L.A. Ports Face Challenge from Gulf Coast

Appearing in: Orange County Register In this strange era of self-congratulation in California, it may be seen as poor manners to point out tectonic shifts that could leave the state […]

Fixing California: The Green Gentry’s Class Warfare

Appearing in: Orange County Register Historically, progressives were seen as partisans for the people, eager to help the working and middle classes achieve upward mobility even at expense of the […]

The Cities Creating The Most Middle-Class Jobs

Appearing in: Forbes Perhaps nothing is as critical to America’s future as the trajectory of the middle class and improving the prospects for upward mobility. With middle-class incomes stagnant or […]

Where Are The Boomers Headed? Not Back To The City

Appearing in: Forbes Perhaps no urban legend has played as long and loudly as the notion that “empty nesters” are abandoning their dull lives in the suburbs for the excitement […]

Cashing in on So Cal Culture

Appearing in: Orange County Register Southern California has always been an invented place. Without a major river, a natural port or even remotely adequate water, the region has always thrived […]

Twitter And The Real Economy Of Jobs

Appearing in: Forbes With Twitter’s high-profile IPO, the media and much of the pundit class are revisiting one of their favorite themes: the superiority of the brash, young urban tech […]

California’s New Feudalism Benefits a Few at the Expense of the Multitude

Appearing in: The Daily Beast Much has been written and spoken about the deep divide between “red” and “blue” America, but the real chasm increasingly is between Washington and the […]

Democratic “Upstairs-Downstairs” Coalition at Risk

Appearing in: Orange County Register Michael Bloomberg’s passing from New York City Hall, and his likely replacement as mayor by a fire-breathing populist Democrat, Bill de Blasio, marks a historic […]

America’s Fastest-Growing Counties: The ‘Burbs Are Back

Appearing in: Forbes For nearly a half century, the death of suburbs and exurbs has been prophesied by pundits, urban real-estate interests and their media allies, and they ratcheted up […]

Thinking Outside the Rails on Transit

Appearing in: Orange County Register To many in the transit business – that is, people who seek to profit from the development and growth of buses, trains and streetcars – […]