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Journal

Accounting

Accounting

The latest ideas, insights and action around transparent local accounting.

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Six Roundabouts to Nowhere

What do you get when you combine too much funding, a broken development model, and no clear priorities? A six-roundabout interchange built to serve big-box stores that are already closing.

Accounting
Streets
Six Roundabouts to Nowhere
This Small Restaurant Outperforms Walmart — Here’s Why

What do a taqueria, a bike shop, and an art center have in common? They’re all outpacing a retail giant when it comes to property tax revenues.

Accounting
This Small Restaurant Outperforms Walmart — Here’s Why
The Intersection of Waste and Opportunity

An intersection redesign in Fairbanks, Alaska, proves that road projects are not always improvements—and that DOT priorities are often out of touch with reality.

Highways
Accounting
The Intersection of Waste and Opportunity
Stop Banking on Subsidies and Start Building What Works

As Norwalk navigates a housing crisis, one thing is clear: the path forward isn’t scale for scale’s sake—it’s building smarter, more affordably, and with the community in mind.

Accounting
Stop Banking on Subsidies and Start Building What Works
Growth Ponzi Scheme Leaves Virginia Town With $34 Million Dilemma

The Growth Ponzi Scheme encourages city governments to take on obligations they can never hope to sustain. Purcellville, Virginia, offers a stark example of where this path leads.

Accounting
Growth Ponzi Scheme Leaves Virginia Town With $34 Million Dilemma
How Brainerd’s New Ice Machine Exposes Community Apathy and Decline

Brainerd, Minnesota’s newest addition isn't exactly cause for celebration. Instead, this “high-tech” ice machine reveals deeper issues with public investment, community apathy and neighborhood decline that can plague cities.

Accounting
How Brainerd’s New Ice Machine Exposes Community Apathy and Decline
What Strong Towns Really Says About Infrastructure Spending

Are urban areas really more financially sustainable than suburbs? Do urban areas inherently have higher infrastructure costs? Here's what Strong Towns actually says about the Suburban Experiment and infrastructure spending.

Accounting
Highways
What Strong Towns Really Says About Infrastructure Spending
It’s Not Just Houston That’s Broke. So Are Silicon Valley Cities.

The financial struggles of Houston and the cities of the Silicon Valley area—as well as tens of thousands of others across North America—have the same underlying cause.

Accounting
It’s Not Just Houston That’s Broke. So Are Silicon Valley Cities.
Here’s the Real Reason Houston Is Going Broke

Houston’s fiscal problems are less critical than other major cities with large budget shortfalls—yet, their mayor is correct when he said his city is broke, that the financial approach of the city is clearly not working. Here’s why.

Accounting
Here’s the Real Reason Houston Is Going Broke
Stop Subsidizing Suburban Development, Charge It What It Costs

I was asked how much the typical suburban development is costing this Tennessee city. Here’s what I found.

Accounting
Stop Subsidizing Suburban Development, Charge It What It Costs
The Growth Ponzi Scheme: A Crash Course

Ponzi schemes fail because they are built on illusions: there is no there there. So what happens when an entire continent of towns and cities is caught up in a kind of Growth Ponzi Scheme? We are finding out.

Accounting
Housing
Highways
The Growth Ponzi Scheme: A Crash Course
I Did the Math on My Town’s Cul-de-Sacs. Here's What I Found.

A detailed analysis of 12 cul-de-sacs show the Suburban Experiment is a dead end. What will it take to make this city solvent?

Accounting
I Did the Math on My Town’s Cul-de-Sacs. Here's What I Found.
Niagara’s Fall and Asheville’s Unlikely Rise

70 years ago, these two historic cities were on a similar path. Then one fell into debt while the other was swimming in money. You might be surprised by what they each look like today.

Accounting
Niagara’s Fall and Asheville’s Unlikely Rise
America's Growth Ponzi Scheme

The American pattern of development creates the illusion of wealth. Today we are in the process of seeing that illusion destroyed…and with it the prosperity we have come to take for granted.

Accounting
America's Growth Ponzi Scheme
We've Built Cities We Can't Afford

Kansas City, Missouri, has a serious infrastructure problem. But an emerging conversation is charting a path toward greater strength and financial resilience.

Accounting
We've Built Cities We Can't Afford
Value Per Acre Analysis: A How-To For Beginners

Accounting
Value Per Acre Analysis: A How-To For Beginners
The Real Reason Your Local Mall is Failing

The closing of the mall’s anchor store exposes how fragile the community’s business model is, providing an opening to shift approach.

Accounting
The Real Reason Your Local Mall is Failing
Poor Neighborhoods Make the Best Investments

We can make low risk, high returning investments in our cities while improving the quality of life for people, particularly those who are not benefiting from the current approach.

Accounting
Poor Neighborhoods Make the Best Investments
The Real Reason Your City Has No Money

Problems have solutions. Predicaments have outcomes. We're in a predicament.

Accounting
The Real Reason Your City Has No Money
A Big, Sad Hole in the Cold Vermont Ground

It was going to be great, but it didn't turn out like the planners said it would.

Accounting
A Big, Sad Hole in the Cold Vermont Ground
6 Principles for Building a Strong Town

6 principles for building stronger and more prosperous places.

Accounting
6 Principles for Building a Strong Town