Author: Kaitlin Hopkins

But I sense that something more fundamental is at stake. Obama in his first year adopted the priorities of what pundit Joel Kotkin, a Democrat himself, calls the “gentry liberals.” Obama called for addressing long-term issues like health care and supposed climate change. He and his economic advisers, like many analysts across the political spectrum, underestimated the rise in unemployment. Talk about “green jobs” has proved to be just talk.

Joel on The Washington Examiner

Check out the article in todays Oregonian authored by The Urbanophile himself Aaron Renn, entitled ‘Picture Perfect Portland’ explores if our fair city is worthy of the praise it receives on a regular basis. The verdict… sure, with a few caveats.

Aaron on Landscape+Urbanism

Why is this? Perhaps Portland is actually a bit too livable. As urban scholar Joel Kotkin put it, “Portland is to today’s generation what San Francisco was to mine: a hip, not too expensive place for young slackers to go.”

Joel on Oregon Live

Two Chapman U. professors have stirred up some high-level chatter about moving the United Nations to Dubai from New York!

Joel in The OC Register

Joel Kotkin, an author who writes about urban policy and often cites Houston as a model for successful cities, agreed that Houston’s transit plans could benefit from the new rules because of the city’s dispersed activity centers.

Joel on Chron

Another core obstacle to reform is what author Joel Kotkin calls Democratic “regressives” – so-called liberals, or progressives, who are mainly interested in protecting their quality of life by knocking various rungs off the economic ladder for the state’s working class and growing minority communities. He refers to the wealthy liberal elites who live predominantly in high-end coastal communities and who fight economic growth, impose absurd restrictions on land use and whose excessive environmental sensibilities are regulating businesses out of existence.

Joel in The OC Register

Recent rankings of the “best” cities around the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Monocle magazine and the Mercer quality of life surveys settled on a remarkably similar list. For the most part, the top ranks are dominated by well-manicured older European cities such as Zurich, Geneva, Vienna, Copenhagen, Helsinki and Munich, as well as New World metropolises like Vancouver and Toronto; Auckland, New Zealand; and Perth and Melbourne in Australia…

Joel on Planologie

Not only are there more biggish cities and big-city-ish places for a company to choose from—smaller cities are more like big cities than they used to be. “A lot of what I call the amenity structures that used to exist only in one or two U.S. cities now exist in ten or twelve—not in the same depth as a New York or Chicago, maybe, but sufficient,” says trend guru Joel Kotkin. “Let’s say I’m a Columbia University-trained MBA. Thirty years ago, if I landed in Dallas or Houston or St. Louis or Atlanta, I’d say, ‘Gee, I’m in the sticks.’ Now …”

Joel on TCB Review

Further out, the future seems brighter. As Joel Kotkin writes, this could be yet another American century. We’re still an entrepreneurial hotbed, our energy resources are plentiful, most of our rivals will be in decline by 2030, we retain the edge in military hardware, we’re an agricultural superpower, and we’re unparalleled in our ability to absorb different races, religions and cultures, “an increasingly critical factor in maintaining global pre-eminence.

Joel on McClatchy DC

The loss of Dodd is no loss. He was tainted by Wall Street slavishness and represented the very gentry liberalism that threatens the future and credibility of the Democrats. If we are to be ruled by Wall Street, why not support a party that doesn’t mind if the rest of us try to get rich? Dorgan is another story. He has been a legitimate, if sometimes crusty, populist. He is just not another pampered society socialist like Dodd. He spoke for the Heartland and the middle class in tones that recall some of the great true progressives. He will be missed.

Joel on WSJ