Phoenix's Homelessness Challenge: The Case Against "The Zone"
Release Date: 11/09/2023
Capitalism Can Save the Environment | Benji Backer
Manhattan Insights
Progressives have long dominated the environmental movement, advocating government spending and bureaucratic oversight as the solution to climate change. Countless local and federal regulations have been aimed at mitigating environmental harm, often hampering productivity. Is this really the best way to preserve our planet? Some conservatives believe we should instead turn to innovative, market-driven solutions that balance environmental protection with economic growth. Our guest, self-described “conservative environmentalist” Benji Backer, proposes new ways to discuss climate issues and...
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Shifts in the Housing Market & the YIMBY Movement | Salim Furth
Manhattan Insights
The pandemic transformed urban housing markets, prompting increased demand for residential space and spurring a shift toward remote work. Many remote employees have left large cities for smaller ones, but housing demand remains strong in major urban centers. As cities' populations fluctuate, the pro-development YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard) movement has gained momentum with supporters advocating for more residential construction to bring down housing costs in major cities. Judge Glock and Salim Furth discuss the pandemic's impact on housing and cities, touching on urban density's appeal in the...
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How Technological Transformation Can Make a Conservative Vision Possible | Jon Askonas
Manhattan Insights
Rapid advances in artificial intelligence, genome editing, and materials science are poised to dramatically change the way we live, work, and learn—but is that a good thing, or is it a prospect we should dread? As it stands, conservatives are divided on that question, with some embracing technological breakthroughs and others fearing the threat they pose to human dignity. Jon Askonas has been urging conservatives to embrace the technological transformations of our time — and to use them to advance a distinctly conservative vision for human flourishing. This includes farming,...
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Inside the New York City Drug Crisis | Bridget Brennan, NYC Special Narcotics Prosecutor
Manhattan Insights
New York has long been at the forefront of the drug crisis. In 2022, over 3,000 city residents died of a drug overdose, the highest number on record. The proliferation of inexpensive yet lethal drugs, such as fentanyl and methamphetamine, poses an escalating challenge to New York City. However, there is hope to tackle these issues through collaboration and partnerships within the city’s criminal justice system and district attorneys. Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the City of New York Bridget Brennan has been confronting the drug epidemic since she took the position in 1998. She has...
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Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren't Growing Up | A Conversation with Abigail Shrier
Manhattan Insights
In their efforts to ensure their children's happiness, a growing number of millennial and Gen X parents are turning to therapists, school psychologists, and other mental health professionals for help. Yet there is mounting evidence that this therapeutic turn has backfired. Rather than inculcate the virtues of self-discipline and independence, these efforts have yielded a generation of children filled with anxiety, isolation, and a profound sense of helplessness—and in her new book Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up, Abigail Shrier explains why. After speaking with hundreds of...
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The Future of School Choice: Where the Movement Is Headed | Corey DeAngelis
Manhattan Insights
The school choice movement gained significant momentum in the wake of the pandemic shutdowns, which exposed the weaknesses of traditional public schools and the challenges of remote learning. As parents became increasingly aware of the quality and content of their children's education, many began to explore alternative schooling options. By offering a diverse range of choices, including charter schools, private schools, and homeschooling, the movement has inspired parents to find the best educational options for their children. Despite this, advocates of school choice continue to face...
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Homelessness at the Supreme Court: A Chance for Legal Sanity
Manhattan Insights
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to hear the case of Grants Pass v. Johnson has brought homelessness back into the national legal spotlight. The case revolves around the question of whether the homeless have a constitutional right to camp on public property, and its outcome could overturn prior lower court rulings that have contributed to the West Coast's homelessness crisis. Six years ago, the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco first ruled in Martin v. Boise that imposing criminal penalties for sleeping and camping in public violated the constitution. Since that decision, the amount of recorded...
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Unraveling the DEI Web: Harvard and Claudine Gay's Resignation
Manhattan Insights
Radical DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) ideology has overtaken elite universities and, increasingly, American public life. Few reporters have followed the "woke" takeover of American universities and the corrosion of its institutions more closely than our guest. Our guest Aaron Sibarium, a Yale University alum, now reports on elite institutions that he is the very product of and investigates the pervasive influence of "woke" bureaucracy and ideals in higher education. His extensive and in-depth reporting helped lead to the uncovering of a plagiarism scandal and subsequent resignation...
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Social Control, Explained: Preventing Crime and Disorder
Manhattan Insights
The field of criminology has transformed in the last quarter century. Evidence-based crime policy has been replaced by misperceptions about the nature of crime and criminal offenders. Concurrently, progressive policies and programs have also reshaped the criminal justice system. However, 70 years of social science research shows that "social control" is one the most important factors in preventing crime. Professor John MacDonald writes on social control: "While community safety is primarily produced by informal social control [family, friends, neighbors, schools], high-crime areas are...
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Questioning College: Is Higher Ed Worth It?
Manhattan Insights
Two decades ago, a four-year college degree was widely regarded as the key to boosting incomes. However, recent years have witnessed a paradigm shift in conventional wisdom about the value of a college education. Over half say college isn’t worth the cost, compared with 40% a decade ago. Are the skeptics right? What’s the average return? Who is it working for, and who isn’t it? Two prominent perspectives on the value of a college education appear to be in stark contrast, making it challenging to reconcile them. On one hand, there's the belief that opportunities for those without a...
info_outlineIn Phoenix, Arizona, a massive downtown homeless encampment known as "The Zone" was recently cleared out following legal battles and a court order. For years, the area was filled with hundreds of tents lining the blocks of streets, leading to a rise in crime and serious complaints from local residents and businesses. At its height, The Zone held about 1,000 people.
Earlier this year, a successful state court lawsuit citing a "public nuisance" claim led to a judge ordering the city to permanently clear out the encampment and find beds for the people remaining. Our guest for this episode, Ilan Wurman, was an attorney for the plaintiffs in that case, Brown v. City of Phoenix.
Ilan Wurman is an associate professor at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, where he teaches administrative law and constitutional law. He talks with guest host Judge Glock (who served as an expert in the court case) about the lawsuit against the city of Phoenix and the problems with America's debate on homelessness.
This conversation was recorded on October 9, before the city's deadline to clear The Zone.
Related reading
https://apnews.com/article/phoenix-homeless-encampment-b0ccbe6bc03ee1592b4e6a087c839417
https://www.city-journal.org/article/taking-a-stand-against-the-zone