Reporting in The New York Times, Michael Cooper examines the ways in which severe municipal budget cuts are impacting cities across the country through the lens of San Jose, which has lost more than a fifth of its employees over four years.
According to Cooper, "the nation has lost 668,000 state and local government jobs since the recession hit - more than in any modern downturn, according to a new analysis of labor statistics by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government." And these job loses are not just effecting faded industrial cities.
Even in San Jose, the epicenter of the booming technology industry, the combination of falling tax revenues, rising pension costs and dwindling state aid are having enormous impacts on the services that the city can provide its residents and on the lives of its former employees. New government buildings remain unoccupied, branch libraries are open only four days a week, and the Police Department has shrunk by a fifth.
In a poignant allegory, Cooper reports that, "after the police unit in charge of gang violence was merged last year with a unit that focused on quality-of-life issues, street-level drug dealing and prostitution, a spate of gang-related murders occurred in the city, which remains one of the safest of its size in America. The smaller unit was ordered to focus on gangs. Then there was an increase in prostitution."
FULL STORY: Budget Woes Prompt Erosion of Public Jobs, With a Heavy Toll in Silicon Valley
San Jose Homeowners Can Now Sell ADUs as Condos
A new policy could help boost the supply of smaller, more affordable ‘starter homes’ in the first California city to legalize the sale of ADUs.
South Bay BART Extension Gets $5.1 Billion in Federal Funding
The grant brings the project closer to reality, but delays and cost overruns are putting a completion date more than a decade away.
Managing Unsheltered Homelessness in San Jose
As California and other Western states await a SCOTUS ruling that will greatly affect how cities deal with tent encampments, a new stakeholder is causing big changes in how Northern California's largest city deals with its unsheltered population.
Analysis: Cybertruck Fatality Rate Far Exceeds That of Ford Pinto
The Tesla Cybertruck was recalled seven times last year.
National Parks Layoffs Will Cause Communities to Lose Billions
Thousands of essential park workers were laid off this week, just before the busy spring break season.
Retro-silient?: America’s First “Eco-burb,” The Woodlands Turns 50
A master-planned community north of Houston offers lessons on green infrastructure and resilient design, but falls short of its founder’s lofty affordability and walkability goals.
Test News Post 1
This is a summary
Analysis: Cybertruck Fatality Rate Far Exceeds That of Ford Pinto
The Tesla Cybertruck was recalled seven times last year.
Test News Headline 46
Test for the image on the front page.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
EMC Planning Group, Inc.
Planetizen
Planetizen
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service