“A few years ago, the Colorado Department of Transportation placed an advertising billboard high over Colfax Avenue in Denver reminding drivers to keep their eyes on the road, something that would be impossible to do while also looking at the billboard… There is a great billboard safety study from a couple years ago suggesting that […]
AN APPROACH NOT A SOLUTION: Escaping the Housing Trap—a Strong Towns Response
“At Strong Towns, we push back on the concept of a “solution.” There is no solution to the housing trap we find ourselves in… it’s always been an approach… People need to be able to try things, to respond to street or opportunity as it presents to them. Those responses need to be incremental, a […]
The Disease that Afflicts all Modern Institutions
Repatrimonialization Modern state institutions, which are supposed to be impersonal even if not necessarily democratic, are particularly vulnerable to insider-capture in a process that I labeled “repatrimonialization.” As we have seen, natural human sociability is built around the twin principles of kin selection and reciprocal altruism—the favoring of family or of friends with whom one […]
Political Order and Political Decay in the Time of Trump
Political Order and Political Decay is the second part of Francis Fukuyama’s epic tome of political economy begun in 2011 with The Origins of Political Order. The 2014 follow-up fills out the 2011 tome’s theory of politics as biology with consideration of Democracy and The Western State, Colonialism, and ultimately Political Decay—the question of whether all ordered […]
Disagreeing, Without Being Disagreeable
[v=kg2Noq77h9k] Can we disagree, without being disagreeable? US House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) thinks so. Ryan flies the flag of Jack Kemp’s optimistic conservatism. I wasn’t such a fan of Kemp back in the day (I don’t usually trust Quarterbacks). “Ideas, passionately promoted, put to the test. That’s what politics can be. That’s what our […]
Biological Foundations of Politics
“Political institutions develop, often slowly and painfully, over time, as human societies strive to organize themselves to master their environments. But political decay occurs when political systems fail to adjust to changing circumstances.” —Francis Fukuyama, The Origins of Political Order In mankind’s mythical State of Nature, are humans solitary libertarian beings—the rugged individualist, who only […]
Cloman Industrial Park
Pagosa Springs, Colorado, may have the prettiest backdrop for an industrial park you’ll ever find. Industrial Circle pictured here, with Cloman Blvd & Archuleta County’s Steven Field airport in the background. .
Archuleta County, Colorado
Dear Friends, I am moving upstream, as the new Planning Manager leading the Archuleta County Development Services—Planning Department in beautiful Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Archuleta County, population 12,244, is located at 7,000′ elevation in the Rocky Mountains of Southwestern Colorado, west of the Continental Divide on the New Mexico line. The trout waters of the the San […]
Coworking in Southwest Colorado
There’s an awkward time in the life of a startup, when the idea outgrows the garage but maybe isn’t quite ready to commit to anything long-term. It may be time to graduate, but not yet time to settle down—as an entrepreneur, you want to focus on the project, not real estate. Enter “Coworking”. Coworking is a […]
Livability Index: AARP Contributes a Tool Box of Community Indicators
If you create a city that’s good for an 8 year old and good for an 80 year old, you will create a successful city for everyone. — 8-80 Cities A well-designed place works for all of its residents, from the youngest family to the eldest veteran. We seem to have forgotten that in our […]