Reason Foundation

Recent Research and Commentary

Encourage Bottom-Up Redevelopment:
Reason Saves Cleveland With Drew Carey

Episode 5

March 18, 2010

While the city crumbled, Cleveland taxpayers were paying huge amounts to subsidize stadiums. The next big taxpayer-funded boondoggle is the new convention center. “I didn’t know Cleveland was such a bustling convention city,” Drew Carey points out. “Take that Vegas!”

“Spending billions on big-ticket redevelopment has utterly failed to revitalize the city’s economy,” says Reason.tv Editor in Chief Nick Gillespie. “It’s time for Cleveland to realize that bottom-up projects driven by the actual residents and private-sector investors are the best was to build a vibrant city for the long haul.”

“We can all make our own decisions. We all want to live our own kind of life,” Carey declares. “We don’t need a centralized government tell us what to do all the time and tell us, you know, what color to paint our house and what we can put where. We’ll decide on our own. We’ll work it out with our neighbors on our own.”

Does Planning Hurt Revitalization in Big Cities?

March 17, 2010, 8:07pm

Samuel Staley

Cleveland's cumbersome and unwieldy development controls may hamper its revitalization efforts and would be better off adopting market-oriented approaches similiar to those in Houston, Texas.

Improving the Economies and Business Climates In Struggling Cities

Examining how taxes, red tape, eminent domain and occupational licensing prevent economic growth

March 17, 2010

Anthony Randazzo

Policies that focus on making entrepreneurship easy and affordable will be milestones in leading a city to a thriving economy. Reducing the tax burden on small businesses will encourage new types of stores, services and production facilities to come back in, or stay in, city limits. Curtailing red tape and licensing procedures will also make cities more attractive to business development.

Improving the City's Business Climate:
Reason Saves Cleveland With Drew Carey

Episode 4

March 17, 2010

Take Cleveland’s municipal income tax, add a lot of burdensome regulations and red tape and you’ve found why so few businesses set up shop in Cleveland and why so many are leaving town.

This Reason Saves Cleveland With Drew Carey video compares Cleveland and Houston. The latter is one of the fastest growing cities in America and home to 29 Fortune 500 companies (second only to New York City). Houston is thriving without any state or local income taxes and very few zoning rules or restrictions.

"It’s a bottom line thing for businesses. They want lower taxes and less red tape.  Simple as that.” Drew Carey states in the Reason.tv video. “My only experience in running a city is Sim City, the computer game. I know that when you raise taxes, all the Sims leave the city."

 

Rejuvenating Urban America Through Land Use and Housing Policy Reform

Cleveland Case Study
Policy Brief 91

March 17, 2010

Samuel Staley

Traditional cities in the U.S. suffer from an older, less desirable housing stock. Redeveloping housing will be central to their revitalization and rejuvenation. Unfortunately, the very policies adopted to enhance the quality of life of neighborhoods — planning and zoning regulation — interfere with the spontaneous market forces capable of transforming the housing stock and allowing neighborhoods to become more competitive. Cleveland provides a case in point, losing more than half its population in less than 50 years. Cities should take a cue from Houston, one of the nation’s fastest growing cities, and think about ways to deregulate the housing market to accommodate changing housing preferences and land uses based on shifts in the economy and city demographics. By adopting market-driven regulatory process, Houston substantially reduces uncertainty and approval times for new infill development projects.

Privatize It:
Reason Saves Cleveland With Drew Carey

Episode 3

March 16, 2010

With all of its problems should Cleveland’s government be running shopping markets and golf courses? “No, of course not,” Drew Carey says.

Selling off golf courses, contracting out parking concessions, and all manner of public-private partnerships are generating billions of dollars in revenue and dramatically improving city services in places such as Chicago and Indianapolis. Will Cleveland's elected officials learn the right lessons in time?

A Reason Foundation policy brief accompanying this Reason Saves Cleveland With Drew Carey video calls for privatizing 10 government-run services and facilities in Cleveland, including:

• Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport. Several U.S. airports, including Chicago’s Midway, are examining this option. Heathrow and Gatwick in London, Rome, Sydney, Melbourne and Frankfurt are some of the major private airports in the world.
• Downtown parking meters and garages. Chicago received a $1.1 billion upfront payment from a private company who leased the city’s garages and meters for 75 years.
• Garbage and Solid Waste Services. Over half of all US cities have already privatized all or some of their solid waste services.

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