Joel Kotkin Explains The ‘Regression of America’s Big Progressive Cities’

By: KFI AM 640
On: John and Ken Show

Joel Kotkin is the executive director of the Houston-based Center for Opportunity Urbanism, as well as the executive editor of NewGeography.com. He’s also an author, and currently lives in Orange County.

His latest piece dives into ‘the regression of America’s big progressive cities,’ as he illustrates the decay of many urban areas, including Los Angeles and San Francisco. While some believe President Trump is to blame, Joel Kotkin argues he is not.

“These demographic trends, as well as growing blight, poor schools, decaying infrastructure and, worst of all, expanding homelessness are not merely the result of “racism” or Donald Trump,” Kotkin wrote, “but have all been exacerbated by policy agendas that are turning many great cities into loony towns.”
Kotkin even noted that just last year, a UN official compared Los Angeles’ Skid Row “to those of Syrian refugee camps.”

“Los Angeles’ Eric Garcetti, for example, speaks enthusiastically about his own “green new deal” and turning the city into a transit Valhalla even as blight and homelessness expand inexorably,” he said. “The mayor is less rhapsodic about practical things that people actually need, such as decent roads, reliable water supply or electricity.”

According to Kotkin, these new urban politics are threatening the future of our welcoming family neighborhoods, as well as local entrepreneurial ventures. But how do we solve such a deep crisis?

“Only when grassroots people and concerned businesses decide to challenge the urban status quo and the virtue-signaling political class can decay and the relentless bifurcation of our cities be reversed,” he wrote.