A few things to know this week: March 27, 2020
Happy Friday, friends! Every week we collect some of the best things that members of our Verdunity team read, watched, or listened to over the course of the week.
This time, we're sharing things that your city (and citizens) can be doing to respond to this growing public health and economic crisis, and to grow more resilient for future shocks. These are scary and uncertain times, but we don't have time for despair.
This week’s things to know:
Houston recession forecast shows economy losing tens of thousands of jobs due to COVID-19, oil price war (Houston Chronicle)
The Economic Devastation Is Going to Be Worse Than You Think (The Atlantic)
In last week’s edition, I addressed the gravity of this worsening crisis, and historically, crises have presented opportunities for fundamentally shifting the status quo. I see this as a huge opportunity for city leaders to make bold policy changes that prioritize walkable, mixed use neighborhoods and self-reliant local economies that result in a more equitable and resilient economy, a healthier environment, and much safer and healthier personal lives. We just need the courage to acknowledge that business as usual is not sustainable (at some point all the bailouts, stimulus funds, and natural resources will run out), and shift our collective focus toward new approaches to building and running our cities that can actually get us better results. I'm talking about changing the built environment we live in every day to better serve us as humans.
These articles (along with the few I highlighted last week) 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 much of what you thought about business as usual, and get started thinking about how to move our communities forward with significantly fewer resources. (And if you want help thinking through a locally led, bottom-up approach, that just happens to be something we’ve been working on for years, based on the things that have had success in towns of all sizes and stages across the country. I’d love to hear from you.) – Kevin
How our cities can reopen after the COVID-19 pandemic (Brookings)
As we all struggle to imagine what the next few months entail for our cities, the process of putting together a plan for reopening them seems like a gargantuan task. Brookings has put together a list of ten things cities can do to reopen following this pandemic. Some of them are instinctive, and others, not so much. The protection of less-advantaged communities and the arts and creative economy, as well as ensuring Main Street survives are just a few. It's a great list and highlights creative solutions which are happening right now. One is Tulsa, Oklahoma's "Tulsa Remote" Initiative that embraces the future of telework. It's a thought-provoking read that reminds us that we're all in this together. – AJ
Oregon City gets creative during COVID-19 crisis (Portland Tribune) & City of Port Townsend goes virtual
Our current circumstances are forcing cities to get creative with ways to continue business in a safe and healthy way. Two great examples of this are Oregon City, Oregon, where City officials are conducting permitting and inspections via Skype and FaceTime, and Port Townsend, Washington, where development services meetings are being conducted virtually with potential developers. – AJ
Directing Capital to Small Businesses Affected by COVID-19: Legal Strategies for Texas Local Governments (Lawyering For The Town)
This post from a new contact of mine on LinkedIn discusses ways that Texas local governments can step in to bridge the present gap in assistance to small businesses affected by COVID-19, while building financially stronger, better networked, and more resilient communities poised for growth after the pandemic is controlled. – Kevin
Do you enjoy these weekly roundups? (Why wouldn’t you?) You can get them sent straight to your email inbox every Friday, if you’re into that.
Employees in a Fort Worth suburb are keeping their jobs while helping senior citizens (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
Like many communities, Burleson had to put some employees such as those who work at the parks department or neighborhood services on non-essential status. When some of their city buildings closed because of COVID-19, officials decided to create a call center where these employees contact senior citizens to find out how they are doing and if they need information, and answer calls to a hotline where residents can call to ask questions. – Kevin
Live Streams to check out: Zoos and aquariums online (Columbus Dispatch)
Looking for something to entertain kiddos or help with cabin fever while your family is in shutdown mode? Check out these livestreams from zoos and aquariums across the country. – Kevin
Crowdsourcing gear to fight COVID-19
As the COVID-19 Pandemic unfolds in the US, our lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) has become quite clear. Our hardest hit areas are experiencing shortages of protective at the expense of our healthcare workers who are most at risk while treating patients with the virus. While we wait for the centralized supply chain to catch up, cities can fill a crucial role in this PPE shortage by facilitating ways to use community resources to meet these healthcare needs. In Shreveport, the Mayor and City Council members have connected two groups of people with the local healthcare system to meet those needs. The first group is the LA New Product Development Team, who developed a product called 'UpShield' to extend the life of PPE gear used my healthcare workers and provide an extra layer of protection against the virus. This product can be purchased OR 3D printed, and the group is working now to distribute the product to local hospitals and clinics.
Secondly, a less centralized example is meeting PPE with local seamstress and hobbyists. A CDC-approved protocol recently stated that handmade masks can be used when the common N-95 masks are not available. Citizens who can meet this need are being connected to healthcare systems via council members using their Facebook network to meet this need. These local examples provide a great insight into how our local economies make us resilient in times of need. – Tim
Business Assistance During Crisis (Shreve.biz)
When cities form partnerships with local organizations, they can effectively leverage community resources in the best direction. This partnership is between the city, a coworking space and business incubator, a university, and two Chambers of Commerce. The website contains, in the works of Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins, "useful information about the various forms of financial assistance available to businesses, and in-depth support for small businesses is available via phone and video. A volunteer team consisting of local professionals with banking, accounting, legal, and business backgrounds will offer free, private, one-on-one counseling for local business owners and managers. These volunteers will be equipped to answer common questions and help business owners understand and access SBA Disaster Loans, federal stimulus dollars, and private credit options." This is a great example of local agencies responding to local businesses in the crisis our cities are now facing. – Tim
In a Global Health Emergency, the Bicycle Shines (CityLab)
With the changing landscape around social distancing and personal space evolving day by day there is one place that seems to be safe and untouched... your bike. This piece highlights the spike in bicycle use and promotion across the globe. It's heartening to see leaders recognizing and encouraging multimodal transportation as an important piece of our solution. – Ryan
The Imminent Small-Business Collapse (and what can be done about it) (The American Prospect) & What the Federal Government Needs to Do to Enable Small Businesses to Survive the Coronavirus Crisis (ILSR)
This situation isn't like other economic downturns and it isn't like other natural disasters. It demands a response equivalent to the magnitude of the crisis—and that is where the federal government has a role to play. Most of the things we talk about in these newsletters center around what local governments and citizens can do to confront problems locally. I wanted to take a moment to highlight some of the things that we can be contacting our legislative representatives about. Check out the piece by Stacy Mitchell of the Institute for Self-Reliance (first link), and then see the proposal that ILSR (and other local small biz organizations) put together. There will be lots of deep-pocketed companies and industries leveraging their power to take advantage of this crisis; what we need instead is to treat this moment as an opportunity to make our local economies more resilient to this and future shocks. – 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!
