Richardson Dilworth

New Book Announcement! THE HIDDEN FACE OF LOCAL POWER: APPOINTED BOARDS AND THE LIMITS OF DEMOCRACY by Mirya R. Holman, develops a framework for understanding how cities use appointed boards and commissions, and what this means for local democracy.

Hartford is the Paris of Connecticut.

Philly is in its first municipal strike in the social media age. Does that affect how events are unfolding? So far, the national press has largely ignored Philadelphia's first strike by city workers since 1986.

As the strike ends, I want to give extreme kudos to Sean Walsh, one of half of our City Hall bureau, who covered the hell out of this thing. (I particularly loved his media analysis below.) 24 bylines this month so far! www.inquirer.com/politics/phi...

"Citizens in the City-Regions: Political Orientations Across Municipal Borders" by Anders Lidström, UAR 49(2), 2012.
journals.sagepub.com/share/UV5G93...

Ugh

When I was 9 years old there was a roller skate store just off South Street (Philadelphia), “Born to Roll.” I recently looked to see if I could find any information about the store and found this 1980 Inquirer article. The store’s owner, Jyl Rebold, had previously been a CIA horticulturalist?!

This is a new thing we’re doing: Posting articles from UAR that are temporarily ungated. We’re attempting to do this with every article published since 1965.

"Venue Shopping and the Politics of Urban Development: Lessons from Chicago and Seattle" by Joshua Sapotichne and James M. Smith, UAR 48(1), 2012.

Our pleasure!

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

***Online First Special Issue Release of Urban Affairs Review – The Local Politics of Public Health*** Open Access coming soon! journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

Was grateful for @richardsondilworth.bsky.social's invite to write this commentary on a fantastic symposium edited by @charleywillison.bsky.social, whose introductory essay is here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/....

How Municipalities Exploit Their De Facto Power to Manage Metropolitan Planning Through Mutual Deference

This article builds off research I recently published in the journal @urbanaffairsreview.bsky.social:

Even established authoritarian regimes consider arresting defiant judges an extreme tactic—a serious escalation usually reserved for after one-party rule is firmly entrenched. Seeing a judge arrested in the US today should alarm everyone who values democratic governance. This cannot be allowed. 🧵

Just renewed my Philly Inquirer subscription (even though I live in CA and have never lived in PA) bc @willbunch.bsky.social and the PI refuse to capitulate like so much of the MSM. Also, another great piece from Bunch. We fight on. Don’t stop.

How a group of kids from West Philly chasing money and fame grew into a violent gang known as YBC They started as kids from West Philly just trying to make it out. Drill rap, and the pull of fame and money, left nearly a dozen dead, and others in prison for decades.

This is the kind of in-depth gun violence reporting that requires deep sourcing, trust building, newsroom resources, and straight up empathy. Which is why so few people do it like @ellierushing.bsky.social:

share.inquirer.com/49QJcN

NEW 🧵 Is human intelligence starting to decline?

Recent results from major international tests show that the average person’s capacity to process information, use reasoning and solve novel problems has been falling since around the mid 2010s

What should we make of this?

www.ft.com/content/a801...

Political Lessons from American Cities | UAR Remixed Philadelphia

🎧 NEW episode of UAR Remixed is now live! From @templeuniversity.bsky.social + @richardsondilworth.bsky.social, another installment of "Political Lessons from American Cities," on Philadelphia + reform politics. Listen wherever you get your podcasts

shows.acast.com/urbanaffairs...

Does authorship mean anything when academic papers are simply citable tokens? The bibliometric infrastructure of citations has become an inescapable organising feature of academic life. Drawing on a range of evidence of the use and misuse of citations data, Stuart Macdonald …

The publishing/authorship situation isn’t this dire in the humanities (yet!) but what applies across the board is the administrative push for ways to evaluate scholarship that don’t require actual reading 😒

Yosemite halts camping reservations, with no timetable for their return Yosemite halts camping reservations, with no timetable for their return at a time when federal employees are being laid off

Want to go visit the national parks this year?
Sorry.
The reservation system is shut down, EMT personnel are gone, so don't get hurt or lost. No one can clean the bathrooms or cabins, so they'll be closed. Rangers are fired.

www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...

Trump officials fired nuclear staff not realizing they oversee the country’s weapons stockpile, sources say | CNN Some of the fired probationary employees included on-the-ground staff at facilities where nuclear weapons are built.

www.cnn.com/2025/02/14/c...

www.inquirer.com/columnists/a...

DOGE-Backed Halt at CFPB Comes Amid Musk’s Plans for ‘X’ Digital Wallet Government-efficiency team’s initial ‘read-only’ access expanded quickly to encompass closely guarded data, internal emails say.

www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

NPR coverage this morning: "it's kind of...unusual that a court ruling is being ignored" but "we don't know the intention here" and also "the Marshals Service would probably not enforce it".

The CFPB is a great return on investment for Americans: it’s turned over $20 billion to the public from companies committing abusive & illegal business practices, far outpacing its operating costs.

We call upon our elected representatives to stand with us and to insist upon adherence to the rule of law and the legal processes and procedures that ensure orderly change. The administration cannot choose which law it will follow or ignore. These are not partisan or political issues. These are rule of law and process issues. We cannot afford to remain silent. We must stand up for the values we hold dear. The ABA will do its part and act to protect the rule of law. We urge every attorney to join us and insist that our government, a government of the people, follow the law. It is part of the oath we took when we became lawyers. Whatever your political party or your views, change must be made in the right way. Americans expect no less.

The American Bar Association has just called upon every attorney, regardless of their political views, to join them & stand up for the rule of law & at minimum insist that our government "follow the law."

Every lawyer has an ethical responsibility to do so.

www.americanbar.org/news/abanews...

Microsoft Study Finds AI Makes Human Cognition “Atrophied and Unprepared” Researchers find that the more people use AI at their job, the less critical thinking they use.

www.404media.co/microsoft-st...

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is carrying up to $1.2 million in credit card debt, according to recent financial disclosures. www.cnbc.com/2025/02/07/w...

Most of the world’s brightest minds are hard at work developing new ways for you to get depression from a computer

Received a letter from POTUS today purporting to remove me as Commissioner and Chair of the FEC. There's a legal way to replace FEC commissioners-this isn't it. I've been so fortunate to serve the American people and stir up some good trouble along the way. That's not changing anytime soon.