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Writing It Right: Reflections on Seven Years of Neighborhood Newsletters
Writing It Right: Reflections on Seven Years of Neighborhood Newsletters

A neighborhood newsletter can be a great way to build connections and create opportunities for people in your community to get together. Here’s how to craft your newsletter right.

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Emma Durand-Wood, Top Story, Community StoriesEmma Durand-WoodJuly 6, 2023neighborhoods
The Invisible Reason for High Housing Prices: Restrictive Land-Use Regulations
The Invisible Reason for High Housing Prices: Restrictive Land-Use Regulations

It is extremely difficult to build housing in Rhode Island. It’s also expensive to buy homes, with prices having increased by 34% since the summer of 2020. Why?

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Podcast, Top StoryStrong TownsJuly 5, 2023podcast, zoning, Incremental Housing, Rhode Island, upzoned
How Wooden Benches Breathed Life Back Into an Emaciated Transit System
How Wooden Benches Breathed Life Back Into an Emaciated Transit System

When this Texan city’s bus system fell into decline, local advocates took the next smallest (but highly effective) step toward making their public transit more hospitable: by installing homemade bus benches.

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Community Stories, Top StoryAsia MieleszkoJuly 5, 2023bus, buses, transit, little bets, tactical urbanism, success stories, texas, safe and productive streets, public transportation, small bets
The Intersection in Front of My Kids’ School Was a Tragedy Waiting To Happen. Then It Did.
The Intersection in Front of My Kids’ School Was a Tragedy Waiting To Happen. Then It Did.

A mother’s death near a Sacramento school spurs fellow parents to step up and push for safety improvements to the stroad she lost her life on.

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Top Story, TrendingIsaac GonzalezJuly 5, 2023safety, schools, pedestrians, car crash, road diet, safe and productive streets
Why Cities are Flying Blind When It Comes to Their Own Debt
Why Cities are Flying Blind When It Comes to Their Own Debt

For local governments, it’s often easier to let the tangled web of debt at the heart of the budget go unexplored. In cities reliant on sales tax, these problems are only magnified.

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Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnJuly 3, 2023finance, sales tax, property tax, oklahoma, debt, maintenance, taxes, transparent local accounting, municipal finance
 Where Do I Park My Pew?
Where Do I Park My Pew?

This story about a revitalized church’s parking requirements might sound absurd, but it’s reflective of the very real and very absurd regulations most communities face when it comes to parking.

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Edward Erfurt, Top StoryEdward ErfurtJune 30, 2023churches, local regulation, zoning, end parking mandates and subsidies
In Conversation With an Expert: Tony Tramel on Traffic Engineering's Hopeful Shift
In Conversation With an Expert: Tony Tramel on Traffic Engineering's Hopeful Shift

Safe streets advocate Tony Tramel will be lending over four decades of experience to analyzing a crash in Amarillo, TX. Here’s what he has to say about the current state (and future) of transportation engineering.

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Top StorySeairra JonesJune 29, 2023Crash Analysis Studio, safe and productive streets
5 Action Steps You Can Take To Start Changing the Property Tax System in Your Town
5 Action Steps You Can Take To Start Changing the Property Tax System in Your Town

The Just Accounting for Health coalition has been researching and reporting on property tax inequities for the past 18 months. But the real work is just getting started—and it starts with you.

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Top StorySeairra JonesJune 29, 2023property tax, Just Accounting for Health, Assessments, taking action, transparent local accounting
An Inconvenient Tree
An Inconvenient Tree

Given all that trees do, cities should be enthusiastically planting tons of them, everywhere they possibly can. And yet, most places aren’t. What gives? 

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Emma Durand-Wood, Top StoryEmma Durand-WoodJune 29, 2023street trees, streetscape, Street Design, streets, safe and productive streets
Why Can’t We Have the “Perfect” Neighborhood?
Why Can’t We Have the “Perfect” Neighborhood?

Why is this “perfect neighborhood” in Longmont, CO, not easily copied in other places around the U.S.?

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Podcast, Top StoryStrong TownsJune 28, 2023podcast, colorado, upzoned, neighborhoods
In Philadelphia, the I-95 Collapse Is Igniting a Conversation About Transit
In Philadelphia, the I-95 Collapse Is Igniting a Conversation About Transit

On June 11, 2023, a tanker truck caught fire in Northeast Philadelphia, killing its driver and devastating over 100 feet of Interstate 95 above it. Now the city is reconsidering its dependency on the highway. 

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News, Top StoryAsia MieleszkoJune 28, 2023highways, freeways, transit, rail, end highway expansion, pennsylvania, public transportation
To Make a Place People Can Walk, First You Have to Make a Place
To Make a Place People Can Walk, First You Have to Make a Place

Earlier this year, a man was killed in a car crash while crossing the street in Amarillo, TX. The driver didn’t see him—and when you look at his surroundings, it’s not hard to understand why.

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Herriges, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesJune 28, 2023Crash Analysis Studio, car crash, urbanism, urban design, pedestrians, texas, safe and productive streets
Tactical Urbanism in Baltimore Yields Safer Streets, Inspiring Art
Tactical Urbanism in Baltimore Yields Safer Streets, Inspiring Art

Baltimore is reclaiming an urban landscape that has been made inhospitable by cars—using art!

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Community Stories, Top StoryBen AbramsonJune 27, 2023tactical urbanism, streets, safety, Crosswalk, success stories, pedestrians, maryland, safe and productive streets
Pleasure in the City
Pleasure in the City

Designing urban spaces for people starts by taking seriously our need for delight and comfort.

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Owens, Top StoryTiffany Owens ReedJune 27, 2023aesthetics, design, urbanism
A Building Is a Business
A Building Is a Business

Entrepreneurship makes Main Street go round, but those working in the field have to remember that building owners are entrepreneurs, too, and they should be getting a lot more attention.

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Top StoryJeff SieglerJune 26, 2023business, small business, economic development, economic growth, main street, entrepreneurs
What's a Small Way You Can Improve the Place You Live RIGHT Now?
What's a Small Way You Can Improve the Place You Live RIGHT Now?

We asked, and you answered!

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Top StoryAsia MieleszkoJune 23, 2023small bets, member week
A Strong Towns Advocate Took Safety Into His Own Hands in Philadelphia
A Strong Towns Advocate Took Safety Into His Own Hands in Philadelphia

After his friend was struck while cycling on one of Philadelphia’s busiest bike routes in 2015, David Brindley began collecting stray cones to create his own protected bike lane.

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Top StoryAsia MieleszkoJune 23, 2023bike infrastructure, bikeability, tactical urbanism, success stories, safe and productive streets, pennsylvania
Behind the Scenes at the Strong Towns National Gathering
Behind the Scenes at the Strong Towns National Gathering

In this special Upzoned episode, get a behind the scenes look at how the Strong Towns National Gathering came together, a few lessons learned, and some possible changes for future gatherings.

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Podcast, Top StoryStrong TownsJune 22, 2023podcast, National Gathering, upzoned
In Conversation With an Expert: Erik Bootsma
In Conversation With an Expert: Erik Bootsma

Ecclesiastical architect Erik Bootsma understands the finer points of designing and building a place that’s special and safe. Here’s how he’s applying those same keen eyes to the built environment.

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Top StoryBen AbramsonJune 22, 2023Crash Analysis Studio
Facing an Uncomfortable Truth About Speed Limits
Facing an Uncomfortable Truth About Speed Limits

As much as we might like to think that speed limits alone will keep people safe from car crashes, they simply aren’t enough.

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Emma Durand-Wood, Top StoryEmma Durand-WoodJune 22, 2023streets, Street Design, car crash, speeding, speed, design, safe and productive streets
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