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. We’ve also got new podcast episodes and an upcoming webinar.

New on the Go Cultivate! podcast:

Reclaiming the streets — with John Simmerman

This week we welcomed John Simmerman of Active Towns back to the show! He spoke with Jordan about how the coronavirus is changing the way people are interacting with their neighborhoods—and the opportunities that cities have to build and sustain a culture of activity while cars are off the streets. One thing is for certain: cities worldwide are demonstrating that we do not have to go back to “normal” when it comes to our streets. If you’re someone who could use a little bit of good news and hope right now, this episode brings plenty of it! (Make sure to check out the show notes for this episode—there are so many great resources being shared right now for reimagining the streetscape, no matter what size city you’re in, or how strapped for resources.)

Check out our other recent coronavirus-related episodes:

• Small development, trust, & strong local economies – with R. John Anderson

• How local governments should respond to the small business crisis – with Basel Musharbash

• Leveraging federal emergency management funding: COVID-19 edition – with Laura Clemons

• Where do cities go from here? Lessons for the Corona Crisis

Don’t miss this! — Wed, April 29

Webinar: Building Fiscally Strong Communities: Understanding, Communicating & Closing Your City's Resource Gap (TEDC)

Verdunity’s Kevin Shepherd & AJ Fawver will be hosting a 90-minute webinar for the Texas Economic Development Council.

Here’s what’s on tap:

• How a city's growth and development pattern is directly connected to its property tax revenue, service costs and infrastructure liabilities;

• How a city can use fiscal sustainability as a common language to frame discussions, inform decisions, and engage citizens; and

• How a city can take steps to incrementally close the gap utilizing resources they have, starting today.

This week’s other things to know:

Is Rick Cole's Resignation as Santa Monica City Manager a Canary in the Coal Mine for All Cities? (The Planning Report)

This city manager said what most city managers in the country are thinking. There are tough times and very tough choices ahead for our cities, and Rick Cole pulled no punches in laying out what's ahead for his community. I applaud Mr. Cole for his words and actions and am going to reach out to see if he'll join me for a conversation for our Go Cultivate! podcast. – Kevin

The outdated and dangerous 85th percentile rule is dead in Oregon (Bike Portland)

On May 1st, traffic engineers in Oregon will no longer rely on the 85th percentile rule for setting speed limits. This is a HUGE step toward improving safety and something I hope other states and communities copy. – Kevin

Local Cities Face ‘Unprecedented’ Budget Crunch (NBC DFW)

The fiscal impacts of CV-19 are just beginning to hit cities. This news clip from a local Dallas/Fort Worth news station highlights how a few communities in north Texas are handling budgeting for the remainder of this fiscal year and into next. My question is whether or not their proposed plans will be enough. – 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.

The Housing Market Never Recovered from the Great Recession (Strong Towns)

Daniel Herriges has an excellent piece up today on the state of the U.S. housing market. The big takeaway is that we’ve never returned to whatever might be considered a pre-2008 recession status quo. Huge drops in construction levels and homeownership rates are part of that picture. There’s more than that, though. Read on in this fascinating piece, which also includes some additional suggested reading on the topic of housing. – Jordan

Don’t blame dense cities for the spread of coronavirus (Curbed)

Kate Wagner is one of my favorite writers these days (you can find her writing at Curbed, The Baffler, The New Republic, and of course, the snarky and hilarious McMansion Hell), and she’s got a piece up this week that cuts through a little bit of the BS. I think this sentence sums things up nicely: “Dense apartment buildings didn’t go to the store and make a run on toilet paper.” – Jordan

Thanks to Bookshop, There Is No Reason to Buy Books on Amazon Anymore (Inside Hook)

Pretty much exactly what the title says. I didn’t know anything about Bookshop.org until I got an email from Wild Detectives, my favorite lil’ book store in Dallas. Which is probably because the service only started a couple months ago. The idea is this: “American Booksellers Association stores can sign up to sell books through the website, and 30% of the profits from those sales go directly to them (recently increased from 25% because of coronavirus fallout).” In other words, you can still shop for books at competitive prices and benefit the local book stores that have had to close their doors for the time being. Just last week I bought a book through the service, which meant Wild Detectives got a 30% cut of that purchase. One of the most disheartening features of the consolidation of Amazon’s power in recent years has been, among other things, the disappearance of local book stores. I’m really hoping this can help more bookstores stay in business until quarantine is over, and it’d be great if this helps them compete against that giant in the long term. – Jordan

TV Series: Life-Sized City (KCET)

So here’s a new show I can’t wait to start watching. Based on the preview (which I’ve linked to) and a few minutes of watching the first episode (which takes place in Tokyo), I think this show is going to have some great lessons in addition to the impressive visuals. Here’s the official description of the show (new episodes of which are being released on Wednesdays on KCET): “At the heart of every city is its citizens. Our perception of cities is slowly changing from a model of mathematical engineering to a human habitat where urban spaces have the potential to be healthy, attractive, interesting and efficient. In this six-part series, urban design expert Mikael Colville-Andersen explores the anatomy and vibrancy of the modern metropolis, highlighting pockets of life-sized goodness in cities around the world.” Of course, you can also kill time watching a nostalgia trip about the 1990s Chicago Bulls, which I’ve also done, but this entertainment also appears to be somewhat instructive. – Jordan

Please note: We encourage our team members to share their thoughts in these newsletters; opinions expressed individually are not always necessarily reflective of the views of the company as a whole.

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.

Have a look! →

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!