A few things to know this week: April 16, 2021
This week’s things to know:
The American Jobs Plan Will Make Our Infrastructure Crisis Worse (StrongTowns)
This week, Chuck Marohn from Strong Towns released a five-part series that highlights why the American Jobs Plan will make our infrastructure crisis worse. If you only read one thing this week, it should be this series. I've gone on record as saying I was "cautiously optimistic" about the plan and excited about Secretary Pete's leadership on transportation issues. I also had a caveat that the devil's in the details and that I still wanted to see if specific criteria would be included that would not just prioritize maintenance of existing facilities (an absolute must), but keep agencies and big engineering firms from framing widening and expansion of existing roads and bridges as "maintenance". Unfortunately, this part hasn't been included. This excellent series from Chuck explains why the new bill as-is would make our problems worse, not better. Next week, I'm going to be dusting off my blog skills to write a companion series to this that features examples and real numbers from cities we've worked with that reinforce what Chuck's posts talk about. -Kevin
Public Libraries Can Tap into Eligible Funds Worth Billions - Governing (Governing)
Public libraries are critical to our communities. This article explores various ways communities can tap into American Rescue Plan funds to support library programs and services. -Kevin
The road to removing police from traffic enforcement (CityLab)
So many of the conflicts with police we're seeing lately begin with traffic stops. This has prompted more discussions about how to improve these interactions, and like so many other aspects of communities, meaningful solutions will require going deeper to rethink how the way we've been building and running our cities has contributed to these unintended consequences. In this specific case, one way is to evaluate if these stops are even necessary in the first place. This interview with Columbia University law professor Sarah Seo gets into how policing has become so intimately entwined with American roads, how that relationship might be undone, what removing police from traffic enforcement might look like, and the future of law enforcement in a post-traffic-stop world. -Kevin
U.S. Malls, Well Past Their Heyday, Struggle to Survive (CityLab)
We're currently working on several projects that involve what cities could or should do with a dying indoor shopping mall. COVID looks like the final blow to these sites that were once the center of economic development. Here's a well done 10 minute video on the rise and fall of American malls. -Kevin
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