Urban Issues

U.S. Auto Commuting Dips to Half Century Low

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The share of workers commuting to work by auto fell to 75.6%, according to the 2021 American Community Survey (ACS), the lowest level since before the 1970 census, which reported that 77.7% of commuting was by auto (Figure 1).  read more »

Pandemic Reversal?

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A recent article in the San Jose Mercury-News reports that transit ridership in “car crazy” Los Angeles has exceeded ridership in the “transit mecca” of the San Francisco Bay Area, a “reversal that could remake California’s mass transit landscape.” This would be a lot more interesting if the writer hadn’t done the arithmetic wrong.  read more »

Our Sports Conferences Win the Money Game, But Will They Lose Our Hearts?

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It appears my alma mater will fall short of pre-season expectations in football. So I’ve pretty much already accepted the likelihood that the Wisconsin Badgers will disappoint their fans on the gridiron for at least the second year in a row.  read more »

Ghana: Sub-Saharan Fertility Case Study

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Sub-Saharan Africa has grown quickly, at a rate about 1.5 times the rest of the world from 1960 to 2020. This has principally been the result of its higher fertility rates and increasing life expectancy.  read more »

The "Tottering Chicago?" Series - Part 1

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Let me clearly state this up front. I’m doing something you won’t see very often. I’m writing a review of a book review. And providing an opinion of a book I haven’t read. Given what I’ve read in the review, I do not plan to read the book.  read more »

Washington DC’s Energy Colonialism

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Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser thinks people worldwide have a “human right” to come to the United States, legally or illegally. Our nation’s capital proudly proclaimed itself a “sanctuary city” in 2016.  read more »

The Fall of Los Angeles

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For much of the 20th century, Los Angeles symbolised the future. Over the course of the century, the population grew 40-fold to nearly four million people.  read more »

Class Homicide

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There’s much talk today, from left and right, about threats to democracy, yet little focus on the social dynamic critical to its survival. In this respect, we may see the current, and troubling, escalation of violent political rhetoric, and even political violence, not so much as the cause of polarization but the result of changing class dynamics, most notably the increasingly perilous state of the yeoman middle class.  read more »

Is Pro-Life Bad for Business?

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Shortly after Indiana passed a new law restricting abortion, Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly condemned the law and announced that it would seek to expand outside the state.  read more »

From Sri Lanka to Salinas

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Ah, Sri Lanka.

In 2020: a beautiful, agriculturally self-sufficient island nation full of tea and tourists and holder of the highest “Environmental, Social, and Governance” (ESG) investor rating in the world.  read more »