In the first of this two-part series, Seth Zeren breaks down why modern-day housing is so expensive compared to housing of the mid-20th century.
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Strong Towns is partnering with Just Accounting for Health and Urban3 in a project to uncover the presence, and effects, of biases in tax assessment standards.
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Citizens can’t make informed decisions if they don’t know the financial condition of their government. This nonpartisan nonprofit is making those numbers both available and transparent.
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The Christmas Cookie Inflation Index has risen 10.6% in the last year. This is compared to the official inflation rate of 6.8%.
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Any attempt to design cities that are for people and not cars is all for naught if there are no means to finance it.
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This organization is suing their local government over an insolvent, master-planned development in Collier County, Florida.
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Unless we start making better accounting choices today, we’ll be facing service cuts and tax increases every year going forward. …That is, until the day we can’t anymore.
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For most small-scale developers, capital is a significant barrier to doing small infill projects. But that isn't because the money isn't there to be had.
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Making city budgets accessible to the average citizen is crucial for building stronger places. Here’s 4 examples of cities that made their budgets not only accessible, but even fun!
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Cities are the economic engines of our society, yet as a recent report shows, their fiscal stability can be seriously affected by local tax limitations.
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Collier County is poised to spend over $200 million extending utilities to a whole new, previously rural, portion of the county. Let's #DoTheMath on this plan.
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When communities support small businesses, it helps give them agency over their own economic development.
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A great credit rating is not a blessing for a young community if it is interpreted as a license to borrow without discipline.
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A relatively new funding mechanism helps small businesses build support in the community, even without all the resources of a larger startup.
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There are major flaws in the accounting standards that shape municipal finance in American cities. But there’s an opportunity too: a chance to comment on—and perhaps change—those standards going forward.
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The Christmas Cookie Inflation Index has risen 4.3% in the last year. This is compared to the official inflation rate of 1.2%.
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The changes that need to be made to fix our cities will never come about in a culture whose solution for everything is “Just print the money.”
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Reduced competition—in the form of monopolies and oligopolies—hurts us not only as consumers and workers but as citizens and community members. Here’s why.
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How do local leaders make the right decisions in a world based less on facts and fundamentals than on who can tell the best story? It starts with learning to see beyond the false narratives.
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In some ways, Caltrain was in a better financial position than other public transit agencies. But the pandemic—and a political turf war—have thrown its future into jeopardy.
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