Hot Topics This Week:

• Infrastructure Money Battles: Watch closely as Congress debates the final allocations of infrastructure funds. Cities from coast to coast are lobbying hard; expect winners, losers, and lots of heated city hall debates, excuses, blame and political expertise as final numbers get settled.
• Remote Work Crackdown: After North Korea’s infiltration into U.S. remote jobs, hopefully cities and major employers begin tightening scrutiny and cybersecurity policies around remote work. Is your city ready for stricter oversight?
• Big Tech Meets Local Regulation: Congress is actively considering a ten-year moratorium on state and local governments passing their own AI regulations. This federal proposal would significantly restrict local control, potentially overturning existing or pending city-level AI policies. Cities with robust local initiatives, like Miami-Dade County, which recently released comprehensive local AI guidelines, may find their efforts directly impacted. Keep an eye on how this federal-local tension unfolds: it could dramatically reshape who holds power over AI regulation and local economic strategies. Local AI policy is good; local AI regulation is bad; any regulation is going to end up picking winners and losers and stifle innovation.

City to Watch: Columbus, Georgia

All eyes remain on Columbus after the controversial firing of longtime City Manager Isaiah Hugley. Expect community protests, legal pushback, and council infighting to escalate significantly this week.

Street Economics Insight of the Week:

“Cities counting on tariffs as stable economic policy learned a hard lesson last week. Expect businesses and local leaders to shift strategies quickly – economic stability demands agility, not reliance on political pendulums like a red tape empire.”

This Week’s Drama Alert:

Hamtramck, Michigan remains a pressure cooker as the city manager grapples with demands to reinstate the suspended police chief. This city hall showdown is reaching a boiling point so expect fireworks at the next council session.

Coming Soon:

• Music City Shake-Up: Cincinnati’s new major music venue opens soon; other mid-sized cities will watch closely to gauge impacts and results.
• Space Economy Launches: Florida prepares major announcements about its spaceport transformation strategy, signaling aggressive competition for space economy dollars.
• Economic Security Summit: U.S. intelligence agencies to release updated guidance for cities on protecting local innovation from foreign espionage – city leaders must pay attention.

About Street Economics Daily

Street Economics Daily cuts through noise, jargon, and bureaucracy to deliver sharp, actionable insights for civic and economic development professionals. Curated by a 30+ year economic developer and former Army Intelligence professional, it is blunt, irreverent, and grounded firmly in reality, it’s essential daily reading for city leaders who refuse to settle.

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