timwferguson

Where Police Work Can Pay in NY

These periodic pay reports from NY’s Empire Center (which I help support) are of more than nosy appeal. They chart the upper end of what public employees can stand to make in total compensation, which is a sometimes shocking reminder of how packages negotiated with compliant local officials can put taxpayers at risk. In communitiesContinue reading “Where Police Work Can Pay in NY”

More Productive = Less Political

I was encouraged to find an article stressing the importance of U.S. labor productivity in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs, produced by the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. (The CFR’s agenda includes national competitiveness.) The piece, produced by a former member of George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers and a formerContinue reading “More Productive = Less Political”

Subdivisions That Sustained a Hamptons Middle Class

As the South Fork of Long Island saw a housing boom in the mid-1980s, development pressed into woodlands—the very areas whose environmental worth was finally gaining currency. Roughly 40 years ago, a pair of adjoining subdivision proposals north of Quogue Village drew particular press and public notice. Unlike several other large projects floated during theContinue reading “Subdivisions That Sustained a Hamptons Middle Class”

Tangled Politics of Tribal Construction in Southampton

I’ve been waiting for the New York Post, which this month ballyhooed a coverage push into Long Island, to seize on a land-use story that captures its aggrieved-middle-class shtick. It’s the Shinnecock tribe’s rush to build a “travel plaza” (for starters) on its 79-acre adjunct site in a wooded part of the Hampton Bays hamlet,Continue reading “Tangled Politics of Tribal Construction in Southampton”

No, You Can’t Have a Free, Long Lease on a Dining Shed

I have to disagree somewhat with my libertarian friends at Reason who argue in the piece below that New York City is stifling a “creative, organic” outgrowth of the food-and-drinks business by shutting down the pandemic-era street sheds. I do so for the same reasons I have veered away from a number of laissez-faire positions:Continue reading “No, You Can’t Have a Free, Long Lease on a Dining Shed”

Inflation’s Message From and To Trump

So much can and will be said, but one helpful message to be drawn from this election is that politicians and policymakers should be deathly afraid of ever loosing the inflation beast again. Memories and aftereffects of the price rises of 2021-2023 fed into the economy being an overriding reason for ousting Democrats from theContinue reading “Inflation’s Message From and To Trump”

Affordability May Hit the Fan Again in Southampton

New and potentially partisan battle lines over “affordable” housing–or overdevelopment, if you prefer–are forming in Southampton town. It’s a tussle that has shape-shifted over recent decades but is now resulting from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s carrot strategy with local governments. After Long Island in particular bucked her earlier plans to intensify residential building inContinue reading “Affordability May Hit the Fan Again in Southampton”

Wisconsin Can Vote to Be Fat

Most political commercials are about hot-button nonsense like which congressional candidate is against fentanyl, so I ignore them. But because Wisconsin is such a key U.S. Senate race, the campaign of its mediocre senator Tammy Baldwin paid to put an ad on the national broadcast of the Brewers-Mets game last night, so I watched. TheContinue reading “Wisconsin Can Vote to Be Fat”

Asian-American Recipe: Future-Oriented Parents, Less Borrowing

It’s no surprise to see in new figures from the St. Louis Federal Reserve that ethnic Asian households in America, on balance, do better academically and have higher incomes. Their achievement phenomenon is one of the great U.S. stories of the last two generations. But this summer’s study breaks down such success into at leastContinue reading “Asian-American Recipe: Future-Oriented Parents, Less Borrowing”

Kmart Goes the Way of the Old Hamptons

Word has finally come of a planned closure of the Kmart store at the Bridgehampton (N.Y.) Commons center. When this occurs next month, Kmart’s remaining presence in the continental U.S. will be nearly gone, but the other story here is what becomes of the giant commercial space in increasingly tony Bridgehampton. Word is it willContinue reading “Kmart Goes the Way of the Old Hamptons”