Top 5 Recent Stories (September 2-September 6, 2019)

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1. What the Left Gets Wrong about Public Transportation

by Strong Towns | August 30, 2019

Hint: the Right isn’t any better.

2. Dangerous Nostalgia: Why Romanticizing the 1950s and 1960s Won’t Get Us Anywhere

by Kevin Klinkenberg | September 4, 2019

Large swaths of our cities were built to reflect a post-World War Two boom that was an economic anomaly. But that party is long over…and, in many ways, wasn’t that great to begin with. So why do we keep romanticizing the past rather than thinking about the cities we need now?

3. Hurricanes Are Great for the Economy (but Terrible for People and Places)

by Charles Marohn | September 3, 2019

We can destroy and rebuild all kinds of places and measure success in terms of Gross Domestic Product, but let’s stop pretending that trading local wealth for national growth is a good thing.

4. Five Years after Michael Brown's Death, What Has Changed in Ferguson?

by Strong Towns | September 3, 2019

The killing of Michael Brown’ in August 2014 brought global attention to police brutality and racial inequality in the U.S. While there have been some reforms in Ferguson over the last five years, other structural issues — including a city infrastructure largely not built to benefit the people who actually live there — remain the same or have gotten worse.

5. $3.2 Billion to Fix Tampa's Aging Pipes? From Where?

by Daniel Herriges | August 30, 2019

Tampa has an epidemic of leaking and bursting pipes. But don’t worry, the city’s taking action! …by proposing an eightfold increase in the amount it spends on maintenance for the next 20 years, half funded by new debt. How did we get to this point?

Top photo via Osman Rana.