Analysis of MLK Addresses Shows Redlining Is Still at Work in U.S. Cities

A 2020 study revealed that areas around streets named after Martin Luther King Jr. are more segregated and poorer than the United States average. Now, data shows property values in these areas are affected, as well.

Top StoryTaylor SchenkerAugust 2, 2023race, transparent local accounting, redlining, gentrification, urban3, Reparations Be the First to Comment

What We Must Do To Address the Historic Harms of Highways

A compelling new report, Divided by Design, from Smart Growth America examines the tangled history of highway building and so-called urban renewal in the U.S.

Top StoryBen AbramsonJuly 24, 2023highways, race, history, urban renewal, end highway expansion Be the First to Comment

Taxed “Beyond Sanity”—And Not Getting the Services Promised

As Asheville, NC, promises to make up for past harms done to its Black community, it glosses over an ongoing disparity: less-wealthy homeowners (who are disproportionately Black) are overpaying on their property taxes.

News, Top StorySeairra JonesMay 25, 2023property tax, Just Accounting for Health, race, poverty, North Carolina, urban3, taxes, transparent local accounting Be the First to Comment

Redlining Maps Were Burned—But the Fundamentals Are Still Taught

Why is this official course from the International Association of Assessing Officers still teaching outdated redlining practices to categorize neighborhoods?

Top StorySeairra JonesApril 25, 2023redlining, race, Assessments, Just Accounting for Health, transparent local accounting, neighborhoods, Reparations 10 Comments

Washington State Bill Would Reduce Low-Level Traffic Stops

We need to approach traffic safety in a way that encourages safe traveling through design, not through police enforcement.

News, Top StoryBen AbramsonMarch 10, 2023traffic stops, race, policing 2 Comments

Cincinnati Bridge Battle Highlights Historic Highway Harms

Cincinnati activists are bringing a civil rights claim against the Ohio Department of Transportation in order to put a halt to a multibillion-dollar infrastructure boondoggle.

News, Top StoryBen AbramsonFebruary 21, 2023highways, transportation, transportation spending, race, advocacy, end highway expansion, ohio 1 Comment

Will There Still Be Chinatowns in Utopia?

“Community character" is often invoked to support exclusion and discrimination, but there are also communities whose unique "character" matters—a lot. How (if at all) should local government support such places?

Herriges, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesJanuary 18, 2023local government, local regulation, race, housing policy, neighborhoods 5 Comments

The Impact of Systemic Racism on Jackson's Water Crisis

Strong Towns member and former Jackson, MS, resident Amanda Lanata comes to the Strong Towns Podcast to discuss the role that racism played in the city’s recent water crisis.

Podcast, Marohn, Top StoryStrong TownsNovember 21, 2022podcast, water, infrastructure maintenance, race, mississippi, infrastructure 1 Comment

A Rough Beast Slouches Toward the Brent Spence Bridge

As local and regional politicians move forward on a $3 billion highway widening project, a local group of activists in Cincinnati are fighting for an alternative plan.

Top StoryRyan CraneAugust 22, 2022highways, freeway widening, race, infrastructure, infrastructure cult, transportation, transportation spending, end highway expansion, ohio 6 Comments

In Buncombe County, NC, Billions of Dollars of Home Value Go Untaxed

As an ad hoc committee recently discovered, owners of higher-valued properties are more likely to receive a tax break…simply because of bad data.

Top StoryOri Baber and Lanier HagertyJuly 18, 2022property tax, Assessments, North Carolina, Just Accounting for Health, finance, public finance, municipal finance, race, urban3, taxes, transparent local accounting, local economy Be the First to Comment

Process Versus Visible Outcomes

The U.S. Department of Transportation would have you think it cares about equity—but budgets are often more telling than rhetoric.

Podcast, Top StoryStrong TownsApril 27, 2022podcast, infrastructure, federal government, federal funding, race, budget, upzoned 1 Comment

The NIMBYs Made $6.9 Trillion Last Year

We keep looking for villains to blame for the housing affordability crisis—but are we pointing fingers at the wrong culprits?

Top StoryJoe CortrightApril 20, 2022housing, housing cost, housing affordability, housing crisis, housing market, homeowners, race, home buyer 24 Comments

Is It Time for a National Zoning Atlas?

This advocacy group created the first online map to show how an entire state zones for housing. And they want to take the effort nationwide.

Herriges, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesMarch 30, 2022advocacy, zoning, Connecticut, mapping, maps, housing, race, segregation 4 Comments

Freeway Widening for Whomst?

Widening freeways is no way to promote equity.

Top StoryJoe CortrightMarch 9, 2022highways, highway spending, freeway widening, freeways, transportation, race, infrastructure, end highway expansion, oregon 10 Comments

Property Tax Inequities Stir Movement for Change in Asheville

Strong Towns is partnering with Just Accounting for Health and Urban3 in a project to uncover the presence, and effects, of biases in tax assessment standards.

Top StorySeairra JonesFebruary 15, 2022property tax, race, North Carolina, Just Accounting for Health, urban3, taxes Be the First to Comment

A Community Forced to Play the Infrastructure Squid Game

Residents of this Houston neighborhood thought they were winning the lottery with a government-sponsored infrastructure project. Instead, they endured a seven-month-long nightmare.

Top StoryJuan Antonio SortoNovember 30, 2021streets, neighborhood change, infrastructure maintenance, race, texas, hurricanes, infrastructure, neighborhoods 3 Comments

The Infrastructure Bill, Racial Equity, and Local Government: How Should the Money Be Spent?

The $1 trillion infrastructure bill is being signed into law. But who gets to decide how the money will be spent, and will they make the right decisions for communities of color?