The Strong Towns Podcast

Josef Bray-Ali is a Los Angeles resident, bike shop owner, long-time Strong Towns member and current candidate for city council. In this interview with Chuck Marohn, he discusses his experience as a small business owner and a community organizer for safe streets. He also talks about what motivated him to run for city council and the ways he's implemented Strong Towns ideas in his city.

Joe Bray-Ali's writing and videos on our site:

• "A Strong Citizen in Los Angeles"
• "Making my City More Bike-Friendly for $0"
• "Why One Strong Towns Member Chose to Run for City Council"

Chuck and Rachel discuss the recent Strong Towns Staff & Board Meeting in Chicago, which included lots of planning and assessment, plus some authentic Chicago-style deep-dish pizza. They also discuss Jonathan Haidt's work on moral foundations and a technique to clean up a toxic Facebook feed.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• "Our Contentious Culture"
• Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999 movie)
• We Eat Our Own by Kea Wilson
• This week's slackchat is hosted by Kea Wilson and it'll be at 1pm CT on Thursday.

Our nation has an infrastructure funding crisis.....or do we?

Related Posts:

• What clearly makes us richer
• The real reason your city has no money
• Poor neighborhoods make the best investments
• Gladwell's question to Thaler (YouTube)

Chuck and Rachel discuss Chuck's letter to President Trump and ways to encourage investment in small-scale infrastructure projects instead of big ones. They also talk about recent books they've enjoyed and the growth of the Strong Towns movement.

Mentioned in this episode:

• "A Letter to POTUS on Infrastructure" and an upcoming Slackchat to discuss that letter
• #InfrastructureCrisis stories on our site
• "New Milwaukee Housing Program Takes the Easy Route"
• "Strong Talk: How do we create more housing options?" recorded live January 20
• The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
• The Righteous Mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion by Jonathan Haidt
• Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Chuck and Rachel chat about recent articles which have garnered a ton of attention on the internet over the past week. They also discuss the non-partisan nature of Strong Towns, particularly in light of new readers coming to the site in the last week (as evidenced by the quote above). Finally, they announce that public tickets are now available for the Strong Towns Summit. Get yours before they're gone.

Mentioned in this podcast:

• "The Real Reason Your City has no Money"
• "Poor Neighborhoods Make the Best Investments"
• "Is Strong Towns my Tribe?"
• "Reinventing Poor Cities at Scale"
• Sign up to participate in Strong Talk or submit your topic ideas.
• Strong Towns Summit info and tickets
• In case you're eager for more podcasts, here's Chuck Marohn interviewed on 3 different podcasts.

Chuck and Rachel discuss Chuck's recent writing on federal infrastructure spending and today's article, "A Utah Republican Might Have the Best Urban Transportation Plan." They also discuss books they're reading (Rachel finally got around to starting Hillbilly Elegy) and political language in the context of Strong Towns.

Mentioned in this podcast:

• Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance
• The Road to Ruin: The Global Elites' Secret Plan for the Next Financial Crisis by James Rickerts
• The Content Trap: A Strategist's Guide to Digital Change by Bharat Andand

Author James Howard Kunstler chats with Chuck Marohn about the newest book in his World Made by Hand series, The Harrows of Spring.

You can also listen to James Kunstler in previous Strong Towns podcasts including from February, 2014, September 2014 and November 2015.

Chuck and Rachel discuss their holidays, favorite books they read over the break, and infrastructure spending in America. They also share an exciting announcement at the end of the podcast.

Mentioned in this podcast:

• The Road to Ruin: The Global Elites' Secret Plan for the Next Financial Crisis by James Rickerts
• The Content Trap: A Strategist's Guide to Digital Change by Bharat Andand
• The Road Taken: The History and Future of America's Infrastructure by Henry Petroski
• When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
• "Five Ways Federal Infrastructure Spending Makes Cities Poorer" by Chuck Marohn

Seth Zeren is a founding member of Strong Towns, a new father and a real estate developer based in Providence, RI. In this podcast conversation, Seth and Chuck talk about the results of the election and its impact on the national dialogue. 

This is our last podcast of 2016. Thank you to all our listeners. Have a wonderful holiday and we'll see you in the new year!

In the final Week Ahead podcast of 2016, Chuck and Rachel discuss their recent trip to Chicago and a spirited panel discussion Chuck participated in. They also talk about Chuck's Monday article and the Best of 2016 articles being published throughout the week. Finally, they chat about the upcoming Strong Towns Summit and Chuck's cookie baking adventures.

Mentioned in this podcast:

• "Our Shared Journey" by Chuck Marohn
• Best of 2016 articles
• Strong Towns National Summit