The Strong Towns Podcast

This is our first dispatch from the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), which took place in Savannah, Georgia in May. Chuck Marohn attended CNU and hosted a series of in-depth podcast conversations about some of the most pressing topics for cities today, with leaders, thinkers, and activists in a whole range of fields. Now we're bringing those podcasts to your ears throughout the summer.

Today's podcast guest is Monte Anderson, a developer based in Texas and a leader of the Incremental Development Alliance. 

Monte encourages people to pick a place they love and stay there. That's how you really learn what communities need and how to make them better. And that's what he did by choosing to incrementally improve his hometown.

Questions discussed in this podcast include:

• What if your town seems past the point of getting better? Should you stay anyway?
• What needs to happen in order to encourage development in our towns? 
• How do you respond to people who worry that the removal of parking minimums will be harmful to local businesses?
• What's the best sort of business to kickstart a commercial street?
• How do we reconcile the desire to be flexible and encourage new business start-ups, especially in poor neighborhoods, while still ensuring that buildings are safe and basic health codes are met?
• What are the first steps someone should take if they want to become an incremental developer? What if you don't have much money?
• How do you find a balance between investing in a neighborhood and not pricing people out of it?
• What's the difference between a developer and an investor?

A few decades ago, Beth Berry lived in Austin, Texas with her four children. The pace of life in that big city eventually caught up with them and they decided to move south to Mexico to find something different.

Beth started writing, cooking, walking and observing the family-centric life around her. "I was learning to not have an agenda and let curiosity lead me," she says. "The culture shifted my perspective on what I needed to do to be okay, to be worthy, to be successful by some measure."

Since then, she has moved back to the United States and begun working as a life coach with mothers who share similar concerns about the unceasing pace of American life, and the burdens and impossible ideals it lays on women.

In this engaging conversation with Chuck Marohn, Beth discusses the pressures of modern parenthood, the loss of "the village" when it comes to raising children, and the way the design of our communities furthers disconnection and isolation.

Mentioned in this podcast:

• In the absence of ‘the village,’ mothers struggle most (on Motherly)
• Revolution from Home (Beth's website)

On this episode, Kea and Rachel recap the recent member drive and chat about some recent favorite books and shows. A huge thank you to the 150 new members who joined us last week. If you didn't get a chance to become a member yet, you can still do so right here, right now.

Mentioned in this episode

• The Winners of our State vs. State New Member Contest
• In Defense of Housing by Peter Marcuse and David Madden
• Wild, Wild Country (Netflix show)
• Is it better to build a Strong Town from scratch? by Kea Wilson

Strong Towns needs your support! It's the final day of our member drive and can't accomplish our mission of changing the national conversation on growth and development without you. Become a member today: www.strongtowns.org/membership

If you've been waiting — been putting this off all week — we're here to help you get past the finish line. Here's the number: 844-218-1681. Ask for Chuck. Ask for Kea. Ask for Rachel or Max or Bo or Michelle. We're all sitting here waiting for you to call. We'll chat a little and then get you signed up to be a member of Strong Towns. It's that easy.

Or, just sign up on your own. That's easy too. Just click here to join a movement that is making important change happen.

Today's the day. Before you head out for a long weekend, take a quick minute to make a huge difference.

Strong Towns needs your support! We can't accomplish our mission of changing the national conversation on growth and development without you. Become a member today: www.strongtowns.org/membership

On Day 4 of the Spring member drive, Chuck recaps a typical day in the life as president of Strong Towns. Then he discusses a question he received on a recent Ask Strong Towns webcast about the negative nature of so much of what Strong Towns discusses, and whether there is any way to find hope.

Strong Towns needs your support! We can't accomplish our mission of changing the national conversation on growth and development without you. Become a member today: www.strongtowns.org/membership

In this first episode of our Spring member drive, Chuck reflects on a promise he made to Strong Towns three years ago, and how that decision changed the trajectory of this movement forever.

Every month, we host Ask Strong Towns to give you a chance to ask your burning questions about our vision for change, and how the Strong Towns approach might apply in your unique place.

The live Ask Strong Towns webcast is open to all Strong Towns members, but afterward, we share the audio on our podcast.

In today’s episode, Chuck and Kea discuss several audience-submitted questions on topics ranging from TIF and bonds to historic preservation to how to campaign on a Strong Towns platform. 

Here are the questions discussed in this episode: 

1. Down-zonings are a common tool around here for the local aldermen to get what they want. I’m a believer that they make the development process longer, more expensive and, subsequently, lead to gentrification. What’s the Strong Towns take on down-zonings?
2. What are appropriate things that a city should issue bonds for?
3. What resources are available for a small town without a big planning department or budget to review their zoning code and best practices?
4. Many are excited about the new Strong Towns initiative in Akron, Ohio. What happens if it’s a resounding success and demand skyrockets?
5. Is there ever a good TIF project proposal?
6. Is incrementalism diametrically opposed to historic preservation or do these two movements in fact share common goals?
7. Local elections are coming up this fall and some candidates are wondering about how to introduce Strong Towns concepts without scaring voters off. Do you have thoughts on how to campaign on Strong Towns? If you could get a candidate to read ONLY two articles to get the essence of the Strong Towns thought process, which would they be? (Kea’s and Chuck’s answers reference: The Real Reason Your City has No Money, So You Want to Build a Strong Town and 9 Ways to Change an Elected Official’s Mind)
8. My city leadership has been slow to confront our housing issues. What would you say to a local leader to make them see that housing is a problem that deserves their attention and priority, particularly when those impacted are underrepresented among the (small town) political elite?
9. A lot of your articles are depressing. What gives you the most hope for America's towns and cities?

Visit the Ask Strong Towns page to learn more about this webcast, submit a question and get info about the next episode (happening June 28th).

Chuck and Rachel discuss Strong Towns' role in CNU26 in Savannah, GA, including live podcast recordings, an interactive debate, a Strong Towns 101 presentation and a meet-up. Get all the details here.

MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST

• Overview of Strong Towns activities at CNU
• How to Join in on Strong Towns Events at CNU (whether you're attending or not)
• "The Little Law Office That Could" by Rachel Quednau
• Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War That Changed American History by Brian Kilmeade
• The Death of Democracy: Hitler's Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic by Benjamin Carter Hett
• Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, Revised Edition by Marc Reisner
• Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• Flint Town (Netflix series)

Kea Wilson is Strong Towns' Director of Community Engagement and, as of a couple days ago, the proud owner of a new four-family building in her hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. This is the second property that she and her partner have purchased and managed as landlord and developers and today we brought her on the Strong Towns podcast to talk all about that experience. (She's also been detailing her journey toward purchasing this property in a series of articles on the website this week.)

In this in-depth and honest podcast conversation, Kea and Rachel discuss:

• What does being a developer look like and why do it in the first place?
• How do you weight the costs and benefits of a given property (both monetary and non-monetary), and make the choice to pull the trigger on a purchase?
• Is it possible to provide quality affordable housing and still break even or make a profit as a small scale developer without deep pockets?
• What are the challenges and benefits of being a landlord?
• How can we incentivize more landlords to care about their tenants and neighborhoods? What financial, social or political systems would need to change to make this the norm?

MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST:

• In Defense of Housing: The Politics of Crisis by Peter Marcuse and David Madden
• Mr. Money Mustache (blog)
• Bigger Pockets (real estate investing resource)
• Incremental Development Alliance
• "Who can afford to invest in a poor neighborhood?" (series) by Kea Wilson
• Podcast: Why a Simple, Frugal Life Will Make you a Happier Person (with Kea Wilson)
• "Find a Place You Love that Needs You" by Sarah Kobos
• "Stuck: Why rent- and mortgage-burdened Americans don't always move to cheaper pastures" by Kea Wilson
• The Greenlining Institute