Chuck is joined by Carlee Alm-LaBar and Kevin Blanchard, former city staff members in Lafayette, Louisiana. They discuss the challenges of balancing competing demands and priorities when working in local government. (Transcript included.)
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Denyse Trepanier is the president of Bike Walk Alameda. She joins Norm to discuss the city's efforts to improve biking infrastructure, including a network of low-stress bikeways. (Transcript included.)
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Steven Zittergruen is a city council member from Decorah, Iowa. He joins Norm today to discuss the ways he’s making his community stronger, including revamping the city’s budgeting process. (Transcript included.)
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Will McCollum is the president and co-founder of Citymakers Collective, a nonprofit that teaches aspiring architects and planners how to design resilient, beautiful and prosperous places. (Transcript included.)
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In this episode, Chuck and Abby discuss President Trump’s proposal to privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, organizations that back the majority of mortgages in the U.S. and have been under a government conservatorship since the 2008 financial crisis. (Transcript included.)
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Amy Emery is a community leader focused on fostering sustainable growth and smart development in Warrenville, Illinois. She joins Norm to discuss several ways the city is working to build a core downtown. (Transcript included.)
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Today, Chuck is joined by Mark Moses, author of “The Municipal Financial Crisis.” They cover everything from the dangers of relying on “balanced budgets” to the difference between city and business finances. (Transcript included.)
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Sarah Rose is an artist and advocate from Washington. She joins Tiffany on this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution to talk about how the intersection of advocacy and art is driving change in her city. (Transcript included.)
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Hannah Rechtschaffen is the director of the Greenfield Business Association in Greenfield, Massachusetts. She joins Norm today to talk about how Greenfield is becoming a stronger town. (Transcript included.)
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How do you direct city finances in a truly effective way? What role should the public play in a city’s financial decisions? Chuck and city finance expert Rick Cole cover these questions and more in this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast. (Transcript included.)
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Kip Santos is a trained civil engineer and construction manager who quit his job to build Local Conversations full-time. Now he splits his time between the U.S. and Canada, nurturing the groups he's founded and building missing middle housing. (Transcript included.)
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Sean Hayford Oleary is a city council member in Richfield, Minnesota. Today, he and Norm discuss his efforts to reintroduce duplexes, reduce parking mandates, and support walkable neighborhoods. (Transcript included.)
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Chuck is joined by Shayne Kavanagh, senior manager of research for the Government Finance Officers Association. Kavanagh discusses the role of finance officers as “decision architects” and shares some tactics they can use to improve their processes. (Transcript included.)
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Tiffany is joined by Montana Gau, a Local Conversation leader in Denver. They discuss how Gau built the group into a registered nonprofit with several hundred members and how his role shifted from advocating “on the ground” to creating a space where others can more effectively advocate. (Transcript included.)
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In this episode, Abby is joined by Edward Erfurt to discuss the emergence of food deserts in the United States. They talk about the causes of this dilemma and ways that everyday people can address these food shortages in their communities. (Transcript included.)
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Travis Goedken is the city manager of Decorah, Iowa. He joins Norm to talk about the practices and reforms that are making Decorah strong, including making its budgeting easier to understand for residents and finding creative loopholes in restrictive state housing laws. (Transcript included.)
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What cities have successfully financed housing at the local level? How does tax increment financing work? When should cities stop subsidizing large-scale housing projects? Strong Towns President Chuck Marohn answers all these questions and more in this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast. (Transcript included.)
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Ryan Andrews is the CFO of a small-scale development company and capital fund in Bend, Oregon. In this episode, he discusses the importance of local investment and explains how to channel the profits from housing development back to locals. (Transcript included.)
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In this episode, Chuck explains that we’ve created a political climate where you either take a chainsaw to failing systems or you refuse to acknowledge that they’re failing. He then shows how the Strong Towns approach offers a better way. (Transcript included.)
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David Jenkins is a city councilor and Local Conversation leader in La Plata, Maryland. He joins Norm to discuss his work with the city’s budget, particularly his efforts to share financial information in a simple way that lets residents participate in the budgeting process. (Transcript included.)
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