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Long Island’s town of Southampton covers 295 square miles including a varied range of communities, some quite different from the village of Southampton that is familiar to seasonal visitors. One hamlet, called Riverside, is a pocket of relative distress, greatly Black and Latino-immigrant. It sits on the south side of the Peconic River, separating it from the more familiar Riverhead on the other side.

Sometimes Hamptonites lump the two together, though Riverhead is not part of Southampton town. That distinction has come to the fore as Southampton moves to bring development to Riverside—the first major such effort since Suffolk County opened a sheriff’s station, courthouse and jail there decades ago. Riverside has what so many East End communities say they need—“affordable” housing—and the town wants more of it there so as to contain the daily traffic throng to the Hamptons from points west (part of which, ironically, funnels through Riverside).

To do that it needs, among other investments, a big sewer plant. All well and good, but it turns out, as this latest useful report from the East End Beacon explains, this is not so welcome in Riverhead. There’s lots of news nowadays in these parts—the bridge between the affluent and preservationist South and North Forks of Long Island—and any transitions will merit further attention.

Is sanity finally returning to America’s blue cities? The places that incubated inept policies such as “defund the police” and “sanctuary cities”, but welcomed open-air drug use, are beginning to have second thoughts. In Seattle, Portland and San Francisco (which featured in a recent UnHerd special), lawmakers are looking at ways to curb public drug use — a move that has been symptomatic of a wider pushback against progressive policies.

Take Houston as a different example. This week, progressives lost two-to-one in the mayor’s race, electing a moderate Democrat, John Whitmire, and rejecting Sheila Jackson Lee, one of the reliably far-Left Democrats in Congress. In addition, the city elected more conservatives and moderates to the city council.

In Houston, as elsewhere, crime was cited as by far the city’s biggest issue. It was also behind the defeat last month of a Soros-backed prosecutor candidate in Pittsburgh’s district attorney race and in Seattle’s contest for city attorney, which a Republican won. Meanwhile in Dallas, another city with a serious crime problem, Mayor Eric Johnson, an African American, felt compelled to change parties, becoming the second major city (after Miami) to go to what many urbanistas call “the dark side”.

None of this suggests that Republicans will inherit the cities. The demographic shifts in recent years have eroded the party’s potential base of middle- and working-class white ethnic groups, who are being replaced by both minorities and millennials, both of whom vote heavily Democratic.

The key here is a potential coalition of moderate Democrats with conservatives and family-oriented multi-racial groups. This is the formula that two decades ago helped elect reformist mayors from both parties across the country, ranging from Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg in New York, to Richard Riordan in Los Angeles, to Ed Rendell in Philadelphia. Their elections played a critical role in the reduction of crime and economic resurgence in all these cities.

Like now, progressive politics, lax law enforcement and stupefying regulations brought these cities close to bankruptcy and decay. But today, the problem is arguably worse: an influx of undocumented immigrants and soaring real estate prices have made the situation near untenable for Democratic leaders.

Read the rest of this piece at UnHerd.

Joel Kotkin is the author of The Coming of Neo-Feudalism: A Warning to the Global Middle Class. He is the Roger Hobbs Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University and Executive Director for Urban Reform Institute. Learn more at joelkotkin.com and follow him on Twitter @joelkotkin.

Our latest episode featuring Walter Russell Mead, foreign affairs expert, is an eye-opener that transcends typical narratives, providing a profound understanding of how this conflict influences the Middle East. We also unveil American energy independence’s under-appreciated significance and how it shapes the region’s geopolitics.

No foreign affairs conversation is complete without delving into the complex dynamics of the Middle East. This episode takes an unflinching look at Iran’s power plays and the Biden administration’s strategies to negotiate these precarious waters. We spotlight the potential benefits and pitfalls of forging a strategic alliance with Israel and Saudi Arabia and hint at the economic rewards that a partnership between Israel and its Sunni Arab neighbors could yield.

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The Center for Demographics and Policy focuses on research and analysis of global, national, and regional demographic trends and explores policies that might produce favorable demographic results over time. It involves Chapman students in demographic research under the supervision of the Center’s senior staff.

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This show is presented by the Chapman Center for Demographics and Policy, which focuses on research and analysis of global, national and regional demographic trends and explores policies that might produce favorable demographic results over time.

Immerse yourself in a profound conversation with Sam Abrams and Danielle Struppa as we set sail into the stormy seas of cancel culture on American campuses. Ponder on the essence of freedom of expression, the intricacies of offensive language, and the implications of a trending phenomenon that is reshaping societal narratives. We dissect the potential hazards of a justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion worldview that's propagated within our educational institutions.

Our discourse takes a turn towards academic freedom, a principle that could be endangered by personal biases. We underscore the urgency for developing critical thinking skills amongst students, fostering a sense of media literacy from an early age to discern divergent viewpoints. Striking a balance in presenting varying perspectives during classroom discussions is deemed crucial, as we delve into the role of administrators in ensuring this practice.

As we navigate the contemporary education landscape, we confront the challenges posed by decreased student attention spans, attributed to the allure of social media, and the need for instilling factual groundwork within the classrooms. A noticeable shift from a traditional academic standpoint to advocacy is scrutinized, with a focus on teaching students to think independently rather than spoon-feeding viewpoints. Listen in as we explore the role of technology in enhancing student engagement, the necessity of including historical context in the curriculum, and expressing gratitude for the enlightening insights gained through these conversations.

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The Telos-Paul Piccone Institute, in cooperation with the journal Telos, announces a series of events and publications designed to explore the place of critical theory in the response within the American university to the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

When: the online conference will take place January 12-13, 2024, and an in-person conference will in the late spring, organized by Prof. Gabriel Noah Brahm.

For more information about the conference, please visit telosinstitute.net.