The Strong Towns Podcast

Rachel's guest this week is Strong Towns member and contributor, Arian Horbovetz, who blogs at The Urban Phoenix and lives in Rochester, New York. He discusses the universal challenges that Rust Belt towns deal with, his optimistic yet pragmatic view on urban revitalization, and his sociologist's perspective on these trends.

Mentioned in this podcast:

• TheUrbanPhoenix.com
• The Big Urban Mistake: Building for Tourism vs. Livability by Arian Horbovetz
• Join us tomorrow for a Strong Towns presentation and Meet-up in Thompsonville, MI
• The New Localism: How Cities Can Thrive in the Age of Populism by Bruce Katz and Jeremy Nowak (also check out our January 2018 podcast interview with Bruce Katz about this book)
• The Impolite Company podcast

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 — and give us a chance to share our answers with the world, so it might help other Strong Citizens. The live Ask Strong Towns webcast is open to all Strong Towns members, but afterward, we share the audio on our podcast.

Here are the questions Chuck and Kea discussed today:

1. What makes for a good urban road?
2. What are the key metrics which we can use to judge whether a town is strong? I know it's not the municipal bond rating...
3. I live in a city where the economy and population are growing. How can we build momentum for a Strong Towns approach in a place like this?
4. What are your thoughts on home-sharing systems like AirBnB and short-term hotels?
5. You present a simple and compelling argument for why our development pattern is causing our cities to go bankrupt. What factors are not being considered when we look at tax value per acre maps?
6. What needs to happen so that more people can be engaged in local decision making and planning processes?
7. My town has a walkable main street with some vacant land surrounding it. Should we prioritize strengthening our main street or developing the vacant land into something more productive?
8. What's the low-hanging fruit? Where do you start building Strong Towns if you're a regular person, not an elected official or leader? Just riding a bike to work doesn't seem like it will make a big difference...

Visit the Ask Strong Towns page to learn more about this webcast, submit a question and get info about the next episode: www.strongtowns.org/ask-strong-towns

Rachel's guest this week is Chuck Marohn who recaps a recent trip to Massachusetts and discusses his article today on autonomous vehicles.

MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST:

• April 3 event in Colorado Springs, CO
• Automated vehicles will makes our streets worse by Chuck Marohn
• The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist: A True Story of Injustice in the American South by Radley Balko & Tucker Carrington

If you have a recommendation for a podcast guest, hit up Rachel at quednau@strongtowns.org

A couple weeks ago, Chuck Marohn shared an image on Facebook that sparked a contentious conversation. It was an illustration of a potential retrofit project, turning a suburban big box site into a slightly denser — but still quite auto-oriented — development. Comments rained in from other Strong Towns advocates, many in agreement, others pushing back. Then the developer who originally posted the image called us and asked to talk. So we invited him onto our podcast.

Bob Barber is a founder partner at Orion Planning+Design, a Mississippi native and the former planning director for the City of Hernando, MS. In this conversation with Chuck Marohn, Barber discusses the challenges and different approaches to pushing for change in smaller, more suburban communities. In his experience, the people who approach change from a positive angle in the communities where he works have a much better chance of building a strong town than the people who begin by putting the community down and pointing out where it has gone wrong.

Today we're sharing the audio from the Championship Webcast in our Strongest Town Contest, hosted by Rachel Quednau and Kea Wilson. We're down to the final two communities: Muskegon, MI and Kent, OH. Visit this page to vote for whichever you think is the strongest after listening to the podcast: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2018/3/21/watch-and-vote-in-the-strongest-town-contest-championship-here

Welcome to the third round of our annual Strongest Town Competition! 4 towns are facing off right now and 2 will advance to the championship based on your votes. We invite you to listen to the podcast interviews that representatives from each conducted with Strong Towns staff to discuss their economic strength and resilience. Visit this page to vote: http://strongtowns.org/journal/2018/3/20/round-3-annapolis-md-vs-muskegon-mi 

Rachel Quednau, Communications Director for Strong Towns, hosts this conversation with Mayor Gavin Buckley and Sally Nash, Chief of Comprehensive Planning for Planning and Zoning in Annapolis. They discuss the ways that the city's waterfront is integrated into the life of the community, unique small business and placemaking efforts in historic neighborhoods, how Annapolis is handling the challenges ahead and more. 

Listen to the Muskegon, MI podcast, then vote for the strongest town in this match-up: http://strongtowns.org/journal/2018/3/20/round-3-annapolis-md-vs-muskegon-mi Voting closes at 12pm CT on Friday, March 23.

Welcome to the third round of our annual Strongest Town Competition! 4 towns are facing off right now and 2 will advance to the championship based on your votes. We invite you to listen to the podcast interviews that representatives from each conducted with Strong Towns staff to discuss their economic strength and resilience. Visit this page to vote: http://strongtowns.org/journal/2018/3/20/round-3-pensacola-fl-vs-kent-oh

In this conversation, president of Strong Towns, Chuck Marohn, chats with Kent City Manager Dave Ruller. They discuss unique planning processes in the city, the energy that college towns offer, and how the community approached a recent controversial issue.

Listen to the Pensacola, FL podcast, then vote for the strongest town in this match-up: http://strongtowns.org/journal/2018/3/20/round-3-pensacola-fl-vs-kent-oh Voting closes at 12pm CT on Friday, March 23.

Welcome to the third round of our annual Strongest Town Competition! 4 towns are facing off right now and 2 will advance to the championship based on your votes. We invite you to listen to the podcast interviews that representatives from each conducted with Strong Towns staff to discuss their economic strength and resilience. Visit this page to vote: http://strongtowns.org/journal/2018/3/20/round-3-annapolis-md-vs-muskegon-mi 

In this conversation, president of Strong Towns, Chuck Marohn, discusses Muskegon, Michigan with Muskegon Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce President, Cindy Larson. They chat about Muskegon's unique farmer's market, challenging developments in the city's past, the advantages of being a lakefront community, and more. 

Listen to the Annapolis, MD podcast, then vote for the strongest town in this match-up: http://strongtowns.org/journal/2018/3/20/round-3-annapolis-md-vs-muskegon-mi Voting closes at 12pm CT on Friday, March 23.

Welcome to the third round of our annual Strongest Town Competition! 4 towns are facing off right now and 2 will advance to the championship based on your votes. We invite you to listen to the podcast interviews that representatives from each conducted with Strong Towns staff to discuss their economic strength and resilience. Visit this page to vote: http://strongtowns.org/journal/2018/3/20/round-3-pensacola-fl-vs-kent-oh

In this episode, Rachel Quednau, Communications Director of Strong Towns, talks with Christian Wagley of Pensacola, Florida about a unique citizen engagement and education effort, a transformative road diet on the city's Main Street, how the community is prudently utilizing settlement money from the BP oil spill, and more.

Listen to the Kent, OH podcast, then vote for the strongest town in this match-up: http://strongtowns.org/journal/2018/3/20/round-3-pensacola-fl-vs-kent-oh Voting closes at 12pm CT on Friday, March 23.

In this episode, Chuck Marohn discusses the dynamics of school funding and facilities in his community. While some schools are well cared for and receive regular improvements, a historic neighborhood school has been slated for demolition. One of the reasons? Because the school next door wants an additional parking lot.

Why do our communities make these decisions? How do we fight back while balancing the financial needs of so many other services (and other schools) that our cities have to provide for?