See you on Monday

The Strong Towns staff and board are convening for an annual meeting for the next three days, so we'll be taking a short break from content in order to focus on planning for 2017 and beyond.

We'll be back to our usual schedule on Monday. Have a great weekend and in the meantime, you can check out some of our most popular content from the last few weeks below.

Featured
Why Do Cities Have Liability Protection? (Hint: It’s Not To Protect Them.)
Charles Marohn
Why Do Cities Have Liability Protection? (Hint: It’s Not To Protect Them.)
Charles Marohn

Liability caps mean that a city can’t be forced to pay victims of traffic crashes above a certain amount, even in cases of gross negligence. This may seem unjust, but this kind of protection can encourage city officials and employees to be proactive in addressing past mistakes and making streets safer. Here’s how.

Charles Marohn
Multidecade Mortgages Are Dumb, and Here Is Why
Charles Marohn
Multidecade Mortgages Are Dumb, and Here Is Why
Charles Marohn

With interest rates rising, the cost and availability of housing are becoming increasingly popular topics of debate. But most of these discussions fail to challenge the root of the issue: the absurdity of mortgages as an investment vehicle.

Charles Marohn
Are Rents About to Crash?
Charles Marohn
Are Rents About to Crash?
Charles Marohn

If we listen to those concerned about housing affordability, rents are already too high and may only go higher. If we listen to those concerned about housing finance, rents are about to collapse. Can both of these narratives be true?

Charles Marohn
What We Can Learn From Abandoned Places
Ben Abramson
What We Can Learn From Abandoned Places
Ben Abramson

There’s a certain artistic quality to abandoned spaces—but if we look a bit deeper, these ruins also hold lessons about patterns of disinvestment and policy shifts that have adversely affected American communities.

Ben Abramson
It’s Not Just Houston That’s Broke. So Are Silicon Valley Cities.
Charles Marohn
It’s Not Just Houston That’s Broke. So Are Silicon Valley Cities.
Charles Marohn

The financial struggles of Houston and the cities of the Silicon Valley area—as well as tens of thousands of others across North America—have the same underlying cause.

Charles Marohn
Waiting for the Bus Doesn’t Have To Be This Bad
Asia Mieleszko
Waiting for the Bus Doesn’t Have To Be This Bad
Asia Mieleszko

Why don’t the small things get funding?

Asia Mieleszko
This City Is Implementing Street Design That Will Save Lives
Seairra Jones
This City Is Implementing Street Design That Will Save Lives
Seairra Jones

In Capitola, California, residents erupted in protest after Debra Towne, a beloved local senior, was hit and killed walking across a dangerous stroad. And unlike in so many other places, the city actually responded.

Seairra Jones
Unpacking the Question “Can Housing Be an Investment and Affordable?”
Daniel Herriges
Unpacking the Question “Can Housing Be an Investment and Affordable?”
Daniel Herriges

What does it really mean to say that housing can’t be both affordable and an “investment”?

Daniel Herriges
Beyond Stroads: 5 Glossary Terms for Building a Strong Town
Ben Abramson
Beyond Stroads: 5 Glossary Terms for Building a Strong Town
Ben Abramson

You know what a stroad is… Now how about these other coined phrases that help tell the story of the challenges that local advocates grapple with?

Ben Abramson

(Top photo: Strong Towns president, Chuck Marohn and Strong Towns board member John Reuter)

Rachel Quednau