Every fall we do a fundraising week where we go PBS on you and divert from our regular programming to focus on sustaining the organization. This is that week so, if you’ve been putting it off, now is the time to sign up to be a member.

My latest piece in The American Conservative. Please share with all your red-state politicos and their supporters (along with everyone else).

Last month the Minneapolis Star Tribune ran a profile of me and Strong Towns. Being the state paper of record, it was a pretty big deal around here. The comments on the site really built up, so I asked for a volunteer from the Strong Towns Network to help me identify the most important ones to respond to. Derek Hofmann stepped up to help out – thank you Derek.

Here are those comments and my response to them.

This week the podcast features a conversation with Dave Runyon (twitter), Executive Director of City Unite and co-author of the book The Art of Neighboring: Building Genuine Relationships Right Outside Your Door.

A height limitation – like a cap on municipal debt as I’ve advocated for in the past – simply puts a limit on our ability to blow ourselves up. It allows our cities to cook like good stew in a crock pot instead of some easy mac zapped in the microwave. Yes, it is a restraint on growth….one type of growth.

If we are going to turn our cities into Strong Towns, we need to get the incremental growth process back. As counter-intuitive as it might seem, a building height restriction is one simple, elegant way to help bring that about.

As an adult, I’m not one who gets into the entire Halloween experience. Some people love to dress up and go out; I’ve preferred to hand out treats and see everyone else. As a father of two girls, ages ten and seven, I’m right in that sweet spot, however, for getting out and doing some trick-or-treating. We have a Princess Leia (I’m proud of that one) and someone called Raven from the book series Ever After High (must admit – have no clue on this one) that I’ll be taking door to door tonight. The buzz is in the air, and it’s not the sugar (yet).

Enjoy the news.

The Original Green, Steve Mouzon (twitter) joins Chuck this week to preview his upcoming event -- New Media Workshop in Celebration, Florida -- and to swap tips on using social media for advocacy.

I’m slowly losing hope that the American Planning Association – the organization – will ever get beyond protecting its own bureaucracy and members to focus intently on reforms that would improve the actual practice of planning.

Alex Miser from Indianapolis shows how they have taken an underutilized space in the old city hall and turned it into a really effective forum for interacting with the public.

We invite our members to submit their questions on anything that they would like our thoughts on. We’ll give you a Strong Towns answer or find an expert who can.

 I look at what my grandparent’s generation lived through – the hard work of starting with something small and building it slowly over time – and realize that it is really messy. Chaotic. Difficult. In many ways, the stress of having to make mortgage payments on an underwater home combined with the fear of being downsized, getting an unexpected huge medical bill or having gas prices spike pale in comparison.

This has been an absolute crazy few weeks and I can hardly keep my eyes open, but I can’t go to sleep without putting up something resembling a Friday News Digest since it has been way too long since the last one. Same with the podcast. Ugh.

Today I'm participating in the America Answers forum put on by the Washington Post. Some people you might have heard of will be here -- Vice President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx are two of them -- so this would probably be worth your time. I'm speaking a little after 3PM Eastern Time.