Upzoned

In this episode of Upzoned, co-hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn discuss a Wall Street Journal article titled “The American Dream Feels Out of Reach for Most.” They talk about how inflation and high housing costs can put the American Dream out of reach for many people, as well as the trade-offs that people may be forced to make between different life priorities, such as career fulfillment and homeownership. They also explore the importance of strong community relationships in finding happiness.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “The American Dream Feels Out of Reach for Most” by Rachel Wolfe, The Wall Street Journal (August 2024).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

This week, Upzoned host Abby Newsham and The Messy City Podcast host Kevin Klinkenberg are working together in a special collaborative episode. They are joined by Jim Heid, a Californian landscape architect turned small-scale developer, to discuss the real estate profession and why he thinks it can solve a lot of modern problems.

Heid runs the Small Scale Developer Forum and has a new book called “Building Small: A Toolkit for Real Estate Entrepreneurs, Civic Leaders, and Great Communities.”

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• The Messy City Podcast.

• Jim Heid (site).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

In this episode of Upzoned, co-hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn talk about the rapid population decline of children under five years old in large urban areas. They discuss the factors that can drive would-be urban families out of cities, how the rapidly declining population will affect services like schools and the importance of cities being able to accommodate diverse lifestyles in a dynamic way.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “The Urban Family Exodus Is a Warning for Progressives,” by Derek Thompson, The Atlantic (August 2024).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

In this episode of Upzoned, co-hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn talk about the Olympic Village that was built in Paris and what the city plans to do with the development now that the Games are over. They discuss the accusations of gentrification and greenwashing that Paris officials are facing, the challenges inherent in trying to complete large-scale, sustainable projects on a deadline, and lessons that both Paris and Los Angeles — which will be hosting the 2028 Games — can take from past hosts.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “Paris Hopes to Forge a New Model for Olympics-Oriented Development,” by Sam Levitt, The Urbanist (July 2024).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

Indianapolis officials are encouraging residents to be involved in improving the city, both through fund-matching programs and by opening a lending library of tools and equipment to help residents start pilot projects.

In this Upzoned episode, co-hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn talk about how Indianapolis’ programs and initiatives are a great example of changing a city’s bureaucratic structure and processes to better meet residents’ needs. They discuss the growing pains that come with this kind of change and the necessity of officials and residents accepting failure as part of an incremental, experimental process.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “Indy puts more resources toward helping communities make quick improvements” by Lauren Kostiuk, WTHR (July 2024).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

In this episode of Upzoned, host Abby Newsham is joined by Jason Carter-Solomon, an incremental developer and commercial lender in Kansas City, to talk about financing small-scale development. They discuss the layers of risk that small-scale developers must navigate, and Solomon offers his perspective and advice on facing common challenges, such as dealing with entitlements and building inspectors.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• Jason Carter-Solomon (LinkedIn).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

This fall, seven states will have the opportunity to cut — or abolish, in some cases — property taxes, according to an article by Governing. In this episode of Upzoned, co-hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn discuss the Strong Towns perspective on property taxes, the consequences of removing them and how most people (including city officials) don’t realize how much it costs to run a city. Chuck emphasizes that Strong Towns is not anti-tax and that taxes are essential to successfully running any city.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “Voters in Several States Can Cut — or Abolish — Property Taxes This Fall” by Zina Hutton, Governing (July 2024).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

The governor of New York recently announced the dissolution of the city’s congestion pricing program after years of planning and hundreds of millions of dollars of investment. This program would’ve initiated a $15 toll on vehicles entering certain parts of Manhattan, and it was partly established to help support reinvestment in the transit system. It was shut down less than a month before it was supposed to start operating — after all the tolling infrastructure was already installed.

In this episode of Upzoned, Chuck and Abby discuss how this debacle shows a fundamental misunderstanding of congestion pricing, the politics underpinning this decision and how the city could’ve handled things better.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “17 Years, $700 Million Wasted: The Stunning Collapse of New York’s Traffic Moonshot” by Jimmy Vielkind and Joseph De Avila, The Wall Street Journal (June 2024).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

You’ve heard of YIMBYs and NIMBYs, but have you heard of YIGBYs? YIGBY stands for “Yes In God’s Backyard,” and it’s a movement focused on leveraging land owned by religious institutions to alleviate the housing crisis. This has the potential to benefit both people in need of housing and religious institutions.

In this episode of Upzoned, hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn discuss the potential benefits of the YIGBY movement, the practicalities of implementing it, and broader mindsets surrounding religious institutions and what their land should be used for.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “Yes in God’s backyard?” by Rachel M. Cohen, Vox (June 2024).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.