The Strong Towns Podcast

In this special edition of the Strong Towns podcast, we bring you a short interview with Nate Hood, a Strong Towns contributor and founding member who wrote an essay for our new book, Thoughts on Building Strong Towns, Volume II.

Nate Hood chats with Chuck Marohn about pedestrian safety efforts—the good, the bad and the ugly—in his hometown of St. Paul, MN.

Get your copy of our new book today. 

Special offer: We've extended the opportunity for new Strong Towns members to receive an autographed copy of our new book. Become a member by Friday, October 14, and we'll mail you a free copy.

Ed Erfurt is a long-time friend and member of Strong Towns. He recently moved to Ranson, WV and serves as Assistant City Manager there. Today, he discusses his perspective as a local leader in a small town on what infrastructure is worth investing in, how to get a real return on your investment and how to avoid getting "caught up in free money."

This interview is part of our ongoing conversation on federal infrastructure spending.

It's been a little while since we did a Week Ahead podcast, because Chuck's been on the road doing tons of events. In today's podcast, he talks about recent events in several cities in Oregon as well as Shreveport, LA. Chuck and Rachel also announce a new job opening. Finally, they dive into Strong Towns' newly-released book, Thoughts on Building Strong Towns, Volume II.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Job opening
• Our new book
• Strong Towns' organizational sponsors
• Video tours of Edina, MN
• Upcoming events in Thunder Bay, ON and Bellingham, WA

In this special edition of the Strong Towns podcast, we bring you a short interview with Andrew Price, a Strong Towns contributor who wrote two essays for our new book, Thoughts on Building Strong Towns, Volume II.

Andrew chats with Rachel Quednau about life in Hoboken, NJ, and takes a look back at two of his essays which are featured in the book. 

Get your copy of our new book today. 

In this special edition of the Strong Towns podcast, we bring you a short interview with Daniel Herriges, a Strong Towns contributor who wrote an essay for our new book, Thoughts on Building Strong Towns, Volume II.

Daniel chats with Rachel Quednau about the inspiration for his essay, "Moving the Overton Window," his vision for the Strong Towns movement, and his experience as a masters student in the urban planning program at the University of Minnesota.

Get your copy of our new book today. 

Ray LaHood served as the United States Secretary of Transportation from 2009-2013. Prior to that, he served in the House of Representatives, representing Illinois's 18th congressional district. In this interview with Chuck Marohn, Mr. LaHood discusses bipartisan collaboration on infrastructure decisions and his views on the presidential candidates' position on drastically increasing infrastructure spending. He answers questions like, "If we're going to invest in infrastructure, where should that money come from? Who should decide how it is spent?" He also discusses his view on gas tax increases, and small-scale vs. large-scale projects.

His book, Seeking Bipartisanship: My Life in Politics, is available now.

This interview is part of our ongoing conversation on infrastructure spending

Former Seattle Mayor -- and friend of Strong Towns -- Mike McGinn joins us to talk about the nation's infrastructure crisis and what he would do to make sure that a surge in federal infrastructure spending isn't wasted.

On the day of the first presidential debate, Chuck records a solo Week Ahead podcast to look back at last week's event in Knoxville, this week's event in Edina and a little annoucement on next week.

Jonathan Holth is a Strong Towns member from Grand Forks, ND. He's a restaurant owner, he's on the board of the downtown business association, he's an active citizen and he's a father of three girls. In this interview with Chuck Marohn, Jonathan discusses his work and vision for a better downtown Grand Forks, as well as his perspective as a small business owner and a parent, working to incrementally build a Strong Town. Jon and Chuck talk about local businesses, parking issues, housing and making change in polite, conservative Midwestern towns.

The Week Ahead podcast is back! After some technical issues over the last few weeks, we're in the swing of things again, talking about upcoming and past events, a recent #StrongSchools campaign, our ongoing #InfrastructureCrisis conversation and book recommendations too. 

Mentioned in this podcast:

• "Infrastructure Spending for Dummies" by Charles Marohn
• Knoxville event, September 22
• "Understanding the Mysteries of Human Behavior" from the Great Courses
• American Character by Colin Woodard