If there's a single document that reflects the spirit of our work and the essence of the Strong Towns movement, it's the "Don't Be a Jerk" Agreement that we ask all Local Conversation leaders to sign. As the movement continues to grow — and as Election Day draws near — we want to make this agreement public.
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John Pattison is Strong Towns’ community builder. In this special Member Week episode, he discusses the Local Conversations program, how it empowers people to improve their cities, and how becoming a member supports the program.
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How do you get more people to ride bicycles? This is a question that plagues every cycling enthusiast, advocate and industry member. Bob Giordano of Missoula, Montana, has a simple answer: Give them a bike.
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Economic productivity, cost-effectiveness and safety: stroads fail at all three. Advocates in Port Huron, Michigan, are working to make their city recognize that, so they can turn the dangerous Huron Avenue into a thriving community center.
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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.
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When Chattanooga’s Local Conversation learned of a crash that took the lives of a mother and child and severely injured the father, the group channeled their mourning into mobilization.
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There’s a troubling narrative out there that you can only get things done in your community if you’re in public office, or by otherwise working through official, formal channels. But this is simply not true.
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This Local Conversation group wanted to make their local government more aware of their city’s cycling infrastructure...and what better way to do so than by inviting the city council on a bike ride?
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Connecting with other advocates online can be empowering, but in many ways, you just can’t beat the power of a local, in-person group.
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Local advocates in Langley, BC, are starting the conversations their city needs to hear if it wants to undo decades of investing in the Suburban Experiment.
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Many of the problems in our cities come down to a shortage in the budget—but the solution to this problem is staring us in the face.
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When a young child ended up in intensive care after being struck by a car, this Cincinnati Local Conversation group didn’t wait to take action to make the street safer.
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Every month, all across North America, hundreds of Strong Towns advocates are gathering in local Strong Towns groups. We call them Local Conversations—but why? (The answer reveals a lot about the power of this movement!)
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We need to rethink how we talk about car accidents involving pedestrians. Pedestrians are seen as obstacles for drivers who are often driving too fast and are too distracted along roads that are all too wide.
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The battle against highway expansions can be one of the toughest fights an advocate will ever come up against. But as this Florida-based Local Conversations group has shown, persistence will eventually pay off.
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Sixty letters of opposition from local advocates in Grand Rapids, MI, halted an irreversible decision: the teardown of five downtown buildings for surface parking lots.
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The next smallest step for your community doesn’t always involve changing a street’s design or making housing policy reforms. Sometimes, it’s as simple as asking questions and probing the thoughts of local leaders.
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You’re surrounded by other Strong Towns advocates. You just haven’t met each other yet.
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Maryland legislators have called for an infrastructure review of every crash that causes the death of a pedestrian or cyclist on state highways—but one local advocate is checking the state’s work, and there’s some problems with it.
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Aimee and Cody Frederick are selling coffee, cultivating real estate, leading a Local Conversations group, hosting a podcast, and serving on the zoning and planning commission in Richmond, TX.
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