Podcast appearances and mentions of kea wilson

When Manatee County got rid of bus fares- ridership went up. And it's not the only place in Tampa Bay where more people started taking the bus after fares went away. Hillsborough County made its most popular bus route, from downtown Tampa to the University of South Florida, free for this year, and ridership is way up. On this episode of Florida Matters, Manatee County Transit Division Manager Kevin Hoyt explains why it makes sense to get more people on the bus, even when they're not collecting fare revenue. And, Streetsblog USA senior editor Kea Wilson talks about how other transit agencies around the US have adopted the fare-free model, and the arguments for and against removing the fare box.  Also, if you've driven the recently reopened Howard Frankland Bridge, you might have noticed it's built higher to withstand storm surge like Tampa Bay experienced during the last hurricane season. WUSF's Sky Lebron caught up with historian Rodney Kite Powell on top of the bridge, before it reopened to traffic. Hear how the original bridge, which opened in 1960, was built for a post-war population boom, much like the remodeled bridge is built to handle traffic for Tampa Bay's current population boom. And you'll get caught up on some of the latest transportation news from around the greater Tampa Bay region. Hear why the cross bay ferry is sailing for the last time, about efforts to ease traffic woes on the dreaded I-4 corridor, and how Tampa International Airport is dealing with animal problems. 

When Manatee County got rid of bus fares- ridership went up. And it's not the only place in Tampa Bay where more people started taking the bus after fares went away. Hillsborough County made its most popular bus route, from downtown Tampa to the University of South Florida, free for this year, and ridership is way up. On this episode of Florida Matters, Manatee County Transit Division Manager Kevin Hoyt explains why it makes sense to get more people on the bus, even when they're not collecting fare revenue. And, Streetsblog USA senior editor Kea Wilson talks about how other transit agencies around the US have adopted the fare-free model, and the arguments for and against removing the fare box.  Also, if you've driven the recently reopened Howard Frankland Bridge, you might have noticed it's built higher to withstand storm surge like Tampa Bay experienced during the last hurricane season. WUSF's Sky Lebron caught up with historian Rodney Kite Powell on top of the bridge, before it reopened to traffic. Hear how the original bridge, which opened in 1960, was built for a post-war population boom, much like the remodeled bridge is built to handle traffic for Tampa Bay's current population boom. And you'll get caught up on some of the latest transportation news from around the greater Tampa Bay region. Hear why the cross bay ferry is sailing for the last time, about efforts to ease traffic woes on the dreaded I-4 corridor, and how Tampa International Airport is dealing with animal problems. 

This week at Mondays at The Overhead Wire, we're joined by Streetsblog USA's Kea Wilson to chat about the new USDOT directives from the Trump administration. We talk about rescinded memos, funding memos, and Kea thinks Jeff might be trying to hard to find logic in the reasoning for using birth and marriage rates to steer transportation funding. Below are items we chatted about on the show.... Donald Shoup was about more than just parking - CPDR Unflooding the zone - T4America Why DOT is promising more money for higher birthrates - Streetsblog USA Rescinding DOT policy Memo - USDOT Weird funding mechanisms and edicts Memo - USDOT Social cost of carbon - Washington Post Birth rate funding would leave communities behind - Urban Institute The Brake Podcast at Streetsblog USA +++ Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Substack ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon theoverheadwire@sfba.social Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!  And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Our sister podcast, Talking Headways is about to hit its 500th episode. But how did host Jeff Wood accomplish that massive milestone, and how does he keep finding all these powerful stories about how our cities work?  On today's episode of The Brake, our host Kea Wilson sits down for a long conversation with Wood himself to talk about how he's grown this incredible audio archive of interviews, how Streetsblog got lucky enough to host it, and how he spends his time when he's not behind the mic. And along the way, we chat about his dream guests — living and dead — and the single topic both he and Kea are dying to explore, but haven't found the perfect guest yet.  Check it out, and listen to a few of Jeff's favorite past episodes below:  Episode 27: Walt Disney, City Planner Episode 85: You Can't Surf After the Storm  Episode 177: Peak Experience with Jarrett Walker Episode 325: Designing Fair Transport Systems with Karel Martens Episode 422: The Messiness of Family Travel with Jennifer Kent

On this episode, our friend Paul drops by to discuss We Eat Our Own by Kea Wilson, the work of author John Christopher, the Randy Travis vehicle Fire Down Below, If Looks Could Kill, and singing YCMA at a hardcore show. Website: www.queenvenerator.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/queenvenerator/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/queenvenerator.bsky.social

Many sustainable transportation advocates fear that the era of autonomous vehicles will spur us to even further optimize our streets for the efficient operation of machines rather than the cultivation of experiences that make us fully human. By adopting a framework that radically centers 'livability' on our roads, though, could we make the robo-cars work for us — and maybe, undo the damage of the first wave of automobobility?  On this episode of "The Brake," Kea Wilson sits down with author Dr. Bruce Appleyard to talk about his new paper, "Designing for street livability in the era of driverless cars", as well as his book, Liveable Streets 2.0, and the the legacy of his father, Dr. Donald Appleyard, who wrote the original edition. And along the way, we talk about why "livability" is about so much more than safety and the difference between "desigining" and "programming" our places to prioritize our humanity.  

A lot of ink has been spilled on the long-term impact of COVID-19 on American transportation. But less has been spilled on the impcact of long COVID on individual people who walk and bike — and what happens when the disease makes active transportation impossible.  On today's episode of "The Brake," Kea Wilson sits down with John Bolecek, who built his career in bicycle and pedestrian planning for the state of Virginia before a COVID-19 infection picked up from his son's daycare changed his life, despite the fact that he was "fit, vaccinated, and boosted. That initial infection eventually led to myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome that forces him to get around mostly by car — but it didn't lead to him questioning his commitment to building great places to bike and walk.  Listen in, and check out the article that inspired this story at the Virginia Mercury. 

The Planning Commissioners love people who are direct and honest about what is happening in our industry and to our many communities. Kea Wilson and her Streetsblog USA colleagues have been leaders in this philosophy for many years. We talked with Kea about her writings and those of Streetsblog and covered topics such as the federal transportation bill, electric vehicles, the continuing impacts of highway expansion projects, and what is going on with pedestrian safety in this country.Our Website: https://theplanningcommissionpodcast.com/YouTube: The Planning Commission Podcast channelInstagram: @theplanningcommissionpodcastFacebook: The Planning Commission Podcast pageTwitter: @planningcommish Subscribe, like, help us make a difference in the profession we all love. Have an episode idea, tell us about it. Email us at: info@theplanningcommissionpodcast.com

One in nine Americans live in poverty, and millions more live in a precarious place somewhere between precarity and true security. A new book argues, though, that it doesn't have to be this way — and that we can all play a role in challenging the systems and individual choices that "keep poor people poor" for benefit for everyone else.  On this episode of The Brake, host Kea Wilson sits down with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Matthew Desmond to talk about his new book Poverty by America, the poverty abolition movement, and how it intersects with the movement to end car dependency. (Hint: it's not just about hefty monthly car payments.)  Listen in, and buy your copy anywhere books are sold. 

Look up traffic fatality stats for almost any country in the world, and you'll find that men are almost always drastically over-represented among the dead, even in countries like the Netherlands and Sweden which have made the most progress towards Vision Zero. But if good road, vehicle and systems design isn't saving as many male-identified lives, what will — and why is it so hard to talk about cultural forces without denying the dangers of our built environment?  On this episode of the Brake, host Kea Wilson sits down with researcher and urban planning professor Tara Goddard to talk about how toxic masculinity plays out on our roads and what can we be done to stop it. Listen in, and check out the resources below mentioned in the show: Tara's recent presentation on transportation safety culture at Portland State University Cara Daggett's "Petromasculinity: Fuel and Authoritarian Desire" "French Warn Parents of an Underestimated Roadway Danger: Toxic Masculinity"

"Roadway safety is a shared responsibility, and people in cars and outside of cars play an equal role in keeping each other safe." "Sprawl is good, actually, because it means people can have big, beautiful houses and some quality alone time on their daily commutes." "We won't need to worry about transportation emissions or the broader impacts of automobiles on the environment for that much longer, because haven't you heard? electric cars are here!" Those phrases might spike make the average sustainable transportation advocate's blood pressure spike. But in the world of corporate disinformation, they're simply a handy way to reframe the conversation about car dependency — and to manipulate the public into accept ing the avoidable deaths of their loved ones and their planet.  On today's episode of The Brake, host Kea Wilson brings you an extended interview with Grant Ennis, author of Dark PR: How Corporate Disinformation Harms Our Health and the Environment. Listen in, and check out a sharable summary of the "nine devious frames" he outlines in his book here. 

Most bikeshare rides taken on U.S. soil happen in a handful of gigantic cities, on systems maintained by big corporations. At YoGo Bikeshare, though, Ronnell Elkins and his team are building a bespoke micromobility option specifically for his neighbors in Youngstown, Ohio — and hoping to create a model for other small cities to combat car dependency. On this episode of The Brake, host Kea Wilson sits down with Elkins to talk about what makes this Black-led, family-owned bikeshare stand out, why YoGo's investing only in e-bikes, and what it takes to get a town of 60,000 people on board a revolutionary new transportation mode.  Learn more about YoGo Bikeshare on their website. 

Mass memorials to the victims of traffic violence are a rarity on American roads. But it wasn't always that way — and there's a fascinating history behind why so many lost lives have become virtually invisible in the public realm today.  On this episode of The Brake, Kea Wilson sits down with historian and author Peter Norton to talk about how America used to memorialize car crash deaths in the early days of the automobile, and why automakers invested so much into reshaping the way we grieve. And then they chat about what it might take to bring the national traffic violence epidemic out of the shadows, and why even everyday non-lethal road trauma deserves to be called out.  Listen in, and learn more about traffic violence memorials in our earlier coverage. 

In communities across the U.S., city leaders have reacted to safety concerns about the shared e-scooter industry with fleet curfews, neighborhood restrictions, and even outright bans. Those blunt policies, though, might hurt more people than they help — especially when it comes to socially and racially marginalized communities without other ways to get around.   On today's special edition of The Brake, we're re-broadcasting an episode of Charles T. Brown's Arrested Mobility podcast about what happened when the city of St. Louis forced e-scooters out of its downtown, featuring an interview with our own host Kea Wilson, who covered the story for Streetsblog last year. And along the way, we'll explore why so many places beyond Missouri's borders have enacted similar policies — and why Black and brown Americans, in particular, deserve so much more from their transportation leaders. 

In 2012, Jeff Speck's Walkable City sparked a conversation about why pedestrianized places matter and became one of the best-selling books about the built environment in recent memory. Ten years later, though, so much about the world has changed — even as human-centered communities have become more important than ever. On this episode of The Brake, host Kea Wilson sits down with Speck to talk about an update to his classic book featuring 100 pages of new material, and how new technology, pandemics, and the movement to make cities anti-racist have reshaped his view of America's transportation future. And along the way, he shares some of the highlights from his reading list, and how his goals as a pedestrian advocate are continuing to evolve. Read an exclusive preview of Walkable City: 10th Anniversary Edition here.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans lose a loved one in a car crash every single year. So why don't more of us talk about it — and why don't more of us take action to prevent other families from enduring those tragedies, too? On this special episode of The Brake, host Kea Wilson has an emotional conversation with advocate Dan Langenkamp about the people they've each recently lost to traffic violence, and what it means to mourn through advocacy.  Dan's wife, Sarah, was a celebrated diplomat to Ukraine and a mother of two young sons before she was killed by a right-turning truck driver as she biked home from her children's new elementary school on August 25. Now, Dan is gathering cyclists from around the country to retrace Sarah's route and ride all the way to Congress to demand safer streets, vehicles, and systems — and he wants you to take part.  Register for the Ride for Your Life, support the Langenkamp family's ongoing fundraising efforts for bicycle safety organizations, and learn more the life and legacy of Sarah Langenkamp. 

There have been at least 6 fatalities in St. Louis City alone in the past six weeks, including two in the South Grand neighborhood.  Debbie and Tom talk to Kea Wilson of STREETS BLOG USA, which covers "mobility justice," and livable streets.

There have been at least 6 fatalities in St. Louis City alone in the past six weeks, including two in the South Grand neighborhood.  Debbie and Tom talk to Kea Wilson of STREETS BLOG USA, which covers "mobility justice," and livable streets.

Even as gas prices hit historic highs, many Americans aren't driving any less — because so many of their communities are so car-dependent, they don't really have a choice. But what about people who could skip the pump but don't, simply because they're in the habit of driving everywhere they go?   On this episode of The Brake, host Kea Wilson sits down with environmental psychology expert Dr. Ian Walker to talk about why conventional strategies to disincentivize driving don't always work, and why even incentivizing other modes can't always tempt people onto buses, trains, bikes and sidewalks. And then we explore what it will really take to shift Americans' deeply-ingrained travel routines — and why every policymaker needs to understand the irrational, emotional, and deeply human reasons we make our travel choices. Give it a listen, and check out Dr. Walker's website and the Twitter thread that inspired the episode here. 

Planning and engineering students are poised to play a major role in shaping America's transportation system for decades to come. But do either of them agree with sustainable transportation advocates about what that future should look like — or even with each other?  Today on The Brake, host Kea Wilson spoke with researchers Kelcie Ralph and Nick Klein, who conducted a new survey on how well these two groups of future built environment professionals understand fundamental concepts like "induced demand," as well as their opinions on the fundamental importance of reducing driving. Then, we dug into what it will take to get both disciplines and the public on the same page as transportation reformers — and why no one shouldn't take it for granted that doing it will be easy. 

Neighborhood walking tours, group bike rides, and organized strolls in the park aren't typically thought of as front-line strategies to break a city's dependence on automobiles. Some advocates argue that without events like them, though, U.S. neighborhoods will never transform into truly people-centered places — particularly in socially and racially marginalized communities.  On this episode of The Brake, host Kea Wilson sits down with Olatunji Oboi Reed, president and CEO of Equiticity, to talk about what he and his colleagues calls "community mobility rituals," or regular, free, hyper-local events that dismantle barriers to sustainable transportation and build the social infrastructure that neighborhoods need. Along the way, we chat about what makes a "mobility ritual" different than your standard-issue Critical Mass ride, why white-dominated transportation authorities tend to overlook the power of community programs, and how mobility rituals might be integrated into the planning process itself.  Listen in, check out Equiticity's webinar series on community mobility rituals here.   

In the heart of San Antonio, Texas lies 2.2 miles of 7-lane stroad that connects to I-35.Originally part of a state owned loop, the Texas Transportation Commission (TTC) approved a transfer of ownership to the City of San Antonio in late 2014. Since then, the City has undertaken a public engagement process to determine how best to adjust this road to better suit its citizens.Leaders in San Antonio are proposing to reduce travel lanes to two in each direction and add protected bike lanes, widen sidewalks, and plant street trees to make the thoroughfare accessible to all types of traffic. But the state has decided that is unacceptable, and in January rescinded the transfer on the grounds that an official Project Acceptance letter was never issued. The Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott has opposed similar Road Diets in Austin, and has referred to these types of projects as a "war on cars".Kevin, and Kea explore this back and forth between the state and local leaders and discuss reasons why there is such a disparity between what direction is being given from the top-down, and the push for reform from the bottom-up. Links:TxDOT votes to take control of Broadway, short-circuiting city's redevelopment plansState moves to take back Broadway and stop city's redevelopment projectLower Broadway Transformed: What's Coming and on the Drawing BoardTxDOT Ends Program That Converts Paved Roads to Gravel | The Texas Tribune 

The phrase "car accident" has become so ubiquitous in American life that most people don't blink when they hear it, at least if they're not a street safety advocate who understands just how much damage that term has done. But not even the most diehard Streetsblog readers may realize just how recent the concept of a traffic "accident" is — or how deeply it impacts our ability to prevent future crashes.  In her new book, There Are No Accidents: The Deadly Rise of Injury and Disaster — Who Profits and Who Pays the Price, veteran journalist and sustainable transportation advocate Jessie Singer digs into the disturbing history of "accidents" in America — and not just on our roads. And in the process, she offers a glimpse of a world where everyday tragedies are treated as urgent problems we can and must solve, where powerful interests are held to account, and where our desire for blame and retribution doesn't get in the way of lasting, systemic change. Today, we're launching our new podcast, The Brake, with this extended interview between Jessie and host Kea Wilson.

Kea Wilson (author of We Eat Our Own) has given more thought into cannibal movies than perhaps anybody else on the planet, which is why she was the perfect guest for tonight's episode of GHOULISH. Before we talked, I was on the fence about potentially eating another human being. Now? Well, you're going to have to listen and find out. Buy We Eat Our Own. Browse the books on our webstore. Support us on Patreon.

Show Notes:Active Towns Landing Page for this episode for access to more photos, videosEvery week on the Strong Towns Upzoned Podcast, Abby Kinney and most frequently, Chuck Marohn, Founder of Strong Towns have a discussion about a relevant article in some way connected to the Strong Towns message and movement. The thoughtful analysis of the content of the selected article is then balanced out with a segment they call the "Downzone" when they share what they've been reading, watching, or anything else that's been occupying their time. Additional Helpful Links:Gould Evans Studio for City DesignBikeWalkKC - Active Towns Podcast episode featuring Michael Kelley and Laura Steele Active Towns Podcast with Kea Wilson original host of UpzonedGillham Cycletrack Cliff Drive - Historical VideoKevin Klinkenberg - Midtown KC NowIncremental Development AllianceJoe Minicozzi - Urban 3Eldorado Canyon - ClimbingPearl Street Mall - HistoryBentonville, ARActive Towns Dutch Cycling video montageShow Credits:Audio Production by Active TownsA not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity.Creative Commons License: Attributions Non-Commercial No Derivatives 2021Please consider supporting the Active Towns Podcast by making a donation or becoming Patreon PatronTo sign up for our monthly newsletter, scroll down to the form at bottom of our home pageBe sure to check out our video podcasts and other content on our YouTube Channel - and please subscribe! Also, check out our video archive on VimeoYou can reach John Simmerman by email at john@activetowns.orgMusic: Various Logic Pro X mixes by John Simmerman★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

What's in the new federal transportation bill? Cohosts Don Ward and Nick Richert asked: Caron Whitaker, Deputy Executive Director of the League of American Cyclists, Mike McGinn, Executive Director of America Walks, and Kea Wilson, Senior Editor of Streetsblog USA. Edited by Kevin Burton. https://www.streetsblog.org/author/kea-wilson/ https://bikeleague.org/league-vocabulary/federal-news

Streetsblog reporter Kea Wilson gives us her middle American perspective on Pete Buttigieg, Biden's new Department of Transportation secretary and former South Bend Mayor. https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2020/12/15/what-will-mayor-pete-mean-for-the-u-s-dot/ With Midnight Rida/Wolfpack Hustler Don Ward and guest host "Bad Ass" Joni Yung.

Fiction & arts writer Sue Rainsford, discusses representations of violence in literature & shares some books that have really impressed her this past year. Various books discussed with a focus on Kea Wilson's We Eat Our Own, Susanna Moore's In The Cut, Fernanda Melchor's Hurricane Season and Our Bodies, Their Battlefield by Christina Lamb. Warning: This podcast includes discussion of violence of a sexual nature and war crimes in literature and non-fiction.

COVID-19 has been brutal for small businesses. Back in September, data from Yelp showed that nearly 100,000 businesses had closed for good. That was two-and-a-half months ago...and many experts believe the next few months will be even worse for small businesses. A global pandemic was going to be destructive no matter what, but it’s clear now that small businesses were on a weak footing to start with. Why? That’s the topic on this episode of the Strong Towns podcast...and there’s no guest better able to help us make sense of it than Stacy Mitchell. Mitchell is the co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and the director of its Independent Business Initiative. She’s the author of Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America’s Independent Businesses, and coauthor of “Amazon’s Stranglehold: How the Company’s Tightening Grip on the Economy Is Stifling Competition, Eroding Jobs, and Threatening Communities.” Her writing has also appeared in The Atlantic, Wall Street Journal, The Nation, Bloomberg, and other major outlets. Mitchell has testified before Congress on the monopoly power of dominant tech platforms. In April, she was the subject of a New York Times profile, “As Amazon Rises, So Does the Opposition.” In this episode, Strong Towns president Chuck Marohn welcomes Stacy Mitchell back to the podcast to talk about the concerns she had before the pandemic — corporate consolidation, tech monopolies, how corporate giants were using their size and political clout to muscle out small businesses — and why those concerns are even more acute now. They discuss how small businesses have adapted in extraordinary ways to the challenges of coronavirus, yet still face huge obstacles, including a federal policy response that is printing money for big businesses but has done comparatively little for small businesses. They talk about how Amazon is “fundamentally anti-competitive,” the damage done by Amazon to startups and small businesses, and what it might look like if Congress breaks up the tech behemoth. Marohn and Mitchell also discuss why it is distorting to think about Americans primarily as “consumers.” Before we are consumers, we are members of a community, citizens in a democracy, and people trying to build a good life for ourselves and our families.   Additional Show Notes: Stacy Mitchell (Twitter) Institute for Local Self-Reliance (Website) Institute for Local Self-Reliance (Twitter) Sign up for the ILSR Hometown Advantage newsletter Charles Marohn (Twitter) Other Strong Towns content featuring Stacy Mitchell and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance“Amid COVID-19, Local Governments Are Coming Through for Local Businesses,” by Daniel Herriges “Why Local Banks Are Crucial to Your Community's Coronavirus Recovery,” by Daniel Herriges Ask Strong Towns Webcast: Celebrity Edition (featuring Stacy Mitchell) “Stacy Mitchell on the Big-Box Swindle” (Podcast) “How a Local Bookstore Can Make Your Town Richer—In More Than One Way,” by Kea Wilson

Welcome to SGV Connect. In this week's episode, Kris Fortin interviews Paul Alva with the county's Department of Public Works about East L.A. Sustainable Median Stormwater Capture Project. After that, Damien talks to Streetsblog USA editor Kea Wilson about the state of transit during the ongoing pandemic.   L.A. County Department of Public Works is upgrading medians Unincorporated East LA to better capture water runoff. The project will include things like infiltration wells and bioswales which will divert stormwater from going into places like the LA River and replenish the local ground water supply. But it won’t be just something nice to look at, it will have benches, picnic tables, walking paths, and exercise equipment and quite a bit of vegetation, including planting more than 300 trees. This project costs, $36 million.   Read more about the project at the official project website, and see why some East L.A. residents are unhappy with the project in this story on L.A. Eastsider. In the second interview, Wilson explains how national politics are delaying or even killing a second relief fund for transit projects and programs. Wilson also discusses how agencies are responding to the crisis by focusing efforts on making service as usable as possible for essential workers and what transit will look like in our post COVID future. SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.” Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays. Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

How do we know if our cities are livable? There are many cities that you’ve visited that have felt much more or much less livable to you compared to the one you call home. And this is no different than how livable other peoples’ homes feel to you compared to your own home. But the difference with cities is that thousands or millions of people call it home, and that makes it more challenging to steer them in a certain direction without creating significant injustices.   So how do we still guide our cities to become more livable while continually trying to eliminate the systemic injustice that occurs?   My guest Kea Wilson, Senior Editor at Streetsblog USA, humbly shares how she thinks about the challenges in doing this, how to expand the conversation so that people of color and other vulnerable but important members of our cities no longer live in perpetual fear, and the importance of good narrative in revealing our own limitations of understanding.   There’s a ton packed into this interview but I’m confident you’ll appreciate Kea’s introspection, energy and willingness to show up and say that she doesn’t have all of the answers.   Follow Kea on Twitter Follow Kea and her work on Streetsblog, USA Brought to you by SquadCast and post-production by Creekmore Music.

In this episode, we catch up with Kea Wilson, Senior Editor with Streetsblog

You would think that your city’s wealthiest suburb would always have enough money to keep the streetlights on and the roads paved. You’d probably also think that the suburb that the two wealthiest people on Earth call home would be able to pave its roads in gold and light its streets with Hollywood-style glamor lighting that makes everyone it shines on look ten pounds thinner. On both counts, you’d be wrong. Earlier this week, CNBC offered an update to the story of Medina, Washington, a wealthy enclave outside of Seattle that billionaires Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates both call home. Medina has been making headlines for a surprising reason: they’re struggling to find the money to deliver the services that residents need, even though some of those resident’s homes (CoughGatesCough) have 24 bathrooms, something called a “trampoline room,” valuations of over $131 million, and owners who can comfortably pay over $1 million a year in property taxes. The reason why, CNBC suggests, has to do with a state cap on property taxes that distorts how much money actually goes to local needs and keeps the Bezoses of the world from paying what it actually costs to maintain the infrastructure that surrounds their mega-mansions—and if Washington just let the Medinas of the world have a little more local control, they’d finally be able to make the math work. The Strong Towns staff wondered, though, whether making Medina strong was really just a matter of twiddling a few taxation knobs on the governance control panel. So host Kea Wilson, and guest host + reluctant Seattleite, John Reuter, decided to dive in and talk it out. Would raising local and state tax rates really give wealthy communities like Medina the cash they need to pay for the suburban way of life—or is their development pattern simply so insolvent that even their high-earning residents would balk at that price tag? If Bezos and Gates decided to pay their city’s tax bill themselves, should Medina throw a party, or start worrying about what happens when the billionaires (or their heirs, or even the mere millionaires) pack up someday and leave, as has happened in so many American suburbs already? Do luxury homes and overbuilt road networks even make us happy in the long run, even if we can figure out how to afford it all? And most importantly: is one of Bill Gates’ 24 bathrooms also a trampoline room?! The comedic possibilities are endless!Then in the DownZone, John and Kea talk the very different ways they’re celebrating Halloween: John, by dressing his dog up as Chewbacca and reflecting on the role of heroism in the Star Wars franchise, and Kea, by reading a spooky-good new novel by Helen Phillips (and, okay, dressing her dog up as Superman, but that’s just a gimme.)

Welcome to a special mash-up episode of the Strong Towns and Upzoned podcasts!   In this episode, Kea Wilson, host of Upzoned, and Strong Towns president Charles Marohn, Jr. discuss the “spooky wisdom” contained in the cities of our ancestors, reflecting the ways in which humans and human habitats have co-evolved with each other. What lessons should we be learning and how did we come to throw away that ancient wisdom so casually and so completely?   Kea and Chuck explore why so many North American neighborhoods built after World War II may have been designed by humans but can’t be said to have been designed for humans. They also talk about the difference between complex systems and systems that are merely complicated, why a massive influx of resources isn’t always a good thing, and about the power of incrementalism.   We’re doing something unique this week. We're releasing one episode every day and inviting special guests to commandeer the Strong Towns podcast microphone to talk with Chuck about his first book, Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity, which releases on Tuesday, October 1. This is episode one of that series.   Make sure you don’t miss a single episode. Subscribe to the Strong Towns podcast on iTunes. For more information about the book—and to take advantage of soon-to-be-expiring bonus offers—visit strongtowns.org/book.

Welcome to a special mash-up episode of the Upzoned and Strong Towns podcasts!   In this episode, Kea Wilson, host of Upzoned, and Strong Towns president Charles Marohn, Jr. discuss the “spooky wisdom” contained in the cities of our ancestors, reflecting the ways in which humans and human habitats have co-evolved with each other. What lessons should we be learning and how did we come to throw away that ancient wisdom so casually and so completely? Kea and Chuck explore why so many North American neighborhoods built after World War II may have been designed by humans but can’t be said to have been designed for humans. They also talk about the difference between complex systems and systems that are merely complicated, why a massive influx of resources isn’t always a good thing, and about the power of incrementalism.   We’re doing something unique this week. We're releasing one episode every day and inviting special guests to commandeer the Strong Towns podcast microphone to talk with Chuck about his first book, Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity, which releases on Tuesday, October 1. This is episode one of that series.   Make sure you don’t miss a single episode. Subscribe to the Strong Towns podcast on iTunes. For more information about the book—and to take advantage of soon-to-be-expiring bonus offers—visit strongtowns.org/book.

Admit it: you’ve seen them. Those cheesy reality shows where the producers find a desperate family who can’t seem to catch a break, and over the course of 21 hyper-produced minutes, give them the gift of a lifetime: a fully renovated, free-and-clear mansion to live out their days in comfort and style. You might have even gotten a little misty as you watched these families open the front door and discover their blinged-out new living room. After all, who doesn’t like to see good people get something great once in a while? Who wouldn’t want a beautiful house designed just for them—and with a paid-off mortgage, to boot?The only problem? Often, those families don’t stay in their dream houses for all that long. They get overwhelmed by the increased tax bill, and the maintenance costs, and all the extra utilities it takes to heat and cool their huge new castle. They simply can’t afford their big, free house—because even if there’s no loan to pay back, homeownership can still be a serious liability. This month, the federal government announced that they were giving states a giant, shiny prize of their own: more than $4 billion dollars in re-allocated highway funding, doled out to Departments of Transportation via formula like some algorithmic Oprah taping luxury sweater capes underneath her audiences’ seats. The DOT’s, understandably, were thrilled, and most Americans probably would be too—after all, who wouldn’t want their state, and all the good people who live in it, to get some great new infrastructure for nothing?The only problem, of course, is one Strong Towns advocates are all too familiar with: even the greatest gift in the world can become a curse if you don’t have a way to maintain it. And in many of our communities, the last generation’s bonanza of highway funding has already left them feeling like a reality show contestant with a big, gorgeous home that they can’t afford to fix, and no one wants to buy. Today on Upzoned, host Kea Wilson and semi-regular guest-host John Reuter talk about what states should do differently if they want to avoid what happens after the cameras go home and the free-money party is over. Should we just say “no” to big buckets of federal cash? Is there a better way we should let our cities and states spend those dollars, rather than endless lane-widenings and new highway miles? And most importantly, how can more of our infrastructure become high-returning assets for our communities, rather than crushing future liabilities in disguise as present-day windfalls? Then in the Downzone, John and Kea talk about how they’ve been spending the last days of summer: reading sci-fi novels about a near-future Berlin where generosity has been turned into a pharmaceutical product, and wandering dog parks with cute puppies, wondering about what they mean about our communities (including one much-publicized DC dog park dust-up). Top photo via Creative Commons.

We hear it all the time, maybe especially during election cycles: "Our cities should be run like businesses." But then we place expectations on our civic leaders that we would never expect from the companies we most trust. For example, the expectation that our cities should go "all-in" on major projects applied everywhere and without deference to neighborhood context. The most innovative and successful companies iterate. They release beta versions. They run cheap experiments to see if something is working and resonating with customers. They prototype and measure feedback and take what they've learned to make better products and services. But many community leaders are often fearful to take a similar approach using pilot projects. They are fearful because the pilot projects might fail, fearful because they might succeed, fearful because of the complaints they know they'll get from constituents about risking public funds or the inequality of running a pilot project in one place instead of everywhere. Today on Upzoned, hosts Chuck Marohn and Kea Wilson look at the much-maligned "pilot project." Inspired by an article in Governing magazine, Chuck and Kea talk about why city staff are often afraid of the pilot project and the role of the public in contributing to those fears. They discuss how pilot projects can actually contribute to a more equitable society, and how they can even bring together people on both sides of the conservative-progressive spectrum. They also discuss how pilot projects resonate with the four steps of iteratively building a strong city. Then on the Downzone, Chuck talks about a great book he recently re-read, and Kea recommends a theatre troupe that may be taking a “Strong Towns approach” to live performance.

Every city has its nightmare intersections, and many residents could likely cite a personal nemesis or two. In the greater St. Louis area, the crossroads of North Grand Boulevard and Interstate 64 in Grand Center, and Eager and Hanley in Brentwood, may well come to mind among other notoriously tricky traffic spots. Frequently stressful for drivers and non-drivers alike, these sections of public infrastructure can seem like a permanent fixture of civic life, along with the honking, confusion and rage they trigger. But change can sometimes happen. In this episode, host Sarah Fenske takes a closer look at some of the region’s worst intersections – and discusses how planners work to address trouble spots in an age of crumbling infrastructure across the U.S. The conversation also touches on what residents can do to help address problematic roads and contribute to smoother, safer streets for all. Joining the discussion are Scott Ogilvie, who is a transportation policy planner for the City of St. Louis, and Kea Wilson, a St. Louis-based communications manager for Strong Towns.

At Strong Towns, our mission is to spread our radically new approach to growth and development to as many people as possible. That's why we aren't available to consult with individuals or organizations—but that doesn't mean we can't help. Once a month, we host Ask Strong Towns, a live Q&A webcast open only to Strong Towns members and select invitees. Whether you're the mayor of your town (as was the case for one of this month's questions!) a diehard citizen advocate, or just getting involved in making your place stronger, Ask Strong Towns gives 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 answer with the world, so it might help other Strong Citizens. Here’s the video (and audio, if the podcast is more your style) from our August 2019 installment of Ask Strong Towns with founder and president Chuck Marohn and communications director Kea Wilson. This Month’s Questions Answered 2:15 — What do you think is the cause of the affordable housing crisis, and the mismatch between housing costs and people’s incomes. And what is a Strong Towns response to this crisis? 12:00 — How do cities calculate their ability to pay for infrastructure maintenance? How do they know if they’ve built too much and should be worried about the long-term liabilities? 19:20 — My county has been issuing bonds to pay for major projects. As a wealthy county, I’m surprised to find out how reliant we are on this tool. Is it unfair to look at bonds as unequivocally bad for building a strong town? 23:40 — I live in a lakeshore community where almost 40% of our homes are second homes, and we’re now allowing short-term vacation rentals as well. How do vacation homes and vacation rentals impact our community and our ability to be a strong place? 35:00 — What does Strong Towns think about municipally-owned endeavors designed primarily to produce revenue, such as rec centers or golf courses? 45:05 — How do we get Chuck Marohn to visit our community to assess how we can become a stronger town and educate local officials on the benefits?

At Strong Towns, we’re proud to be building a movement that brings together people from across political divides to make their cities more financially resilient. But we also know that we’re kind of… well, we’re a weird bunch. Look: we know that when you look beyond the computer screen (or when your Strong Towns local conversation meet up winds down for the night), most of us find ourselves in a world that very rarely allows people of different political beliefs to work together peaceably, even when our values are fundamentally the same. The harshest tones of our partisan political debates threaten to seep into everything, even when the conversation turns to the most seemingly politically neutral topics in city building. Want to see your city make some serious street design changes to #SlowTheCars? Don’t mention it around your ultra-conservative aunt; she might start a fight about the “nanny state.” Want to see your town build a strong, feedback-responsive affordable housing market instead of plunking down another Pruitt Igoe-style public housing tower? Be careful about posting that on Facebook; your capital-L Liberal uncle will call you out for wanting to deprive the public assistance that your poorest neighbors need right now. It’s all enough to make you want to pick a team, move somewhere where everyone agrees with you, and live out your life in unchallenged peace. But in a recent column for the New York Times, Thomas L. Friedman argues that we don’t just need to think outside the political boxes we put ourselves in. We need to recognize that those boxes are toolboxes—and if we’re smart, we’ll start borrowing tools from our neighbors a whole lot more. On this episode of Upzoned, Kea Wilson and John Reuter dig into what it really means to work across partisan lines to build a Strong Town, from what it takes for a politically diverse council to bring rural broadband to an Idaho town to using liberal- and conservative-coded strategies to fix Seattle’s housing crisis. Then in the Downzone, they talk over the (very different) things they’re doing to beat the summer heat: eating artisan frozen desserts (John) and…reading depressing-yet-wonderful novels about Mennonite women (Kea).

You’ve seen the photographs: empty food courts with broken windows and layers of shadowy graffiti, weeds reaching up through the floor of a long-vacant department store. Shopping malls across America are slowly dying off—and when that last Gap or Hot Topic finally closes up shop, the building often sticks around to rot, becoming its own monument to our cities’ bad financial decisions of the past. But some think that the American shopping mall might still have a second life ahead of it. It just might not involve Orange Julius and shopping bags. As CityLab reports, entrepreneur and Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang has introduced a new policy proposal he’s calling the American Mall Act. Rather than resuscitate the retail behemoths, however, he’s proposing a $6 billion plan aimed at incentivizing developers to repurpose the mega-shopping centers for more financially productive uses—and yes, that does include those giant parking lots. It all sounds pretty good, right? But Upzoned hosts Chuck Marohn and Kea Wilson aren’t so sure—and in this episode, they’re digging into the details. With the average American mall costing about $24.9 million to develop, how exactly would that hefty $6 billion pot be spent? What would it take to change our zoning codes to even make a meaningful mall redevelopment possible in most of our communities? Are there towns where the malls are likely to reinvent themselves without government intervention—and are there towns where we’d be better off investing our money anywhere but the giant concrete shopping center on the edge of town? And when things are truly beyond hope, how do you move your community from a conversation about how to get the mall back on its feet and into a conversation about how to make your whole place stronger—even if the mall sits empty?Then in the Downzone, Chuck talks about his new favorite nautical thriller TV, The Terror, and his best recent recent read, The Theft of a Decade: How Baby Boomers Stole the Millenials’ Future (hint: it’s not a total Boomer bashfest). And Kea talks about a book she loved about everything human beings do underground, The Underland, as well as her weekend plans: throwing an extremely extra breed reveal party for her dog. (Tune in next week to hear the hotly anticipated results.)

At Strong Towns, our mission is to spread our radically new approach to growth and development to as many people as possible. That's why we aren't available to consult with individuals or organizations—but that doesn't mean we can't help. Once a month, we host Ask Strong Towns, a live Q&A webcast open only to Strong Towns members and select invitees, 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 answer with the world, so it might help other Strong Citizens. Here’s the video (and audio, if the podcast is more your style) from our June 2019 installment of Ask Strong Towns with founder and president Chuck Marohn and communications director Kea Wilson. Stuck at work during Ask Strong Towns? No problem! We bet if you love us, your coworkers would to, so get a group together and organize a watch party—as the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership did this time around! (Thanks, guys!) This Month’s Questions Answered 3:10 — How can a strong town create the right balance between maintenance and safety, yet still allow for character and uniqueness? I.e. does every weed need to be pulled—or by obsessing over maintenance, do we risk creating an environment that becomes too sterile? 9:50 — Have you found that areas with conservative voters are more likely to buy into Strong Towns than an area with liberal voters, or vice versa? 16:05 — I live in New York City: our development pattern is as financially productive as anywhere, with fewer pipes, power lines, and roads per capita. Yet I have a tax bill that’s much higher than it would be in Texas or even Boston. Why? Shouldn’t the efficiency of our infrastructure lead to savings? 24:45 — Please discuss the challenges of advocating for Strong Towns principles in places heavily dependent on Local Government Aid for funding (money transferred from states to cities, or otherwise money from external government sources)? 30:50 — How should a small city, which is economically strong in many ways, deal with the issue of renter-occupied properties that are falling apart? Condemnation is a serious issue for the renter as well as the landlord. What other tools do we have to address this neglect? 39:30 — I live in a small town whose debt is astronomical, and whose pipes are crumbling. The city is seeking to build more housing to entice a new company to move here. What’s a good formula to help our city council know when to say yes to a project? 44:55 — My city has a historic downtown theater and community center that is heavily damaged and owned by the city. Some city council members see it as a money pit. But it’s also a pillar of the community. What would a Strong Towns approach be toward cultural landmarks like these? 51:15 — My town is having a debate concerning Accessory Dwelling Units—some vocal residents don’t want to start allowing them. Strong Towns has been vocal on the pros of ADUs—are there any cons? Why would people oppose them?

Even a tropical paradise like Hawaii has its problems. And in Hawaii, like the rest of America, one of them is deadly roads. Honolulu’s latest effort to reduce the risk of pedestrian injuries and deaths, though, is a novel one: the city is considering a law which would prohibit crossing any street after dark except at a marked crosswalk or signalized intersection. People on foot could be fined $100 for violating this ordinance, which is more severe than most cities’ existing (and rarely enforced) anti-jaywalking provisions. The law would apply even if, as is often the case in environments designed around cars, there is no marked crosswalk anywhere nearby. What are they trying to do here? This is the question that Strong Towns president Chuck Marohn poses to Don Kostelec on this week’s Upzoned podcast. (Chuck is filling in for Upzoned host Kea Wilson, who is enjoying some off-the-grid time bikepacking this week.) Kostelec is a planner with Vitruvian Planning in Boise, Idaho, and an avid Twitter user who applies his encyclopedic knowledge of street design standards and practices to advocate for a safer, more humane world for those outside of motor vehicles. The first question Don has when he hears about Honolulu’s proposal is, “Do the roadways even give people a chance to abide by this law?” As he has written before (check out Day 7 of his epic “Twelve Days of Safety Myths”), engineering departments often ignore both context and basic human psychology when insisting that the safest thing for a person on foot to do is use a crosswalk… even when the nearest crosswalk is half a mile out of the way! And this leads into a discussion of what’s really wrong with Honolulu’s effort: not necessarily the intent, or even the idea of strict rules for street users. Don points out that Honolulu has strict rules across the board, for motorists as well. And that can work, if you consider context and if you have a system that is designed to give all users—whether on foot, wheelchair, bicycle, car, or what have you—an equal opportunity to navigate the system safely. In Honolulu, this could mean things like actually creating frequent marked crossings, tightening the turning radii at intersections and making other design changes intended to slow traffic. In the world we inhabit, though, that equal opportunity doesn’t exist. Not even close. And putting the onus on pedestrians to keep themselves out of any potential danger—while not designing an environment that makes it practical for them to get where they need to go without breaking the law—is no kind of solution at all. And then, in the Downzone, Chuck reveals why he avoided social media for days (hint: don’t spoil the Endgame!). And Don talks about the nerdy reading he’s doing in preparation for the hands-on road safety mythbusting book he’s itching to write, which leads him and Chuck to discuss whether Don is more the biblical-scholar of road design, or the CSI detective of road design.

Here's the audio from our April 2019 edition of Ask Strong Towns, a bimonthly webcast in which you can ask anything you want of our founder and president, Chuck Marohn, and our communications director, Kea Wilson. Questions answered: 2:05: Strong Towns regularly advocates for street trees. The arguments made make sense, but I have yet to see my biggest concern about street trees addressed. Trees roots can wreak havoc on water and wastewater lines, creating huge repair costs. Are there strategies to plant new street trees while protecting the underground utility infrastructure? 9:55: How does a land value tax work in predominantly rural areas? How would it affect the taxing of agricultural land? 19:45: In our city, we are dusting off a tool we had on paper but have not used much in practice: our Land Bank. What does a Strong Towns approach to a Land Bank look like? 28:00: What is the definition of a vibrant Downtown and why is it important to have one? 38:50: Does the higher density of the traditional development pattern require urban infrastructure (water/sewer lines, complete streets networks, etc.) to function? If so, how does a rural town/area incrementally grow in the traditional development pattern without building pricey infrastructure first?

If you go for a walk around a sought-after North American city, you’re likely to see all the usual things we associate with booming city growth: the towering crane, the beeping backhoe, the shell of that new apartment building looming behind the construction tape. But just because the footprint of your town is growing doesn’t mean your population is—even if every single one of those new luxury units is filling up fast. And if you want to understand the reason behind that seeming paradox, we have one tip for you: start counting doorbells. That’s because, according to a new article from Slate’s Henry Grabar, many of the cities that are adding new housing units are also among the fastest to subtract old ones from within the walls of their historic buildings, converting duplexes and triplexes to single-family homes and gradually draining the density from what used to be populous neighborhoods by design. But how should a Strong Towns advocate look at this phenomenon: as a disaster for communities that are short on affordable housing supply and too slow to build, or a natural and necessary part of the incremental development process? Today on Upzoned, Strong Towns staffers Kea Wilson and Daniel Herriges talk it out. Daniel, a San Francisco veteran who’s spent a lot of his life in booming places, gives his take on the long-range consequences of strict zoning codes that make it near-impossible for buildings to evolve to the next level of intensity, but all too tempting to knock out a wall or two and remove that second kitchen. And Kea, a Rust Belt native whose own city has seen a wave of single-family conversions without the accompanying new housing boom, talks about why even cities with more vacancies than they know what to do with might not welcome the Disappearing Doorbell problem—at least, not until the desirable neighborhoods with the strongest development patterns can upzone themselves by right.Then in the Downzone, Daniel and Kea step way far away from the Strong Towns conversation and talk about their recent listens: indie chanteuse Sharon Van Etten, and Kea talks about her latest musical theater fav, the heartwarming Southern diner musical, Waitress.

Once a month, we host Ask Strong Towns, a live Q&A webcast open only to Strong Towns members and select invitees, 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 answer with the world, so it might help other Strong Citizens. Here’s the audio from our February 2019 installment of Ask Strong Towns with founder and president Chuck Marohn and communications director Kea Wilson. This Month’s Questions Answered 02:55 We've been going through some serious parking debates here in Buffalo and it got me wondering about residential parking. I wonder if, like on-street commercial parking areas, residents should also be asked to compensate the city for the space their vehicles take up. Additionally, should visitors be allowed to take up otherwise free spaces on residential streets near commercial areas? I am curious to know if Strong Towns has any thoughts on residential parking permits, if you've seen them used effectively, or if there any studies exist. 10:30 When will Strong Towns travel destinations and dates be announced for later this year so I can perhaps sync it with travel plans? Also, I didn't see any California destinations. Any hope of expanding in the direction? 16:25 I’ve seen big box chains build an “urban” model of their store to fit into places like NYC. Is this the model a strong town should mandate or should our towns refuse all big box development? 24:35 What kinds of non-biodegradable plastic can be ground up & used to patch roads? (And can solutions like this help solve our infrastructure problems?) 32:30 As cities make budget cuts, the decision makers often talk about the need to prioritize “core services”. What, in the Strong Towns framework, qualify as core services, secondary services (not absolutely necessary, but better to have than not have), tertiary services, etc.? 38:00 My town government recently created a "task force" to address the declining proportion of young adults and children, but then decided to expand the mission to address all related issues (e.g., affordable housing, etc.). What would a Strong Towns answer be? 46:00 City X is an upscale suburban city that is developing an dense urban environment. It currently has a moderate amount of high-end empty commercial space. They are subsidizing the development of massive amount of new commercial space that will create a large amount of unrentable property unless we have a dramatic increase in growth. How do you convince the public it is time for them to demand their economic development commissions and politicians quit digging? 52:50 Any advice when having discussions with state Departments of Transportation on altering their plans to widen a state highway that cuts through your town?

When we say the words “house flipper,” do you picture a yard sign jammed into the grass next to a freeway entrance that says something like “$$$$ We Buy Ugly Houses for Cash $$$$”? If one of the US’s biggest real estate companies has its way, you might have a different association soon. In a recent Bloomberg Businessweek article, “Zillow Wants to Flip Your House,” writer Patrick Clark explores real estate database Zillow’s unconventional decision to get into the home-buying game themselves. That’s right: the site where you spend countless hours pettily judging how much your third cousin spent on her condo might be renovating a run-down bungalow near you soon. And they’ll be using the massive power of their data (and, of course, a super-secret algorithm or two) to do it. What are the implications of big tech literally buying and selling our neighborhoods? Is Zillow poised to be a top-down monster-buyer who uses low-ball offers to snap up whole blocks, or is their business model a fragile mess that will probably fall apart on its own? Is an impersonal algorithm that sees that cute little ranch next door as nothing more than a set of numbers on a screen really any worse than a local sleazeball who’ll buy it for a song and let it crumble until it’s time to cash in? Strong Towns president Chuck Marohn is back this week to talk through these and more questions with host Kea Wilson. Then in the downzone, the two talk about what they’ve been binging to get through the winter: the TV series Justified for Chuck, and the podcast Believed for Kea.

Looking for the perfect present for that person in your life who’s obsessed with making your city stronger? Or, let’s be real: are you just looking for something good to read or watch as you settle into a holiday vacation? Today, Upzoned host Kea Wilson brings you a solo, all-Downzone episode featuring her five favorite Strong Towns-adjacent reads (and one favorite watch) of the year. From the short works of Jane Jacobs to a nonfiction epic about Americans who live out of their cars and beyond, this list runs the gamut—and we hope you leave your recs in the comments, too.

Today on the Strong Towns Podcast, we're bringing you the audio from the latest edition of our live, bimonthly ask-us-anything webcast, Ask Strong Towns. On November 16th, 2018, we invited Strong Towns members to ask their questions—any questions at all—of our founder and president, Chuck Marohn, and our communications director, Kea Wilson. Questions answered this time include: • My city of Bothell (suburb of Seattle) and the cities all around us charge impact fees on new construction that cover the costs of traffic, schools, parks, and fire. The city of Seattle does not impose impact fees, relying on other taxes to cover all these needs for the city. What’s the Strong Towns approach to impact fees? Are they a good way to pay for civilization, or a bad idea? • In light of 2018's devastating hurricane and fire season, how would Strong Towns approach the rebuilding process? I'm afraid we're about to spend billions of dollars merely replacing losses with fortified structures, rather than rethinking our development pattern to increase resiliency. • I think miles of water line per customer would be a good measure of sprawl and infrastructure maintenance needs. Is this data easily retrieved for different cities and towns? Is there a standard to compare to? • We are losing valuable historic housing due to shoddy flips by investors. How dow we protect our dense and affordable housing from speculation? These homes are traps for unwary young buyers who like the initial look, but the shoddy workmanship dooms them to unnecessary expense and stress. I fear many will lose these homes, as their costs to fix non-cosmetic errors may be prohibitive. It reminds me of the period before the sub-prime crisis. I looked at a historic home recently that was marked up over 5 times what they paid for their initial investment. It was a potential buyer's nightmare. The realtor stated that poor flips are a regular occurrence. • I live in the historic district of my town near the old main downtown street. At some point they decided to make that street part of US-1, so it's wider and cars go faster, and businesses have failed consistently ever since. When citizens raise concerns, the city blames the state and claims they have to abide by state requirements about things like lane width. What's the best way to restore the street to be people-centered? • Given the state of the retail industry, the go-to building typology of residential over commercial space ends up not being financially viable, even in traditionally designed areas. This is certainly the case in Annapolis, where the only retail that is doing well is food (restaurants), but that only scales so far. What suggestions do you have to deal with this? • What are some first steps for smaller cities to lay the groundwork and begin revitalizing their historic downtowns?

.... But where's that familiar intro music?! If you're looking for the regular Strong Towns Podcast, never fear—it'll be back next week. Today we're cross-posting a recent episode of Upzoned, a podcast we launched in September featuring Strong Towns's own Kea Wilson, Chuck Marohn, and occasional guests. Each week, they pick one recent news story that's part of the Strong Towns conversation, and they discuss it in depth. We wanted to make sure you haven't missed Upzoned—there's a new episode every Friday if you like what you're hearing! If you’re plugged into the urbanist blogosphere, you’ve probably heard something about the new federal Opportunity Zones by now. And you might even think they sound pretty good. After all, anything that incentivizes investment in underserved areas sounds like a pretty good deal—and by eliminating capital gains taxes on new development in some of the poorest regions of your state, there’s no doubt that the money will come pouring in. But Upzoned hosts Kea and Chuck aren’t so sure. Is a big bucket of money really what these neighborhoods need? Will outside developers really build the kind of locally responsive, fine-grained stuff that would make these towns strong and lift up the people who are already there? What would a better Opportunity Zones program look like—or is using a federal program to develop a neighborhood like steering an ocean liner with a canoe paddle? And then in the Downzone, Chuck and Kea talk about their recent reads. Hear Chuck’s final thoughts on Mariana Mazzucato’s The Value of Everything, and get the behind-the-scenes scoop on Kea’s recent interview with author William Knoedelseder on his new bookFins: Harley Earl, The Rise of General Motors and the Glory Days of Detroit.

In Episode 2 of Upzoned from Strong Towns, Kea Wilson and Chuck Marohn discuss an article on big-box stores and the taxes they pay. Many of these companies argue that their taxes ought to be lower. Find out what we think of this argument.

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. Below you'll find that audio, with a conversation led by Strong Towns staff members, Chuck Marohn and Kea Wilson. In this episode, Chuck and Kea discuss several audience-submitted questions on topics ranging from from parking minimums to density to how young people can help build Strong Towns Here are the questions discussed in this episode: What are some of the arguments you've heard over the years “for” parking minimums (i.e. leaving it the way we've always done it), rather than moving towards a parking maximum model? If I'm going in front of elected officials to lobby for a change, what arguments should I anticipate and how should I answer them? If a city has large green- or gray-field lots, what can it do to promote fine-grained development in these places, especially in climates where developers are hungry to build the biggest project they can? When talking to policymakers, how can you shift the conversation away from the overly simple "all density is good density" and towards adding value through a broader set of solutions, like mixed use development, multi-story buildings, limited parking, infill development, etc.? I go to college a few hours from my home, and my home is immediately outside of the principal city in my region. What can I do during my college years to stay involved in a city I don't live in at all during the year, but that I intend to move into after my career? What do you think of special “District” initiatives, the "Cultural Innovation District" in New Orleans? As a young(ish) engineer who subscribes to Strong Towns ideas and wants to make a difference in his home town, would you recommend that I pursue a planning degree in addition to my civil engineering degree, especially if I have a chance to work in city government? People in our small town tend to be very engaged and hold strong opinions. Big community issues can turn nasty, especially now with social media. Any suggestions on how to engage civil discourse without personal attacks? Our town is embarking on a large development project in the core of downtown financed via a Tax Increment Financing. The short version of the explanation we got from our Town Council is that the tax revenue generated from the new project will be set aside to fund the project. Doesn't TIF = debt? What questions would help enlighten our taxpayers?

Brea and Mallory talk about true crime books and interview author and investigative journalist Billy Jensen. Use the hashtag #ReadingGlassesPodcast to participate in online discussion! Email us at readingglassespodcast at gmail dot com!   Reading Glasses Merch Links - Pre-Order Mallory’s Book! The Lady from the Black Lagoon Reading Glasses Transcriptions on Gretta   Reading Glasses Facebook Group   Reading Glasses Goodreads Group   Apex Magazine Page Advice Article   Amazon Wish List True Crime Article Billy Jensen https://twitter.com/Billyjensen   Books Mentioned - Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry   Alice + Freda Forever by Alexis Coe People Who Eat Darkness by Richard Lloyd Perry American Fire by Monica Hesse I’ll Be Gone In The Dark by Michelle McNamara   Bad Blood by John Carreyrou   The Alienist by Caleb Carr   The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson   Paperbacks from Hell by Grady Hendrix   We Eat Our Own by Kea Wilson    

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

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

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

St. Louis resident Kea Wilson, director of community engagement for Strong Towns, discusses her hopes to help improve safety for all road users.

Rachel's guest on this week's episode is Strong Towns Director of Community Engagement, Kea Wilson. She talks about some recent articles she's written on safe streets issues in her city of St. Louis, MO. Kea and Rachel also discuss the current standings in the Strongest Town Contest. Round 2 kicks off tomorrow so don't forget to tune in and vote. Mentioned in this Episode When your city hates your traffic calming measures by Kea Wilson What if you and your neighbors redesigned your town's worst intersection? by Kea Wilson Announcing the Winners of Round 1 in our Strongest Town Contest Join us on Wednesday at 11am CT to discuss the contest on Slack. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson The Honestly Adoption Podcast  

In this episode, Kea Wilson interviews Melody Hoffmann, author of Bike Lanes are White Lanes, which examines how the burgeoning popularity of urban bicycling is trailed by systemic issues of racism, classism, and displacement. Melody discusses the many factors that contribute to a person's comfort with biking beyond just the presence of protected bike lanes and why the "build it and they will come" mentality is flawed. She also shares examples of cities that are actively working within diverse communities to create safer transportation options for everyone.

The infamous "master builder" of New York City, Robert Moses, is the subject of a new rock musical, opening today (November 30) in New York. In this podcast episode, Kea Wilson interviews Karen Carpenter, director of the musical, Bulldozer: The Ballad of Robert Moses, as well as the musical's writer, Peter Galperin. They discuss why they selected this controversial figure as the subject for their musical and how they went about depicting his vision and story within the show. They also talk about other characters — like Jane Jacobs — who are part of the musical and the actors they selected to fill these roles. Finally, Karen and Peter touch on the positive accomplishments of Robert Moses and how his influence shaped New York for good and for bad. Bulldozer dramatizes Robert Moses' evolution from a young idealist fervent with a desire to build the greatest city in the world to a power-insulated enemy of the people, corrupted, lost and alone. Performances run today (November 30) through January 7 at the Theatre at St. Clement's at 423 West 46th Street in the heart of Manhattan's theatre district. Get more information and tickets at bulldozer.nyc.

In this podcast episode, Rachel Quednau interviews her colleague Kea Wilson about her journey to financial freedom and personal resilience. Kea talks about how she paid off $25,000 in college debt in less than a year and how a mindset of financial frugality and saving over spending has stayed with her since. By finding joy in low-cost, productive, simple activities and adopting a lifestyle aimed at happiness, not consumption, Kea is charting a path of personal and community resilience. We can all learn something from it. This episode is part of an ongoing series about personal resilience. Find more articles in the series here.

A few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of hosting a webcast for Strong Towns members with Ferguson, MO-based farmer, Molly Rockamann of EarthDance Organic Farm School. This was part of a series we've been doing throughout the last few months about local food. You can find the whole series here. Kea Wilson interviewed Molly about how the farm got started, the challenges and advantages of having a farm in this location, where local food intersects with building Strong Towns and much more.  We're now releasing the audio of the webcast as today's podcast. If you'd like to watch the whole video, just visit our website. Even if you're not looking to become a farmer in the near future, there's still a lot to learn from this discussion. The conversation considers how farmers and non-farmers can be good neighbors to one another, how local food can support a strong local economy, and how regular people can take small steps to participate in local food systems, whether or not you're ready to get down in the dirt and grow something. 

With Chuck on the road, Rachel brings in her colleague Kea Wilson for a special edition of the Week Ahead podcast. Rachel and Kea discuss articles they've recently written and some upcoming projects. They also announce a slackchat they're hosting on Friday and discuss some favorite books. Mentioned in this podcast: "Is your state transportation system broke? Then hit up the Prius drivers!" "False Choices in American Transportation" Event in Pensacola, FL Event in Holland, MI "Four Tips for Better Community Engagement" This Week's Slackchat: Open Resource Sharing with Kea and Rachel Sign up for Slack The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael Twitty We Eat Our Young by Kea Wilson Becoming Jane Jacobs by Peter Laurence

This week, Kea Wilson and Chuck Marohn began a conversation about the merits and pitfalls of Amazon with dueling articles (read Chuck's piece here and Kea's piece here). Today, we're sharing a podcast conversation in which these two Strong Towns staff members explain their differing perspectives on Amazon's place within a Strong Town. Is Amazon helpful or harmful to authors? Does Amazon support or discourage small businesses? Most importantly, does Amazon help towns become stronger or less strong?

Chuck and Rachel discuss Chuck's packed event schedule including events in Eau Claire, WI and Omaha, NE last week, and one in Wabash, IN this week. They also talk about a legal case against dangerous road design. Mentioned in this podcast:  Event in Wabash, IN "L.A. agrees to pay $9.5 million in wrongful death case" from the Los Angeles Times After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split by Lesley Hazleton The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus's Final Days in Jerusalem by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan Thank you for your Service by David Finkel Two perspectives on Amazon: "Why Urbanists Need to Talk about Amazon" by Kea Wilson and "Okay, let's talk about Amazon then" by Chuck Marohn. Join us this Friday at 11:30am CT for a Slackchat on this topic. (Sign up for Slack here.)

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.