SLoG

Summer is upon us, and at least a few of us will be reading the local paper in a quiet place sometime soon. When you do, remember that these local papers are one of the few news sources available that covers what is going on at the school board, the zoning board, town hall or at the board of county commissioners meeting. That's why the story about retaliation against hometown newspapers that is one of Swan's picks this week is so important. Alabama town gets first Black mayor

Women broke representation records in statehouses after 2022 midterms (19thnews.org) Gov. Pritzker makes Illinois first state to ban book bans (wgntv.com) Wealthy homeowners penalized for blocking Calif. beach access (sfgate.com) Transit Systems Face Credit Downgrades as US Ridership Wanes - Bloomberg Public Health Needs a Political Strategy, Not Just Funding (governing.com) Thousands of California cops could be decertified under new law (sfchronicle.com) The True-Crime Frenz

Including an op-ed from the New York Times on state legislatures and democracy--must read. Opinion | States Are Silencing the Will of Millions of Voters - The New York Times (nytimes.com) What Happened When a Brooklyn Neighborhood Policed Itself for Five Days - The New York Times (nytimes.com) California ‘bounty hunters’ are earning money for voter signatures. Now, there’s a backlash (eastbaytimes.com) Colorado Bans Local Governments From Jailing Immigrants for ICE | Bolts (b

How are climate concerns impacting local policy in your community? The two lead picks for this week shows the impact on Phoenix and in California; send us tips from what you are seeing where you sit. Arizona won't issue new-home permits in some far fringes of Phoenix (tucson.com) State Farm no longer accepts homeowner insurance applications in California : NPR Judge accepts Jacksonville City Council redistricting settlement (jaxtrib.org) Thousands of NYC’s supportive housi

Nearly a year ago in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization , the Supreme Court eliminated the federal constitutional limits on government interference with access to pre-viability abortion. It is hardly novel to note that “return[ing] the issue of abortion” to the states has hurt pregnant people nationwide—for many of whom, particularly the most marginalized, abortion access was already nearly impossible. Immediately after the Dobbs opinion leaked, all eyes were on th

Even the most chill among our readers need to be concerned about the Texas nuclear preemption bill listed first in the picks this week. Blue cities like Austin and Houston are going to suffer. Texas passes bill stripping authority from cities | The Hill Democrat Donna Deegan flips the Jacksonville mayor's office in a major upset (nbcnews.com) Will Philadelphia’s Helen Gym Cap a Progressive Hot Streak? (nymag.com) Eric Adams Starves NYC’s Universal Pre-K Program - Bloomberg

NYC Bill Proposes Income-Based Fines for Violations Like Double Parking - The New York Times (nytimes.com) DeSantis signs bills banning Chinese citizens from buying land in Florida | Florida | The Guardian Alabama would prosecute abortion as murder under newly introduced bill - al.com It's Been a Deadly Year on US Roads. Except in This City. - Bloomberg Debate over holding back third graders roils state legislatures | News From The States Texas Republicans seek to overturn H

Timothy Mondloch and Meryl Justin Chertoff The claims of Black Americans for reparations for the injuries of slaveholding, Jim Crow era discrimination and race-motivated violence and dispossession are ongoing, and have created a new area of legal doctrine. This week, a state-appointed task force in California issued its long-anticipated report recommending compensation for an array of atrocities and harms, which if adopted in its entirety could require payment of approxima

Do you have any picks that have gotten your attention? Do you have a forthcoming article you'd like to preview? Let us know at sloglawblog@gmail.com Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke Delivers Remarks to Announce Agreement in Civil Rights and Environmental Justice Investigation of Alabama Department of Public Health | OPA | Department of Justice As rail profits soar, blocked crossings force kids to crawl under trains to get to school – InvestigateTV Montana's YIMB

She Had $2,300 in Unpaid Taxes. Hennepin County Bilked Her for $25,000. (reason.com) State's Failure to Pass Drug Possession Bill Could Lead to Patchwork of Local Laws - PubliCola In a thriving Michigan county, a community goes to war with itself (msn.com) "It's a good day for freedoms": Walz signs bills on reproductive freedom and trans refuge, ban on conversion therapy - CBS Minnesota (cbsnews.com) Conservative lawmakers stop abortion limits in Nebraska, South Carolina - Th

Here are the picks for this week: Fate of a Controversial Highway Still Divides New Orleans - Bloomberg Missouri House Republicans vote to defund public libraries: report - Raw Story - Celebrating 19 Years of Independent Journalism Zoning Changes Have Small Impact on Housing Supply (governing.com) Virginia Law Aims to Preserve Historic Black Restaurants, Hotels - Bloomberg “A Weapon by the State to Silence Our Voices” | Bolts (boltsmag.org) Homebuyers Who Fled South to Escap

When Managing Editor worked in state government one statehouse reporter she knew had a sign on his desk, quoting a 19th Century New York surrogate judge "'No man's life, liberty or property are safe when the Legislature is in session" The attack on city power on display through the expulsion of representatives Justin Jones of Nashville and Justin Pearson of Memphis from the Tennessee House of Representatives on April 6 is an outrage. Let's remember what they were protesting

Yes, it is April Fool's Day. And no, these are not spoof picks. Have a great weekend. Spring break is an economic nightmare for the hottest host cities | The Economist Citing ‘Racial Cleansing,’ Louisiana ‘Cancer Alley’ Residents Sue Over Zoning - Inside Climate News New Utah Laws Seek to Restrict Children’s Social Media Usage | Time In wake of shooting of Najee Seabrooks, N.J. attorney general announces takeover of Paterson Police Department - CBS New York (cbsnews.com) D

We hope you enjoyed this week's Symposium on Co-Cities by Sheila R. Foster and Christian Iaione now available from MIT Press. In early April, Christian Iaione will offer some closing reflections on the innovative framework for urban governance offered in the book. Now, for your weekend reading, here are picks from Professor Sarah Swan for this week: Rival Colorado Towns Fight Over a Frozen Dead Guy - WSJ Businesses in Phoenix Struggle As Homelessness Crisis Continues - The

As an academic, one reads a fair amount of texts. Very few of them give you sheer pleasure throughout the process of reading, while at the same time causing you to rethink and reimagine themes and concepts that you have been otherwise engaged with for years. Co-Cities by Sheila Foster and Christian Iaione is one of these rare gems. Sheila and Christian, two dear friends and colleagues, brilliant scholars, and truly engaged citizens of cities and the world, have written an in

The main strength of Foster and Iaione’s Co-Cities is its offer of governance principles and processes for cities-- recognizing the rich complexity of cities’ comedy of the commons and preventing any tragedy of the anticommons. The book builds on the late Elinor Ostrom’s commons scholarship , both her earlier work on how homogeneous groups manage some common pool resource in a way that allows for individual usage without falling into a tragedy of the commons and her later ob

In their new book Co-Cities , Sheila Foster and Christian Iaione offer a compelling, sophisticated, and empirically grounded vision of the transformation that can flow when eclectic stakeholders work together to create and steward urban resources as a “commons.” Surveying a wide array of theoretical debates and drawing on years of thoughtful real-world experimentation, Foster and Iaione’s co-city framework forcefully moves the discourse on urban space—and urban governance mo

Co-Cities by Sheila Foster and Christian Iaione is a tour de force. They provide a rigorous empirical analysis of more than 200 global cities, and over 500 case studies within those metropolises, to reconceptualize “the city” for the contemporary age. (p. 24) While many scholars theorize or hypothesize “the city,” Foster and Iaione use surveys, qualitative interviews, detailed case studies, fieldwork, and geo mapping to derive a new and informed urban governance theory. Co-C

Today through Thursday, SLoG is delighted to be joined by four respected scholars who will offer reflections on a new book, Co-Cities, by Sheila R. Foster and Christian Iaione. Winner of the 2023 PROSE Award in Architrcture and Urban Planning, Co-Cities presents a new model for urban governance, mapping the route to more equitable management of city infrastructure and services. Professor Foster is the Scott K. Ginsburg Professor of Urban Law and Policy at Georgetown Univers

We are delighted to announce our Spring symposium series for next week, on Co-Cities , the new book by Sheila R. Foster and Christian Iaione. The symposium will feature posts by Lisa T. Alexander, Nestor Davidson, Amnon Lehavi and Vanessa Casado Perez. Co-Cities argues for a new model of urban governance, mapping the route to a more equitable management of urban infrastructure and services. Each day next week, we'll feature a take by scholars in the field on the book's contri