A few things to know this week: December 17th, 2021
Could Biden's infrastructure bill help heal the scars highways created? - Virginia Mercury
A thoughtful commentary that I think does a good job of covering how the infrastructure bill can do good but that there are many obstacles to its success. We know how destructive highway systems have been to the urban landscape, but issues of both equity and economics can sometimes make it difficult to know where to begin as we look forward to the process of knitting together fractured communities. This is a good commentary, but I actually stumbled upon the Virginia Mercury’s author page for Wyatt Gordon, the author of this piece and found a whole collection of articles that I think provide some interesting viewpoints on a lot of issues that would appeal to the readers of this newsletter. So my real pick for this week is a deep catalog of good articles you can peruse over your holidays this year. Check out Wyatt Gordon’s work here. –MARSHALL
Strong Towns Podcast Episode: Two Different Languages
I love the way Strong Towns has continued to build a narrative around State Street - the four lane highway in Springfield, Massachusetts that was a central piece of Confessions of a Recovering Engineer. This episode revisits a recent public meeting focused on fixing the speeding problems on this thoroughfare. Chuck plays snippets of audio files from council members, advocates, and engineers at the meeting, and explains some of the underlying frustrations and messages in their back and forth to each other. If you are a citizen who wants to understand where engineers are coming from, or an engineer who wants a better look at your assumptions, I highly recommend giving this episode a listen. –TIM
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.
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:
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.
