Free Republic

John-Robert Rodríguez moved to Culdesac, a car-free community in Arizona, in October 2023. He's never liked driving and believes that fewer cars can foster more community. Life at Cudesac is great, but he still has to deal with the car-dependent world outside its gates. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with John-Robert Rodríguez, 24, a teacher in Tempe, Arizona, who lives in the car-free community Culdesac. Rodríguez moved to Culdesac, which has about 150 residents so far but will eventually house 1,000 residents in 760 units, in October 2023 from Pflugerville, Texas, after growing up in Florida. The...

The tech billionaires behind a project to build a utopian new city in California's Bay Area have released the first artistic renderings of their ambitious plans. Previously known only as 'Flannery Associates,' the group rebranded as 'California Forever' and released the plans in a publicity blitz on Thursday night, following months of silence and speculation. Led by former Goldman Sachs trader Jan Sramek, the group's backers include Silicon Valley heavyweights such as LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, Andreessen Horowitz investor Marc Andreessen, and Steve Jobs' widow Laurene Powell Jobs. California Forever is now the largest landowner in Solano County, which is...

Barack Obama’s first White House chief of staff famously declared: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” His point has become a cynical tactic of the left ever since. Any time there is a tragedy — capitalize on people’s suffering and despair to advance your political agenda. It’s in keeping with this doctrine that we hear the rant that climate change was the match that lit the fires. ... Four years ago, the utility company said it needed to do more to prevent its power lines from emitting sparks. It made little progress, focusing on a shift...

Hawaiian Electric is under scrutiny for allegedly slow-walking modernization and repairs of its electrical grid before the fire that ripped through the island of Maui last week. Hawaiian Electric is Hawaii’s principle electric utility, providing power to roughly 95% of the state. Financial disclosures and reports show the company worried about the state of its electrical grid, and specifically the risk of wildfires, but devoted resources to building out the utility’s green energy network with limited action to mitigate fire risk, according to The Wall Street Journal. The scrutiny on the company’s past priorities comes as it faces allegations in...

A speaker at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, promoted the idea of cities where people could live “in harmony with nature” and not own cars Monday. “What’s important is for policies to change the rules of the game, so sustainability becomes [the] easier choice, not just for the people, but also for the companies,” Bastien Girod of the Swiss National Council, the lower house of Switzerland’s legislature, said during the event. “In Zurich, we have a lot of districts where you don’t actually need a car, because all the activities, school, buying something, everything you can do...

To seize further control of people’s lives, Globalists are pushing the false idea that these cities will “save the planet” and help all of humanity. Fifteen-minute cities are popping up everywhere, and the World Economic Forum is wildly enthusiastic about them. Last year it was announced that Paris, France, would become a 15-minute city, and now the British city of Oxford is next. However, outraged Brits are fighting back. As reported previously at RAIR Foundation USA, the city council has announced that it will divide Oxford into 15-minute neighborhoods or small 15-minute towns billed as “greener, cleaner and safer.” To...