"I now look at every development in my community with the Strong Towns lens."
Strong Towns is a member-based movement. Last month, we asked our members to answer the question, What's one way that Strong Towns has impacted your life and inspired you to make changes in your community? and we were impressed with their responses.
In the hands of our members, the Strong Towns movement is truly making a difference across the country. We invite you to become a member and join this amazing group of people who are working to build Strong Towns.
Here are some of our members talking about the impact of Strong Towns:
“There is no other source that has provided so many resources that are accessible to a non-professional like myself, and that keeps me realistic but also positive about the challenges facing my community.”
"Since finding Strong Towns about 6 months ago I've become a community blogger, attended my first neighborhood association meeting, and attended my first school board meeting. I love it!"
- Ernie R
"I explained the differences between streets and roads during a candidate forum and intrigued the crowd enough with that one perception to be elected to the city council. I credited Strong Towns, of course."
- Beth Gehred
"There is hardly a thing in the built environment that I do not question."
- Colton Powell
"I've started doing two things much more often: the first is walking instead of driving and the second is giving much more conscious attention to the built environment wherever I happen to be. (The latter is easier when walking, of course!)"
- Chris Renner
"I am currently working with a neighborhood group to prevent our city from bulldozing a couple of dozen homes to build a bypass to the state highway that runs through downtown. The city is proposing a classic stroad and we are encouraging an alternative route that recognizes and respects the difference between a street and a road."
- Mike Corbett
I find that Strong Towns principles applied well can shrink many of our growing divides--racial, income, social, political.
- Pat Trahan
"In part due to what I have learned within the Strong Towns community, I have become active in my neighborhood, city and legislative districts on topics of urbanism, affordable housing, transportation and parking. I am making efforts to gather regularly with like-minded folks locally and help turn this barge around."
- Hugh G.
"It is inspiring to know how much momentum the movement has. It gives me the confidence to bring up topics when I am talking to planners. I am also surprised how many planners are on-board when I do bring it up."
- Gerry O’Brien
Photo from Strong Towns' recent events in Shreveport, LA (Courtesy of Re-Form Shreveport)
"Strong Towns has given me the language and tools to speak clearly and confidently to leaders in my community as well as my fellow residents. There is no other source that has provided so many resources that are accessible to a non-professional like myself, and that keeps me realistic but also positive about the challenges facing my community."
- Jennifer Smith
"The emphasis on return-on-investment is sorely lacking in my city. We have spent millions on grants to outside developers for large projects and passed numerous tax deferred zones to further aid them. No one was helping the small entrepreneur nor bringing up how these policies affected future city responsibilities. Through exposure to it at Strong Towns, I became a champion of such evaluations in my role as a Planning Commissioner."
- Dennis Leib
"I now look at every development in my community with the Strong Towns lens: How much tax revenue will it bring it? Will it be a net benefit to my community?"
- Dan Majewski
"In my professional work making cities more walkable, Strong Towns is a consistently excellent resource. From the Black Friday Parking lot photos, to #SlowtheCars, to #NoNewRoads, to the Growth Ponzi Scheme and the Curbside Chat. It is helpful to have access to the resources, helpful to point other people to those resources, helpful to see what is happening across the country, and helpful to have such consistently excellent thought leadership.
- Heyden Walker
"[Strong Towns] has inspired me to write articles for local media about successful strategies to encourage Strong Towns as well as to point out less-productive activities and mind-sets (including the obsession with "density" as a goal unto itself)."
- Virginia S
“For me, the light came on when I realized that real change will happen at the local level and that one person can make a difference.”
"Chuck Marohn's visit to Salem has been a great catalyst for more thoughtful discussions and has gotten people thinking and asking questions that the powers that be (who want to keep playing the Growth Ponzi Scheme) would rather not be asked."
- John Gear
"[Strong Towns] convinced me that our historic, but not wealthy, town needs to stand up to the DOT and other behemoths to create a place we care about and want to live in."
- Leslie Casey
"For me, the light came on when I realized that real change will happen at the local level and that one person can make a difference."
- Paul B.
Support Strong Towns by becoming a member today.
(Top photo courtesy of Re-Form Shreveport)