Upzoned

Who decides when community traditions change? Lafayette, Louisiana, recently rerouted its Mardi Gras parade. The goal was to improve public safety, but the change left neighborhoods, businesses, and long-standing customs in the lurch.

Guest host Norm Van Eeden Petersman sits down with Lafayette resident and former city staffer Carlee Alm-LaBar to explore how communities can navigate change while respecting culture and shared ownership.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• "Residents, krewes, downtown businesses weigh in on Jefferson Street Mardi Gras parade route" by Stephen Marcantel, The Acadiana Advocate (November 2025)
• Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn)
• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

Last week, we heard how DC's outdoor dining regulations threaten local businesses. Today, urban designers Abby Newsham and Edward Erfurt explore how DC could course-correct. They share creative ways that cities can maintain safety while supporting local businesses and even improving the design of their streets.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• "After five years, D.C. streateries hit with higher costs and more rules" by By Tim Carman and Rachel Weiner, The Washington Post (November 2025)
• Painting of a food hall street (Passeig de l'Escultor Miquel Blay, Olot, Espana by Abby Newsham)
• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter)
• Edward Erfurt (LinkedIn)
• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

Washington DC is charging restaurants thousands of dollars to keep their streateries — outdoor dining areas built during Covid-19. Are these fees fair compensation for public space, or will they kill the local businesses they were meant to save?

Guest host Norm Van Eeden Petersman dives into this question with Carlee Alm-LaBar, a former city official who helped bring streateries to her own city.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• "After five years, D.C. streateries hit with higher costs and more rules" by By Tim Carman and Rachel Weiner, The Washington Post (November 2025)
• Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn)
• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

Abby is joined by Carlee Alm-LaBar, the chief of staff for Strong Towns, and John Reuter, advisory board member for Strong Towns. They discuss several stories of people across the country taking action to make their communities better, from building houses to painting curbs.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• It's Member Week at Strong Towns! Join the movement today!
• Read more:
  • Strong Towns San Diego - Curb Chalking
  • Monte Anderson - Roommate House
  • Strong Towns Langley - Baffle Gates
  • Strong Towns Blono - Design Charette
  • Strong Towns Nanaimo - Eliminating Parking Mandates
• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter)
• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

Elon Musk's company xAI is building massive data centers in Memphis, promising economic transformation. But at what cost? Abby is joined by Strong Towns Blog Editor and podcast host Asia Mieleszko to dissect the billion-dollar AI infrastructure boom and explore why cities keep falling for "shiny object urbanism."

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• Hear more from Asia on the brand-new podcast Stacked Against Us!
• "Elon Musk Gambles Billions in Memphis to Catch Up on AI" by Alexander Saeedy, The Wall Street Journal (October 2025)
• "Shiny Object Urbanism" by Billy Cooney
• "Where's the Wealth?" by Charles Marohn‍
• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter)
• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

Hey listener! You hear from us all the time, but today we want to hear from you. We want your feedback on this podcast and any other Strong Towns podcast you like to listen to. Please fill out this quick survey to share your thoughts: strongtowns.org/survey

Two towns, two states, and two historic bridges that nobody wants to pay for. Brattleboro, Vermont, wants to reactivate two historic bridges with a pedestrian greenway. Hinsdale, New Hampshire, worries about increased crime and being saddled with the majority of maintenance costs while getting fewer returns. Abby and Norm discuss this dilemma, comparing it to similar bridge projects and identifying possible next steps for activating this underutilized infrastructure.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• "Can Two Towns Preserve the Bridges That Connected Them?" by Alan Wirzbicki, The Boston Globe (September 2025)
• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter)
• Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn)
• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

What do you do with 720,000 square feet of dead mall? Towns across America are struggling to find the answer as their malls shut down, leaving budget craters and infrastructure nightmares in their wake. Abby is joined by Carlee Alm-LaBar, Strong Towns' chief of staff and a former city staffer, to explore whether the answer is a grand redevelopment plan — or thinking radically smaller.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “A Town's Single Largest Taxpayer Is Also Its Biggest Headache” by Jim Zarroli, The New York Times (June 2025).
• Click here to listen to The Bottom-Up Revolution episode about the 24 Hour Citizen Project.
• ‍Abby Newsham (X/Twitter)

Littleton, Colorado, wants to ban everything other than single-family homes. The neighboring town of Lakewood wants to allow more housing variety. Norm and Abby dive into what's driving these radically different responses to the housing crisis and what happens when cities try to exempt themselves from change.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “Two Denver Suburbs Take Different Paths as Residents Face Housing Crunch: We Can Manage It, but Just Barely.” by John Aguilar, The Denver Post (October 2025).
• Abby Newsham
  
  • Painting Instagram
  • X/Twitter
• Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn)
• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

By the end of 2026, many U.S. cities could see large parts of their public transit systems crumble under a lack of federal funding and a development pattern that was never designed to support it. In this episode, Chuck Marohn and Abby Newsham explore why transit can’t survive as a charity and how localized funding and smarter land use could create systems that actually work.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• On October 24, Chuck will join the author of today's article, Jarrett Walker, for a member-exclusive deep dive into transit. Become a Strong Towns member to join in!
• “Should We Let Public Transit Die?” by Jarrett Walker, Bloomberg City Lab (September 2025)
• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).‍‍
• Chuck Marohn (Substack)
• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

The city of Los Angeles recently announced that it saved 1,600 jobs that were at risk of being cut to balance its $1 billion budget deficit. But did it actually fix anything, or is it just shuffling money around to hide the problem? What role do unions play? And what should cities actually do when facing a major budget deficit?

Strong Towns Chief Technical Advisor Edward Erfurt dives into these questions with guest host Norm Van Eeden Petersman in this episode of Upzoned.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “Mayor Bass says layoffs averted after labor negotiations, "creative solutions" for next year city budget” by Chelsea Hylton, CBS News (September 2025).
• Finance Decoder
• Become a Strong Towns member to access weekly Ask Strong Towns Anything sessions.
• Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn)
• Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!