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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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 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.

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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.

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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.

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On Monday I'm going to be heading to our nation's capital to take part in a forum being put on by the Washington Post. We're also planning a Strong Towns on Tap get together. Here are the details for both of those events.

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After 24 hours back in Brainerd, I'm now headed to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to speak at the Tulsa Sidewalk Summit. A very exciting conversation emerging there. Then I head to Norman, OK, to give a workshop at the University of Oklahoma Institute for Quality Communities. 

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 I've worked with local governments and had many interactions with police departments. None of this surprised me in the least. All of the incentives we are providing local police departments are wrong. This is a huge problem. When we hear from the poorer residents of Ferguson that they feel a disconnect from the local police -- something we hear from people living in poverty in many cities (when you hear "poverty" in this case think "unable to fight this") -- this kind of thing should connect some dots for you, even while it makes you laugh a little.

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