China’s state auditor warned on Monday that debt levels among local governments are rising and the financial burdens and risks are not being properly managed, adding to concerns over the health of the country’s financial system. Sounds familiar. Read: China state auditor warns over local government debt levels | Reuters.
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San Francisco throws good money after bad
After wading through article after article about cities that can barely afford to pave their roads and keep libraries open, this is the kind of piece that makes me cringe. A sailing race for billionaires convinces the city to play host and pour all kinds of money into piers, advertising, you name it. Surprise, surprise,…
Report says poor are moving to nation’s suburbs – SFGate
Some of my colleagues have been talking about this for years, but it takes time for the data to reflect what people intuitively perceive: that the return to the city by wealthier residents, driven by many factors, has driven out poorer residents to the suburbs. Suburbs are in many cases less equipped to deal with…
New York City’s libraries: open less than Detroit’s!
It’s no secret that libraries are getting squeezed by repeated budget crises (threatened cuts, then partially restored funding, over several years adds up to libraries that spend more and more time closed). New York City’s proposed budget is yet again threatening big cuts to library funding, in a city where already 30% of libraries are…
The death of a school district
Heartbreaking story of a Michigan school district that elected to literally shut its doors last week in response to a budget crisis. Teachers voted to work for free (after also voting for four years in a row to freeze their salaries and reduce their numbers by 50%), but the school has locked the doors. In…