Happy Friday, friends!

Every week, we round up some of the things we read, listened to, or watched that really caught our attention. Here are just a few things we think you should know this week:

This week's things to know:

1. Don't Move People Out of Distressed Places. Instead, Revitalize Them

This article discusses the ongoing debate over which is the better economic development approach: people-based policy or place-based policy. But why can't we do both? We encourage cities to invest in what they've got to cultivate community capital and a self-sustaining local economy. This means finding the people, places, and resources that are unique to your community, and crafting policies that balance both people and place-based outcomes. – Kevin

2. How the Government Segregated America's Cities By Design

If you haven’t already seen the brilliant video put out earlier this year that distills Richard Rothstein’s The Color of Law into 20 gripping (and disturbing) minutes, then Strong Towns’ recent write-up is a great reason to do so now. I’ll leave off with this bit from our friend Daniel Herriges: “Even if you think you know this history already, Rothstein and Lopez connect the dots of local zoning and investment decisions, federal housing policy and highway building, the prejudices roiling American society, and perhaps most importantly, the present day: the ways in which segregation never really ended, but still defines our lives in ways as profound as who gets a fair shot at a good education and an upwardly-mobile life.” – Jordan

3. Widening I-45 will be a disaster for Houston

We're big fans of Jeff Speck. His books Walkable City and Walkable City Rules are must-reads for anyone aspiring to make our cities safer, healthier, and more financially resilient. So, when Jeff takes time to write an op-ed piece about what's wrong with our approach to transportation in Texas (i.e., keep widening highways), it's an automatic share. We need all the help we can get to shift the mindset in Texas about mobility. – Kevin

4. The Small-City Vision Zero Challenge

Does your small city have a Vision Zero plan? Cities with limited budgets face particular challenges that differ from large cities. This piece highlights a few smaller cities, and gives some specific examples of ways you can move your city toward becoming a safer place for all humans. – 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.

5. Atlanta mayor unveils $5M plan to create safer streets, triple protected bike lane network

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms recently announced a $5 million dollar project to add more bike lanes and multi-modal streets across the city. The plan more that doubles the existing bike infrastructure: "some are high-priority routes that have planned infrastructure construction and are identified as high-injury corridors; some connect neighborhood destinations like MARTA stations, parks, and schools." The really cool part for me? The fact that pop-up bike lanes will be used in the interim, while design professionals decide how to configure the new infrastructure. It's a great way to improve Atlanta and track how the permanent infrastructure improvements will help. – Tim

6. The latest evidence that bike lanes are good for business

This piece is a good reminder of how bike lanes and pedestrian mobility are great draws for business in your community. The author goes into different aspects of how bike lanes and their presence can have a positive impact on the overall public interaction with the businesses that line their streets. – Ryan

7. How Two Smaller Legacy Cities Are Adopting Green Infrastructure

If your city has not made green infrastructure a priority, it should. Strategically placed, well-designed green infrastructure and low impact development can provide economic, environmental, and social benefits to a community. This article highlights what two small towns in the northeast are using green infrastructure to revitalize their communities. – Kevin

Upcoming keynotes and workshops!

Check out our Upcoming Events page to see if our busy October and November schedule brings us anywhere near you. (Teaser: we’ve got gigs upcoming in Amarillo; San Antonio; Chaffee County, CO; and more!)

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! →

Texas legislative digests now available for free!

To our Texas friends: Want to dive deeper into the new legislation passed down this year—and what it'll mean for your city? We've got you covered. We put together a legislative digest package featuring nine of the most important new laws, explained in plain English.

If you’re interested, here’s how you can get your copy:

1. Join the Community Cultivators Network if you haven't already. (It’s open exclusively to folks working for a local government or agency, and it’s totally free to join.)

2. Look for "86th Texas Legislative Session" under "Groups," and join.

3. Enter the group and download the digests!

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!