Friday Faves - Your Weekly Strong Towns Roundup
Each week, the Strong Towns team shares their favorite links—the things that made us think in new ways, delve deeper into the Strong Towns mission, or even just smile.
Chuck had some new office mates (his daughters) join him at the Strong Towns headquarters this week.
Happy October!
The biggest news this week is that Chuck Marohn, president of Strong Towns, had an op-ed published on CNN Business. It’s called “Building more roads won’t help fix America’s economy”. We’re excited for this opportunity to share the Strong Towns message with a new audience, and thankful to our members who are spreading the Strong Towns approach in their communities and supporting our collective efforts.
If you’re a Strong Towns advocate and want to make your support official (plus join an awesome crew of people all over the country doing great things), visit this page to activate your membership.
We’ve also been busy behind the scenes getting ready to release a new podcast series. Keep an eye on our posts for the announcement soon and make sure you’re subscribed to our email list if you want to be the first to know. In addition, we’re preparing some broader updates to the website that will make it easier for you to connect with other Strong Towns members and get the resources you need to start making your community stronger.
Here’s what Strong Towns staff were reading this week:
Chuck: Despite the confidence of so many who frequent social media, COVID-19 has, thus far, created many more scientific questions than definitive answers. A recent hypothesis (as covered in the Star Tribune) suggests that modern humans that have traces of Neanderthal in their genome are uniquely susceptible to the coronavirus. If true, this could be a contributing factor explaining why Africa and East Asia—places that seem primed for virus transmission—have had comparatively low rates of complications and death. Neanderthal DNA traces are “non-existent” in both populations, but are found in 16% of European descendants and half of South Asia’s. Every day it seems there is more to know about the virus at the center of this pandemic than I ever thought to inquire about.
Alexa: This account of what one California rancher experienced after the Bear Fire tore through the mountains surrounding his home is devastating. The Strong Towns-esque takeaway here is that the top-down solutions do not work when what is required is an intimate knowledge of the local conditions. It is frustrating to hear how generations and even millennia of experience is ignored for a one-size-fits-all solution that isn’t a solution at all, but rather fuel for the literal fire.
Rachel: It was wonderful to encounter this op-ed in The Union called “Creating a Strong and Resilient Town.” The author, Miriam Morris, does a fantastic job of applying the Strong Towns approach to a discussion her community of Nevada City, CA is currently having about temporary outdoor dining—something many towns are revisiting as the weather gets colder. Morris writes about the area in question,
In my opinion, the best design for lower Commercial is a widened sidewalk on the south side with no change in width to the north (too many obstructions). This would accommodate shop-managed cafe seating and a few benches for public use. Business cared-for planters and a few street trees could add greenery and shade. If the one-way traffic lane were narrowed to 11 feet, parallel parking could remain on one side.
This is a modest, flexible approach where businesses would care for and maintain amenities in front of their shops and the city would be responsible only for a couple of benches, as has been done on pre-COVID Broad Street.
It’s inspiring to see someone think through the best ways to strengthen local business activity, make their downtown a more pleasant place to be, and move their community toward greater financially resilience.
Lauren: Check out this beautifully written, compelling story about the people who buy and sell bunkers in the United States from The Atlantic. The author speaks with all kinds of people who are involved in this aspect of survivalist culture, and even climbs down into an underground shelter to look around. And yet, she returns to the surface to pen an article void of understanding of those who trusted her with their greatest fears. And look, it’s part of a series! I guess my reading for the weekend is all lined up…
John: Jeffrey Bilbro, editor of Front Porch Republic, published a short piece last week about the collapse of local journalism and its effect on civic engagement and politics. We’ve moved from the “village square” of local journalism to the “global village” of 24-hour news networks, minute-by-minute updates, and, of course, social media. "The global village is patrolled by Twitter mobs fighting over the meaning of ambiguous images,” writes Bilbro. “It is full of entertaining spectacles (if you’re into the theater of the absurd), but it’s hard to find the information we need to love our neighbors well.”
I’m of an age where I’ve been vaguely aware of the impact Craigslist and consolidation were having on my local newspapers. Reading Bilbro’s piece brought up all the feels for me: concern about our democracy; nostalgia for lazy mornings spent reading a newspaper with heft and substance; and even a little hopeful, as other forms of local media (radio, nonprofit news sites, etc.) perhaps find their footing. It also made me thankful for the small town newspaper that shows up for free twice-a-month in my mailbox. It may not feature the kind of hard-hitting journalism that exposes scandals and speaks truth to power. But it’s a way of staying connected with my neighbors—the people with whom, in normal years, I’d be gathering physically (for the farmers’ market, Christmas tree lighting, and more) in our actual village square.
—
Finally, from all of us, a warm welcome to the newest members of the Strong Towns movement: Robbie Adams, Brad Kik, Jonathan Ong and David Swardlick.
Your support helps us provide tools, resources and community to people who are building strong towns across the country.
What stories got you thinking this week? Please share them in the comments.