Why You Should Care About Property Taxes as a Renter

If you don’t own a home, and don’t have plans to own one anytime soon, you might think property taxes don’t concern you. But, what if we told you that they definitely do?

Top StorySeairra JonesJune 28, 2022Just Accounting for Health, property tax, homeowners, rent, renters, finance, taxes, transparent local accounting, home buyer, local economy

“Free Parking” Isn’t Green

No matter how many solar panels it has, your parking garage isn’t green, and especially if you don’t charge parking.

Top StoryJoe CortrightJune 28, 2022parking pricing, Donald Shoup, Parking Reform Network, garages, environment, climate, Climate Change, end parking mandates and subsidies

An Epidemic of Blight Collides With a Pandemic

In Detroit's 48205 zip code, from 2014 to 2020, the number of vacant homes hardly budged, despite $25M spent demolishing 1,628 vacant homes. When the pandemic hit, vacant homes plummeted. What happened?

Top StoryAlex AlsupJune 28, 2022housing, housing affordability, homeowners, housing crisis, housing market, blight, housing policy, home buyer, michigan

Inside Eden Center: What a Strip Mall Can Be

We’ve explored the outside of Fairfax County’s Eden Center before, but what does the inside of this surprisingly fine-grained strip mall look like?

Top StoryAddison Del MastroJune 27, 2022fine-grained, urbanism, strip malls, immigrants, community, shared space, business, small business, local business, Chaotic but Smart, virginia

Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (Transit Edition)

Don’t be fooled: Winnipeg’s newly proposed “rapid transit” project is actually a road-widening project in disguise. And it aims to borrow money so the City can destroy millions of dollars of its own tax base.

Top StoryMichel Durand-WoodJune 27, 2022transit, canada, transportation, transportation spending, public transportation, finance, financial solvency, municipal finance, infrastructure, member story, end highway expansion, local economy, growth ponzi scheme

Friday Faves - Your Weekly Strong Towns Roundup

Hyperspace, skateboarding, and focus groups. These are just some of the stories from around the internet that Strong Towns staff were reading and talking about this week.

Top StoryStrong TownsJune 24, 2022friday faves

Walking America: Bridgeport to New Haven

From Housatonic Community College to Yale: The story of a 20-mile walk along I-95.

Top StoryChris ArnadeJune 24, 2022walkability, Connecticut, community, poor neighborhoods, poverty, suburban poverty, schools, neighborhoods

What Thinking Like a Mountain Has To Teach Us About Thinking Like a City

Aldo Leopold was an ecologist, not an urban planner, but insights from his Sand County Almanac can resonate with anyone interested in urbanism.

Top StorySeth ZerenJune 24, 2022urbanism, books, ecology, environment, development, urban design, urban planning

The Bottom-Up Revolution Is...Ending Parking Minimums and Seeing the Results

Jonathan Curth helped lead the city of Fayetteville, AR, into a new era free of commercial parking minimums.

Podcast, Top StoryStrong TownsJune 23, 2022The Bottom-Up Revolution, local government, success stories, parking minimums, arkansas, podcast

"We Won't Raise Our Kids in Suburbia"

In this Not Just Bikes video, Jason Slaughter explains how raising children in the suburbs significantly restricts their ability to be independent.

Top StoryJay StangeJune 23, 2022suburbs, suburban experiment, suburban development pattern, suburbanization, Not Just Bikes, children, safety, car dependency, car culture

Neighborhoods Were Never Meant to Be Unchanging

The idea of a permanent community “character” was an invention of the suburban era, and it's showing its cracks now—because it was never an attainable or desirable goal.

Herriges, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesJune 23, 2022neighborhood change, zoning, suburban development pattern, suburban experiment, history, Neighborhood Design, new york, neighborhoods

Looking for an Affordable Starter Home? HUD Suggests Trying a Manufactured Home.

Manufactured homes were promoted at the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2022 Innovative Housing Showcase. Could this be a viable affordable housing option?

Podcast, Top StoryStrong TownsJune 22, 2022podcast, housing, housing market, affordable housing, housing affordability, federal government, upzoned, accessory dwelling unit

Road Diet Seven Years in the Making—Was It Worth Every Minute?

This would-be simple road diet project faced an unexpected amount of pushback, and ended up taking seven years and a lot of money to complete. Was it worth the hassle?

Top StoryJay StangeJune 22, 2022road diet, Street Design, streets, Connecticut, success stories, public engagement, community engagement, stroad, safe and productive streets

A Recent Lawsuit Uses “Environmentalism” To Argue Against Walkable, Compact Development in Minneapolis. What the Heck Is Going On?

The environmental groups suing Minneapolis to block implementation of its groundbreaking 2040 Plan have a limited understanding of environmentalism, but a keen grasp of how to slow down policy reform.

Herriges, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesJune 22, 2022Climate Change, climate, environment, zoning, NIMBY, incremental growth, incremental development, incrementalism, infill, minnesota

We Don’t Like These Curves: What Is the J-Curve and What Is It Costing You?

These curves are costing Americans a lot, both financially and physically.

Top StorySeairra JonesJune 21, 2022Just Accounting for Health, homeowners, property tax, finance, taxes, home buyer

Oregon Nears Green Light for Big Parking Reform

Oregon’s statewide land use board declared its support Thursday for rules that, among other things, reduce or remove parking mandates in 53 jurisdictions in the state’s eight largest metro areas.

Top StoryMichael AndersenJune 21, 2022success stories, parking minimums, parking maximums, minimum parking requirements, Land Use, local government, state government, end parking mandates and subsidies, oregon

A Flooded River Versus a Flood of Volunteers

This week, our Neighborhood Storyteller reminisces about how her community came together during a time of impending disaster.

Neighborhood Storyteller, Top StoryKarla TheilenJune 21, 2022neighborhood storyteller, community, neighborliness, flooding, disasters, natural disasters, iowa, neighborhoods

Majora Carter: Reclaiming Your Community

In this interview with author Majora Carter, she explains an empowering truth: that you don’t have to move out of your neighborhood to live in a better one.