What U.S. Cities Will Be Talking About in 2026 (Including DC)

15 years in and the DC SEU is still at it. Still helping DC save money, reduce energy use, and build a cleaner, more affordable future. Together, did you know they've invested $120 million in low-income communities? They put $99 million in DC-based businesses, too. And they have turned out over 300 graduates trained for the new green workforce. That is economic mobility, y'all. And that is what it's all about. Still here, still redefining power in the district. Find out more at DCSU.com. If I had asked you on January 1st of 2025, do you expect that there will be national guards on the streets of your peaceful city? Do you expect that President Trump and Elon Musk will wipe out 20% of your city's jobs? Do you expect that you will elect a Democratic socialist mayor? You might have not said yes, but you know who would have made a pretty good guess about what would happen to our cities in 2025? the hosts of our Citicast podcasts, who are tuned in, tuned up, turned on about what is happening in their city. So that's why I have asked hosts from all 13 Citicast cities to come hang out with me today and talk about the huge event or issue that's going to shake their city in 2026. Today is Monday, January 5th, 26th. I'm Citicast CEO David Plotz, and here's what the whole country we'll be talking about.

So every progressive activist across America rushed to their stocking on Christmas morning to find out if they got their very own Zohran Mamdani for Christmas. The election of Zohran Mamdani in New York has Democratic Socialists incredibly excited about who they could help get elected. Let us talk about the wild undulations we can expect to see in urban politics in 2026. Undulations, I think, that Zohran Mamdani has really set off. And I want to start with our newest CityCast host, Jane Ceehoo of CityCast Seattle. Hello, Jane Coo. You have your very own Zohran Mamdani, in Seattle. Yeah, we do. Katie Wilson. How did that happen? How did that happen in the land of Jeff Bezos? So. I think the big determiner for that election was that Wilson campaigned on affordability. And she's still really won by a hair. So for those who don't know, we do vote by mail here in Seattle. So it took more than a week to tally all of those votes. And she ended up winning by a margin of 0.73%, which is the closest election here since 1906. Wilson has been compared to Zohran Mamdani, and I mean, she has previously identified as a Democratic socialist. But I feel like the Zohran Mamdani comparisons are not quite apt, other than the socialist aspect of things. But... I mean, she's described herself as being awkward. She's not held elected office before. And so there are some folks in town who have wondered if she honestly, like, has the Riz and the sway inside City Hall to really tackle the growing affordability crisis. But the transition team that she's brought on so far signals that she's trying to play ball with the big companies around here and longtime political operatives in town. So between that and having a pretty... Progressive City Council elected as well this cycle. People are pretty hopeful. But my 2026 prediction is that I think the linchpin of all of this is really going to be when the World Cup comes to town next summer. So previous mayors, whenever there's some big international event, have tried to, in particular, sweep homeless encampments because they want to make sure the tourists. see the city the way that mayors want their city to be seen. Wilson has not promised either way, whether she will or will not. Some homelessness advocates have pushed her on this and she basically has been like, I can't promise I'm not going to. I think it's going to be interesting to see what she decides there because it's kind of going to be tension between what people elected her for and what action she's actually able to take here. So Ali Viata in Salt Lake City, you guys do not have a mayor to elect, but you're going to have a house member to elect in Salt Lake who will likely be a Democrat because of a bunch of legal cases, which have now settled in the Democrats' favor in Utah. And you'll have a district, one of your four districts in the state will now be a blue-leaning district. Is there a sense that there's going to be sort of a...

progressive wing versus centrist wing fight in Salt Lake, too. Totally. And I would say this district isn't just going to be blue leaning. This is going to be a district that Kamala Harris won by 24 points. So the progressives are getting kind of riled up about it. But the problem really that we're having here in Salt Lake is like, we don't really have the bench. for that. And I mean, my prediction for you, David, was going to be that Utah sends a Democrat to Congress for the first time in more than, what, 10, 15 years. But I think my new prediction is the word affordability is going to lose all meaning in 26. Because everybody wants to use it. But unfortunately, not everyone's record matches an affordability agenda. And we're going to have to get real about that. Are there interesting candidates for the House seat yet? I think, again, like, everybody in the wake of Zohran Mamdani in this city wants a candidate that makes them feel super excited. And I don't think that's the vibe. Unfortunately. And I think also the vibe is like, this is going to suck up so much oxygen. This is going to suck up so much money. And how much is it really going to change our lives as Salt Lakers when we still have a state that is dominated by a really deeply conservative right-wing agenda? And could this money be better served, like changing the makeup of our state house than in a, you know, who's the better Democrat sort of mud-slinging primary? So Jacobi Cochran in Chicago, you're losing everyone. Every elected official in your area is decided they don't want to be an elected official anymore. I mean, Chicago has been just the epicenter of so much tension around Trump administration policies. There is a very prominent governor. How are the elections in Chicago likely to shake out in 26? That's a very good question because I wouldn't say everyone is retiring or seeking new office, but all of the 90s babies are for sure. Some of Chicago and Illinois's longest standing political leaders are deciding to go be with their families. Those retirees include Senator Dick Durbin, representatives Danny Davis, Jan Schakowski, and Chewy Garcia. Now, those names may not mean anything to... A lot of you all listening, but between those four people, we are talking roughly 155 years of political experience at the local, county, state, and federal level. And then you got a couple of representatives who are stepping down to replace them, which means we are in for not only a competitive primary season with a lot of endorsements and political.

back scratching up for grabs but also on the sliding scale of possibility we are either in for a new energized crop of politicians ready to do the bare minimum of political grandstanding against an authoritarian regime or we get a potentially transformative slate of new leaders that will help shape the bleak future of the national democratic party moving forward i personally am leaning towards a but either way with such major shifts in Your political figureheads, it means different initiatives, advisors, organizers, nonprofits, lobbyists, concerns will now have the direct lines to Congress. And that matters ultimately when so much comes down to who is closest to helping control the purse strings and flow of cash down this hyper-capitalist mountain. I don't know about y'all, but here in Seattle, it definitely feels like this is the millennial and Gen Z time to shine in politics. Yeah, we've got some people running who have been lieutenant governor and longstanding state representatives. And then we've got folks who, this is their first ever election and they're hoping to replace some of the longest standing congresspeople. So it's an exciting crop of campaigners for sure. You all are all like millennial and Gen Z. Are you excited to see Millennial and Gen Z candidates in office? It is kind of nice. This is Bianca and Madison. I'll definitely say when Jane, you're talking about Riz, we have a candidate that's being called Wisconsin's Zohran Mamdani, Francesca Hong. She's the only Democratic socialist. And she does have Riz for sure. And it is refreshing, David, to hear someone just talk candidly, whether or not the rest of Wisconsin will feel that way yet to be seen. But she's being identified as like the wild card in the race. And she's, you know, in addition to being a state legislator, she's been a bar. bartender and a chef. And she has, she swears, she wants to be unapologetic. And that's really something I think folks, yeah, maybe an older generation don't know what to do with. But I know it's causing a lot of excitement. So it's kind of exciting. We just saw a ton of excitement here in Nashville with Afton Bain. She did lose, but the blue wave was really exciting for a lot of folks here. The numbers were crazy. And she did run an amazing campaign. And she had Riz for sure. This is David from Las Vegas. I just want to thank you plots for calling me young. You know, as I think the sole representative of Gen X on here, it's sad. Me and Mike Schaefer, both Gen X. Okay, fair enough. Bree. Bree says she's dead, Jen. I'm Gen X. The Dick Durbin, the world, the boomers are leaving and we're not being asked to step up. It's all the youngans. But, you know, I have faith in the young people. Go young people. Allie here in Salt Lake, I will provide balance to that. I am cautiously optimistic. I want to be represented well, and I don't care how old that person is. And I think we are seeing some people leverage their identity, especially in this progressive primary, to make the case that they're the more progressive candidate. And that's just not always the case.

you know, maybe less of a interpersonally skilled political operator. Muriel Bowser has done a very complicated dance of trying to like retain her own personal dignity while also trying to play nice with Trump. It hasn't always worked and there's big debates about whether it was the right move or anything, but like she is fairly skilled at that effort. All right. I want to ask all of you all something. We're making predictions about what big thing. It could happen in 2026. But January, also time for leaving things behind. So I'm curious to all of you, what trend you hope ends in your city in 2026? You can just shout that out. Paid parking everywhere. Type 2 fun. Wait, what is type 2 fun? Type 2 fun is when it's not fun while you're doing it, but you reminisce on it and it's fun later. And like Salt Lake is a very outdoorsy city. And there's a lot of people pushing type 2 fun, which is basically just misery rebranded. This is Megan in Pittsburgh. That was literally in my wedding boughs, is that we were committed to type 2 fun. You are not welcome in Salt Lake, apparently. Are you a marathon runner, Megan, or something? No, but my partner is. Okay. There we go. Type 1.5 fun is where it's at. No, in Austin, I need y'all to save us from the influencers, please. Help us, please. They're everywhere. Nashville's going to piggyback on that, too, girl. Please stop exploiting drunk people in Nashville. Please get in there. The hawk to a girl, come on. Yeah, please stop introducing that's the stuff that's been here for 20 years. How often do you run into an influencer, Nikki? Oh, every day. They're on the streets. Like, unhoused people with their phones and like, you know, selfie lights on their phones introducing us to things that have been there for decades. It's making me feel very old. You just need sub-zero weather because it's done. Like nobody does man on the street in Minnesota for four months a year. I'm sick of drones at festivals and any gathering ever. I don't know if y'all feel that way, but I hate them. Yes. All right. After the break, mayors across the country are facing the question of how to revitalize their downtowns. Portland's mayor thinks he's figured it out. Stay tuned to hear that plan, whether we think it'll work and other economy-related predictions from the CityCast hosts.

You already know D.C. is more than Destination's capital. We gave America the football huddle, the blood bank, and go-go music. You're welcome, everyone. Our influence is everywhere, and now it's also on display at District Vibes American Pride, a free exhibit at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, running now from September 27th. It tells the story of how district residents like Chuck Brown, Dr. Charles Drew, and Carter G. Woodson shaped the culture of our entire country. I actually had a chance to see it recently, and I don't think I've ever been more stunned nor more blown away by a single exhibit. And I remember this feeling of swelling up with pride for my city, just taking it all in. You get to stand in front of original works by DC artists, see the iconic Nixon resigns, a Washington Post front page. And my favorite part, play a jukebox loaded with the sounds that this city invented. So plan your visit at dc.library.org. That's dc.library.org, your library, your city, America's story. Claudia Meza from Citicast, Portland. I was surprised to learn that you have a sky-high downtown vacancy rate, which I was really surprised here that Portland always seems so prosperous whenever I go there. Why do you have that? How does your mayor think that he's going to fix it? You know, our downtown looks like it's bouncing back, but unfortunately, it's been struggling. Because a big reason is that our downtown was never where people lived. It's where people went to work. So the economy was built around those workers and they just never returned. And then you couple that with the housing crisis and the fentanyl epidemic and a demoralized police force that many felt just quietly quit. And in literally a year, our downtown became... Pretty post-apocalyptic. We didn't want to admit it, but it did. Like we had like open-air drug markets, tents blocking sidewalks everywhere, literal human poop on the streets. So then Portlanders didn't feel safe going downtown for any reason. By the time you came, David, a lot of that had been cleaned up and things were getting better. Was that for me? Did they do it for me? We heard you were coming. And I was like, guys, please don't make me look bad. My boss is coming, please. No, it took like three years. So flood traffic is increasing, but money bags still see us. It's too risky. So we have one of the worst markets for real estate investment in the country, meaning bringing back downtown is going to be kind of up to us and local investors. So my prediction is that our very determined and ambitious mayor is going to put on his most optimistic horse blinders, which he's famously known for now. And he's going to help push policy that creates more opportunities for smaller.

businesses to thrive downtown. Keith, our mayor, he's good at drumming up support with other regional leaders, and he's already stated a desire. to cut taxes for small businesses. He's also said he wants to fill 2 million square feet of empty office space and built 2,500 new housing units in our downtown core by 2030. So I think we're going to see an increase of weird, seasonal, one-off creative storefronts and maybe even creative housing solutions begin to bubble up next year. I think Portland is going to do what it does best. It's going to get weird. It's going to get crafty. It's I don't know, but more creative people are definitely going to go downtown and see it for what it is, which is a blank canvas. Do any of you guys have solutions for downtown from your city that you think, oh, yeah, we've got to try this elsewhere, Trinay? Yeah, we've got that same housing issue, same downtown issue. Our mayor, Shrell Parker, has her own initiative called the Home Initiative. 30,000 units. preserved or created in the city. And she wants to transform old schools and office buildings into housing. How? 20-year tax abatements. Oh, gotcha. We can't do stuff like that downtown because we're on a fault line. And so now everything has to be retrofitted. And all of the buildings are basically made out of brick and things that kill people. So it's just so expensive. And also, nobody wants to share a bathroom because we've gone into this. And they're just like, it's going to be a gazillions of dollars to turn this. So we have to figure something out. I will say we're already seeing local property management companies starting to lean into this mission. We recently had a contest with one of the. property management companies where our listeners came up with ideas for what to do with empty downtown office spaces and we're we're doing more stuff like that in the new year so i think with focus city investment pouring in, we might see downtown as Portland's newest punk rock mall. We actually just did a study around that in Denver, and it's very hard to turn 70s, 80s, and 90s buildings into housing. There's very few options. So our city actually, our mayor just bought a dead outdoor mall that is downtown and is turning it into an adult play zone is one of the ways that they're trying to revitalize our downtown. That's not helping our housing situation. Adult play zone sounds dirty. Open air. You can drink and hang out and they'll be, I don't. I mean, really, what does that mean? Actually, David, that's the question. What does that mean? I don't mean to be the dirty capitalist, but like a punk rock mall typically does not throw off a lot of wealth that could like subsidize a public school system or hospitals or daycare. Mike, you don't. But it's fun, Mike. It will be super fun. I'm so stupid. Where do they see the, the like,

Making Portland a place you want to live happening. It's the, if you build, well, for one, Portland is already a place we want to live. But two, if you build it, they will come. This is the magic of gentrification. You get a bunch of artists. You get a bunch of, like, weirdos into a space. They bring their friends. They start making it cool. People come there. And then the man comes in and takes it away from them. But there's also the specter of. business improvement districts that are popping up to. So when they see an area that is rising up, maybe grassroots and maybe gentrifying a little bit, these pitches for business improvement districts, which is basically creating little owner-owned pseudo-governments in these little zones that they design, which I don't know. You know, some places they work, like I hear Denver. That's what we keep getting pitched in our downtown that be more like Denver, but there's a lot of skepticism. Yeah. So if the punk rockers come in 2026, the man comes in like 2030. Right. There's going to be a gap. Well, I say 2040, 2040 for sure. Let's move on. Let's move on. I can't wait to check back to see whether the man has arrived in 2030, 2035, 2040. That's amazing. Pittsburgh. Megan Harris of CityCattsbittsburg. Your city is in like more economic trouble than any other city in our network. And I did not realize that. You have universities. You've got big businesses. What is going wrong in Pittsburgh? I mean, there's a lot going right too. So our small business community. It's amazing. The colleges, the hospitals, the nonprofits, like they're fantastic. So is the food. We're also just really nice people. Y'all should come. But we're also going broke. It's funny to me every time we get together like this, a bunch of you all are always fussing about the problems that come up when your city has this huge population boom. But I would just counter that it also sucks when for whatever reason your city cannot grow. Our population is totally stagnant. We can't collect enough taxes. Whole skyscrapers are getting devalued to the point that they can't be leased. And that just makes the tax problems so much work. We also have the same thing. Every other city does with a minor housing crisis. Trinay knows this in Philly. Our state won't pay enough for public transit to thrive anywhere around here. I mean, I think this is the worst example. There are literally ambulances breaking down on the way to the hospital with people in medical crisis inside of them because we can't afford to replace them right now. I just think this is going to be such a huge challenge. And like literally today, we have a new mayor getting inaugurated. And I'm betting. that for a lot of voters last year, they picked him because they were just hoping that some kind of change might help remains to be seen whether that's going to be the case. Why is Pittsburgh population stagnant? I mean, it is a cool city, and it's got lots of charms, as you say. And a lot of other cities are growing like crazy. Why are you guys not growing? I mean, I think a lot of it's just reputational, like, I mean, genuinely, like, what do you all think of when you think of Pittsburgh? Because I think a lot of people, that answer is, like, very rust belt, very industry heavy. I mean, not for nothing. We had literally 100 years worth of, like, city skyline photos that were black and gray because of all the smoke and stuff. We helped build America and we...

destroyed our environment doing it, but we're better now. Everything has been better for decades. But I think that kind of disinvestment and watching a lot of like small industry towns, a lot of blue collar workers lose their jobs, a lot of labor rights get eroded has resulted in this space where people for a long time, they left the city, like especially in the 80s and 90s. Like, If you grew up and you were ready to go to college, you left town because the opportunity was not here. That's so different now. But it's taken 30, 40 years for people to come around to that way of thinking and for a whole new generation to kind of return. Like, we just lost Gen X, basically. And so it's on the millennials and the Gen Z to try to come back and talk about how great we are. But that takes time. Actually, Millennials and Genzi cannot come back because they are all moving to Austin. That's true. We also have competition to contend with. I want to talk to Nikki because Nikki, you guys have almost the opposite. problem from Pittsburgh, but also have a kind of government crunch. But your problem is you have too many people. There's too much wealth. Yep. And you're growing faster than probably almost any city in America. And yet that creates a different set of really difficult problems for leadership. Yeah, so we are growing way too fast and we do not have enough money to keep up with how fast we're growing. So the city came to the constituents with something called Prop Q, which was a tax rate election to increase property taxes by five cents on every hundred dollars. And it would have resulted in an average of $300 increase on property taxes a year. So, of course. Everybody in Austin said, hell no. And overwhelmingly, they voted it down. Meanwhile, our number of unhouse neighbors are rising. And even though all these rich people are moving in and pumping all this money in, regular-ass people can't afford to stay here. So we're moving out to these smaller cities on the outskirts like Kyle and Buda and Flugerville. And so now there's an organization that's like, we want to audit the city, what y'all spending our money on and why y'all asking us for money. And so it's just like all eyes are on what the city is spending. Why it's not being spent more equitably to make our city more affordable? Because the money is there. We are growing. Crazy. There's like crazy growth in our city. But there's a huge amount of us that can barely afford to live here. Barely. it's out of control. How much do you all think that this issue that Nikki's hitting on this affordability in the face of huge amounts of wealth that's come that are that's in present in almost all of our cities? Tons of wealth, like enormous amounts of wealth. And yet this affordability crisis, how much do you think that will shape your city in 2026? Is that going to be the story the way it seems to have been in New York City?

I think yes here in Salt Lake. And I want to ask you, Nikki, because we talk about Austin a lot in Salt Lake City in terms of building housing. Y'all went through this period of just like build, build, build. And we did the same thing. And now we are in this weird situation where there are all these units, but nobody wants to lower the rent. So they would rather give you like a free cruise or a $2,000 visa gift card than just lower the monthly rent. Did you have a similar outcome? Because it's a bizarre place to be in. Yes, our entire downtown is riddled with empty high-rise apartments riddled with them because no one can even remotely afford what's happening. And so they are empty. They're not even offering us gift cards. They're like, oh, are you poor? You can't afford it? Oh, we'll just let it stay empty. So they're just like all of these empty high rises. And then people that are just trying to stay and kind of. like really, really old apartments that will do. You know what I mean? Like it's clean. I'm not going to get shot. It'll do. But if people want to like have a house, if you want to have a home, if you want your kids to have a yard, yeah, you're not doing that in Austin. You're moving out. You're going to Flukeville or Kyle. Yeah, we're there too in Salt Lake. That's right. I was just going to say the entire conversation of our budget process right now, which has been still made it for. The last few weeks and there are now conversations of Chicago's first ever government shutdown is there's a desire from the mayor to reinstate a corporate head tax and his entire framing is that. This is the only way to raise money for social service programs for violence interruption. And some of the alders have put together an alternative budget that raises like garbage fees and things like that. And, you know, he's saying any taxes like on groceries or garbage or property tax increases, he'll veto. And they're calling his proposed head tax a job killer. And so, yeah, we're in this affordability question. For sure. Jacoby, that's the deal here in Seattle as well. I mean, as you all know, we've got Amazon here. We've got a bunch of big companies. And it's the tension is, should we be taxing those companies more? Or should we be constantly putting questions on our ballots about raising funds for small amounts of money? We don't have state income tax here. We have sky high sales tax. So more and more folks are really calling for higher taxes on these businesses, but a lot of folks are worried that those businesses might walk if they are taxed more highly here. We have Tesla here and sing. You know what business is not going to. walk and go to another city is your local citycast. So if you want to invest, if you want to invest in your community via your local citycast team, now is the time to become a member of citycast, become one of our neighbors. Claudia Meza in Portland, Bianca, Martin, and Madison, tell us why people should become citycast neighbors.

Yeah, well, you know, we're listening to all these predictions, but I think the big prediction is that 2026 will be the year of local, the year of making shit happen in our own communities. Local is where it's at and will be in 2026, whether you like type 2 fun or not, all of our cities. As you're hearing, we have shared issues, but we're also unique with our specific styles and concerns. And that's why our local coverage from locals like us is so important. Yeah, like in Portland, pretty much all of October, we were on federal troop watch on the show. And most national outlets were covering our costume protesters and, you know, in front of the ice facility or the naked bike riders who rode there in the pouring rain. But we were covering the less shot. tiny stuff, you know, like what was actually happening on the ground and also creating a space for listeners to share their thoughts and concerns and their anxieties with one another. And I know your local city cast show has probably done something similar where they help share a more complete picture of what was actually going on in your city. 100%. I mean, here in Madison, Wisconsin's recent local elections have had so much national coverage, specifically the most expensive state Supreme Court election in U.S. history. And I'll just say our coverage was better. Local is better. I'll say it. 100%. Yeah, because we live here. We know those people who are running for office. We know the issues that are going to impact us. They impact us directly. So if we've ever informed you on how to vote or, you know, the fun things like we've helped you learn about what you can do with your library card or made you laugh about the quirks that make your city unique, help us stick around by joining as a neighbor. Had to membership.citycast.fm. Make our day. keep local front of mind for you next year. Yeah, when you become a citycast neighbor, you're literally sustaining this local conversation like the curious, passionate, the weird, the very human conversation about our respective cities. And you also get perks like ad-free listening and invites to member-only events. Local is 2026. We're doing it best. And we should be clear, Citicast is an experiment that bets on locals like you choosing to care about us and invest in local journalism. Again, become a member today at membership.citycast.fm. Join us. You won't regret it. Today. Today. Today. I love the way that you say that. Me too. So we've already heard from one of our new cities in the city cast network. We have another new city or two new cities in the city cast network, the twin cities. Sean McPherson, you're the host of citycast twin cities. And I think in 2026, it sounds like immigration is going to be a huge issue.

in your cities. Certainly. It's going to be a huge issue nationally, but something is going to bend or break in the Twin Cities because we have two competing policies that have been part of our lives for a long time. Twin Cities are famous for being hospitable to immigrants, specifically documented immigrants, but this has been going on for decades. We have a network of churches, including Lutheran social services and Catholic charities that have been very... pro-immigration. But the Twin Cities are also infamous for being hostile to black and native people. And this is not the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent uprising was not a blip. There's a history here for decades as well. And as I see the chatter as ICE's focus has been on our Somali neighbors for the past couple weeks and it looks like it will continue, the chatter on Facebook makes me think that a lot of my neighbors are not following the American rule, the golden rule or the idea that America is built on a set of ideals. They're saying, we want these Somali folks, even if they're citizens out. Now, maybe that's bots, but I just don't envision the end of December of 2026 of us going, we haven't sorted this out. We will determine as a city, as a state to some extent, where we land because this tenuous alliance is not going to work going forward. What's been happening with Trump and the Somalis is really... really disturbing and obviously we've seen versions of this in other cities with other groups but it is something particularly vicious about what's happening with the Somalis and I wonder whether has there been I mean you said there's been people supporting what he's saying But I presume there's been some kind of rising in defense of the Somali residents of your cities. Absolutely. I've seen that on the streets. I've seen that from a lot of our Democrat leaders. We have only really seen one Republican leader step out and say, I really disagree with where President Donald Trump is standing. He wrote a letter and he said the Somalis have contributed so much to our community. They are our community. But it's been pretty mum from some of our leaders. blindingly loud from a lot of my neighbors, a lot of our neighbors who have been stepping up. But I'm seeing both of those conversations, David. There's a lot of things being levied about what percentage of Somali folks are on welfare. A lot of that completely inaccurate. But we're not at a consensus. We are not. And I think that this year is going to be a lot of navigating coming to a consensus. There's a spot. I hope we land, but I am not certain where we will land. So Trinanehry in Philadelphia, you. are going to have the biggest year of all of us, your city. You have the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and just a massive influx of activity of tourists. I'm sure the president is going to be up in your business a lot. What? Is that going to do to your city in 2026 to be overrun with 1776 reminiscence? We are celebrating so much in Philly this year. We're hosting the NCAA tournament, MLB All-Star Game, FIFA World Cup, and every cultural institution, local and federal will be marking the 250th signing of the Declaration of Independence. So our tourism records are going to go sky high.

We're reigniting tourism in our city. But my hope is that small local minority women-led businesses, as well as our beautiful neighborhoods outside of Center City, also get this financial boost. All right, I'm going to stick with tourism, but maybe to the darker side of tourism. David Figgler in Las Vegas, you guys have a new crime bill that would basically allow your government to bar anyone they want or bar undesirables from the strip. What's up with that? Yeah, well, everyone knows the Las Vegas strip. It's one of the most famous destinations in the world, a real driver of our economy. So, you know, it's no surprise that the resort owners. have perhaps an outsized influence in public policy here. So for over a decade, the casinos, our elected officials, and our marketing agency have not been happy whenever people behave in ways that are outside the official narrative of a fun and safe space for tourists to come and spend all their money. And, you know, these flare-ups are very natural. But as a result, the industry has been angling for a way to rid the area. of all so-called undesirables, David, the unhoused, drug users, aggressive showgirl buskers, dudes giving away cassette tapes, whatever. And now in the form of that governor's latest crime bill, they have their best effort. It's actually a bipartisan effort establishing a special court for people who commit the most mundane and minor offenses on the strip. And it gives them the power, I would actually say the mandate, to ban. literally ban anyone arrested under these charges with what they call an order out. And that means once a judge issues an order out, it becomes a new crime just to step foot near a resort, even on the sidewalk, let alone going inside any of the casinos. And this bill also enhances penalties of any crime directed towards hospitality workers, basically making valet parkers and Bellman a protected class like teachers and police officers. The ACLU, of course, is vowed to fight this laws unconstitutional. They've done this for prior iterations of it. But it's all going to play out in 2026. And I think other cities with tourist corridors, which is most major cities, are going to be watching to see how the courts fall on all of this, see if it's kosher or not. And then I say, what's to stop these order outs from becoming very commonplace in tourist districts throughout the Citigast Network? I mean, Austin, six. Street, Nationals Broadway, Portland's Pearl District. It's a really interesting trend that is going to be taking hold in 2026. Does it stem from an actual issue? I mean, do people feel unsafe? Do people feel harassed on the strip? Have there been instances of criminal behavior on the strip that have unsettled a lot of people? Well, sure. There has been. You know, because it's a dense area where a lot of people, I mean, the strip itself is about five and a half miles long. But, you know, the concentrated areas are in front of the big tourist attractions like the Bellagio Fountains, et cetera. And we have seen, you know, people attack other people, a lot of panhandling, et cetera. And while there are these flare-ups with the kind of the bigger issues, you know, these are people visiting sometimes, not the chronic.

unhoused, you know, and that's who this order out is really targeting. Just people who are hanging out on the strip who they don't want hanging out on the strip. So I don't know that this rule stops, you know, the stabbing that happened not terribly long ago of a couple of buskers from a person with serious mental health issues. But it does certainly clean up, if you will. And I threw the biggest air quotes in the world that I could, the area. So it's just tourists spending money. So we're about to go into another quick break, but it was really fun hearing you all shout out your thoughts on trends, trends you wish would disappear. So I have the flip side question for you. What trend in your city do you hope will go national in 2026? Cookie tables. What are cookie tables? Yeah, what are a cookie tables? What? Cookie tables are a thing you have at a wedding where everyone in your life or just the bakery you love most bakes you a bunch of cookies and everyone gets to eat them and also take a box home. They're an automatic favor. They're delicious. They're perfect. I thought it was a table made out of cookie. That also sounds good, too. It kind of is in its way. That goes right into mind, which has food share networks. We had a beautiful display of mutual aid with the government shutdown. And it's not a great moment for economic security for folks. really came out and helped avert disaster, and it was gorgeous. So cookie tables and mutual aid. Bianca, I'm now going to think of cookie tables as mutual aid. Yeah. Thank you for making this connection for me. Healthy cookies. I think everyone should get a sphere. Y'all need a sphere. Let's get a sphere in Madison. Yeah. Yeah. We've got hard pass. We've got red rocks. We don't need a sphere. I'm going to say more creative protests. I'm going to say we need way more creative. I'm not here to tone police anyone's protests. But I'm just from experience, I'm saying, get a little naked. It doesn't hurt anybody. You guys really were incredible in Portland. That person, the Victorian tea person, is that person still out there? No, but I mean, there were so many amazing like one-act plays happening in front of the ice facility. And what it does is it just makes the opponent look foolish. It weirdly makes them look foolish, which is weird because we are foolish. And it's just like, you're going to be funny. We're going to be hilarious. You know what I mean? And I want that, I want that energy from other cities. I want to see. it. Zero proof cocktails. That's our trend too here in Nashville. That's what I was going to shout out. I think it'll like calls Philadelphias as you know. Let's just calm down a little bit. Yeah, same. Here. Just chill out. Have a mocktail. They're so expensive. Have a mocktail for $23. I like the cannabis infused cocktails that are famous throughout the Twin Cities. Come on up. I'll infuse you whenever you want. Wow. You guys, y'all all have really nice things. I was thinking for Austin's Scream Club.

Everybody should have a scream club. Everybody gets together on a bridge at the same time and screams into the void. A lot of moms in Philly are doing that. Yeah, it's awesome. Like me. I went to a rage room. That was fun. Nikki, have you gone to the scream club? No, because it's so early in the morning. Why can't we scream in the middle of the day? I don't understand why it's so early. We built it up throughout the day, Nikki. Yeah. But a lot of my friends have done it. I feel like a happy hour scream club would hit way more. All right. We're going to take another break. After that, we'll be back with our last batch of predictions for you from more Tesla tunnels to stadium corruption. Don't go anywhere. A lot of our cities are going to grapple with major infrastructure questions in 2026. I bet your city is going to have something similar to. Let's start with data centers. Let's go to Madison, Wisconsin, Bianca Martin. Why is Madison ambivalent about data centers? You have a plan to bar data centers from your city. Data centers seem like the red hot center of the new AI economy. Oh, my goodness, David. So not Barr permanently, but yeah, the mayor of Madison put forward a proposal to put a one-year moratorium, along with the majority of city council members, on giving zoning certificates for any new data centers. And that's because it's happening so fast. People are freaking out. And this is, by the way, a very national conversation. So a lot of you probably will have this problem. But out-of-state multibillion. billion companies are coming in. We're talking OpenAI, Oracle, Microsoft QTS, tech giants who want to house their warehouses for their own AI servers in our state. And folks are just up in arms. And you're asking, why are they up in arms? Those companies are saying they're going to be great neighbors, pay big taxes to benefit the local economy, right? But the negatives are that the centers will put historic pressure on our electric grid. And it is, in fact, unclear at this moment how it would affect our energy bills. They will require billions of gallons of water to cool the servers. They're not cute. They're ugly warehouses that'll bring new light pollution, big power lines and folks' backyards. And worst of all, they're really not bringing many long-term jobs. So folks are kind of... You know, I think, David, you'd understand this, a concern that this might be a bubble, that this could be another dot-com bubble where Silicon Valley folks rush in, move to scale, and then they're like, let's abandon chip. So, yeah, that's kind of what's happening here is that the mayor of Madison is saying, let's slow this down. And in our county, there is a proposed data center in the village of DeForest, so a little bit outside of Madison. And, man, people are just filling into... city council meetings, like the opposition is so strong. And I personally really get it. I mean, I live in a city which is surrounded by data centers, D.C. Northern Virginia was the place where all data centers were before they start to spread around. And it's been great for the economy. Like having all of that fiber optic. It's built up a huge tech economy in D.C. Because there is an enormous amount of power and capacity. I mean, there are other reasons too, but that's one reason.

Man, I'll say my in-laws, they live in North Virginia right around those. And they are great neighbors in the sense that they don't make any noise or anything because no one works there because they're completely empty. And so, yes, they are a big capital investment and people get some jobs doing construction. But after that, like, they're not throwing off jobs and putting people in the middle class. I know, but they're not doing. No, but they're necessary infrastructure for the nation. They have to be built somewhere. And they are right. And in our good American tradition, we want them to be built somewhere far from us. Right, David. They're only necessary if you think AI is inevitable. Well, they're necessary in the sense that. There's a huge amount of investment that's going to go to them, and people who are making bets on where the economy is going to be think they are unnecessary. And I think that industry that doesn't particularly pollute and doesn't cause a huge amount of noise or terrible smells, and you can place it relatively near to an urban center, and there are lots of other technology companies can build up around it because it's providing instant capacity to them. That seems like a good business to me. Wait, but these centers do pollute. Water degradation is a mass. They do polluted. They are mass pollutants. The way that they strain the power grid is also in many ways of pollutant. And the fact that a lot of them, especially in Chicago, will end up in. largely black and brown neighborhoods where, as Mike pointed out, those jobs will not get pushed back into the neighborhood. I do think in the world of sort of siphoning resources from already divested neighborhoods, they will continue to be a pollutant in that regard. Well, it is the case that having data centers has caused buildup of tech service industries and tech-related businesses to happen nearby because that distance that being near to it has been helpful. But the problem is that sometimes it's not just disinvested places. This is Megan in Pittsburgh. We're also talking about doing it in really beautiful, like, green spaces that we don't want to be cluttered with this kind of nonsense. Yeah, there are actual humans living there. And people who have, you know, farmed those areas for generations. It's not disinvested areas in a lot of Wisconsin. These are areas that just maybe don't have huge population centers for the most part. But they are gorgeous, to Megan's point. And folks here are not stupid and feel like they're going to be taken for a ride. And who knows the long run? Let's move on. But I would point out, like, everything has to be built. Like, if you think that things are going to be built and you're going to have an economy, which is going to require some sort of industrial background, things have to be able somewhere. I guess I feel like this is intrinsically something which has tradeoffs. And you have to. You can't just go without industry in a world. Well, that's why I spent 700 hours researching this. And obviously, this will be a conversation in 2026. That is going to be. It's going to be a doozy. I can't wait to hear it, Bianca. You spent 700 hours. Chatchipit could have saved you a lot of that time. No. All right. Let's move on to Nashville. Maurice Cecil Anderson. You guys also have.

building that's happening in Nashville that maybe is desired by tech lords and not by everybody else. What's that? Right this second. Underneath Nashville, Elon Musk's boring company is drilling the Music City Loop. Yay. Yep. Folks, it's a privately funded underground tunnel that would shuttle people between the airport to downtown. In a train? No, a fleet of Teslas driven by humans. Now there's even more proposals. You know, of course they started with this one. Now they're saying there's going to be plenty more tunnels underneath Nashville. And Figuilar even came on our show to kind of tell us what we might could expect because they've been experiencing the Las Vegas loop. And so thank you, Figuilar, for giving us a fair warning because we're experiencing it now. Surprise, surprise. We... already are getting safety concerns, OSHA complaints, crews walking off the jobs, council members saying that their questions won't be answered by the boring company. A lot of locals are just saying, why can't we just have real public transit, like an express bus from the airport to downtown? And then meanwhile, you know, the state is calling all the shots while Nashville's basically just stuck watching from the sidelines. And this is the crazy... kicker is that hardly any geological testing was done before the digging started. And Nashville is built on hard limestone, which has caused a ton of issues in the past in our history. And so my prediction. For 2026. Are we all? Sinkholes everywhere, all over Nashville. Well, not just, not just sinkholes. Nashville has also got a flooding problem because it's built on rivers like most of our cities. It's Swiss cheese under Nashville. So yeah, are we just going to fall into a sinkhole? And I mean, my own personal prediction, like maybe my podcast isn't going to do so well because there's just going to be drilling and vibrations in every recording. Underground. When you're in the Tesla tunnels in Vegas, Figgler, can you get a cell signal? Can you, can people even listen to podcasts? I imagine you can. It's not that deep down, though it's fairly deep. And I personally don't go down it because I've done way too many public record requests about some of the safety things that make me personally, as a human being, not want to go into a car under the ground in the way that it was built. That said, You're welcome, Marie, because we allowed it to happen and now we're the test. All you have to do, it's real simple to stop this if you want, just say we need to have an environmental impact study because we haven't done that. And every other place where Boring has done that has had that requirement, they just pack up and move. Strange, isn't it? Okay. We did a lot of reporting on that from Citigast, Las Vegas, in cooperation with ProPublica early in the year. That's right. You did. All right. We're going to finish up in Denver, Bree Davies. You guys have so many stadiums in the heart of Denver. So many. But it sounds like you're going to have even more. I've never been to a city which has so many downtown sports facilities. And yet somehow you're going to add two more.

Yeah, we love to put these in our historic neighborhoods, too, I should say. So we're getting a new Bronco Stadium. We currently have one, which you said is in the middle of the city, but we're getting a new privately funded Bronco Stadium to be built and ready for the 2031 NFL season, along with the surrounding mixed use development, which will go in this area called Burnham Yard, which is part of our historic West Side. This is privately funded through the Broncos owners, the Walton Penner family group. Yes, those Waltons. And the tricky part here is we just passed. a bond that will pay for improvements to the surrounding bridges and roads that conveniently serve this area around the Broncos Stadium, which magically, there are plenty of other bridges and roads around the city that needed serious help this year. But these projects will be getting special attention from our bond. So some folks are seeing this as a, quote, secret subsidy to the Broncos, even though the city is not putting any direct money into it. But then, meanwhile, five miles away in a very long vacant lot. I don't know if it's a super fun site, but it was a... pretty toxic site for a while. We are potentially getting Colorado's first National Women's Soccer League team, the summit, and a brand new stadium will be coming there as well. But things have gotten a little bit dicey recently because city council voted to delay a vote to use $50 million of city funds to buy that land for the stadium. And then the team threatened to pull out if we didn't put our money up. So we're in the midst of this conversation around if the city will be paying that $50 million. It looks like we probably would. But our mayor, meanwhile, is very excited that in his first term, he may be the guy that's hosting two brand new stadiums being built in the middle of Denver. Your mayor does love to be the center of attention, so he will probably enjoy that. I mean, to be fair, he's a very charismatic guy. He's a very likable guy. But he knows what he's doing. And he knows that we feel we're very excited about sports. I think it's just the prospect of two of these things happening in the middle of the city at the same time has caused some pause and questions around where some of this money actually will come from. But at least my prediction, I think 2026 will be the last year that Denver looks the way that it does in this moment. And I know that cities change all the time. But I think the drastic nature of these two big projects. could change the city into something maybe unrecognizable for folks 10 years from now.

All right, it sounds like it's going to be just a crazy year all around the country. I can't wait to see how all of these things pan out. Whether the gentrifiers have come, whether the data centers get built, whether the strip is being denuded of undesirables, and whether everyone is indeed in Philadelphia. I know our 13 hosts are going to keep their city updated on all the important and strange and useful information that you need to know about our cities. Thank you, Jane and Allie and Jacoby and Mike and Claudia and Megan and Sean and Nikki and Trinay and David and Bianca and Marie and Bree for being here today. Thank you. No more stadium. David. Happy New Year. Go birds. No more stadiums. No more stadiums. Oh. And thank you, listener, for joining us. Your very own CityCast host will be back in your feed with a local story tomorrow. Take care.