The Strong Towns Podcast

This week we are joined by the President and Founder of Small Change, Eve Picker. Small Change is working to help real estate developers doing incremental work in core neighborhoods find the capital they need while making it easier for individuals to make small investments in improving their neighborhoods (and share in the returns on that investment). This is an exciting podcast about the future of real estate finance. For those wanting to know more, Small Change is hosting a real estate crowdfunding conference on March 24. You can also follow them on LinkedIn.

On their weekly podcast, Rachel and Chuck discuss the way the Strong Towns movement and incremental development can be a path toward inclusion for women, minorities, and other marginalized communities. They also talk about a recent trip to Burlington, VT and an upcoming visit to Los Angeles and Pasadena, CA. Also included in this episode, book and movie recommendations from Chuck and Rachel.

Are your taxes paying for the cost of your street? Nitin Gadia has created an interactive mapping tool to explore the answer to this question in his hometown of Ames, Iowa. Nitin works for MapStory, an open platform for organizing our knowledge about how the world changes over time and space. We highly recommend that you visit http://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2016/2/11/podcast-nitin-gadia-on-mapping to view the map we discuss in this episode, as well as a guide for creating your own map and more from Nitin.

Chuck and Rachel discuss upcoming trips to Burlington, VT and Los Angeles, as well as the Flint water crisis and pipe maintenance issues throughout the country. They also touch on a couple books about the Nat Turner rebellion and the Holocaust.

From a beautiful little neighborhood in Oklahoma City, Chuck Marohn interviews ULI members Shane Hampton and Jane Jenkins in front of a live audience. The conversation is about Oklahoma City past, present and future.

Rachel and Chuck recap #NoNewRoads Week and discuss Chuck's busy week of travel in January, including a trip to Oklahoma City, Deerfield Beach, FL and the City Engineer's Association of Minnesota Conference, where he encountered some backwards messaging but was able to sway some engineers toward the Strong Towns message. Also, they take a brief look at Donald Trump and his appeal to the wage earning class.

Susan Handy of the University of California at Davis speaks on induced traffic and impacts of fighting congestion through adding capacity. A summary of the findings can be found here.

Former Mayor of Seattle, Michael McGinn, discusses the tunneling project currently underway in Seattle, the discussions that led to the decision to proceed with a tunnel and subsequent actions by the governor, legislature and city to deal with the aftermath. McGinn also discusses the tradeoffs of how we fund transportation and what it will take to start spending less and getting more.

A conversation with Kevin Blanchard, former Public Works Director for the city of Lafayette. Kevin was part of the conversations in Lafayette involving Strong towns and Urban 3. He was instrumental in making the conversation over the fiscal realities of transportation spending part of the broader community dialog. His insights come from experience and echo many of the things being discussed by public works directors around the country.

Chuck and Rachel discuss this week's #NoNewRoads campaign. They touch on the new federal transportation funding bill, issues in Texas, Minnesota and Washington state, as well as a fascinating new tool you can use to look at transportation funding priorities in your own state.

Rachel Quednau interviews Randy Simes all the way from Seoul, South Korea, to talk about the Ohio Department of Transportation’s expected announcement of a major shift toward “fix it first” policy, and away from new road projects. Randy is the founder and managing editor of UrbanCincy, news sources for Cincinnati’s urban core, as well as an urban planner who has worked around the world.

Special guest Joe Minicozzi joins Chuck Marohn to talk about the movie The Big Short and their own experience with big money and shady land deals.

Member Support Specialist, Jason Schaefer, makes a guest appearance on the podcast along with Rachel Quednau, to discuss the week's events in Santa Rosa, CA, as well as new members, favorite podcasts, and the book, The Four Hour Work Week. Plus they share an announcement about an upcoming Strong Towns campaign.

Strong Towns is having a board meeting this weekend and Chuck's thoughts are on the changes the organization has made over the past year and what we face in the future. This episode is about the organization behind the Strong Towns movement.

Chuck and Rachel discuss a recent trip to Olympia, WA for a Curbside Chat, plus diversity (or lack of it) in local government. They also discuss the question, related to a recent Strong Towns story: Should local governments run golf courses and other public amenities or not?

After listening to the lecture series Redefining Reality: The Intellectual Implications of Modern Science, Chuck has some questions about whether or not modern economics, with it's Keynesian paradigm, is stuck at the Newtonian phase and is in need of an Einstein.

Chuck and Rachel return from a holiday break with updates on the Strong Towns website, a look at 2016 and some travel this week to Washington.

Chuck and Rachel discuss new members, an upcoming trip to Pennsylvania and the Syrian refugee crisis. Chuck also recommends Great Courses on Audible.com and the book, Asia's Cauldron.

Chuck Marohn interviews Joe Minicozzi of Urban Three about parking minimums for #BlackFridayParking week.

Chuck Marohn interviews John Anderson about parking minimums for #BlackFridayParking week.

Chuck Marohn interviews Donald Shoup, Distinguished Research Professor in Urban Planning at the University of California, Los Angeles. His book, The High Cost of Free Parking, and his extensive research into the effects of parking on cities have made him a prominent voice on these topics. He joins Strong Towns for #BlackFridayParking week.

Our 1000th Member is Laura Nottingham from Omaha, Nebraska.

Author, speaker, social critique and friend of the Strong Towns movement Jim Kunstler joins the podcast to provide an update on The Long Emergency, America's ongoing struggle with economic turmoil, energy depletion and climate craziness.

Jason Schaefer and Rachel Quednau chat about the diversity of Strong Towns members, what it's been like working for the organization, and what they're looking forward to as the organization grows.

One of our more colorful contributors is Johnny Sanphillippo, the author of the blog Granola Shotgun. Johnny joins Chuck to contrast three cities in New Jersey and, in the process, gain some insight into what will follow America's Suburban Experiment. Become a member of Strong Towns this week by going to www.strongtowns.org/membership.

We kick off the #1000Strong member drive with an interview of Strong Towns Founder and President Chuck Marohn by Board Member John Reuter. John asks Chuck about the current state of the movement, some of the big things coming up, the inside on new staff members and some personal questions on his commitment to change. Go to www.strongtowns.org/membership to become a member today.

This week we chat with Placemaker Scott Doyon (Facebook / Web) about the Oakhurst Porchfest, a grassroots music festival held in Decatur, GA. Scott also wrote about the event on the Placemaker's blog.

In a solo monologue this week, Chuck talks about efforts to improve the sound quality of the podcast and then provides an analysis of traffic congestion in the hierarchical road network theory.

Chuck and Rachel discuss last week's trip to Maine, upcoming events this week in Austin, the Curbside Chat booklet, and even waterparks. Plus get Chuck's latest book recommendations.

Author, civil engineer and University of Minnesota professor David Levinson (Twitter) joins the podcast to talk about his new book, The End of Traffic and the Future of Transport, which he co-authored with Kevin Krizek. You can read Professor Levinson regularly on his blog, The Transportationist, as well as on Streets.MN.

Chuck and Rachel discuss last week's staff retreat and Member Meetup in Madison as well as Chuck's upcoming events in Maine this week. In addition, we discuss Chuck's recent reading list and welcome several new and renewing Strong Towns members.

This week, Strong Towns' staff (Chuck, Jason and Rachel) got together in Madison, WI for a speaking engagement and a staff retreat. We also hosted a Strong Towns meet up. This podcast episode features several Strong Towns members.

Toby Dougherty, city manager for Hays, Kansas, talks about his city's efforts to implement a Strong Towns approach.

Rachel and Chuck discuss last week's events in Ontario, Canada and Peoria, IL, the most beautiful city in North America and an exciting trip through US customs, plus the schedule for Chuck's trip to Idaho and Indiana this week and the book, The Selfish Gene.

This week's podcast is a conversation with one of the country's leading urban thinkers, Joe Minicozzi of Urban 3. Joe and Chuck talk about Brainerd, Lafayette, communicating complex ideas and Taco John's.

Rachel and Chuck discuss last week's events in Louisville, KY and Peterborough NH, Chuck's new title as "Colonel Marohn," plus the schedule for Chuck's trip to Toronto and Peoria this week and the book, D-Day Through German Eyes.

The question and answer session of the debate in Lafayette, Louisiana, between Chuck Marohn and Randal O'Toole.

Welcome to new members Pat Kemp, Nick Whitney, Eirc Rogers, Blue Weber, Chris Kennedy and Tom Broderick. Rachel and Chuck discuss last week's events in Salt Lake City, the schedule for Kentucky and New Hampshire this week and The Selfish Gene.

Audio of the opening statements and rebuttal from Chuck Marohn of Strong Towns and Randal O'Toole of the Cato Institute in their debate in Lafayette, LA.

A podcast preview of the upcoming week including introducing Jason Schaefer, the new Member Support Specialist at Strong Towns, a trip to Lafayette with Joe Minicozzi, a debate with Cato fellow Randal O'Toole and a success story in Waco.

The global climate is a complex system. Economic markets are a complex system. Why do we react so differently to these different forms of complexity and what can we learn from those reactions?

Chuck talks about the organization behind the Strong Towns movement, an update to their strategic plan based on what has been learned and a powerful theory of change.

Aaron Brown -- author, college instructor and radio producer from Minnesota's iron range -- joins the podcast to talk about the history of the Iron Range, economic development issues and cultural obstacles to change. You can get Aaron's book, Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range, and read his regular blog at his site, MinnesotaBrown.com.

Chuck reviews three different incidents involving children killed by automobiles and asks: Who are really the ones showing casual indifference here?

Tony Dutzik, Senior Policy Analyst with Frontier Group, joins the podcast to talk about a new report he co-authored: Who Pays for Roads? How the "Users Pay" Myt Gets in the Way of Solving America's Transportation Problems.

A ruling last week in U.S. District Court has potentially profound implications for road widening projects. This podcast features an interview with Steve Hiniker, Executive Director of 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, the plaintiff that prevailed in a recent lawsuit against the USDOT, WisDOT and others. We also speak with an appellate attorney, Mahesha Subbaraman, about details in the ruling and potential subsequent moves.

Jonathan Coppage and Benjamin Schwarz of the American Conservative talk about their publication, how they got involved in New Urbanism and why conservatives are embracing New Urbanist approaches.

Robin Bergstrom of CNU New England talks about how she became involved in CNU, how she came to be the Executive Director of CNU NE and the unique challenges of New Urbanism in the Northeast.

Scott Doyon and Ben Brown of Placemakers talk about public engagement that actually engages.