Mitchell L. Moss writes for CNN.com about the relationship between urban policy and disasters. Much has been made of how the disaster will affect the national election, but as Moss points out it’s Mayor Bloomberg, Governors Cuomo and Christie, and other mayors who will deal with the fallout from Sandy. And he also points out…
Category: Cities
Charter Cities, still homeless
Leaders in Honduras had all but bet on privatized cities as the country’s ticket to economic development, but last Wednesday the Honduran Supreme Court declared them illegal, the non-profit news service Common Dreams reports. This might all sound like something out of a hypothetical urban policy case study, and in some ways it is (so…
Sprawl and fiscal crisis
The recent bankruptcies of Stockton and San Bernardino have again highlighted the fragility of many California cities’ finances. In each case, the burden of public pensions has been blamed for the financial problems. However true that may be in the short run, the pension blame game masks another, deeper problem for the state’s taxpayers: the…
Local Finances in New York State
New York’s State Comptroller has issued a report on local government finances that sounds a strong alarm. Local governments across New York State are collecting less in taxes, burning through their cash reserves and running up deficits. Differing visions emerge of where this leaves local governments, and the state: As he has in the past,…
Thousands of towns face budget squeeze in downturns wake – Economy Watch
Sean Mulvey, the newly appointed finance director for the town of East Greenbush, N.Y., is trying to solve a riddle facing cities and towns across the country. Though property tax revenues in the Albany suburb have yet to recover from the worst housing collapse since the Great Depression, fixed expenses like long-term contracts, debt interest…