A few things to know this week: May 29, 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 week, we also have a new podcast to share, PLUS a webinar you won’t want to miss out on.
New on the Go Cultivate! podcast:
Talking tax bases & sustainable development – with Patrick Lawler and Chad Janicek
Patrick Lawler and Chad Janicek, co-founders of ZacTax, join us to talk about fiscal sustainability, city management, and how they aim to make use of data to better inform decisions.
This week’s things to know:
Webinar: Walking and Walkability in the Time of COVID-19: New Policies and Practices (America Walks)
This was an excellent and powerful webinar. Highlights include Dr. Destiny Thomas's discussion of "purple-lining" following the Great Depression and its relevance in our current crisis. I highly recommend watching the video; it will make you think about your role in a different light. – AJ
In A Pandemic, Transportation Ushers In A New Age Of Agile Experimentation (Forbes)
"Instead of expensive civil engineering projects requiring heavy construction and high regulatory/permitting barriers, we can show what’s possible today with quickly-sketched concepts, paint, and posts. With lightweight infrastructure interventions under the framing of ‘a pilot,’ more cities can build, test, and learn right now than ever before." Resources are strained and uncertainty is everywhere. Now is the perfect time to implement small, incremental projects to test out new ideas and cultivate stronger neighborhoods and communities. – Kevin
Video: Real Change at the Intersections
This keynote speech given by Keith Benjamin at last year’s Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals conference in Portland (OR) is right on the money. I hadn’t seen it before but it’s been shared around this past week and it could not be more timely. Too many good quotes that I could pull out to tease this one, but instead I’ll just reference the speech’s teaser:
“How do we define access? How do we show progression in land use and transportation strategies that benefit all people and all modes while acknowledging a history that did not always subscribe to that intention? As practitioners who are passionate about the work of building community how are we using our places of influence to ensure the well-being of all people through the lens of equity and co-empowering others to do the same.” None of us is doing our job right if we’re not questioning the decisions that we and those before us have made, even if intention was pure. – Jordan
Streets for Pandemic Response and Recovery (NACTO)
If you're looking for a timely resource, check out NACTO's Streets for Pandemic Response and Recovery. From transit lanes to pick-up zones and a number of other challenges, it is a free document that can be an excellent place to start. – AJ
Forget Broken Windows: Think ‘Busy Streets’ (CityLab)
"Cultivating a culture of collaboration" and "invest in what you've got" are two phrases you'll hear our team use regularly in our work with communities. This article highlights what's possible when we empower residents to invest their time, talent, and treasure to improving their neighborhoods. – Kevin
These resources will help you host a pop-up traffic calming demonstration in your town. (Strong Towns)
If you've been following our newsletter articles about traffic calming measures that different cities are enacting during this time of low traffic, you may be ready to do something in your own neighborhood. This classic from Strong Towns outlines some traffic calming measures that were enacted at the Strong Towns summit in Tulsa a few years ago, and some resources you can use to calm traffic in your town. – Tim
Stop Killing Us: A Real Life Nightmare (Medium)
This piece by Tamika Butler a (Planning and Equity & Inclusion Director at Toole Design Group) is especially resonant in our household (and countless others) this week. – Jordan
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.
COVID-19 Outdoor Dining Already Squeezing Walkers (Streetsblog)
When you begin to claim public space for restaurants, think carefully. Who are you excluding from those spaces? How are you incorporating social distancing? Also, what are the lessons we can clearly see now about the sidewalk width that should be constructed in the first place? Food for thought. – AJ
Rising property values — and taxes — during an economic slump (Texas Tribune)
Local governments that rely heavily on property taxes to pay for everything from public schools to police to parks are squeezed—and so are their taxpayers. – Jordan
Cutbacks in a Crisis: Seven Ways to Do It Right (Route Fifty)
Seven simple steps to work through what this author terms "strategic cutback management.” – Kevin
What is mutual aid? How do you start a mutual aid project in your community? (ioby)
Excellent post from ioby (which stands for “in our backyards”—a fantastic resource if you’re not already familiar) on mutual aid projects—essential components of communities at any time but especially right now. Here’s a teaser: Step 1 is “What strengths do you have? What does your community need? That’s your mutual aid project!” – Jordan
Here's the standard disclaimer: We always encourage our team members to freely share their thoughts and opinions, both in these newsletters and elsewhere. Given that, opinions expressed by any one member do not necessarily represent the views of the company as a whole.
Friday, June 5 @ 1:30pm CDT
Don’t miss next Friday’s webinar!
In this webinar, the second in our "Emerge Stronger” series, Kevin Shepherd and AJ Fawver will discuss how to assess and maximize the resources your community has available. You’ll learn:
How to use land use fiscal analysis to quantify the costs and revenue productivity of your city’s land, buildings, and infrastructure—and how it can be used to align your city’s development pattern and service model with what residents are willing and able to pay for
How to align and inspire your existing staff to maximize engagement and achievement of priority outcomes
How to identify and tap into other partners in the community such as school districts, philanthropic groups, local businesses, and other “implementers”
The webinar will begin at 1:30pm Central.
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!
