60 essays
Effective Government
Government earns trust by being capable, transparent, adaptive, and designed around the people it serves.
Every essay filed under Effective Government, newest first.
Read the positionAug 27, 2026Our Politics Is Failing the Moment6 minAug 26, 2026AI Is Not Just a Technology Revolution. It Is a Test of Government.9 minJul 30, 2026The E-Bike Problem Is Real.6 minJul 26, 2026Visible Spending, Invisible Debt6 minJul 18, 2026We Are Not Cutting Costs. We Are Consuming Our Inheritance.6 minJul 3, 2026We the People at 2507 minJun 4, 2026America at 2504 minMay 7, 2026AI Will Not End the World. But It Will Change the Work.10 minApr 24, 2026Enjoy the Draft. But Don’t Send the Bill to Taxpayers.6 minApr 12, 2026Problems of Today Are Being Managed like it's the 1980s7 minApr 11, 2026What Did America Actually Win in Iran?5 minApr 8, 2026Trump’s Iran Gamble Is Weakening America5 minMar 16, 2026Stop Making 130 Municipalities Reinvent the Trash Contract6 minFeb 4, 2026Democracy Fails When Influence Detaches from Consequence4 minFeb 1, 2026Who We Drive Away5 minJan 21, 2026The Unraveling of the American Order4 minJan 17, 2026The Politics of Demolition3 minJan 16, 2026The Discipline of Renewal4 minJan 11, 2026Regionalism Without Losing Yourself5 minDec 2, 2025Government is Not Broken. It Is Starving.7 minNov 21, 2025The Oath Is the Point6 minNov 19, 2025Budgets Don't Fill Potholes8 minOct 27, 2025The Next-Gen Civic Hero5 minOct 25, 2025The Addressable City7 minOct 20, 2025The Governance Dividend8 minSep 26, 2025Boundaries Don’t Breathe. Communities Do.5 minAug 14, 2025Focusing My Service Here at Home, and Supporting Jen Mazzocco2 minJul 31, 2025In the Shadow of the Algorithm5 minJul 30, 2025Leading Local Government Through the Adoption of AI3 minJul 23, 2025Authoritarians Don’t Wear Uniforms Anymore3 minJul 20, 2025The Pennsylvania We’re Becoming5 minJul 14, 2025Reflections on Leadership4 minJul 5, 2025Toward Repairing the Republic8 minJul 4, 2025After the Big Beautiful Bill: A Reckoning for Local Government4 minJul 2, 2025The Measure of a Community Is How It Cares4 minJul 1, 2025Beyond the Ranch: Carrying the Cowboy Ethic into Public Service4 minJun 29, 2025Local Government for a New Era4 minJun 12, 2025The Spirit of the Whiskey Rebellion Lives On—In Defense of the First Amendment2 minJun 1, 2025The Coming Squeeze: How the Allegheny County Region Must Prepare for the Coming Era of Federal Austerity5 minMay 19, 2025Democracy Isn’t a Spectator Sport. Tomorrow, It’s Game Day.2 minMay 16, 2025The Next Storm Will Come: On Self-Reliance, Fragility, and Civic Preparedness4 minMay 9, 2025Building Streets for People: A New Vision for Mt. Lebanon and Dormont4 minMay 6, 2025Building the Future: Weather, Infrastructure, and a New Mandate for Southwest Pennsylvania6 minApr 26, 2025Breathing Easier: Paris and the Politics of Urban Courage4 minApr 22, 2025The Perennial Wisdom of Earth Day3 minApr 10, 2025Municipal Resilience in the Age of Retaliation: Preparing for the Local Impacts of the Trump Tariffs7 minMar 27, 2025CONNECT Utilities & Critical Infrastructure Summit5 minMar 23, 2025The Problem Isn’t Government—It’s How We Make It Work5 minMar 16, 2025The Aesthetics, Economics, and Politics of Infrastructure Modernization4 minMar 7, 2025Building a Stronger Southwest Pennsylvania: A Strategy for Uncertain Times3 minMar 2, 2025Saving Lives, Struggling for Funding5 minFeb 13, 2025The Promise and Fragility of Republican Ideals3 minFeb 11, 2025Building the Future: Why America Must Keep Constructing Homes, Roads, Technologies, and Institutions3 minFeb 9, 2025Why Institutions Matter in a Democracy That Feels on the Brink3 minJan 30, 2025The Power of Local Government: Innovating and Funding for a Resilient Future4 minJan 28, 2025Investing in Resilience2 minJan 26, 2025Regionalizing Fire and EMS Services is a No-Brainer5 minJan 6, 2022A recommitment to democracy2 minJan 5, 2022Statement at Mt Lebanon, PA Reorganization Meeting1 minDec 17, 2021Commissioner’s Column: Community3 min
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The ledger · 2021–2026
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Fiscal Stewardship
Long-term obligations, capital planning, and the discipline to pay for the public systems we choose to use.
Strong CommunitiesSafety, mobility, public space, and the everyday infrastructure that determines whether a place works well.
Democracy & InstitutionsLocal competence and national credibility are the same problem at different scales: whether institutions can still earn trust by doing difficult things together.