July 2009
Features
Planning to retire? Maybe not.
The economic downturn is prompting public sector employees to reevaluate their retirement plans....
Reader Survey Results: Older workers want to hang on to their current jobs
According to an online survey, American City & County's readers are altering their retirement plans as a result of economic conditions....
County Leader of the Year: Change agent
From reorganizing all departments to working through huge deficits to balance the budget, County Administrator Jeff Greene has spent the last year moving El Paso County, Colo., through troubled times....
Building savings
Missouri shows how to manage facility energy consumption....
Column
Editor's Viewpoint: Icing on the cake: warming's yin/yang
Global warming itself has been emerging, as its political fortunes have shifted. However, as with any issue, eventually the discussion turns to economics....
Issues & Trends
A river runs through it?
NACo resumes opposition to Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA), but an amendment may change the game....
Spectrum for sale
The dwindling amount of available radio spectrum has some local governments turning to a secondary market....
To your health
New National Association of Counties president and Sonoma County, Calif., Supervisor Valerie Brown will focus on healthcare reform and the economy....
Green acres in the big city
An increase in urban agriculture results in city and county officials are finding ways to promote and regulate urban agriculture....
Nation's litter shows signs of the bad times
Keep America Beautiful's Great American Cleanup uncovers story of recession and economic suffering....
Obama gets mixed reviews
American City & County asked the readers of its weekly e-mail newsletter if they think President Obama's policies are helping local economies....
Rhode Island high
In June, Rhode Island became the first state on the East Coast to legalize the sale of marijuana to chronically ill patients....
Nevada cracks down on child prostitution
The Nevada Legislature unanimously voted for a new law that allows prosecutors to freeze and seize the assets of anyone who commits certain offenses involving the pandering or prostitution of a child....
Hillsborough County, Fla., Mosquito Control celebrates 60 years
Sixty years ago, the Hillsborough County, Fla., Commissioners levied the first tax to pay for a mosquito control district to reduce the hordes of mosquitoes that bred in the county's 8,500 square miles of salt marsh....
Asphalt and shadows
Asheville, N.C., Director of Public Works Mark Combs took this dramatically-lit photo of a work crew paving a road. ...
Contracts & Awards Announcements
View the latest technology, public safety, transportation, and water contracts, as well as awards related to city, county and state governments....
Government by the Numbers
Twenty states fail financial disclosure rankings
Twenty of the 50 states received a failing grade in the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity’s (CPI) most recent financial disclosure rankings...
Census Bureau: Outlying counties are growing faster
While a solid majority of the U.S. metro area population was living in central metro counties by 2007, the outlying metro counties in most regions of the country grew faster between 2000 and 2007 than central counties...
New Orleans is nation's fastest-growing city
New Orleans was the country’s fastest-growing city in 2008, though it still has a way to go before it regains its pre-Hurricane Katrina population of 484,674, according to the U.S. Census Bureau...
Local Governments' Lighter Side
Unlawful entry
Two Ohio police chiefs are under investigation for allegedly breaking into the home of the surrogate mother of the children of actors Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker....
Who said driveways are for cars?
Toledo, Ohio, Mayor Carty Finkbeiner does not seem to think they are, at least not the unpaved driveways....
Recession plays the role of Lex Luther
This time, it's up to the average residents of Metropolis to save Lois Lane. The Illinois town of 6,000 residents has come up $70,000 short of the amount needed to cast a figure of Superman's favorite damsel in distress to accompany the 15-foot-tall Man of Steel statue that stands in the center of town....
It creeps, it crawls
Whatever it is, it's living in the sewers below Raleigh, N.C. In July, video of a pulsating blob of ... something captured by a city work crew began making its way around the Internet....
Across America
Solid waste show-and-tell
Encouraging residents to recycle and better manage their solid waste is an ongoing challenge, but county open house event spreads environmental message....
Mobilizing the county's forces
County's first responders use computers to improve coordination and communication during emergencies....
Navigating the big easy
An on-demand shuttle service offers a transportation alternative for residents in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward....
Dialing down energy demand
Computer hardware replacements and facility improvements keep the lights on in one Rhode Island town....
In our century
Fire departments gain authority and modern equipment to prevent and improve response times to structure fires....
