Friday Faves - Your Weekly Strong Towns Roundup

Last week was our spring Member Week, and we’re so grateful for the response we received. More than 120 new people signed up to help grow the Strong Towns movement by becoming members! Not only that, all of the Strong Towns staff were able to connect one-on-one with members. We heard stories of what’s happening on the ground in communities across North America, got ideas for future content and resources, and, overall, learned more about the people who make up the Strong Towns movement. 

Looking ahead to next week, Strong Towns staff will be convening for our staff retreat. Many of us will be together in person—our first time together since the lockdown in March 2020—while others will be participating virtually. The timing is good: we're working on several exciting projects…and we just miss each other.

Here’s what Strong Towns staff were up to this week:

Lauren: This tweet has been in my brain for weeks. I have fond memories of the murals in downtown Fairbanks, Alaska, that served as the backdrop for the Midnight Sun Festival, and of the mural on the side of Coghill’s store in Nenana, Alaska, that illustrates the history of the riverside community. Now I’m watching a mural frenzy in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, that is being celebrated by residents. And…yep. Upon further reflection, the urban design in these places was pretty ugly. These murals really did give life to the space defined by old and utilitarian structures. They are a “cope,” and in these cases, a successful one. But it does assign some responsibility moving forward; we could save a bit of paint with thoughtful design.

Above image via Twitter. To the right: images of murals in Fairbanks, via Flickr [1], [2].

Chuck: I’m a Bitcoin skeptic. I feel like I don’t understand it well enough to have confidence in it, yet still have a better understanding of it than most of the people I hear advocating so strenuously for it. That is the hallmark of a bubble to me, even if the underlying issue of sound money that Bitcoin is meant to address is one I am sympathetic to. In that case, this experiment with MakerDOA is actually quite a bit more interesting than Bitcoin. It is, essentially, a bank (theoretically) outside the reach of government, completely transparent, and with rational and responsive internal controls that appear to have the proper feedback loops to safeguard investors and curb excess. A truly bottom-up bank, a concept worthy of closer examination.

A 1938 map that shows redlining in Milwaukee neighborhoods. Image via

Rachel: My favorite local news outlet, Urban Milwaukee, recently published this story about groups in my community that are working to target the racial homeownership gap. I had heard about the class and race divides that prevent so many people from accessing home ownership before, but now, as a first-time homeowner, I have a new understanding of processes like appraisals and mortgage applications, which brings these challenges to life all the more. As the article reports, “In Wisconsin, just 26% of Black residents own their own homes, compared to the white homeownership rate of 72%.” That difference is staggering, especially when we think about the foundation for prosperity that owning a home can provide to families. This article goes into a lot of these issues in Wisconsin and across the country, then talks about some programs working to change the situation.

Image via Unsplash.

John: The summer before I started working for Strong Towns I did a two-week speaking and research trip through Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Ontario, New York, and Pennsylvania. My most memorable experience from that journey was being able to spend the afternoon at the home of David Kline, an Amish farmer and writer whose work—including books and a magazine—I’d long admired from a distance. It’s easy to romanticize the Amish. (Literally. There’s a subgenre of romance novels called “bonnet rippers.”) But I have found a lot of genuine inspiration in the work of certain Amish and Mennonite farmers, including David Kline, his wife Elsie, and their son Mike, who co-hosts the Back to the Roots podcast.

My colleague Rachel Quednau recently shared an interview with another Amish farmer, John Kempf, published in the wonderful magazine Plough Quarterly. Kempf is a leading advocate for regenerative agriculture. Regenerative agriculture, Kempf has said elsewhere, is agriculture that restores soil health, produces crops that are inherently resistant to disease and insects, and provides an immediate economic return to growers. Something I appreciate from Kempf’s interview is his point about how organic certification has become “us-versus-them.” He doesn’t want the same thing for regeneration, which he describes as a journey, not a destination: “A farmer just starting out, who has been engaged in practices that were very degrading to the land because he didn’t know any different, when he becomes aware, can begin making that transition. We should embrace that grower, welcome him, and give him the support and encouragement he needs.”

—

Finally, from all of us, a warm welcome to the newest members of the Strong Towns movement: Chad Janicek, Steven Glickman, Dirk Gowin, Scott Thompson, Lisa Magill, Abdulrahman Alharthi, Megan Dudo, James Price, Marla Metson Marnoch, David Bacon, Ted Sheils, Alisa Costa, Haley Busch, Tracy Ritter, Judith Rice-Jones, Christiana Brady, Maureen Persico, Shayne Dobson, Sean Maher, Michael Young, Kenneth Witt, April Olson, Emily Reitnauer, Kelvin Ayala, Robert Langfeldet, Frank Turner, Will Chernoff, Ian Lickers, Maria Ruiz, Washington County Chamber of Commerce, Dan Voss, Michael Boroski, Caz Muske, Laura McLemore, Sara McLarty, Stella Chen, Ann Maris, Robert Fu, Jamey McPherson, Elizabeth Hansburg, Lane Yoder, Randi Vega, City of Lockport (IL), Michael Hoffman, Julie Kreger, Kelly Walsh, John Wolverton, Jessica I Alvarado, Richard Fletcher, Diane Evans, Leon Konieczny, Gerald Sorte, Rod Mann, Paul Alexander, Tatiana Martschenko, Betty Weninger, Caleb Lee, Ana Lukyanova, Paul Daly, Lisa McBride, Myles Haynes, Jerry Heverly, Salvador Galdamez, Steven Morel, Joel Ponder, Serena Lotreck, Stephanie Hilson, Larry Pannell, Chris Ensign, Jerry Walls, Mike Morrow, Brennan MacInnes, Paige Henchen, Judson Woods, Nina Bellucci, Lawrence Dire, Wilson Nester, Rachel Luebbering, Anthony Guidotti, Alex Bujnicki, Chris Jameson, Nancy Nelson, Tommy Williams, Carole Olafson, Mike Vermeil, John Shepherd, Marc Cowans, Chad Ashmore, John Medaille, Alison Welch, Jeremy Krall, Patsy Davenport, John R. Hall, Andrea Jandricek, Benjamin Creed, Mr. Fleck, George Bush, Jaret Singh, MG McCunn, Harrison Wright, Brooks Schandelmeier, Gabriel Olmsted, Jack Butler, Mark Interrante, Peter Scannell, Wyatt Makedonski, Alex Grube, Katherine Duffield Hill, Elizabeth J Delgado, Melanie Marginet, Deborah Goldeen, and Maximo Larkin.

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!