A few things to know this week: March 20, 2020
Happy Friday!
Every week, we round up some of the things we read, listened to, or watched that really caught our attention.
This week on the Go Cultivate! podcast:
Engaging local government leaders! – with Kirsten Wyatt
In this episode, Kirsten Wyatt, co-founder & executive director of Engaging Local Government Leaders (ELGL), joins us to talk about how her organization is doing just that.
This week’s things to know:
First, a note from Verdunity’s Founder & CEO Kevin Shepherd:
Before I share my articles and commentary for this week, I want to start by saying my thoughts and prayers are with all the healthcare professionals, elected officials, local government staff, service industry workers, and many others who continue to work to keep society afloat and forge a path forward for our communities. Thank you. Please be smart, engage in physical distancing, do what you can to support local and small businesses in a responsible way, and (for those of us who are able) embrace this extra time we're getting to spend with family. Now onto articles for the week...
What Strong Towns advocates need to know right now about financial markets (Strong Towns)
Municipal Pensions are Now Dead (We Need to Acknowledge That) (Strong Towns)
States and Cities Face the Prospect of Severe Budget Shortfalls
I've lamented in past posts and podcast discussions that a big reset was coming for our economy. Well, unfortunately that time seems to have arrived, and instead of a gradual slowdown of economic activity across the country, the novel coronavirus has forced an abrupt halt to things everywhere, in just a matter of weeks. Some are saying this could be the worst recession since the Great Depression, and others are even going so far as to say this will be as bad or possibly even worse than 1929. I'm not trying to depress or scare you, but it is time for us to accept that this is a very real threat and the fragility of our development pattern and economy is going to be exposed.
These three articles point out different aspects of the financial challenges ahead for local governments. It's time that city leaders (and citizens) accept these realities, toss out everything you thought about business as usual, and get started thinking about how to move our communities forward with significantly fewer resources. This locally led, bottom-up approach is something we're intimately familiar with here at Verdunity, and have been integrating into our work for several years now. If you're ready to have these conversations in your community, here are three ways we can help:
1) Hop over to our free Community Cultivators network to engage in online discussions with our team and your peers. We'll be hosting live chats and Q&A webinars in coming weeks focused specifically on how to communicate these challenges to your community and ways to make the best use of the resources you still have.
2) Subscribe to our Go Cultivate! podcast and email list. We're planning to start pushing out regular bite-sized videos and podcast discussions with our team and city officials to explore these challenges further and share ideas as we learn about them.
3) If you're a city manager, finance director, elected official, or someone intimately involved with budgeting for your city, we're gauging interest in a six-month online course where we'll walk through how to take a "Cultivating Strong Towns" approach to finishing out this fiscal year and budgeting for next year. My colleague AJ Fawver and I will be stepping through the budgeting process, giving you questions, resources, and suggestions for how to think differently about each step. If you're interested in taking this journey with us and other like-minded peers, send an email to info@verdunity.com and we'll make sure you get updates as we formalize details and get ready to launch next month.
To close, our Verdunity crew doesn't have all the answers, but we have been thinking about how cities might and could operate with shrinking resources for a while now. We're a small team, but we're going to do everything we can to share what we've learned with anyone who wants our advice, coaching, and support. If you'd like to chat, email me at kevin@verdunity.com or give me a call at 214-425-6720. – Kevin
The Right to the City: Planners’ Role in Creating Affordable and Inclusive Communities (Planetizen)
I continue to be a Todd Littman fan, and this great read is just another reason why. He squares off with the International Housing Affordability Survey (IHAS), explaining why its data is only part of the story. The rest of the story? Transportation prices. Saying a city is affordable for its residents is about looking at the actual costs of both—not one or the other. He goes on to call upon the planning community to step up and take on a greater role in promoting compact housing, lower parking minimums, and creating policy that supports these principles. After all, as he points out at the end, "Everybody benefits, including people who live in automobile-dependent, sprawled locations." Here at Verdunity, we couldn't agree more, and try to explain that it isn't about blowing up and redesigning existing cities; it's about shifting to a different development pattern and culture—and we can show you how the dollars and cents support that same shift. – AJ
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Coronavirus will also cause a loneliness epidemic (Vox)
Earlier this week, I actually enjoyed the chance to slow down with all the social distancing. However, that's turned into some loneliness, lack in productivity at work, and worry about the effects of the pandemic we are facing. The changes in our routine are needed for our society's health, but they are hard nonetheless. So this post hit home for me. The lessons? Reach out to your people. Go on a walk or take a bike ride (with social distance). Oh, and take breaks from social media too! – Tim
10 Ways to Help Your Fellow Texans Endure the Coronavirus Pandemic (Texas Observer)
Looking for opportunities to help your neighbors? Here are ten good ones, and they all pretty much apply regardless of where you live. Check on your neighbors. Support emergency housing funds and homeless shelters. Give to your local food banks. To keep fewer people out and about, a good option for a lot of us who are able is going to be donating money. I’ve been giving to Meals on Wheels, the One Fair Wage Emergency Fund, Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund, No Kid Hungry, and The National Domestic Workers Alliance. There are a lot more organizations out there helping right now, and I’ve also seen a lot of cities organizing volunteers for making deliveries to elderly folks right now. This is a frankly scary time; self-care is more important than ever. In addition to exercise and clearing my mind, the other thing that always puts me in a better mental place is finding ways to do something for someone else. – Jordan
Book recommendation: Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
Now for something completely different than my usual contribution… Being stuck at home doesn’t have to mean TV streaming marathons—no judgment if that’s your thing. But I’d like to add one suggestion if you’re interested in taking up a new hobby that’s genuinely therapeutic, confidence-boosting, and fun. Yeah, I’m talking about drawing, and yeah, I know, you “can’t draw.” Well, this is one of those cases where “not with that attitude” is actually basically right. I like drawing, and did as a kid, but I got self-conscious about it and sort of stopped doing it for a long time. In grad school, someone recommended Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain and I got a copy and followed along. I was stunned by how much better I got at drawing just through using that book. The secret, essentially, is relaxing your brain and patiently & carefully observing. You can draw, if you’re interested in learning how, and it does not take as much time as you think. Also, you can try ordering it from a nearby local book store, which they’d surely appreciate. – Jordan
Want to learn more about how fiscal analysis can help you make your city stronger financially?
We created a new sister website showcasing how we use math, maps, and money to help cities communicate your resource gap and explore ways to increase tax revenue and improve service efficiency without necessarily raising taxes.
Hey, friends in local government:
Have thoughts on any of the links above? Think we missed something essential? We’re discussing these topics and more over on our brand-new online community, exclusively for local government employees.* Sign up for the Community Cultivators Network and join the discussion!
* The network is currently only for those wonderful folks out there who work in local government. If you’re not currently working for a city, town, or county, we still love you (and are sure many of you would add value to the community), but we want to keep our commitment to making this a community focused specifically on our friends working in local government. Thanks for understanding!
