Condos: American Local Governance in a Nutshell

 

Editor’s Note: This podcast was recorded on July 9, and therefore does not reflect any updates that have since come out on the Surfside condominium story.

 
 
Host Abby Kinney, an urban planner in Kansas City, and special guest Daniel Herriges, Strong Towns Senior Editor.

Host Abby Kinney, an urban planner in Kansas City, and special guest Daniel Herriges, Strong Towns Senior Editor.

In the middle of the night on June 24, a building in Surfside, Florida, collapsed, destroying 55 of the complex’s 136 units. At least 50 people are known to have died in the collapse, and over 100 people are still unaccounted for.

This tragic event will most likely turn out to be the deadliest building accident in United States history; our hearts go out to the families of those who have been injured, killed, or who remain missing.

This week on Upzoned, host Abby Kinney and Strong Towns Senior Editor Daniel Herriges discuss the larger problem that the disaster in Surfside points to: the fact that the American condominium experiment began 60 years ago, and many condos are now reaching the end of their first maintenance life cycle. The hard truth is that condo owner associations are often not adequately prepared for the cost of this maintenance, especially when it gets deferred for several decades.

The situation is laid out in a recent Slate article: “Condos Are in Uncharted Territory.” Abby and Daniel “upzone” this piece—i.e., they look at it through the Strong Towns lens, to see how condo boards can be viewed as American local governance, in a nutshell.

Then, in the downzone, Daniel is reading about how people band together in the face of disaster, and Abby has discovered a nice little urban oasis.

 
 
 
 
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Abby Newsham
Abby Newsham

Abby Newsham is the cohost of the Upzoned podcast. Abby is an urban design and planning consultant at Multistudio in Kansas City, Missouri. In her own community, she works to advance bottom-up strategies that enhance both private development and the public realm, and facilitates the ad-hoc Kansas City chapter of the Incremental Development Alliance. When she’s not geeking out over cities, Abby is an avid urban mountain biker (because: potholes), audiobook and podcast junkie, amateur rock climber, and guitarist. You can connect with Abby on Twitter at @abbykatkc.

Featured
Daniel Herriges
Daniel Herriges

Daniel Herriges has been a regular contributor to Strong Towns since 2015 and is a founding member of the Strong Towns movement. He is the co-author of Escaping the Housing Trap: The Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis, with Charles Marohn. Daniel now works as the Policy Director at the Parking Reform Network, an organization which seeks to accelerate the reform of harmful parking policies by educating the public about these policies and serving as a connecting hub for advocates and policy makers. Daniel’s work reflects a lifelong fascination with cities and how they work. When he’s not perusing maps (for work or pleasure), he can be found exploring out-of-the-way neighborhoods on foot or bicycle. Daniel has lived in Northern California and Southwest Florida, and he now resides back in his hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota, along with his wife and two children. Daniel has a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Minnesota.

 
Podcast, Top StoryStrong Townssecond life cycle, maintenance, housing, upzoned, podcast, florida, growth ponzi scheme