Many drivers on those streets greatly exceed the posted speed limit (35 mph for much of the time), and they aren’t going to slow down if the street design remains as it is now.

After all, drivers will typically go faster when roads are straight and flat, when roads are one-way, when there is no on-street parking, when lanes are wide (typical freeway lanes are 12′, Drayton and Whitaker are 15′), and when there is little “visual friction” from streetscape elements like trees.

We know from the nasty routine wrecks that drivers aren’t safe cruising faster than 35 mph on Drayton and Whitaker, but the street design deceives those drivers into thinking that they can safely go much faster.

Even though there is plenty of room for bicyclists on Drayton and Whitaker, most of us avoid those streets like the plague. Pedestrians, too, avoid Drayton and Whitaker; the very elements that make drivers feel safer make pedestrians feel more imperiled.

If we were starting from scratch, we would never design Drayton and Whitaker like they exist today. It’s long past time to get serious about changing them.

With fairly straightforward changes, we can dramatically improve safety on those streets, and at the same time we can dramatically enhance quality of life for nearby residents and enhance the experiences of hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

At the end of the day, however, the most compelling argument for redesigning the streets might be a financial one.

Public land has value. Used appropriately and efficiently, public spaces — including our streets — can enhance the value of neighboring properties, encourage development, contribute to the tax coffers, and promote neighborhood vibrancy. We simply don’t need two 15′ lanes on those streets, and the wasted space could be repurposed in ways that would generate many millions in economic activity each year.

Let’s look at some images that I created using Streetmix. I’m sharing these under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. You are welcome to use them under the same terms.

I should say right off the bat that pretty much all streets have some variation in width. I’m working with a basic width of 40′ in most of these images and ideas — that’s the approximate width of the two lanes and the sidewalks along much of the street.

Just keep in mind that the calculations might vary slightly from block to block, and, as I suggest near the end of the post, we don’t necessarily need to treat all blocks of Whitaker and Drayton the same.

For the sake of simplicity, I’m focusing on Whitaker rather than Drayton, primarily because the northernmost blocks of Whitaker really do need a radical redesign.

Also, really important: I am assuming that Drayton and Whitaker will continue to be one-way streets, but the best options might involve making them both two-way.

And also really important: you might assume that wider lanes are safer lanes, but the evidence does not support that conclusion. Drivers travel more slowly and carefully in narrower lanes, and even if certain types of wrecks increase on narrower roads, those accidents are much less likely to be catastrophic because the speeds are lower.

So here’s what Whitaker looks like now — two overly wide travel lanes and absurdly narrow sidewalks.

Next is a pretty minor redesign, although this would definitely cost some money since it involves devoting a significant amount of the road surface to the sidewalks. Nothing ambitious here, however — we make the sidewalks safer, beautify the street with trees, slow traffic because of the narrower but still perfectly wide lanes, and, maybe most critically, improve the visibility of drivers at the stop signs on the cross streets.

There’s plenty of room on Whitaker for the following design too — two travel lanes and a lane of parking, which would add considerable value to the properties next to the on-street parking:

But maybe we don’t need the parking as much as a bike lane? Two travel lanes plus bike lane, and a little extra sidewalk width that could be used for beautification:

I would suggest that some stretches of Drayton and Whitaker don’t really need two vehicular travel lanes. These are more radical options — 1 travel lane, 1 bike lane, on-street parking, and wider, safer sidewalks. In one, I’ve put the bike lane next to the parked cars like on Price; in the other, I’ve used the parking as a buffer to protect the bike lane.

As I said above, there is no reason to think that Whitaker and Drayton need the same design for the entire stretch from Victory Drive to Bay Street. The northernmost blocks of Whitaker — from Bay to Broughton — have a large number of pedestrians; many of them are patronizing popular restaurants and bars, while many others are just trying to get safely across the two travel lanes. But if you stand at the corner of, say, Whitaker and Bryan, you realize that the cars turning off Bay and turning out of the parking garage are only really using a single lane. We could and should dramatically reimagine those busy blocks — and we could turn a truly repellant street into a pleasant and comfortable one, including space for outdoor cafe seating and a protected bike lane.

But maybe we need two travel lanes on other parts of Whitaker, especially around Forsyth Park. Here I’ve still made the lanes narrower — again, that’s a no-brainer — but the left lane here is a dedicated turn lane onto Park Avenue, while the buffered bicycle lane will also make it much safer and more pleasant for pedestrians on the west side of Whitaker. After narrowing the lanes, I was able to widen the western sidewalk by 2′ and create a 2′ buffer for the bike lane. The presence of that bike lane would also make it much easier to reduce bicycle traffic in Forsyth Park.

These are all just possibilities, but any and all of them are better than what we have now.

Some of Savannahâ€s best-known attractions — mossy cemeteries, old mansions, ghost tours — give the misleading impression that the city is a macabre vestige of its storied past. In truth, Savannah is alive and kicking: How could it not be when a large swath of the historic downtown enjoys liberal open-container alcohol policies that make “go-cup” a popular term in the local lexicon? More recently, a cultural revival has been converting abandoned properties into everything from craft breweries to a contemporary art museum. So now Savannahâ€s antebellum beauty of live oaks and elegant squares coexists with cool shops and innovative restaurants. Welcome to the new South.

The NYT last spent 36 Hours in Savannah in 2007 (at least that’s the most recent I can find).

Interestingly, this year’s itinerary includes the Forsyth Farmers’ Market and several eateries south of Forsyth Park — Local 11 Ten, Sandfly BBQ, and Sly’s Sliders and Fries.

Of course, these things always have something of a random feel, but it’s a great series and no doubt great for the city and the featured businesses.

Here’s the accompanying video, which is very much worth watching:

A shoutout to photographer Adam Kuehl, who contributed images to the piece.

From the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 223,000 in April, and the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 5.4 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in professional and business services, health care, and construction. Mining employment continued to decline. […]

In April, the civilian labor force participation rate (62.8 percent) changed little. Since April 2014, the participation rate has remained within a narrow range of 62.7 percent to 62.9 percent. The employment- population ratio held at 59.3 percent in April and has been at this level since January. (See table A-1.)

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was little changed at 6.6 million in April, but is down by 880,000 from a year earlier. These individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job. (See
table A-8.)

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 223,000 in April, after edging up in March (+85,000). In April, employment increased in professional and business services, health care, and construction, while employment in mining continued to decline. (See table B-1.)

Professional and business services added 62,000 jobs in April. Over the prior 3 months, job gains averaged 35,000 per month. In April, services to buildings and dwellings added 16,000 jobs, following little change in March. Employment continued to trend up in April in computer systems design and related services (+9,000), in business support services (+7,000), and in management and technical consulting services (+6,000).

Health care employment increased by 45,000 in April. Job growth was distributed among the three major components—ambulatory health care services (+25,000), hospitals (+12,000), and nursing and residential care facilities (+8,000). Over the past year, health care has added 390,000 jobs.
Employment in construction rose by 45,000 in April, after changing little in March. Over the past 12 months, construction has added 280,000 jobs. In April, job growth was concentrated in specialty trade contractors (+41,000), with employment gains about evenly split between the residential and nonresidential components. Employment declined over the month in nonresidential building construction (-8,000).

Things could always be better, so I see no reason for the Fed to dramatically step back from stimulative measures, although I’m sure there will be calls for such a move after this strong report.

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 252,000 in December, and the unemployment rate declined to 5.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in professional and business services, construction, food services and drinking places, health care, and manufacturing.

The monthly employment report was filled with good — or at least solid — news, but not necessarily in terms of wages.

From Bill McBride/Calculated Risk, one of the most sober and objective analysts out there — Employment Report Comments: First come the jobs, then comes the real wage growth:

2014 was the best year for total employment since 1999, and the best year for private employment since 1997. Awesome news.

Looking forward, hopefully 2015 will be about “wages”. My thinking is first come the jobs, then comes the real wage growth.

Overall this was a strong employment report with 252,000 jobs added, and job gains for October and November were revised up. A few other positives: U-6 declined to 11.2% (an alternative measure for labor underutilization) and was at the lowest level since 2008, the number of part time workers for economic reasons declined (lowest since October 2008), and the number of long term unemployed declined to the lowest level since January 2009.

Unfortunately there was disappointing news on wage growth, from the BLS: “In December, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls decreased by 5 cents to $24.57, following an increase of 6 cents in November. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 1.7 percent.” But wages will hopefully be a 2015 story.

A couple of graphs from the BLS:

And check out this graph via Calculated Risk:

You’ll hear lots of commentary bemoaning the “collapse” — or some other hyperbolic word — of the labor force participation rate, but among prime working age Americans the rate has declined by only a few percentage points since the late 1990s. Some of those people left the labor force during the recessions, which is bad news, and we know there are more people on permanent disability, especially in some economically weak areas. But the decline in the participation rate has been very slight, and some of those people have retired early, quit working by choice, returned to college, or left the labor force for other reasons that don’t have anything to do with a weak economy. When you see much more extreme numbers about the labor force participation rate, you are likely looking at analysts’ work that makes the changes seem far more extreme than they are — they are including all adults but not adjusting for the aging of the baby boom generation, they are including all young adults but not adjusting for increased enrollments over the years in post-secondary education, etc.

We still have a ways to go to overcome the pernicious effects of the deep 2007 to 2009 recession, but things are looking better every month.

I recall that theme well. The narrative fed a well-worn but baseless ideological belief: a low-tax, low-service state like Georgia would remain competitive in a serious downturn while big liberal states like California would crash and burn.

It should have been clear to anyone who was actually looking at the data that California was simply ahead of the curve of the recession — and Georgia was behind the curve. And it should have been clear, too, that a state like California with such vast resources and so many thriving metro areas was bound to get its fiscal house in order.

Flash forward to the beginning of 2015 and Georgia has among the highest unemployment rates in the nation, and, even as Atlanta, Savannah, and a few larger metro areas are looking pretty vibrant economically, many counties across the state — especially in the rural areas — are floundering. I’ve remarked consistently on this trend in my City Talk columns in the Savannah Morning News and in numerous posts at Peach Pundit over the past year.

A key problem has been the collapse of government revenues in these smaller counties, which are now struggling to maintain even the most basic infrastructure and have been forced to slash education funding.

The Atlantic now offers perhaps the sharpest journalistic analysis that I’ve seen so far of these trends: What’s Wrong With Georgia? by Alana Semuels.

From the piece:

Georgia, home to Fortune 500 heavyweights such as Home Depot, UPS, and Coca-Cola, had the highest unemployment rate in the nation in August, September, and October. With a November rate of 7.2 percent, the state was narrowly edged out by Mississippiâ€s 7.3 percent (December statistics wonâ€t come out until mid-January).

This may seem surprising, since Georgia was named the best state to do business in both 2014 and 2013 by Site Selection magazine, largely because of its workforce-training program and low tax rates. Nathan Deal, the stateâ€s GOP governor, handily won reelection in November against Jimmy Carterâ€s grandson by speaking about Georgia as a job magnet.

But those who follow the stateâ€s economy say the stateâ€s troubling economic figures are directly related to Georgiaâ€s attempts to paint itself as a good state for corporations.

“This is what a state looks like when you have a hands-off, laissez-faire approach to the economy,” said Michael Wald, a former Bureau of Labor Statistics economist in Atlanta. “Georgia is basically a low-wage, low-tax, low-service state, thatâ€s the approach theyâ€ve been taking for a very long time.”

For small counties, many of which have declining or stagnant populations, cuts in funding to essential services will guarantee that 21st century companies will settle elsewhere. There might be some cheap labor in rural Georgia, but many of the workers lack necessary skills and education — and what credible executive wants to raise a family in a place that doesn’t have even halfway well-funded schools, parks, roads, etc.?

Again from the piece:

Georgia was among the first states to cut back the duration of unemployment benefits available to its residents to 18 weeks from 26. The state has slashed $8.3 billion from public-school funding since 2003 and passed eligibility requirements for a state financial-aid program that caused a dramatic decline in the number of students in technical colleges (some of those requirements have since been rolled back).

The state also passed a sweeping tax-reform bill in 2012 that eliminated some sales taxes and broadened exemptions for the agricultural industry that small towns and counties say have wreaked havoc on their revenues. Some counties are seeing unemployment rates that indicate the recession is far from over, including Chattahoochee, with an unemployment rate of 14.4 percent and Telfair, with a jobless rate of 13.3 percent.

Check out this report from the Georgia Municipal Association if you’re interested in the sharp decline in sales tax revenue distributed to local municipalities in 2013, despite general improvement in the economy. Here’s a key graphic from that report:

It’s a lengthy and interesting analysis. Let me also add a note about some recent commentary by Jim Morekis, editor of Connect Savannah, on Facebook. Jim notes that anti-immigrant legislation in Georgia almost certainly drove out some undocumented workers, which decreased both consumer demand and necessary labor, especially in some rural counties.

It looks likely that the 2015 Georgia legislature will be forced to raise the gas tax — and that would be an especially regressive tax that would most hurt two segments: a) the poor and b) people who have no choice to drive long distances to shop or work. So that will be another blow to rural parts of the state that will offset some of the benefits of falling gas prices.

Coincidentally, one night last week, I was walking up Bull Street when I overheard a tour guide telling a sizable group that, by law, no building in Savannah can be taller than the steeple of Independent Presbyterian Church. Um…

Once tour guides have passed the written exam, they are free to say whatever they want to tourists. Curiously, that point has been cited in court in other cities to suggest that testing requirements are not an abridgment of the free speech guaranteed under the first amendment. Among historians, preservations, academics, and friends with whom I’ve discussed the lawsuit and the test, there seems general agreement that the written test has proven no guarantee of quality tours — but most want to keep the test anyway.

The District of Columbia’s written exam — and several other requirements — were struck down by a federal court, while a similar test in New Orleans was upheld by a federal court. It seems increasingly likely that the Supreme Court will need to decide if some or all licensing requirements are unconstitutional.

From the NYT’s Lawsuit May Reshape Tourist Industry in History-Rich Savannah on 12/21:

In June, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit struck down the licensing rules put in place by local officials in Washington, including a test with 100 questions, the same length as Savannahâ€s examination.

“How does memorization of addresses and other, pettifogging data about the Districtâ€s points of interest protect tourists from being swindled or harassed by charlatans?” Judge Janice Rogers Brown wrote in a 25-page opinion. “Why would a licensed tour guide be any less likely to treat tourists unfairly and unsafely by abandoning them in some far-flung spot or charging additional amounts for return passage? Surely, success on the Districtâ€s history exam cannot be thought to impart both knowledge and virtue.”

But the same month, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld similar standards in New Orleans. The city, the court found, did nothing to limit what guides could say and was only trying to maintain its brand and its visitors.

Interestingly, yesterday the city of Savannah swiftly changed one of the requirements — the annual physical exam. From Savannah revises tour guide ordinance in the Savannah Morning News:

The city has eliminated a requirement that paid tour guides obtain a physicianâ€s certification as part of the permitting process.

The amended ordinance adopted by the Savannah City Council on Tuesday also makes it clear that permitting requirements only apply to those tour guides who are being paid for their services. The clarification was added after some tour company owners claimed the ordinanceâ€s language was overly restrictive — even prohibiting family members from telling their relatives about Savannah, said City Attorney Brooks Stillwell.

I think the city of Savannah is going to have to back further off on this one, just as I think they are going to have back off on a number of other initiatives. In a recent column, I compared the bureaucratic overreach of the tour guide licensing requirements to the city’s assumption that it has the right to ban anyone under 21 from restaurants with alcohol licenses. In the draft ordinance published to much derision earlier this year, city officials proposed banning anyone under 21 without a parent or guardian (huh?) from such restaurants after 10 p.m., but what would stop the city from making that 8 p.m.? Or 6 p.m.? Or all day? How in the world could city officials assume they have that kind of power to regulate both legal adults aged 18 to 20 and businesses like restaurants that are among the most common types of public accommodations?

Again from the NYT:

In Savannah, though, there are doubts that the licensing requirement will survive the scrutiny of the federal judicial system.

“My position at this point is, how do we prepare to lose?” said Bill Durrence, a Savannah native and member of the Downtown Neighborhood Association who has long supported the licensing standards. “This isnâ€t a political argument we can make; this is going to happen in a court of law. We can protest and we can write letters to the editor, but itâ€s going to have no impact on the court.”

Mr. Durrence said alternatives to the existing structure could include a voluntary certification program, which would offer guides additional credibility.

The market and the profession itself are capable of sorting this thing out. Maybe we’ll even end up with better tours if the city of Savannah gets out of the way.

Just for the heck of it, here’s a shot of the Forsyth Park fountain from January 2014. Remember when it iced over like this? Sure hope that never happens again . . .

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 321,000 in November, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.8 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains were widespread, led by growth in professional and business services, retail trade, health care, and manufacturing.

Household Survey Data
In November, the unemployment rate held at 5.8 percent, and the number of unemployed persons was little changed at 9.1 million. Over the year, the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed persons were down by 1.2 percentage points and 1.7 million, respectively. […]

Establishment Survey Data
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 321,000 in November, compared with an average monthly gain of 224,000 over the prior 12 months. In November, job growth was widespread, led by gains in professional and business services, retail trade, health care, and manufacturing.

A couple of graphs from the BLS:

The labor force participation rate (seasonally adjusted) is 62.8 percent and has been moving within a very narrow range for months. It was 63.0 percent a year ago. Given the aging of the population, we will likely see that number stagnate or decline slightly for a period of years even if we see robust growth in the national economy.

A broader measure of unemployment, U-6 (“Total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force”) is 11.4 percent, down from 13.1 percent in November 2013.

From Calculated Risk’s Employment Report Comments: Best Year for Employment since the ’90s:

Last month I posted a possible list of economic words for the year since I started this blog. This included “bubble”, “subprime”, “bailout” and more. For 2014 I suggested “employment”, and for 2015 I’m hoping for “wages”. 2014 has definitely been about jobs!

This was a strong employment report with 321,000 jobs added, and job gains for September and October were revised up. This was the tenth consecutive month over 200,000, and an all time record 50th consecutive month of job gains.

As always we shouldn’t read too much into one month of data, but at the current pace (through November), the economy will add 2.89 million jobs this year (2.80 million private sector jobs). This is the best year since 1999 (and, for private employment, this might be the best year since 1997).

Let’s say that again: “an all time record 50th consecutive month of job gains.”

In part, this strong growth was made possible by the depth of the 2007 to 2009 recession: we fell so far that some sectors had nowhere to go but up.

There are always unexpected things that can happen to destabilize the economy, but all those dire predictions in recent years of runaway inflation, of the ACA’s danger, of . . . well, you name it, all those predictions have turned out to be wrong. We have long-term issues re national debt and entitlements, but those can be addressed (and will have to be addressed at some point).

Barring some sort of external shock or Congressional brinksmanship that threatens to shut down government functions, I expect we’ll see continued job gains into 2015.

A graph from Calculated Risk:

Still, I remain very concerned about the economy in much of Georgia. It looks like Atlanta and Savannah are among the metro areas sharing in the national gains, but for much of the state — including dozens and dozens of thinly populated rural counties — there seems little prospect for growth. We need to get serious about a health care alternative to replace the federal Medicaid expansion and about additional funding for education. Absent those long-term investments, things will likely just stagnate across a wide swath of the state.

From that piece:

On the heels of conflicting rulings from two appellate courts, a Virginia-based group wants the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether cities are within their rights to demand that tour guides be licensed. The Institute for Justice says the rules amount to a “license to speak” — an unconstitutional restriction of First Amendment rights. Lawyers say a ruling could have a profound effect on anyone who talks for a living.

On Monday, the institute filed a lawsuit challenging a law on tour guides in Savannah, Georgia. The group said it will formally file its petition to the Supreme Court on Tuesday. In the past, the institute has filed challenges to what it sees as overzealous licensing schemes, in occupations such as hair braiders, yoga teachers and casket makers.

ORIGINAL POST: First, here’s today’s press release from the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit organization with a mission of “engaging in cutting-edge litigation and advocacy both in the courts of law and in the court of public opinion on behalf of individuals whose most basic rights are denied by the government.”

MEDIA ADVISORY

NEWS CONFERENCE TOMORROW:
Tour Guides In Savannah Sue To End Cityâ€s Licensing Requirement

TIME & LOCATION:
10 a.m. Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Johnson Square
Corner of Bull and Bryan Streets
Historic District – North
Savannah, GA 31401

NEWS CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS:
Robert McNamara, senior attorney, Institute for Justice
Robert Everett Johnson, attorney, Institute for Justice
Michelle Freenor, plaintiff; owner, Savannah Belle Walking Tours
Jean Soderlind, plaintiff; operator, Ghost Talk, Ghost Walk
Steven Freenor, plaintiff; high school teacher and college professor

SUMMARY:
Savannah, Ga.—Tomorrow, a coalition of current and would-be Savannah tour guides, represented by the Institute for Justice, will announce the filing of a major federal lawsuit seeking to vindicate an important First Amendment principle: The government cannot require a license to tell a story.

For years, the city of Savannah has required tour guides to run a bureaucratic gauntlet of requirements to obtain a license before they can lead a tour. Guides are required to take a multiple-choice test on the cityâ€s history, undergo a criminal background check and produce a certificate from a doctor verifying that they are sufficiently healthy to talk. Anyone who leads a tour without a license risks fines, jail time or even forced participation in a municipal “work gang.”

This is the fourth challenge to a tour guide licensing scheme filed by the Institute for Justice. Earlier this year, a federal appellate court in Washington, D.C. struck down that cityâ€s licensing requirement for tour guides as a violation of the First Amendment.

Founded in 1991, the Institute for Justice is the national law firm for liberty.

For background info, check out my City Talk column from August: Free speech ruling puts Savannah’s tour guide test to the test

I don’t know how the city of Savannah will respond (I’m guessing that they won’t do what I think they should do . . . ), and I’ll likely write about this issue in another City Talk column very soon, so I’ll hold off for now on analyzing the issue in depth.

But let me go ahead and share some passages from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s opinion striking down a tour guide test in Washington, D.C. that seems ver similar to Savannah’s test. From that U.S. Court of Appeals ruling:

BROWN, Circuit Judge: This case is about speech and
whether the governmentâ€s regulations actually accomplish
their intended purpose. Unsurprisingly, the government
answers in the affirmative. But when, as occurred here,
explaining how the regulations do so renders the
governmentâ€s counsel literally speechless, we are constrained
to disagree.
In Washington, D.C., it is illegal to talk about points of
interest or the history of the city while escorting or guiding a
person who paid you to do so—that is, unless you pay the
government $200 and pass a 100-question multiple-choice
exam. The District requires that certain tour guides obtain a
tour-guide license, which can be procured by paying
application, license, and exam fees totaling $200, and passing
the exam, of course. Operating as a paid, unlicensed tour
guide is punishable by up to 90 days in jail or a fine of up to
$300, or both. Believing the licensing scheme to be an
unconstitutional, content-based restriction of their First
Amendment rights, Appellants, Tonia Edwards and Bill Main,
refused to comply and filed suit in district court. The court
ultimately upheld the regulations, reasoning the scheme
placed only incidental burdens on speech that were no greater
than necessary to further the Districtâ€s substantial interest in
promoting the tourism industry. Finding the record wholly
devoid of evidence supporting the burdens the challenged 3
regulations impose on Appellants†speech, we reverse and
remand.

And:

The District rehearses a plethora of harms it claims to
forestall with the exam requirement: (1) unscrupulous
businesses, Edwards, 943 F. Supp. 2d at 122; (2) tourists
whose welfare is jeopardized by tour guides lacking a
minimal level of competence and knowledge, id.; (3) tour
guides lacking “minimal knowledge about what and where
they are guiding or directing people to,” id.; (4) consumers
unprotected from unknowledgeable, untrustworthy,
unqualified tour guides, id. at 123; (5) tour guides lacking “at
least a minimal grasp of the history and geography of
Washington, D.C.,” id.; (6) visitors vulnerable to “unethical,
or uninformed guides,” id.; (7) tourists treated unfairly or
unsafely, see Appelleeâ€s Br. at 24; (8) tourists who are
“swindled or harassed by charlatans,” see id.; (9) degradation
of the “quality of the consumerâ€s experience,” see id. at 36;
(10) “tour guides . . . too unserious to be willing to study for a
single exam,” see id.; and (11) tour guides “abandon[ing 13
tourists] in some far-flung spot, or charg[ing] them additional
amounts to take them back,” see id. at 38. Together, these
harms all fall under the banner of the Districtâ€s interest in
“maintaining, protecting, and promoting [its] tourism industry
and economy.” See Appelleeâ€s Br. at 19.
Despite the Districtâ€s seemingly talismanic reliance on
these asserted problems, the record contains no evidence
ill-informed guides are indeed a problem for the Districtâ€s
tourism industry. The only record “evidence” supporting the
Districtâ€s beliefs regarding the perils of unlicensed tour
guides is the Districtâ€s 30(b)(6) deposition testimony that
guides with criminal convictions might pose a danger, though
no evidence exists they actually have. See J.A. 154. This
will not do. See Turner Broadcasting Sys., Inc. v. FCC, 520
U.S. 180, 196 (“[I]n the realm of First Amendment
questions[,] . . . the [legislature] must base its conclusions
upon substantial evidence.”). The Districtâ€s reliance on a
Washington Post article dating from 1927 to justify the exam
requirement is equally underwhelming. See Appelleeâ€s Br. at
4, 19, 46. The article merely establishes that, nearly a
century ago, the newspaper expressed concern about
unscrupulous or fraudulent charitable solicitation and that an
unidentified number of persons said self-styled tour guides
were overly aggressive in soliciting business. Reliance on
decades-old evidence says nothing of the present state of
affairs. Current burdens demand contemporary evidence.
See Shelby Cnty. Ala. v. Holder, 133 S. Ct. 2612, 2627 (2013)
(“[A] statuteâ€s current burdens must be justified by current
needs.”); Riley v. Natâ€l Fedâ€n of the Blind of N.C., Inc., 487
U.S. 781, 802 (1988) (rejecting the governmentâ€s reliance on
antiquated evidence to justify current burdens); Nashville, C.
& St. L. Ry. v. Walters, 294 U.S. 405, 415 (1935) (“A statute
valid when enacted may become invalid by change in the
conditions to which it is applied.”). 14
Nor are the Districtâ€s suppositions validated by studies,
anecdotal evidence, history, consensus, or common sense.
The District says “many other cities . . . have concluded that
licensing tour guides is warranted to promote the tourism
industry and protect consumers.” Appelleeâ€s Br. at 46. By
“many,” the District means exactly five.5
Yet, whatever the
value of this evidence, it is diminished to the vanishing point
by the scores of other U.S. cities that have determined
licensing tour guides is not necessary to maintain, protect, or
promote the tourism industry. Said differently, five cities do
not a consensus make.

And:

Even if we indulged the Districtâ€s apparently active
imagination, the record is equally wanting of evidence the
exam regulation actually furthers the Districtâ€s interest in
preventing the stated harms. Curiously, the District trumpets
as a redeeming quality the fact that, once licensed, “[t]our
guides may say whatever they wish about any site, or
anything else for that matter.” Appelleeâ€s Br. at 27 (citing
Kagan v. City of New Orleans, 957 F. Supp. 2d 774, 779
(E.D. La. 2013)). But we are left nonplussed. Exactly how
does a tour guide with carte blanche to—Heaven 17
forfend—call the White House the Washington Monument
further the Districtâ€s interest in ensuring a quality consumer
experience?6
Also puzzling is the applicability of the exam
requirement to specialty tour guides, such as those focused on
ghost, food or movie tours.7
A general exam requirement is
ill-suited to ensuring such specialty guides are well informed.
And the existence and persistence of such varied themes
highlights how tourism is as much about entertaining as
educating.

It’s a really entertaining opinion, and well worth a slow read. It will be interesting to see how city officials respond.