Next week Chuck and Jim will be in the Los Angeles area, our first Strong Towns trip to California since 2012. We're working really hard to get to Northern CA yet this year -- keep your eyes open for that.

UPCOMING EVENTS

KEEP INFORMED ON WHEN WE'LL BE SOMEWHERE NEAR YOU.

Name *
Name

SOME STUFF FROM THIS WEEK YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED.

Featured
Top 5 Strong Towns Stories This Week (August 14-18, 2017)
post roundup Strong Towns Comment
post roundup Strong Towns Comment
Top 5 Strong Towns Stories This Week (August 14-18, 2017)
post roundup Strong Towns Comment
post roundup Strong Towns Comment

This week we covered the dangers of highway widening, the history of government involvement in home mortgages, and the problem with parking lots.

post roundup Strong Towns Comment
post roundup Strong Towns Comment
The Illusion of Wealth
Video, Curbside Chat, Top Story Strong Towns Comment
Video, Curbside Chat, Top Story Strong Towns Comment
The Illusion of Wealth
Video, Curbside Chat, Top Story Strong Towns Comment
Video, Curbside Chat, Top Story Strong Towns Comment

We've created a system that feeds on short-term growth but doesn't account for the long-term costs of that development.

Video, Curbside Chat, Top Story Strong Towns Comment
Video, Curbside Chat, Top Story Strong Towns Comment
Strong Towns Members in Action: City Councilor Lauren Whitehead
Top Story, Success Story, Quednau women, local government, city council Rachel Quednau Comment
Top Story, Success Story, Quednau women, local government, city council Rachel Quednau Comment
Strong Towns Members in Action: City Councilor Lauren Whitehead
Top Story, Success Story, Quednau women, local government, city council Rachel Quednau Comment
Top Story, Success Story, Quednau women, local government, city council Rachel Quednau Comment

A recently-elected Strong Towns member on why she ran for office and how Strong Towns has influenced her leadership.

Top Story, Success Story, Quednau women, local government, city council Rachel Quednau Comment
Top Story, Success Story, Quednau women, local government, city council Rachel Quednau Comment
Peoria's Parking Problem
Parking, Quednau Urban3 Rachel Quednau Comment
Parking, Quednau Urban3 Rachel Quednau Comment
Peoria's Parking Problem
Parking, Quednau Urban3 Rachel Quednau Comment
Parking, Quednau Urban3 Rachel Quednau Comment

What happens when you fill your city with parking? Lots and lots of low value land, and not much else.

Parking, Quednau Urban3 Rachel Quednau Comment
Parking, Quednau Urban3 Rachel Quednau Comment
Podcast: The Making of a Market
Podcast local food, farmer's market Strong Towns Comment
Podcast local food, farmer's market Strong Towns Comment
Podcast: The Making of a Market
Podcast local food, farmer's market Strong Towns Comment
Podcast local food, farmer's market Strong Towns Comment

In this podcast, Rachel Quednau interviews Alfonso Morales, a Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, about public markets and what makes them succeed or fail.

Podcast local food, farmer's market Strong Towns Comment
Podcast local food, farmer's market Strong Towns Comment
Financing Suburbia: How government mortgage policy determined where you live
Housing, Top Story subsidies, suburbs, suburbanization, federal housing policy Devon Marisa Zuegel Comment
Housing, Top Story subsidies, suburbs, suburbanization, federal housing policy Devon Marisa Zuegel Comment
Financing Suburbia: How government mortgage policy determined where you live
Housing, Top Story subsidies, suburbs, suburbanization, federal housing policy Devon Marisa Zuegel Comment
Housing, Top Story subsidies, suburbs, suburbanization, federal housing policy Devon Marisa Zuegel Comment

On the surface, mortgages appear to be a mostly free market enterprise, but the system masks a huge amount of government intervention. 

Housing, Top Story subsidies, suburbs, suburbanization, federal housing policy Devon Marisa Zuegel Comment
Housing, Top Story subsidies, suburbs, suburbanization, federal housing policy Devon Marisa Zuegel Comment
If you support your local farmers, here’s why you should support Strong Towns.
Top Story, WIlson, Membership local food, Farming, farmer's market Kea Wilson Comment
Top Story, WIlson, Membership local food, Farming, farmer's market Kea Wilson Comment
If you support your local farmers, here’s why you should support Strong Towns.
Top Story, WIlson, Membership local food, Farming, farmer's market Kea Wilson Comment
Top Story, WIlson, Membership local food, Farming, farmer's market Kea Wilson Comment

5 reasons foodies should care about building strong towns.

Top Story, WIlson, Membership local food, Farming, farmer's market Kea Wilson Comment
Top Story, WIlson, Membership local food, Farming, farmer's market Kea Wilson Comment
Strength Test #4: Are accessory dwelling units allowed in your town?
Quednau, Small Scale Developers, Top Story, Strength Test accessory dwelling units Rachel Quednau Comment
Quednau, Small Scale Developers, Top Story, Strength Test accessory dwelling units Rachel Quednau Comment
Strength Test #4: Are accessory dwelling units allowed in your town?
Quednau, Small Scale Developers, Top Story, Strength Test accessory dwelling units Rachel Quednau Comment
Quednau, Small Scale Developers, Top Story, Strength Test accessory dwelling units Rachel Quednau Comment

In your town, is an owner of a single family home able to get permission to add a small rental unit onto their property without any real hassle? If not, you've got work to do.

Quednau, Small Scale Developers, Top Story, Strength Test accessory dwelling units Rachel Quednau Comment
Quednau, Small Scale Developers, Top Story, Strength Test accessory dwelling units Rachel Quednau Comment
A Return to Democratic Space
Top Story, Walkability, Urban Design shared space Kevin Clark Comment
Top Story, Walkability, Urban Design shared space Kevin Clark Comment
A Return to Democratic Space
Top Story, Walkability, Urban Design shared space Kevin Clark Comment
Top Story, Walkability, Urban Design shared space Kevin Clark Comment

Streets designed to be fully shared by all users are safer and more economically productive, but this concept has a long way to go before it becomes the norm in America.

Top Story, Walkability, Urban Design shared space Kevin Clark Comment
Top Story, Walkability, Urban Design shared space Kevin Clark Comment
The Trump administration might lower the mortgage interest deduction.
Housing, Top Story housing market, housing finance, federal housing policy Rachel Quednau Comment
Housing, Top Story housing market, housing finance, federal housing policy Rachel Quednau Comment
The Trump administration might lower the mortgage interest deduction.
Housing, Top Story housing market, housing finance, federal housing policy Rachel Quednau Comment
Housing, Top Story housing market, housing finance, federal housing policy Rachel Quednau Comment

The Trump Administration’s reconsideration of the mortgage interest deduction has sparked a wider conversation about its merit, and sources on both the left and the right seem to agree that it accomplishes very little.

Housing, Top Story housing market, housing finance, federal housing policy Rachel Quednau Comment
Housing, Top Story housing market, housing finance, federal housing policy Rachel Quednau Comment
Turning “Renewal” into Renaissance: The Transformation of Downtown Rochester
Urban Design revitalization, mixed use Austin Maitland Comment
Urban Design revitalization, mixed use Austin Maitland Comment
Turning “Renewal” into Renaissance: The Transformation of Downtown Rochester
Urban Design revitalization, mixed use Austin Maitland Comment
Urban Design revitalization, mixed use Austin Maitland Comment

After years of neglect, downtown Rochester has found an unexpected ally: residents.

Urban Design revitalization, mixed use Austin Maitland Comment
Urban Design revitalization, mixed use Austin Maitland Comment