. Kotkin says its "possible to
project a very bright future for Kansas City — and across the
zone of sanity." Unless there is a massive shift in conditions,
the zone should see a return to prosperity earlier than places
bogged down with excess foreclosures, shuttering industries,
soaring taxes and ever-tightening regulation.
The
Pitch - Kansas City
Holy crap! Forbes actually says
something nice about Kansas City
By Justin Kendall
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Commentary
As
the city visualized these projects one of the goals was to
ensure they would be self-sustaining communities, Bowman said.
"It's the right combo. It infuses retail, housing and the idea
is to try to bring opportunities within reasonable walking
distance," he said of the future projects planned in the city.
Adding to the population requires growth of infrastructure, so
the city is looking at mass transportation opportunities to
limit the number of cars hitting the streets and highways, he
said. As the economy begins to recover, people will start to
look to buy in communities like Ontario, Kotkin said. When they
do move in, people are going to want to work and live in the
city, establishing the framework to create Ontario as the new
urban city, he said.
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Ontario looks to urban future
By Liset Marquez
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Commentary
Long-standing
patterns remain: A large share of residential construction still
takes place on farmland on remote fringes of metro areas. In
most regions, new housing in urban core neighborhoods accounts
for less than half. Nonetheless, there was a consistent increase
in housing in urban centers from 2002 to 2007, and the trend
could transform growth patterns in some places for decades to
come.
USA Today
Urban areas see revival in housing construction
By Haya El Nasser
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Commentary
“Yes on B” spent over $1 million on TV time, airing
sophisticated ads depicting the measure as a job creator for
minority men and women installing solar panels. Mailboxes across
the city were crammed with expensive mailers explaining the
virtues of giving the solar-installation work largely to city
workers at the Department of Water and Power, rather than
opening up the work to the area’s burgeoning private-sector
solar businesses.
LA Weekly
Villaraigosa and Solar Measure B Get Burned
March 3 was supposed to be a romp for the L.A. mayor, not a
reprimand
By Daniel Heimpel
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Commentary
The
cost of services continues to outpace inflation. Programs are
being squeezed out by things the government was not providing in
the halcyon 1950s and early 1960s, including Medi-Cal and some
welfare programs. And the state has been reluctant to embrace new ways of
funding services while holding back state money to plug other holes in the
budget.
Los Angeles Times
State's middle class getting less for its tax dollars
Prized programs like higher education and freeways have been
sacrificed for years, a trend likely to be accelerated by new
increases.
By Evan Halper
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Commentary
The deep recession, with its lost jobs and falling home values
nationwide, poses another kind of threat: to the character of neighborhoods
settled by the young creative class, from the Lower East Side in Manhattan
to Beacon Hill in Seattle. The tide of gentrification that transformed
economically depressed enclaves is receding, leaving some communities high
and dry.
The New York Times
When the Next Wave Wipes Out
By Scott Timberg
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Commentary
Affluent
California liberals are seeking through politics validation of
their lifestyle choices even though they're mostly irrelevant to
state public policy. (You could make the same argument about
cultural conservatives seeking validation for their lifestyle
choices, at least in states where they're thicker on the ground
than they are in California.)
US News & World Report
Thomas Jefferson Street blog
California Liberal Gentry Empowers Unions to Plunder the Private
Sector Economy
By Michael Barone
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Commentary
The world's leading maker of microprocessors plans to create 7,000 jobs
in new and expanded plants that will churn out computer chips 30% more
powerful than the current generation of chips. But California-based Intel won't make them in California. Instead, the company is expanding in Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico.
Anywhere but California, which is now so unfriendly to business, even its
home-grown firms don't want to expand there.
Investor's Business Daily
Fool's Golden State
Editorials and Opinion
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Commentary
Obama's White House is not only urban but also
Chicago-centric. Senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, head of
intergovernmental relations at the White House, has run
Chicago's transit authority and was CEO of a company responsible
for large tracts of public housing. Chief of staff Rahm Emanuel
represented Chicago in the House. Arne Duncan, the education
secretary, was the reformist chief of Chicago's schools. Senior
adviser David Axelrod and White House social secretary Desiree
Rogers also are from Chicago. Michelle Obama, who grew up on the
South Side of Chicago, worked for Mayor Richard Daley and later
managed relations between the University of Chicago Medical
Center and the low-income neighborhood around it.
USA Today
Obama agenda pays attention to urban issues
President announces pair who will help chart a new course for
America's cities
By Jill Lawrence
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Commentary
In Vallejo, a city of 115,000 people, 1,700 homes are in foreclosure or
owned by banks. The highest foreclosure rate in the USA — 9.5% last year —
was in the California city of Stockton, which Forbes magazine declared as
America's "most miserable city."
USA Today
In California's meltdown, misery has long reach
By William M. Welch
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Commentary
Joel Kotkin, a research fellow at Chapman University in Orange, Calif.,
and a co-author of the report, is hoping home prices take a big tumble. “I
know it will offend some people in the real estate business,” Mr. Kotkin
said, “but a 30 percent drop in real estate prices would be a very healthy
thing for New York City over time.”
New York Observer
New Cheap City!
By Oliver Haydock
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Commentary
The fledgling tech firms left for the same reason middle-class New
Yorkers are leaving: The costs of living and working in New York were far
too high. The combined city and state tax of 17.6 percent on corporate
profits is the nation's highest, while start-ups are hit by the city's
highest-in-America's 10.5 percent income tax, plus Gotham's nearly unique 4
percent unincorporated-business tax.
NY Post
NYC's Ailing Middle
By Fred Siegel
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Commentary
The
number of New Yorkers with bachelor’s degrees who left the city
rose to 29,370 in 2006, up 127% from a year earlier. But they
weren’t the only ones leaving. Families with children concerned
about the quality of schools and small business owners seeking
lower costs and new markets have also left. The number of New
Yorkers moving to such places as Pennsylvania, North Carolina
and Georgia, for instance, doubled and even tripled during the
period studied.
Crain's New York Business
City’s middle-class exodus seen accelerating
By Daniel Massey
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Commentary
Building
more stores just moves people from one location to another.
Unless you're expecting a huge population growth in southern
Maine or a jump in people's income, there's a limit to how many
large shopping malls the region can support," says Kotkin,
presidential fellow in urban studies at Chapman University in
California. "I can see an advantage for the town where the new
mall would be located, in terms of revenues," he said, "but not
for the region as a whole."
KeepMeCurrent.com
Analysts say malls will be competing in challenging economy
By Linda Hersey
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Commentary
If
the president is determined to do something this year to reduce
carbon emissions (even though the public now ranks global
warming dead last among 20 concerns, according to The Pew
Research Center), his policy should at least be revenue neutral
in order to avoid the further battering of Americans' disposable
income...So why do the president and so many other politicians
prefer a cap-and-trade system, which is highly bureaucratic and
hard-to-understand? Why do they want to impose a huge new
indirect tax on Americans without any offsetting permanent
relief - especially in these bleak times?
Rocky Mountain News
CARROLL
Obama's stealth tax
By Vincent Carroll
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Commentary
Stewart,
Mulvihill and Joel Kotkin, who also studies Southern California
development issues, said they do not expect shopping malls to
head down the path to extinction. But the kinds of malls that
succeeded in past decades probably are not the kinds of shopping
malls that can thrive in the future.
San Bernardino Sun
2009 doesn't look good for local malls
By Matt Wrye and Andrew Edwards
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Commentary
Population shifts have occurred so rapidly in recent years that
there are now few all-white pockets left. (For example, in 1990,
about 538 counties had Hispanics, and by 2004, 907 counties did,
Frey says.) Joel Kotkin, executive editor of NewGeography .com, made the point that when he
speaks in Canada or Australia, he often talks to all-white audiences, but
that never happens in the U.S. anymore, no matter where he goes. Some
communities have changed dramatically in a generation. One analyst noted
that the North Carolina mill town where John Edwards grew up is now half
Hispanic."
Newsweek
The Editor’s Desk
By Jon Meacham
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Commentary
How is this a model for cities?" asks Mr. Kotkin, whose new book,
The
City: A Global History, is winning international acclaim. "Are they all
supposed to shrink? If Pittsburgh is so dynamic, why more deaths than births
and little immigration?" Fewer taxpayers, more pensions, more extravagant spending; a base made up
of nontaxable "businesses," like universities and hospitals, Kotkin notes.
"Is this financially sustainable?" Of course not.
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
"Progress" through delusion?
By Colin McNickle
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Commentary
Aujourd'hui,
un monde multipolaire et inquiet attend Obama. Qui ira-t-il
rassurer les premiers ? Aux Etats-Unis, différents
universitaires discutent déjà de cette question. Joel Kotkin et
Mark Schill incitent dans The Politico le président élu à
aller "au nord", soit au Canada. Mais Jeffrey E. Garten, un
ancien de l'administration Clinton, écrit lui dans une tribune
parue sur le site de l'université Yale qu'il devrait "rompre
avec les traditions et aller en Chine."
Courrier International
Le Quebec vu d'ailleurs
Le Canada, le premier pays visité par le président Obama?
By Marc-Olivier Bherer
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Commentary
Amenity is in the eye of the beholder," says Joel Kotkin, the author of
The City: A Global History. He has ridiculed amenity-driven development as
an attempt to draw the "hipster set" with the "lure of 'coolness' " while
ignoring basic city services. "To some a place with nice parks, low crime,
good schools, and good jobs is paradise but boring for visitors."
Boston Globe
Urban playground
As politicians weigh economic stimulus for cities, research
suggests a surprising way to succeed: make it fun
By Sasha Issenberg
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Commentary
A noted historian, Joel Kotkin, recently wrote that the
net out-migration of residents indicates a state in deep trouble
— trouble that will only get worse because of state government’s
dysfunction, and the widening gap between California’s rich and
poor. At the same time, however, a study released by the Pew
Research Center adds credence to California’s reputation as the
place to be — still. While Californians are often depicted as
rootless souls in search of the next good wave, the plain truth
is that nearly three-quarters of the folks born in this state
stay here.
Santa Maria Times
People fleeing California
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Commentary
"It is amazing to me, in a city of this size, that he's going
to be re-elected by acclamation," said Joel Kotkin, presidential
fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University and the author of
The City: A Global History. "It's amazing that no major
opposition in a major city has developed against him." Kotkin
and other critics give the mayor low marks for what they see as
a lack of attention to detail. They credit him only for his
follow-through on efforts to increase the LAPD by 1,000
officers, a goal that could be met in 2009.
Contra Costa Times
L.A. mayor looks to the future
By Rick Orlov
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Commentary
But as the author Joel Kotkin made clear on these pages
earlier this week, we should not rush off just to spend money.
He wrote, "We should think beyond temporary stimulus and
make-work jobs and about investments that will propel the
economy well into this century." In other words, we do not need
magnificent sports stadiums, but more efficient electric power
lines. We must ask how the money will make the nation and the
state more competitive in the future.
Delaware News Journal
Our View
Nostalgia for New Deal must not lead country into wasteful
actions
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Commentary
"The great
irony here, from a political perspective, is that Republican
lack of oversight allowed a lot of well-connected Democrats —
like Madoff — to run wild," says Joel Kotkin, an urban affairs
analyst who is a fellow at the liberal New America Foundation.
"Now Obama will have to deal with a series of scandals and
meltdowns that have taken place within a financial community —
particularly hedge funds which may be the next locus of the
financial crisis — that have been tilting what is now considered
'left.' It was so much simpler in the old days when the GOP
could be easily identified as the party of 'big greed' while
most Democrats concentrated on 'little greed,' like government
payoffs and sweetheart contracts."
The Wall Street Journal
OPINION: JOHN FUND ON THE TRAIL
The Hedge Fund Party
Who got Madoff's money?
By John Fund
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Commentary
In an article last month in the American magazine, urban
historian Joel Kotkin contended that the loss of residents
reflected a state in trouble. He blamed a Byzantine state
government system, a failure to identify the housing crisis and
a growing division between rich and poor. "Today our Golden
State appears headed, if not for imminent disaster, then toward
an unanticipated, maddening and largely unnecessary mediocrity,"
Kotkin wrote.
Los Angeles Times
POPULATION
More are moving out of California than in
For a fourth year in a row, residents moving to other states
outnumber arrivals from other states, a trend that underscores
the sour economy.
By David Pierson
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Commentary
Barack
Obama has said that he would start an infrastructure project
that will dwarf Dwight Eisenhower’s highway program. If, indeed,
we are going to have a once-in-a-half-century infrastructure
investment, it would be great if the program would build on
today’s emerging patterns. It would be great if Obama’s
spending, instead of just dissolving into the maw of
construction, would actually encourage the clustering and leave
a legacy that would be visible and beloved 50 years from now.
The New York Times
Op-Ed Columnist
This Old House
By David Brooks
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Commentary
This downturn has a fundamentally more
serious air than those of the past. The social, economic and
political forces Kotkin cites are very ominous. We are in deep
trouble on a variety of fronts and overarching everything is
that we have, consciously or unconsciously, rendered ourselves
functionally ungovernable – chronically unable to address the
economic and social ills that plague us.
Sacramento Bee
California headed for stretch of 'mediocrity'
By Dan Walters
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Commentary
The
economic crisis and long term contraction of credit is going to
pull one of the major props out from underneath the middle
class. Heretofore, the availability of credit has served to mask
the income gap and deliver to the middle class the goods that
they have been led to believe they must have. Take credit and
thus access to those things away and the starkness of the
division becomes abundantly clear.
But Then What Blog
Obama And The Creative Class
By Tom Lindmark
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Commentary
Stereotypes?
Maybe. But the two presidential candidates and their running
mates have used numerous phrases that link attitude with
geographical location — "Northeast liberal elite," "Hollywood
elite," "Bible Belt," small-town "real America" and small-town
folks who "cling to guns or religion." California will most
likely turn blue on election night, with its electoral votes
going to Democratic candidate Barack Obama. Texas is one of the
states that will almost certainly go red, throwing its support
to Republican candidate John McCain.
Ventura County Star
Research shows stereotypes about regions hold some truth
States of mind
By Kim Lamb Gregory
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Commentary
Kotkin said he believes the eastern suburbs
are becoming less conservative, as the cops and firefighters who
liked to settle here are being priced out. In their place, he
said, have come highly educated young people, many in high-tech
businesses or the entertainment industry. Until this year,
registered Republicans held a slight majority in the county, but
that flipped to the Democrats in April. Voter registration now
stands at about 39.7 percent Democrat, 38.3 percent Republican.
Sacramento Bee
Election bellwether Ventura County mulls presidential choice
By Marjie Lundstrom
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Commentary
So, if the prices were allowed to drop, what would happen? More of the
young people who are now leaving New York in their 30s might stay; the
immigrants who are now leaving New York once they get their feet on the
ground, they might stay. You could see a similar scenario as to what
happened in L.A. in the ’90s and Houston in the ’80s—which is, the drop in
property prices allowed people an opportunity to get into a market that
became very affordable. … In L.A. after the ’90s, after the riots and
earthquakes and everything, what happened? The middle-class people were
finally able to afford nice houses that they could never afford before; and
immigrants went and bought everything that wasn’t nailed down.
The New York Observer
The Sit-Down
Should New York Look to (Urp!) San Fran?
By Tom Acitelli
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Commentary
Kotkin said he expects the current trend of migration to
suburban areas to expand to include more growth in rural and
midsized cities. He said he thinks older workers and retirees in
particular would trade the hassles of city life for a more
simple life complete with activities such as bird watching and
gardening that are made easier with more open space.
Grand Forks Herald
ECONOMY SUMMIT: Smaller cities may be in line for population
spill
By Ryan Schuster
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Commentary
The GOP's exodus to the exurbs was a telling metaphor for the changing
face of Hamilton County politics, where the once rock-solid Republicanism of
Ohio's third-largest county is giving way to an emerging Democratic
powerhouse. Democrats are predicting they'll turn Hamilton County "blue"
— giving the
Democratic candidate for president a victory here — for the first time since
Lyndon B. Johnson steamrolled Barry Goldwater in a 1964 landslide.
Cincinnati Enquirer
Dems aim to win Hamilton Co.
GOP stronghold threatened as supporters leave
By Ben Fischer
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Commentary
Plummer
bought the house, and after about two months living there, he
already knows a half-dozen neighbors he sees regularly — a
result created more by design than chance. That's because he
lives in a "traditional neighborhood development," an
increasingly popular kind of community designed to encourage
kinship by the way its houses are built, sidewalks and streets
laid out and amenities placed within walking distance to the
homes. The options for this sort of living are growing in the
Houston area as developers bet more people are seeking a sense
of community and a neighborhood where they're less reliant on
their cars.
Houston Chronicle
Designed to be a community
"Traditional neighborhood developments" have features that
encourage friendship
By Nancy Sarnoff
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Commentary
Milwaukee’s
differing history and circumstances mean it can’t just ape
Houston, says Kotkin. But its “sewer socialist” history of
building infrastructure to accommodate growth admirably let
middle-income families afford what most wanted, a house and
yard. The opposite view, that “we’re going to force everyone to
live very densely,” as he puts it, may suit a hemmed-in San
Francisco, but it means middle- and lower-income families must
accept modest circumstances. “We have to accommodate people’s
aspirations, not squelch them,” he said.
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
Goodbye ducks, hello aspirations
By Patrick McIlheran
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Commentary
Obama's
life story resonates in California, a multicultural crossroads
where many share similar stories: an outsider with contrasting
identities who relies on character, charisma and smarts to
conquer adversity in a cultural maelstrom. Yet, as he prepares
to accept the Democratic nomination in Denver this week,
introducing Americans to the complexities of Obama's life has
become a central challenge as he seeks to promote himself as the
updated, multi-cultural version of the American tale.
San Jose Mercury News
Obama's challenge: make America see his multi-cultural life
story as American Story resonates in California, but much of
country is still perplexed
By Mary Anne Ostrom
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Commentary
Austin
consistently ranks at the top of magazine lists rating the
country's best cities in various categories. It's regularly
among the fittest, greenest, most educated, and family- and
single-friendly places to live. Kotkin said the reasons Austin
continues to draw businesses — and people — are: inexpensive
housing (as long as it's not in pricey Central Austin); the
state's favorable tax structure (for businesses, if not
homeowners); and the city's reputation for being family
friendly.
The Austin American-Statesman
As Austin expands, how much have we spun off into our own
little worlds?
By Eileen E. Flynn
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Commentary
Kotkin points out that many hi-tech workers live and work in suburbs and
are so engrossed in their work that they disengage from the local community. Wittily, he describes these hi-tech enclaves as Nerdistan. My research
drawing on the results of the 2001 census confirmed that the best example of
an Australian Nerdistan was in fact the Sydney suburb of Ryde.
The Australian
From gays to Nerdistan, authors point the write way to
success
Demographer: Bernard Salt
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Commentary
Bond
Companies predicted it would achieve a return for its investors
of more than 42% for Blossom Plaza, a complex of condominiums
and stores being built in Chinatown with at least $41 million in
subsidies. The number so disturbed redevelopment officials that they wrote an
agreement to reduce the size of its subsidy if Blossom Plaza exceeds 10% on
its return after costs. Bond Companies later said the 42% figure was wrong
and should be readjusted to the low teens.
Los Angeles Times
Firm boasts about 'mining' tax dollars to make big profits
L.A. pension boards invest millions in real estate companies
that rely on city funds and planning choices.
By David Zahniser
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Commentary
The
newgeography.com assessment looks at long-term and short-term
economic data – 10-year and five-year trend analyses and a
rolling, three-month analysis. However you slice Tacoma, it
looks mighty good. Job growth across all sectors, relatively
affordable housing stock, low hydroelectric energy prices,
diverse economic base, international trade growth, mild climate,
all indicate Tacoma has “struck a very good balance,” Kotkin
said.
Tacoma News Tribune
Another magazine toasts Tacoma – for doing business
By Dan Voelpel
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Commentary
When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
complained last year to a convention of Latino journalists that
Mexican and Central American immigrants were "staying Mexican"
because they weren't learning English, he just may have been
talking about much of the Northeast San Fernando Valley. Today
in Pacoima, Sun Valley and other areas of the Northeast Valley,
Latino immigrants can do everything from shop and work to
service their vehicles and get health care — all without having
to learn English or interact with non-Latinos.
Los Angeles Daily News
For many immigrants in the Valley, life continues as it did
in their native countries
By Tony Castro
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Commentary
In
an op-ed piece for the Los Angeles Times last week, Joel
Kotkin said “Not so fast” to the suburban doomsayers. “The ‘out
of the suburbs, back to the city’ narrative rests more on
anecdote than demographic or economic fact,” he wrote. A crunch
in prices just isn’t enough to move the kids out of school, he
suggests. “Suburbs remain home to a majority of Americans and a
larger proportion of US families—and people aren’t leaving those
communities in droves to live in cities.”
World On the Web
The shrinking suburbs
By Peter Jackson
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Commentary
Villaraigosa's
economic strategies are not without critics as he grapples with
the budget shortfall and the prospect of layoffs if property tax
and other revenues don't pick up soon. "The economy is pretty
much dead in the water and his strategy is all smoke and
mirrors," said Joel Kotkin, presidential fellow in Urban Futures
at Chapman University. "It's all based on real estate, and I
think the city is in the worst shape it has been since the
riots. Los Angeles has no real economic-development strategy."
Los Angeles Times
Villaraigosa: Term that began with high hopes has seen share
of hard times
By Rick Orlov
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Commentary
n fact, much of the eastern San Gabriel Valley has more in common with
Taipei, Beijing or Shanghai than it does with neighboring Los Angeles. Here,
Asian-immigrant entrepreneurs have transformed once-sleepy suburbia into a
Chinatown like no other. They are far from struggling newcomers trying to achieve the American
Dream in other Chinese enclaves such as Monterey Park and San Gabriel
farther to the west. Here, the power of Chinese culture and its economy is on display, said
Joel Kotkin, an expert in urban affairs and ethnic economies.
Los Angeles Times
New Chinatown grows in far east San Gabriel Valley
Wealthy ethnic Chinese immigrants are fashioning their own
enclave in the cities of Rowland Heights, Diamond Bar, Walnut
and Hacienda Heights.
By David Pierson
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Commentary
Toronto,
like Canada's other big cities, just isn't in the same league as
New York, London, Beijing or Tokyo. It's simply not big enough,
rich enough, architecturally dazzling enough, or geopolitically
vital enough to rank among the world's top cities. The lesson
for Edmontonians? Our city's stubborn inferiority complex is
hardly unique. If you scratch beneath the surface, you'll find
that many other cities are similarly afflicted by self-doubts.
The Edmonton Journal
Edmonton not alone in fighting all-too-common inferiority
complex
Even Canada's big cities feel second-tier in the global scheme
of things
By Gary Lamphier
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Commentary
Patrick
LaForge, chairman of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, says the chamber's board members all read Kotkin's latest book,
The City: A Global History. They decided Edmontonians should hear his ideas,
especially at this critical time in the region's evolution. "These are the questions we need to be asking," says LaForge. "What are the ingredients in a great city? Where do they come from? What
are their characteristics? We need to think of ourselves as a great Northern
city, a great northern marketplace, a trading post, if you will, of human
resources. The phrase, 'It's good enough' has sort of prevailed here for a
long time. But what's possible is a hell of a lot better than what we have."
The Edmonton Journal
City on the brink of greatness
Urban historian predicts Edmonton, with its unique history, will
blossom
By Susan Ruttan
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Commentary
There is plenty of data that shows that
Right-wingers are happier, more generous to charities, less
likely to commit suicide - and even hug their children more than
those on the Left. In my experience, they are also more honest,
friendly and well-adjusted.
Daily Mail
Don't listen to the liberals - Right-wingers really are nicer
people, latest research shows
By Peter Schweizer
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Commentary
I agree with Kotkin on this — if we want to take Edmonton from good
to great, we have to make this, again, a city that values families, that
believes in investing in children, and in the future. Whatever made us think
that it was no longer a public responsibility to fund things like
playgrounds and libraries, parks and litter collection? We've got to start
investing some of our $135-a-barrel oil take on the kind of small-scale
community enhancements that make a city attractive and livable.
The Edmonton Journal
Let's rebuild our city for the kids
By Paula Simons
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Commentary
If
all things were equal, and the choice were only between long
commutes in the suburb and short commutes in the city, then
everyone would live in the city. But all things are not equal.
Housing is more expensive in cities than in the suburbs: “Per
square foot, urban residential neighborhood space goes for 40
percent to 200 percent more than traditional suburban space in
areas as diverse as New York City; Portland, Oregon; Seattle;
and Washington, D.C.”
Goodies2Choose
The Suburbs’ Staying Power
by Joe Hill
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Commentary
Young
professionals often only stay a few years, and many cities have
come to see retaining middle- and upper-class families is one of
the best routes to a stable tax base. New York Mayor Michael
Bloomberg announced with great fanfare an initiative, backed by
more than $100 million, to assure there is a park or playground
within a ten-minute walk of every city residence. In
Philadelphia, where the number of school-age kids in the
downtown area fell by half between 1970 and 1990, the Central
Philadelphia Development Corporation is furiously selling its
downtown as a family-friendly place and is working with schools
to make them more competitive.
Urbanite
Do cities need families?
By Kristine Henry
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Commentary
It
cannot be denied that a little sheen has come off America's
suburbs in the past year. Especially in the West, many have been
hammered by foreclosures and falling house prices. As a result,
their budgets are a mess. The fact that this is largely a
consequence of success—the suburbs and exurbs grew rapidly at a
time when lending standards were lax, and are now suffering the
consequences—is little consolation. Nor is the fact that, as
Joel Kotkin of Chapman University points out, the bottom has
also dropped out of the city-centre apartment market.
The Economist
An Age of Transformation
America's suburbs are coming to resemble its city centres. That
is both good news and bad
Read the
Commentary
The
world’s leading urban areas grew not by attracting a wealthy
elite but by building a middle class. By giving people
opportunities to build wealth, urban areas like Houston,
Dallas-Ft. Worth, and Phoenix are following this example.
The Antiplanner
The Thoreau Institute
City planning
Houston: The Opportunity City
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Commentary
Granted,
Houston's not everyone's cup of tea, but it's a nice city with
an impressive skyline, lush tree-lined neighborhoods, upscale
shopping, great restaurants, endless economic opportunities and
amazingly low home prices. During one session, Houston city
councilman Peter Brown decried the growing lack of affordability
in some parts of the city, where a person needs $220,000 to buy
a nice house! The room broke out in laughter as those of us from
California, Washington and Oregon guffawed spontaneously.
The Orange County Register
Closed case for "open" cities
Urban planning should create "open" cities rather than New
Urbanist ones.
By Steven Greenhut
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Commentary
Just
as John F. Kennedy’s election swept a group of Cambridge dons to
Washington, and prompted a rush of investment in New England, an
Obama presidency would revive interest in all things Chicago —
almost certainly boosting its bid to host the 2016 summer
Olympics, for example, said urban historian Joel Kotkin. “What
you have is an old, still-great city, for whom this candidacy
might be the best stroke of luck they could ever have hoped
for.”
Muckety - May 22,
2008
Chicago Muckety: Methodology
Chicago’s top 100: From the nation’s heartland to Washington?
By Carol Eisenberg
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Commentary
The proposal drew fire from one longtime critic of the
strategy of subsidizing private development and of dense
projects. Urban historian Joel Kotkin questioned whether the
east San Fernando Valley needs more movie theaters. "I don't
understand it. We're giving away property when we're supposed to
be selling it," said Kotkin, author of The City: A
Global History. "You'd think that the budget crisis would
make people think twice about this."
Los Angeles Times
Forget selling land to balance L.A.'s budget, city is giving
it away
The council is set to vote on a proposal to give a three-acre
site in North Hollywood to a developer building offices and a
movie theater near the Red Line station.
By David Zahniser and Steve Hymon
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Commentary
For
years cities large and small have struggled to breathe life into
their downtowns, left languishing as big-box centers and malls
bled off business. In many of the successful efforts, the
private sector is the pulse of the revitalization, while the
government plays a supporting role, experts say.
The Press-Enterprise
Inland cities have mixed success
revitalizing their downtowns
By Aaron Burgin
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Commentary
Selon
J. Kotkin, le modèle de croissance des « vieilles » cités
américaines telles que New York et Chicago, fondé exclusivement
sur la hausse de la productivité des emplois existants et sur le
déplacement vers le haut de la « gamme » d'habitants, ne peut
être viable pour l'ensemble des USA, dont la population est
projetée à 420 millions d'âmes en 2050 (+40% /aujourd'hui). Ce
sont au contraire les "can do cities", telles que les
grandes métropoles texanes, mais aussi des villes moyennes en
très forte expansion comme Kansas City, qui procureront aux
familles qui démarrent en bas de l'échelle sociale les
opportunités d'intégration sociale qui leur font défaut dans les
villes à zonage "snob". Les
grandes villes au sol fortement réglementé excluent les pauvres
de leur modèle d'intégration, les villes libres leur redonnent
une chance de goûter au rêve américain. D'où un spectre
de revenus plus étalé vers le bas.
Logement, crise publique,
remèdes privés
un livre, un site, un regard neuf sur la crise française du
logement
Houston, Dallas... Les grandes villes libres sont-elles des
enfers urbains ?
par Vincent Bénard
Lire le Commentaire
The
era of the Empire State’s reign over America has come to an end,
and a new dawn of political power, in the hands of the Sunshine
State, is upon us. After the 2010 Census, New York will lose two
congressional seats and Florida will gain two. It will put both
states’ delegations at 27 seats and mark the first time that
Florida has caught up with once-mighty New York.
The Politico
Florida catching up with once-mighty N.Y.
New York had the second-slowest population growth in 2007.
By Patrick Ottenhoff
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Commentary
Suburban villages rule. An unapologetic booster of “smart
sprawl,” Kotkin doesn't buy the trendy wisdom that a large
segment of Americans wants to move downtown and live in lofts.
Ninety-two percent of recent growth has been in the suburbs,
Kotkin reminded. Downtowns here and around the world are
struggling to retain their populations. The hip urban scene
works for young singles until the baby arrives. Even gay couples
prefer square footage and a yard, Kotkin said.
San Diego Union-Tribune
Leaders learn how to fix local ailments
By Logan Jenkins
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Commentary
Many economists say the core rate does not show how inflation
is affecting the typical consumer. Because salary raises for
most people are not keeping pace with the rising cost of living,
people are using a greater percentage of their wages to buy a
smaller amount of goods. “Food prices and the price of gas are
really eroding the purchasing power not just of the working
class, but people in the middle class, who are already beginning
to have a hard time making ends meet,” said business-trend
consultant Joel Kotkin.
San Diego Union-Tribune
The Fed's inflation gauge isn't realistic, critics say
By Dean Calbreath
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Commentary
When
I wrote the post about “The Collapse of the Empire State,” I
spoke with demographer Joel Kotkin who thought that the “the
City is the only thing keeping [the state] from bankruptcy.” So
New York State probably needs New York City more than the city
needs the state.
The Electoral Map
Should New York City Secede From the Empire State?
Read the Commentary
Read the
Blog
Kotkin
said that city councils should focus on creating better
conditions for the middle classes and for industry. In his
opinion, it is the middle classes that create economic
development and are the foundation for a well-functioning city.
He also said that since Denmark’s economy was based on
specialised products and services, agriculture and expertise,
Danes would be better off focusing on excelling in those areas.
The Copenhagen Post
City Hall ostracises middle classes
Industry and the middle classes are being pushed out of
Copenhagen city centre according to an American writer
By Lan Yu Tan
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Requires
Adobe Reader
Los Angeles has long epitomised car-oriented sprawl. As early as 1946 the
historian Carey McWilliams judged it "a collection of suburbs in search of a
city". So rare are neighbourhoods where basic needs can be met without
hopping into a car or bus that estate agents tout the few where they can as
"walkable". Urban planners elsewhere routinely invoke the city as an example
of what to avoid. Yet even as they struggle to avoid becoming like Los
Angeles, cities such as Atlanta, Phoenix and San Jose are copying it by
spreading out and, hydra-like, growing new centres.
The Economist
Tackling the Hydra
Its politicians are determined to turn Los Angeles into a normal city
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Commentary
Joel Kotkin and Erika Ozuna analyzed the Valley's demographic
changes in a 2002 report for Pepperdine University's School of
Public Policy and the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando
Valley. "Back in the '70s, the region was perceived — and
rightly so — as a bastion of predominantly Anglo middle-class
residents.... The Valley today is not a bland homogenized
middle-class suburb; it is an increasingly cosmopolitan, diverse
and racially intermixed region united by a common geography,
economy and, to a large extent, middle-class aspirations," the
report says. Jews, of course, are part of this.
The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles
- March 28, 2008
City Voice: The perfect combination
By Bill Boyarsky
Urban theorist Joel Kotkin wrote that, “History has shown repeatedly that
once a city can no longer protect its inhabitants, they inevitably flee, and
the city slides into decline and even extinction.’’ The Jefferson Parish Economic Development Commission, which quoted that
passage in a recent crime abatement report, wants to prevent that scenario
from playing out in post-Hurricane Katrina Jefferson Parish.
The Baton Rouge Advocate
Inside Report for March 11, 2008
By Joe Gyan Jr.
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Commentary
In the 1960s, a city growth cap of 4.2 million was established as the
peak load for Los Angeles' infrastructure and services. This allowed for
urban centers like Century City, Warner Center and downtown, while
protecting single-family neighborhoods. Three years ago, Perica warned,
"growth beyond 4.2 million people would require that existing single-family
neighborhoods and lower-density residential areas would have to be
'up-zoned' in the future for more intense multistory density." He added
pointedly, "Residents didn't want Los Angeles to look like other
higher-density Eastern cities, like Chicago and New York."
LA Weekly
City Hall's "Density Hawks" Are Changing L.A.'s DNA
Bitter homes & gardens?
By Steven Leigh Morris
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Commentary
People
once valued their homes above all. In studying consumers who
filed for bankruptcy, experts found that they’d hand over their
credit cards, their cars, their savings, whatever else they had,
even if it made no financial sense, just to keep their homes.
There was shame, or sadness, the pain of losing a long-treasured
home, the embarrassment of failing on a mortgage, the melancholy
of older couples leaving behind the homes where they’d raised
their families. Losing a home conjured images of the Great
Depression, memories of hard times shared by grandparents around
the kitchen table. Now there’s just relief.
The Washington Independent
Mortgage Crisis Triggers Walk Aways
Desperate Decisions Mark a Shift in Home Ownership Attitudes
By Mary Kane
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Commentary
New Urbanism’s greatest failure has been its inability to
provide for mixed-income housing. That was the idea at the start
– all this neighborliness and high-density development was
supposed to include people of all income levels. That was the
dream. But the developments proved to be so popular, and so
expensive, that the moderate income houses never did get built
on any substantial scale. The only mixed-income living at
Kentlands turned out to be the Au pair suites above the garages.
The Washington Independent
Elitism of Urban Planning
By Mary Kane
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Commentary
Cities
and suburbs are going to change as they accommodate more people.
And there are new advances in transportation and
telecommunications technology, with more demand for social
sustainability. Kotkin believes that the model is more like Los
Angeles and less like New York City. But he also thinks that the
model is one that will create small, self-sufficient
communities, where people live near work or telecommute from
home — as opposed to bedroom communities.
Ventura County Star
New kind of community on horizon
Distinction between cities, suburbs should erode in future,
author says
By Allison Bruce
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Commentary
