Oxford, MS vs. Ridgewood, NJ
Welcome to this first round match-up in the sixth annual Strongest Town Contest! In this round, 16 towns are facing off, and eight will advance to the next segment of the contest based on your votes. We invite you to read answers representatives from these two cities provided to our questions about economic resilience, citizen involvement, community response to the pandemic, and more. Then vote for the strongest at the bottom of this page.
Can’t decide? If you’re looking for inspiration, check out how we describe the Strong Towns approach, or take a look at our free ebook, The Local Leader’s Toolkit: A Strong Towns Response to the Pandemic.
You may vote once per match-up.
Round 1 voting closes at 12pm CDT on Thursday, March 18th.
For rules, and to follow along with the contest, visit the Strongest Town Contest page.
Note: All entries are lightly edited for clarity and readability.
OXFORD, MS
Entry submitted by: Mayor Robyn Tannehill, Bart Robinson, Ben Requet, Jon Maynard
What is your favorite thing about your town?
Our favorite thing about Oxford, Mississippi is the true sense of community that Oxford holds dear. In many travels worldwide, we have found that there are only a handful of communities whose citizens openly demonstrate a true pride of their town. Oxford is a small city in Northern Mississippi and it stands out from its southern peers. The people of Oxford are genuinely proud to live here. They demonstrate this in the cleanliness of the city as well as the true quality of their place. The Chamber of Commerce developed an entire video series of individuals and businesses talking about what they loved about Oxford. The hashtag #WeGetToLiveHere was the moniker for the series. There is a reputation for having a small town closeness with the advantage of new citizens joining us daily. These new citizens adopt the pride that brought them here. They are, in most cases, the loudest voices attesting the quality of our community. While Oxford has a population of approximately 25,000, according to the census, at any given moment there can be 150,000 people in town because of the University of Mississippi and events held on campus or in town. Even though Oxford is a more urban area for North Mississippi, it still exudes all of the qualities of a small town full of southern charm. The city grows, but the small town culture remains the same.
How easy is it to live in your town without regular access to a car? What are some steps your town has taken—or is in the process of taking—to make it safer and easier to walk, bike, or use a wheelchair?
The City of Oxford has been committed to providing public transit and active transportation alternatives in the community. The Pathways Commission was established by the City of Oxford Mayor and Board of Aldermen in the early 2000s in order to diversify and increase transportation and recreation opportunities throughout the community.
In 2015, the City’s Complete Streets policy was modified and recognized by Smart Growth America as a top policy adopted in that year. Oxford has faced tremendous growth pressures since the early 2000s, and especially over the last seven years. The City requires all developers to submit a Complete Streets plan that indicates how a pedestrian, cyclist and a transit user can access a site to ensure compliance with the plan.
The City of Oxford is fully committed to the inclusion of all community members and visitors in everything that makes Oxford special. The Mayor’s Commission on Disability Issues monitors disability-related access and inclusion within the City of Oxford. The City of Oxford also actively encourages accessibility for all residential construction by asking builders and developers to follow the 7 Principles of Universal Design, which encourage design for access by all regardless of ability or disability.
In the mid-2000s, the Oxford-University Transit was created as the public transportation system for the City of Oxford and the University of Mississippi. OUT connects Oxford through a comprehensive bus transit network. With an annual ridership of 1.5 million passengers, OUT is the most utilized transit system in Mississippi. By helping students get to class and Oxonians access the city, OUT has become an integral part of the Oxford transportation network.
What are some steps your town has taken—or is in the process of taking—to increase housing options and affordability?
In 2016 and 2017, Oxford adopted Vision 2037, a new comprehensive plan and land development code, that represent the time-tested principles of Smart Growth and Place Making embedded in Oxford’s traditional form. Overall efforts were guided by a planning continuum of place types rather than the conventional use-based planning model. In a college town that is faced with growth pressures, Vision 2037 pushed the envelope on density, it allowed for residential units on upper floors by right, it provided for and expanded opportunities for the creation of accessory dwelling units, it provided density bonuses for housing dedicated to seniors, incentives are offered for the creation of affordable housing units (rental and privately owned), and it facilitates Missing-Middle housing throughout the community.
Vision 2037 called for the creation of a Housing Commission. The Affordable Housing Commission was created to address the concerns over housing prices in the area (rental and for sale) which were pushing families out into nearby counties and making any housing difficult to afford for some working families. Oxford is faced with the advantages and problems inherent in a college town popular with retirees and second-home owners, in addition to the ever-expanding student population. This commission is tasked with evaluating all aspects of housing issues—from the lack of housing being built for our important front-line employees and educators, to the need for more housing for those at or near homelessness, including emergency shelters.
The Affordable Housing Commission sent a number of proposals for addressing these issues to the Mayor and Board of Aldermen. They are at work again on considering solutions.
At Strong Towns, we believe that financial solvency is a prerequisite for long-term prosperity. What steps has your community taken to ensure its financial security? How do local leaders adequately do the math on new investments proposed in your town to ensure that they’ll be able to afford them now and afford their maintenance in the future?
Because Oxford is an attractive development opportunity, developers typically install needed and desired City infrastructure, allowing the City to focus its capital improvement projects on the expansion, stabilization and the rebuilding of infrastructure, which so many communities forget about.
In 2011, the City and County both sold their interests in the community hospital to Baptist Memorial Hospital. With the proceeds from the sale, $30 million, the City established a trust fund, which has grown to $36 million. A Reserve and Trust Fund Committee was established to monitor and administer the fund. The City is required to spend approximately $1 million of interest each year on community projects.
The City is judicious in its use of bonding capacity in order to only pursue projects that are needed. And the City of Oxford seldom offers incentives to developers. In fact, the City has only approved two TIF proposals which helps to sustain our financial resilience.
In recent years, the City has reduced the quantity of lower density residential zoning in order to accommodate more moderate densities (6-12 units per acre) to combat the higher cost of housing in our community. Encouraging place-making efforts by creating mixed-use centers that allow higher density residential on upper floors by right. Oxford’s ad valorem revenues have remained stable and help to lessen the burden per household for infrastructure maintenance costs.
Finally, Oxford has been quite conservative in its use of annexation powers. The most recent annexation occurred in 2019 when the City was 90-95% built-out. This is evidence that the City keeps its commitment to expand infrastructure and development to existing areas of the City before contemplating expanding its borders.
At Strong Towns, we believe that local government is a platform for strong citizens to collaboratively build a prosperous place. How are residents in your town involved in shaping its future? How do residents’ experiences, struggles and concerns directly inform the projects undertaken by local government? Provide one or more examples.
First, since the beginning of the COVID crisis, the City has substantially increased its options for virtual participation in all public meetings. These important technological changes will continue to be offered, broadening avenues of participation for our citizens.
These tools will add to the many existing avenues of participation for Oxford residents to fully participate in the decisions that shape our City. There are many Boards and Commissions representing a range of City issues, such as the already mentioned Pathways Commission. Others include two Historic Preservation Commissions, the Planning Commission, a Historic Properties Board, a Tree Board, and the Downtown Parking Commission, to name a few.
There are also the occasional avenues for broader participation such as the multiple public meetings, and the steering committee associated with the adoption of new comprehensive plans, most recently during 2015-2016. And a similar process with extensive public input that accompanied the major changes to the city zoning map in 2016-2017. Similarly, a very well attended public event, with a recognized speaker, was the kick-off event for the Affordable Housing effort; this resulted in the creation of a governing executive committee and four working committees representing differing areas of interest in this important topic. Almost 100 residents attended that first meeting; many of them signed up to work on the committees that are still addressing these issues.
If our City leaders see that an issue has become very important to its residents, they go out of their way to offer options for people to express their concerns and participate in efforts to address the concerns.
How is your town proactively making it possible for more people to get outdoors safely during the pandemic?
Early in the pandemic as restrictions at the state and local level were implemented, the Mayor and Board of Aldermen, with extensive research and input from healthcare professionals, developed Serving Oxford Safely (https://www.oxfordms.net/serving-oxford-safely), a multi-phase plan for the recovery of the economy in the community. This plan assisted the community with a more tailored approach for our community that identified essential businesses; it established requirements for businesses to follow to allow them to remain open while serving the community safely.
The City identified ways to think outside of the box in order to assist local restaurants with expanded seating capacities by providing a mechanism for ”streateries.” Utilizing sidewalks, parking stalls, and public right-of-ways, restaurants were able to create outdoor dining areas. These outdoor dining areas have been so successful that the City is in now proposing to modify a local street to make this a permanent reality. In addition to “streateries,” businesses were also offered the use of parking spaces for curb-side pick up.
There were several programs that have been traditional events for many years: the 4th of July fireworks celebration, Summer concerts in the Grove, and The Double Decker Arts Festival. All of these programs were moved to expanded areas and made safe for large groups to attend either in automobiles or virtually. A program of small concerts at various places throughout the city allowed for small crowds to participate in live music. Recreational life in Oxford was changed to accommodate the needs of the pandemic, but the proactive work by the City allowed the high quality of life that is expected by our citizens to prevail.
How is your town proactively helping local businesses and entrepreneurs during the pandemic? Describe how you are providing flexibility for small businesses and entrepreneurs to adapt and innovate.
Oxford and the Chamber were quick to respond to the needs of the business community in several ways. Websites were redeveloped to primarily offer updated information concerning the pandemic from the local and state level governments. The Chamber spent several weeks calling businesses to gather information about their individual needs. There were multiple surveys sent out to gather information about financial needs and EIDL and PPP loan participation.
Special amendments were made to the sidewalk ordinances to create “streateries” that expand seating capacity in local restaurants, blocked off parking spaces for curbside pickup options. There were regular video updates from the Mayor to make citizens aware of the current concerns and rules that were in place.
The Economic Development Foundation (EDF) launched a remote working program designed to assist displaced workers with finding jobs that allowed them to work from home, including funding for co-working spaces to provide pandemic safe alterations to their areas. The business programming that was already active with the EDF continued virtually. These programs are in conduction with the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council, MSSBDC and the University of Mississippi.
The City implemented measures during the pandemic to address challenges identified as barriers to businesses. All temporary sign requirements were halted to allow businesses to install banners and other temporary signs so that customers were directed to correct locations for curbside pick-up or testing facilities.
The City conducted its regular business by holding all of its meetings virtually. No public meetings throughout the pandemic were missed. We have been able to continue to sustain new development starts, while also finding a way to incorporate public participation in the process in a safe and effective way.
How are you measuring success and progress during this pandemic? What metrics tell you that your community is thriving and what metrics have helped you see where people are struggling?
In terms of the pandemic response we are directly tracking tax collection diversions to the city of Oxford to understand the actual economic impact to local businesses as well as predict shortfalls in the budgets for the next several years. In calendar year 2020 Oxford is $1.5 Million behind the actual diversions for 2019.
The Oxford-Lafayette County Economic Development Foundation measures its success based on criteria that is more appropriate for economic development. While reporting project success (jobs and investment) is a traditional way to measure the performance of an economic development organization, we feel that measuring the economy in toto is a much better metric for success. This process allows us to identify trends and create appropriate programming to address issues that may change over time.
The EDF measures these factors for measuring success. All figures below are measured in 10, 5, and the most recent year’s trends. Both the actual numbers and percentage change are measured. These numbers are compared internally against Mississippi averages to evaluate our success and determine corrective actions by this organization.
County population
Total job growth
Manufacturing job growth
Total assessed value of the County
Average annual wage
Personal per capita income
Retail sales growth
RIDGEWOOD, NJ
Entry submitted by: Jeanne Johnson, Gail Ghezzi, Pamela Perron
What is your favorite thing about your town?
The thing we like best about our town is its walkability. Lots of residents take advantage of this so we always bump into friendly faces when we travel on foot through our village.
How easy is it to live in your town without regular access to a car? What are some steps your town has taken—or is in the process of taking—to make it safer and easier to walk, bike, or use a wheelchair?
It is quite easy for most of our residents to get from their homes to our central business district and our schools by walking/cycling. The Village's Engineering department has an ongoing sidewalk audit that reminds residents to repair/replace hazardous walkways and they recently installed ADA ramps at all of our intersections. Our Citizen's Safety Advisory Committee is currently reviewing bike lane proposals for many of our streets, and the Age Friendly organization has partnered with the state to review various transportation, central seating and wayfinder options for our community.
What are some steps your town has taken—or is in the process of taking—to increase housing options and affordability?
Our community is currently in the middle of a huge multi-family construction rollout that will provide homes for 250 new residents. Approximately 10% of the new dwellings will be designated affordable housing. We also have several complexes designed for aging and mentally challenged residents who are on fixed incomes. The mix of our populations is one of the reasons we enjoy living in Ridgewood.
At Strong Towns, we believe that financial solvency is a prerequisite for long-term prosperity. What steps has your community taken to ensure its financial security? How do local leaders adequately do the math on new investments proposed in your town to ensure that they’ll be able to afford them now and afford their maintenance in the future?
The State of NJ, Division of Local Government Services, governs the fiscal operations of all government entities. There are strict guidelines for the annual capital and operating budgeting process and spending limitations. Annual operating budgets cannot exceed 2% of the prior year's budget. Net capital debt is limited to 3.5% of annual equalized valuations. In addition to the annual operating budget, the Village presents a 6-year capital plan that is submitted to the State. Annual audits are required and are conducted by an outside independent auditors. Corrective action plans must be implemented by Village Council to address any audit findings.
All this leads to guidelines for the fiduciary responsibility of Village Council and management.
Lastly, and of most importance, the Village is rated AAA by the bond rating agencies. This is the highest rating that can be assigned to a government agency. Such a rating results in a lower interest cost for the debt being issued. At least every two years, the financial operations of the Village are reviewed by Standard & Poor's to determine financial solvency and plans for future development. We have been successful in maintaining our AAA rating even in this period of economic challenges resulting from COVID-19.
At Strong Towns, we believe that local government is a platform for strong citizens to collaboratively build a prosperous place. How are residents in your town involved in shaping its future? How do residents’ experiences, struggles and concerns directly inform the projects undertaken by local government? Provide one or more examples.
Ridgewood is an inclusive community that cares deeply about its residents. Since 2006, stakeholders at the Village level, the Board of Education, the Police, and citizen’s groups have worked collaboratively on Safe Routes to School initiatives. Every year, the school district that boasts approximately 6,000 students holds walk-to-school months with lots of fanfare to encourage students and their families to take advantage of our walking community. A resident who spearheaded the SRTS effort also started a wonderful walking initiative called Ridgewood Walks. Local residents volunteer to be ambassadors and lead guided, themed walking tours of our village. Tours include history, architecture, parks, food crawls, and more. Each tour brings revenue to our central business district.
When the COVID crisis struck, members of the community rallied and created the Feed the Frontline initiative. Community members raised over $100,000 to help restaurants feed our frontline heroes and those in need. With support from our local government, business owners and volunteers created a pedestrian plaza during the COVID crisis. Our central business district became an outdoor mall where people from all over the county and beyond dined, shopped, and enjoyed our outdoor concerts and other events.
A longer-term initiative is our Master Plan Visioning Process. Members of our governing body and our residents are currently in the process of collaborating to find the very best solutions for our village’s future.
How is your town proactively making it possible for more people to get outdoors safely during the pandemic?
With support from our local government, business owners and volunteers created a pedestrian plaza during the COVID crisis. Our central business district became an outdoor mall where people from all over the county and beyond dined, shopped, and enjoyed our outdoor concerts and other events. This endeavor was a colossal success and will be rolled out again this June and hopefully every summer going forward.
A longer-term initiative is our Master Plan Visioning Process. Members of our governing body, other stakeholders, and our residents are currently in the process of collaborating to find the very best solutions for our village’s future.
How is your town proactively helping local businesses and entrepreneurs during the pandemic? Describe how you are providing flexibility for small businesses and entrepreneurs to adapt and innovate.
The success of the Feed the Frontlines initiative, where residents raised over $100,000 for restaurants to feed our frontline heroes and those in need, allowed the organization an opportunity to apply for a NJ Serve and Sustain grant. Recently $1,000,000 of funding was awarded to Ridgewood for economic growth. The monies will help our restaurant community serve 100,000 meals to food insecure residents in Bergen County until May 31, 2021.
Another successful endeavor formed during COVID is the Landlord Coalition. Our central business district's landowners banded together to assist struggling business owners. Numerous landlords have waived rental fees for months to help their tenants stay afloat.
How are you measuring success and progress during this pandemic? What metrics tell you that your community is thriving and what metrics have helped you see where people are struggling?
In December of 2020, our central business district had approximately 32 vacancies. As of today, we only have twenty-seven. New businesses are moving in, which brings a lot of optimism to the community. The four multi-family housing units currently under construction will also bring a lot of walking traffic and business to our downtown.
The area where we are struggling the most is in our schools. Sixty percent of our student body have opted for remote learning. The district is working hard to resolve the issue of vaccinations etc., to help families feel safe about sending their children to in-school learning.