Dark Sky Ordinances: How to Separate the Light from the Darkness
In many areas of the United States it is difficult to view the stars in the sky at night. The International Dark Sky Association2, has successfully lobbied state and local governments to pass restrictive ordinances on the type of lighting private property owners may use. These “Dark Sky laws” aim to reduce “light pollution” so as to make stargazing easier. Many of these laws, such as the City of Aspen’s, impose unfairly short deadlines in forcing property owners to replace their current lighting. Excessively severe Dark Sky laws overlook the role that lighting plays in deterring crime.
The Planning Penalty: How Smart Growth Makes Housing Unaffordable
Abstract
Smart growth and other forms of growth-management planning create artificial housing shortages that impose significant burdens on low-income families and first-time homebuyers. This paper examines several sources of housing data to determine the specific effects of growth-management planning on housing prices.
Smoke Easies
The Colorado Legislature just did all us non-smokers a favor: they’ve ended centuries of oppression by the tobacco loving population and made it once again safe for us to practice our natural right to hang out comfortably in every neighborhood pub. It’s right there in the Declaration of Independence: “…and the pursuit of happiness.” I mean, how can I be happy when I’m kept out of the best sports bars by repugnant secondhand smoke?
Colorado Prison Spending Meltdown
Run Time: 0:10:45 MP3 3/23/06 Should Colorado embark on a massive prison expansion campaign or can the state slow the growth of the prison population through sentencing law changes? Jon Caldara interviews Director of the Justice Policy Initiative Mike Krause. Jon Caldara Justice Policy
Colorado Schools are Still Segregated
Do all high school teachers hate capitalism? Or just the ones in Colorado?
Bennish Controversy makes Case for More Choice
Through the recent spotlight on the Jay Bennish story, many everyday consumers have gained insights into the current public education system. Most revealing was the way the story unfolded.
Drug War Trumps Port Safety
The top objective of the U.S. Coast Guard’s anti-terrorism strategy is to protect what’s called the “U.S. Maritime Domain,” including American ports.
But it is hard to take seriously the idea that ports are being effectively protected when the Coast Guard spent more tax dollars last year fighting the war on drugs than has been spent in total on port security since Sept. 11, 2001.
Let Colorado Water Markets Work
For 150 years, Colorado Water Law has been devel- oped with a healthy respect for property rights – protecting the prior rights to water use established by the hard work of those who came before. Most attempts to centralize water resources in Colorado have failed, although there have been repetitive attempts to implement “Soviet style” statewide water planning in Colorado. The drought of 2002 created a new wave of demands on the Colorado General Assembly to “do something” about water. But many of those demands appear to be based
on little knowledge about how Colorado water law works. Current attacks on private property water rights include proposed county “tariffs” and other restrictions on water transfers, as well as applica- tions of the “public trust doctrine”, and proposed “anti speculation” restrictions on the use of ground- water not subject to the appropriation doctrine.
Counting the Cash for K-12: The Facts about Per-Pupil Spending in Colorado
Selected statistics often are cited to argue for more funding increases to Colorado’s K-12 public schools. Yet evidence from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and other reliable sources adds needed clarity to the discussion. Most notable is the lack of a relationship between total spending and academic outcome, as witnessed by the following facts:
