A seemingly modest shift in accounting practices reveals deep truths about municipal insolvency.
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Last week I received a notice from the board of licensing that a complaint has been filed against my professional engineering license because of my work at Strong Towns.
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Local leaders in Mankato seem committed to trying every failed strategy of the past regardless of what it costs them.
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Refugees -- much like artists and other traditionally marginalized members of society -- are a key catalyst for moving us into a Strong Towns way of being.
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Charge the right price for parking at the curb, use that money to make ongoing improvements to the quality of life on that street and rid yourselves of off-street parking requirements.
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This week we take a close look at parking requirements and the impact it has on becoming a strong city, town or neighborhood. We invite everyone to join us for the third national #BlackFridayParking event.
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There is so much that needs to be done and we feel this compulsion to try and do it all. But we need to focus on what we do best.
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This week Chuck Marohn was invited to the White House to talk about rural placemaking with leaders from around the country.
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Let's take time to reflect on what we can do to make our communities stronger and more resilient, not just financially but culturally as well.
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There are no universal answers to the complex problems America’s cities, towns, and neighborhoods face. There is no playbook.
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This week we turn our hard work from sharing our message to growing our base of support. We are making the push for 1,000 members. We need your support.
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The concept of a special assessment contains little dark secrets that city officials like to keep to themselves. The ability to assess the cost of maintenance -- a questionable concept at best -- is the only thing allowing many cities to avoid facing their true reality.
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We can't prevent mass delusion, but we can work to establish an alternative model for achieving prosperity so there is a viable option to hysteria (and all its handmaidens) when the Illusion of Wealth vanishes.
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For local governments, the Growth Ponzi Scheme has allowed national politicians to promise a free lunch while forcing those lower on the food chain to absorb the long term costs associated with hitting this quarter’s GDP targets.
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New growth creates an illusion of wealth. Local governments experiencing growth look and feel successful. They have high revenues and very little immediate costs associated with them. Long term, as the liabilities start to come due, it is revealed that a free road isn't really free.
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Our national transportation obsession has been about maximizing the amount that you can drive. We now need to focus on minimizing the amount you are forced to drive.
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There are a handful of ways engineers deflect criticism. Here are five that we’ve heard time and time again.
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Last month the ratings agency Moody's downgraded the credit rating of Ferguson, Missouri, to junk status. Let's not pretend this is solely the result of the events of August 2014.
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Strong Towns advocates are jiu jitsu warriors -- outnumbered and outgunned -- tactically striking the weakest spot of the current myth: that the American development pattern builds wealth.
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We should be planting trees in places where they can provide shade for people walking instead of a prozac substitute for people driving.
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