City Journal's 10 Blocks

Produced by the Manhattan Institute

City Journal's 10 Blocks, a weekly podcast hosted by editor Brian C. Anderson, features discussions on urban policy and culture with City Journal editors, contributors, and special guests. Episodes are devoted to topics such as: education reform, housing and zoning, mass transit and infrastructure, public-sector unions, the future of work, urban policing, and more. City Journal is a print and online magazine published by the Manhattan Institute.

City Journal's 10 Blocks

New York’s Ongoing Covid Struggle

December 2, 2020

With guest Nicole Gelinas

Nicole Gelinas joins Seth Barron to discuss the financial shape of the New York region’s transit system, the importance of midtown Manhattan to the city’s economy, the disturbing spike in violent crime on streets and subways, and more.

Find the transcript of this conversation and more at City Journal.

City Journal's 10 Blocks

America’s Shrinking Police Forces

November 25, 2020

With guest Charles Fain Lehman

Charles Fain Lehman joins Brian Anderson to discuss the nationwide crisis of police recruitment and retention, the strong link between the size of a police force and the local crime rate, and policy changes that could stop the downward spiral.

Lehman recently joined the Manhattan Institute as an adjunct fellow, working with its new Policing and Public Safety Initiative. His latest article for City Journal is “Police Departments on the Brink.”

City Journal's 10 Blocks

Election Outcomes and Disputes

November 11, 2020

With guest Tom Bevan

Tom Bevan, cofounder and president of RealClearPolitics, joins Brian Anderson to discuss what happened in the 2020 election, the Trump campaign’s legal challenges to the results, the issues with polling, and criticism concerning new state voting laws and “ballot harvesting.”

Find the transcript of this conversation and more at City Journal.

City Journal's 10 Blocks

A New America?

November 6, 2020

In a conversation recorded just before Election Day, Bruno Maçães joins Brian Anderson to discuss his striking vision of America’s future. Maçães’s new book is History Has Begun: The Birth of a New America.

City Journal's 10 Blocks

An Insider’s View of the Trump White House

October 30, 2020

Casey Mulligan joins Allison Schrager to discuss his time on President Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers and the administration’s record on issues such as health care, the economy, immigration, and more. Mulligan’s new book is You’re Hired!: Untold Successes and Failures of a Populist President.

City Journal's 10 Blocks

Shelby and Eli Steele on Michael Brown, Race, and Amazon

October 22, 2020

With guest Shelby Steele

Howard Husock talks with Shelby and Eli Steele about their new documentary, What Killed Michael Brown?, and Amazon’s refusal to make the film available on its Prime Video streaming platform.

The documentary is written and narrated by Shelby Steele, a scholar at the Hoover Institution, and directed by his filmmaker son, Eli Steele. It is available through their website, whatkilledmichaelbrown.com.

City Journal's 10 Blocks

Looking Back: A Conversation with George Kelling

October 7, 2020

In an interview from 2016, Brian Anderson and the late criminologist and Manhattan Institute fellow George Kelling discuss the history of policing in Milwaukee and more.

Watch the Manhattan Institute’s inaugural George L. Kelling Lecture, delivered by former New York City Police Commissioner William J. Bratton, and learn more about its new Policing and Public Safety Initiative.

City Journal's 10 Blocks

Radical Indoctrination in the Federal Bureaucracy

September 30, 2020

With guest Chris Rufo

Christopher Rufo joins Seth Barron to discuss his reporting on federal agencies using “critical race theory” as part of their personnel-training programs and President Trump’s decision to issue an executive order prohibiting it.

City Journal's 10 Blocks

The Covid-19 Recession, Revisited

September 25, 2020

With guest Amity Shlaes

Amity Shlaes joins Brian Anderson to discuss a classical liberal perspective on the coronavirus shutdown, the similar responses of U.S. mayors to violent disorder in both the late 1960s and in 2020, and the shift in what’s considered acceptable economic thought in journalism. Read Shlaes’ latest book, Great Society: A New History, to learn more.

City Journal's 10 Blocks

Fearless Thinking in an Age of Conformity

September 16, 2020

With guest Heather Mac Donald

Heather Mac Donald joins Brian Anderson to discuss how academic institutions responded to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and how academia’s monolithic belief in systemic racism has fueled recent riots across the United States. She also answers questions from a livestream audience.

Audio for this episode is excerpted and edited from a Manhattan Institute eventcast, “Fearless Thinking in an Age of Conformity.” Find out more and register for future events by visiting our website, and subscribe to MI’s YouTube channel.

City Journal's 10 Blocks

Policing’s New Challenge, with NYPD Commissioner Shea

September 9, 2020

Rafael Mangual interviewed NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea to discuss how recent legislative and policy shifts in New York present new challenges for police in America’s biggest city.

Audio for this episode is excerpted and edited from a Manhattan Institute eventcast, “The New Challenge of Policing New York.” Find out more and register for future events by visiting our website, and subscribe to MI’s YouTube channel to view previous discussions.

City Journal's 10 Blocks

China’s Nuclear Push

September 2, 2020

With guest Michael Shellenberger

Michael Shellenberger joins Brian Anderson to discuss America’s nuclear industry, China’s deal with Saudi Arabia to produce uranium “yellowcake” from uranium ore, and Shellenberger’s new book, Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All.

City Journal's 10 Blocks

Chicago’s Ransacking and Illinois’ Fiscal Blues

August 19, 2020

John O. McGinnis joins Brian Anderson to discuss the economic condition of Illinois, the main players in its infamous “machine” politics, the recent looting in Chicago that tore through the city’s Magnificent Mile, and more.

City Journal's 10 Blocks

Trouble on the Upper West Side

August 12, 2020

Hosted by Seth Barron

With guest Nicole Gelinas

Nicole Gelinas joins Seth Barron to discuss recent violence on New York’s Upper West Side, why the decision to house homeless men in nearby hotels isn’t good for them or their neighbors, and the risk that the city faces of losing wealthier residents due to quality-of-life concerns.

City Journal's 10 Blocks

Playing with Fire: The Unwinding of Public Safety

August 5, 2020

Hosted by Seth Barron

With guest Heather Mac Donald

Heather Mac Donald joins Seth Barron to discuss YouTube’s restriction of her livestreamed speech on policing, allegations of widespread racial bias in the criminal-justice system, and the ongoing reversal of public-safety gains in New York City.

City Journal's 10 Blocks

Catholic Schools, Charters, and Choice

July 29, 2020

Nicole Stelle Garnett joins Brian Anderson to discuss the importance of Catholic schools, their struggle to compete with charter schools, and what the Supreme Court’s recent Espinoza decision will mean for private-school choice—the subjects of her story, “Why We Still Need Catholic Schools,” in City Journal’s new summer issue.

City Journal's 10 Blocks

Policing on the Brink: A Conversation with William Bratton

July 22, 2020

Hosted by Brian C. Anderson

Former NYPD and LAPD commissioner William J. Bratton joins Brian Anderson to discuss the troubling state of crime and law enforcement in America, the NYPD’s decision to disband its plainclothes unit, the challenges of police morale and recruitment, and more.

City Journal's 10 Blocks

Nursing Homes: The Center of the Pandemic

July 15, 2020

Hosted by Brian C. Anderson

Steven Malanga and Chris Pope join Brian Anderson to discuss how long-term-care facilities have borne the brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic, innovative approaches to nursing-home staffing and training, and what we can learn from the experience to be better prepared next time.

Audio for this episode is excerpted and edited from a live Manhattan Institute Eventcast, entitled “The Center of the Pandemic: How Long-Term-Care Facilities Bore the Brunt of Covid-19.”

City Journal's 10 Blocks

A Summer of Violence?

July 9, 2020

Rafael Mangual joins Seth Barron to discuss the surge in gun violence in New York City and other American cities, the impact of newly enacted criminal-justice reforms on policing, and the connection between “low-level” enforcement and major-crime prevention.

City Journal's 10 Blocks

Navigating the Pandemic Economy

July 2, 2020

Hosted by Brian C. Anderson

Allison Schrager joins Brian Anderson to discuss economic trends in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, how the stock market has performed during the crisis, and why expensive infrastructure projects are a risky strategy for reviving the economy.

@