Today a Bankrupt City Votes on Its Next Steps
"We've gotten used to gridlock and stalemate at the national level. This is what it looks like for a city." What civic dysfunction has in common with excessive CEO pay, and why it matters.
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James Fallows
357 posts
James Fallows is a longtime correspondent for The Atlantic magazine. He has reported for the magazine from around the world since the late 1970s, including extended assignments in China, Japan, and Southeast Asia, and within the United States in Texas, Washington state, and California. He has written 12 books and won the American Book Award, the National Magazine Award, and a documentary Emmy. He has also done extensive commentary on National Public Radio.
The Battle for Downtown, From Canada to the Carolinas
"It is strange, but true." What one reader says about Raleigh, North Carolina, applies many other places as well.
What It’s Like When Your City Goes Broke
San Bernardino, California, is poor, and has a high unemployment rate, and is affected by drought, and is in bankruptcy court. But its real problem is something else.
An Incredible Time-Capsule View of One Downtown’s Development
Can tearing up a noted artistic zone be a path to civic success? City leaders say yes, while some of their citizens say no.
Cars, Pedestrians, and the Struggle for the Future of Downtowns
Plus: how much is any discussion of "downtown" a coded talk about race?
Fresno to South Bend to Louisville: The Elusive Elements of Civic Success
More cities, more assessments of what works, and why.
Can Cars Save Downtown?
Fresno, California prepares to rip up its landmark pedestrian mall and replace it with a street.
‘Generation Now’—What People Do, When There Seems to Be Nothing to Do
In the next few installments I will be talking about two cities in inland Southern California that have some things in common but have headed in very different directions, and…
Asheville Just ‘Happened’ to Develop a Nice Downtown or Did It
In the immortal words from Liberty Valance, "when the legend becomes fact, print the legend." Herewith the legend and reality of Asheville.
Equal Time for Tampa, and More on Asheville Too
Catching up with changes in major cities, and in the Atlantic's own web site
More on Nice Downtowns: Do They Just Happen? Or Are They Made?
Tampa has kept trying to revive its downtown, and has kept failing. Asheville has been wildly successful—but was it even trying at all?
Nice Downtowns: How Did They Get That Way?
"Visitors think, 'That's just how Seattle is.' But it wasn't." Lessons via places ranging from Fresno to Shanghai.
Three Ways of Thinking About Fresno (and Why You Should Care)
A beleaguered city shows the path toward revival.
From Xizhou to Eastport to Ajo: Big Dreams in Small Towns
The same kind of ambition you see in political campaigns, races for sports championships, or attempts to score a big IPO—but toward a different end.
Creating California’s New Bohemia in an Unexpected Locale
"It's a great time to be an artist in Fresno." This is a possibility I had never considered before visiting. And now ...
On the Road, in Arizona and Colorado
A small city struggling to come back, a larger one already thriving, and the implications for civic vitality