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—plus anything new from us.

This week on the Go Cultivate! podcast:

Infrastructure funding! with Jim Proce

On this episode Kevin speaks with Jim Proce, City Manager for the City of Anna, Texas, about a pressing issue many cities are facing: the struggle to find the money needed to maintain and replace streets and other infrastructure built back in their growth years.

Miss last weeks blog post?

Local government simplicity in four steps – AJ Fawver

Now is a great time to reorient and recalibrate as we find ourselves in adaptation mode, writes AJ Fawver in her latest post.

This week’s things to know:

As downtown Dallas breaks ground on its biggest park yet, here's what you can expect (Dallas Morning News)

Dallas has long been frowned upon as a city that prioritizes the car over all else. The section of highway that separates downtown and the historic neighborhood Deep Ellum (I-345) being one of the biggest examples. To try and mitigate this and revamp the corridor Dallas Parks and Recreation has announced the revitalization of Carpenter Park which sits on the downtown side of the I-345 corridor. This announcement comes with mixed emotions from most residents, knowing that the area has historically been a place where many of Dallas’ homeless congregate. What is Dallas doing to facilitate their displacement? Any resource allocation going toward the help there? -Ryan

5 Ways to Find Certainty During Uncertain Times (Forge)

At first glance, this seems more like a human psychology piece than anything relating to cities. I found it important to share, because the central messages of this piece (I think) relate rather nicely. Not that we are finally understanding that this unpredictable path we are on is not something we know the exact end to, we must adapt. This period of time has been disorienting, unplanned, and scary. I think the advice to us as humans that is outlined in this article also serves as great advice to us as communities. As the author writes, "Identify what matters and find some way to feed it with the resources you have now." I'm grateful to be positioned in a place where we can help communities identify that and use their current resources to make progress. -AJ

Why we need media reporting guidelines for road safety (The Guardian)

The way that the media has reported on urban travel and roadway related news like accidents, development, and statistics has been largely misconstrued and can be inaccurate at times. It is encouraging to see action being taken by networks like the Active Travel Academy to publish content on the best practices for reporting and documenting as it relates to this type of content. We will have to keep tabs on reporting moving forward to see what type of progress, if any, is made from these commendable efforts. -Ryan

Defining Rust Belt Urbanism (Economic Innovation Group)

Jason Segedy, an urban planner and writer, posted a series of thought provoking tweets and the corresponding article above this week. His main point is that the conversations around urbanist policy focus too much on the issues of growing coastal and sun-belt cities, and should explore the challenges that stagnant or shrinking cities face. He argues that many of the popular urban narratives tackling gentrification, NIMBY-ism, and single-family zoning impact heavily disinvested areas like rust-belt cities much differently. As a resident of a similarly disinvested small southern city, I've seen how a much slower real estate market can create a host of different challenges that aren't discussed as much. I hope you will read this article and learn something! -Tim

City of London’s Socially Distanced Streets May Be Here to Stay (City Lab)

This news comes in conjunction with announcements being made in New York City around outdoor dining and the reclamation of public spaces for the pedestrian. It will be interesting to see what vendors as well as patrons are able to do to embrace these steps toward a more equitable streetscape and city environment. Have you seen any more ‘permanent’ changes to the built environment in your town? If not are there changes that you feel could be made to make the space more equitable, safe, and efficient? -Ryan

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.

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.

Don’t miss out on our upcoming (virtual) events!

APA Virtual Cross-Chapter Collaborative (October 5–9)

• Kevin presenting with Tom Yantis (Asst. City Manager & Director of Development Services at City of Taylor, TX) on "The Economics of Land Use."

• AJ will cohost a discussion titled “Taking Action to Minimize Unconscious Bias” and will be a panelist on the “Brainstorming Public Engagement – Diversity & Inclusion” interactive session.

TML Annual Conference (October 14–16)

• Kevin, AJ, and Monte Anderson will be presenting on "Cultivating Vibrant Communities and Local Economies with the Resources You Have."

Texas Downtown Association Conference (November 9–12)

• Kevin will be presenting on "Bridging the Resource Gap: Cultivating Strong Communities with the Resources You Have."

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:

Hey, friends who love cities! If you're looking for a place to discuss these topics (and more) with like-minded peers who want to help create a more resilient community, check out our Community Cultivators Network. It's free to join, and we are currently working to build new features for our 2021 relaunch, so stay tuned! We'll arm you with the content, ideas, and support to take small impactful steps to cultivate change.