OC Register editorialist Steve Greenhut has penned an excellent column in the Wall Street Journal on Anaheim’s freedom-friendly revolution inspired and led by Mayor Curt Pringle [full disclosure: I do some consulting work for Anaheim].
Greenhut’s column in a leading national publication focuses much-deserved attention on what Curt and his city council allies have accomplishes simply by embracing the free market, rather than trying to control and direct it. As Greenhut points out, most cities employ the latter approach — and their record of failure underscores the bankruptcy of that approach. However, city bureaucracies can become so addicted to the command-and-control approach to redevelopment that, like the classic definition of insanity, they keep trying the same thing over and over again and hoping for a different result.
The power of what is happening in Anaheim is it provides a concrete example of how quickly the free market can revitalize a city — and without the abuse, heavy-handedness and political alienation that follow in the wake of traditional redevelopment policies.
In any case, it’s a terrific article. Here’s hoping mayors, councilmembers and redevelopment staff all across the nation read it and think about it.