The Strong Towns Podcast

Rick Cole is the chief deputy controller of Los Angeles and a councilmember in Pasadena, California. He’s known for tackling challenging city budgets and has been honored for his work as a public official several times, including with a Excellence in Management Award.

Cole joins Chuck Marohn on this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast to discuss city finances and how they can be improved. Their conversation includes the following topics:

• What does it mean for budgets to be value statements?

• How do you direct city finances in a truly effective way?

• What role should the public play in a city’s financial decisions, and how can city staff and officials enable their productive participation?

• And more!

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• Learn more about the Strong Towns approach to finance.

• Rick Cole (LinkedIn)

• Chuck Marohn (Substack)

This week, Chuck is joined by Shayne Kavanagh, senior manager of research for the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA). The GFOA provides training and resources to city finance officers. In his role, Kavanagh develops new approaches to budgeting, financial reporting and revenue that can better address the problems local governments are trying to solve.

Chuck and Kavanagh discuss the role of finance officers as “decision architects.” Kavanagh gives a closer look at the world of local government finance and shares some tactics that finance officers can use to improve their processes.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• Connect with Shayne Kavanagh:

  • GFOA site

  • LinkedIn

• Chuck Marohn (Substack)

What cities have successfully financed housing at the local level? How does tax increment financing work? When should cities stop subsidizing large-scale housing projects? Strong Towns President Chuck Marohn answers all these questions and more in this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• There are six code reforms your city officials can implement today to welcome more housing to your community. Learn more here.

• Do you want 1-on-1 coaching with Chuck on how to bring more housing to your community? Sign up for the Accelerator coaching program before spots run out!

• Chuck Marohn (Substack)

In this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck addresses the craziness of the current political climate. Using recent policy changes and public responses as examples, he explores how we’ve created a political climate of either-or: Either you decide to take a chainsaw to bankrupt and failing systems or you refuse to acknowledge that they’re bankrupt and failing.

Chuck shows how the Strong Towns approach provides a third path, where problems are recognized and addressed in a healthy way. He also gives a sneak peek at how Strong Towns is planning to help advocates and cities embrace this path.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “It Was Never Going To Be Me” by Ben Hunt (Epsilon Theory article)

• “Ben Hunt: Surviving the Widening Gyre Through Hope and Community” (Strong Towns Podcast)

• Chuck Marohn (Substack)

In this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck talks about housing development and zoning code reform with Seth Zeren, a neighborhood real estate developer in Providence, Rhode Island. They dive into the six code reforms recommended in “The Housing-Ready City: A Toolkit for Local Code Reform,” covering why they’re important and how they help developers, residents and cities.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• Get your National Gathering ticket before they sell out!

• “The Housing-Ready City: A Toolkit for Local Code Reform.”

• Want to go deeper? The spring session of the Accelerator starts April 7. Reserve your spot today!

• Chuck Marohn (Substack).

In this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck explores the flawed nature of North America’s current “housing bargain,” where most neighborhoods are allowed to stay exactly the same as long as some neighborhoods — usually those that are poorer and have less political clout — are forced to radically change. He proposes a new way forward that respects cities as living and evolving systems.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• This Thursday, February 27, Strong Towns will release a toolkit to help city officials welcome incremental housing development. Learn more here.

• Become a member to join the toolkit launch livestream with experts Alli Thurmond Quinlan (Incremental Development Alliance) and Eric Kronberg (Kronberg Urbanists + Architects).

• Chuck Marohn (Substack).

In this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck is joined by Victor Dover, a planner and urban designer. They discuss the work and legacy of Dr. Donald Shoup, an engineer and professor of urban planning who revolutionized the fields of urban planning and parking reform with his book “The High Cost of Free Parking.” They also talk about their own relationships with Dr. Shoup and how he impacted their work as an engineer and planner.

Then, keep listening for a rerun of an interview with Dr. Shoup that Chuck had in 2015.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “The High Cost of Free Parking” (Amazon).

• Victor Dover (LinkedIn).

• Chuck Marohn (Substack).

This special episode of the Strong Towns Podcast explores the Strongest Town Contest, including what cities can learn from previous winners, what it means for cities to participate, and a preview of this year's Contest. Joining the discussion are Strong Towns staffers Lauren Ronnander and John Pattison, as well as Stephen Gawron, the former mayor of the 2018 Strongest Town, Muskegon, Michigan.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• Learn more about the Strongest Town Contest.

• Nominate your place (anyone can do this for free, even if you’re not a local official or city staff!)

• Chuck Marohn (Substack).

Today, Chuck is joined by Ben Hunt, the creator of Epsilon Theory. Their conversation revolves around the concept of the Widening Gyre, a “profound social equilibrium where bad people and bad ideas drive out good people and good ideas.” They discuss this concept from a few different angles:

• How it relates to top-down systems like America’s political systems and corporations.

• How it has led to the loss of a national narrative and increased division and conflict.

• How a community-based approach that focuses on doing the right thing today is the best way out.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• Hear more from Ben Hunt:

  • “Ben Hunt: We're Not Going to Fix This from the Top Down” (podcast).

  • “Ben Hunt: In Praise of Bitcoin” (podcast).

• Ben Hunt (Twitter/X).

• Epsilon Theory (site).

• Chuck Marohn (Substack).

In this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck discusses housing with Cullum Clark, director of the Economic Growth Initiative at the George W. Bush Institute. They talk about why there is so much resistance to new development, ways that officials and advocates could engage with the public to reduce that resistance, and what the incoming Trump administration could mean for housing.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• George W. Bush Presidential Center (site).

• Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).

• Learn what comes next for incremental housing in 2025 by tuning into the State of Strong Towns address on January 30 at 4 p.m. EST.