Upzoned

On this week’s episode of Upzoned, host Abby Newsham and co-host Chuck Marohn are joined by Coby Lefkowitz, who penned the article that’s up for discussion: “Why small developers are getting squeezed out of the housing market.” It focuses on how finance shapes our cities, why debt is used to develop cities in the first place, how lenders deal with risk, and why risk mitigation is critical to understanding why the world looks the way it does. And, most notably, it dives into America's housing financial system and why it privileges large-scale institutional development at the expense of more incremental and community-based building.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “Why small developers are getting squeezed out of the housing market,” by Coby Lefkowitz, Noahpinion (March 2024).

• Coby Lefkowitz (Website; X/Twitter).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

This week on Upzoned, host Abby Newsham is joined by Michael Schneider, founder of Streets for All and the campaign manager for Healthy Streets Los Angeles. They discuss an article from The Los Angeles Times titled, “L.A. bus and bike lane measure will cost $3.1 billion, a new report says. Backers cry foul.” This piece was written in advance of the ballot proposal Measure HLA, which was recently approved by voters, and mandates the installation of hundreds of miles of transportation improvements in L.A. over the next decade, with a focus on bike lanes and sidewalk improvements.

(Editor’s note: This episode was recorded before the results of the ballot were released.)

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “L.A. bus and bike lane measure will cost $3.1 billion, a new report says. Backers cry foul,” by David Zahniser, The Los Angeles Times (February 2024).

• “The People of Los Angeles Just Said ‘Yes’ to Safer Streets,” by Asia Mieleszko, Strong Towns (March 2024).

• Streets for All (website).

• Healthy Streets Los Angeles (website).

• Michael Schneider (LinkedIn; X/Twitter).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

This week on Upzoned, host Abby Kinney is joined by Mike Keen, a retired professor and incremental developer in South Bend, Indiana, to discuss a recent article in WSBT, “Major mixed-use development could be largest in downtown South Bend history.” It highlights a $350 million project that has been proposed in downtown South Bend: a mixed-use district that would include hotels, apartments, and commercial uses, to be completed by 2028. The development, led by nearby Memorial Hospital, will take up about two city blocks and is expected to be a catalytic project for the city. So, we ask: is this project going to be a positive for South Bend and its small-scale developers like Keen?

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “Major mixed-use development could be largest in downtown South Bend history,” by Sean English, WSBT (February 2024).

• “This ‘Accidental Developer’ Wants To Show You How To Revitalize Your Neighborhood,” by Seairra Jones, Strong Towns (April 2023).

• Escaping the Housing Trap: A Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis by Charles Marohn. Available for preorder now!

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Mike Keen (LinkedIn).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

A suburb of Washington, DC is exploring a new approach to creating more affordable housing through public-private partnerships. And it’s seeing success! In this episode of Upzoned, Chuck and Abby discuss the history of public housing and government housing subsidies in the US, the good, the bad and the ugly. Then they consider whether this new model could be helpful or harmful to cities.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “What if public housing were for everyone?” by Rachel M. Cohen, Vox (February 2024).

• Escaping the Housing Trap: A Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis by Charles Marohn. Available for preorder now!

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (X/Twitter).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

Local officials in Dallas are considering eliminating minimum parking requirements in the city. The zoning ordinance advisory committee just voted to advance the measure to the city planning commission, and if approved there, it would then go on to the city council.

Critics believe that this is a one-size-fits-all approach to parking reform and that it’s not an ideal solution to Dallas’s parking dilemma, whereas proponents say the change will cut down on unused parking spaces and accelerate the city’s economic development.

So, is this measure a good or a bad move for Dallas?

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “Dallas Zoning Committee Advances Parking Reform,” by Andrew Terrell, The Dallas Express (February 2024).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (X/Twitter).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

This week’s Upzoned episode covers a story that sounded promising at the start: “The Town That Took Downtown Renewal to the Next Level”? Sounds great! Right? Alas, residents of Morristown, Tennessee, have discovered that the Skymark (i.e., an elevated sidewalk) they built in the 1960s was not the salvation for their downtown they’d hoped it would be. Join host Abby Newsham and co-host Chuck Marohn as they take a deep dive on how this huge investment, unfortunately, didn’t pan out as a long-term strategy for economic prosperity.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “The Town That Took Downtown Renewal to the Next Level,” by David Zipper, CityLab (January 2024).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (X/Twitter).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

Five families from Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Pittsburg move to the suburbs in search of the American dream, drawn by promises of better schools and all the other amenities promised by suburban life…but instead, they’re experiencing the decline of the suburbs, rather than the benefits that were sold to them.

On this week’s episode, host Abby Kinney and co-host Chuck Marohn discuss this story, told in “The Suburbs Have Become a Ponzi Scheme,” and based on the book, Disillusioned: Five Families and the Unraveling of America's Suburbs.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “The Suburbs Have Become a Ponzi Scheme,” by Alex Kotlowitz, The Atlantic (January 2024).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (X/Twitter).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

Millennials are officially getting old. They’re having children, buying houses, and getting replaced by Gen Z in urban areas. As one article from Business Insider puts it, “Millennials are getting priced out of cities,” and are starting to leave the urban neighborhoods that they’ve been building their lives in, up to this point. According to the author, since the cost and types of housing available in urban areas isn’t conducive to family life, millennials are having to instead flee to the only place they can afford to live: the exurbs.

What’s the Strong Towns take on this? Join host Abby Newsham and co-host Chuck Marohn as they discuss this article on this week’s episode of Upzoned.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “Millennials are getting priced out of cities,” by Eliza Relman, Business Insider (Jan. 2024).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (X/Twitter).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

Upzoned has been on a bit of a hiatus for the past couple of months, but we wanted to have at least one final episode of 2023 (and rest assured that the podcast will be returning with weekly episodes in 2024). This episode is an exciting one, as host Abby Kinney is joined by a guest whose work she’s been following for several years: Ryan Johnson, the builder and resident of the first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the U.S., called Culdesac Tempe. We hope you enjoy this special end-of-the-year interview and look forward to more content coming soon!

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• Culdesac Tempe (website).

• Ryan Johnson (X/Twitter).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

Kentucky’s largest school system recently had to cancel the second and third day of classes due to what they're calling a disastrous overhaul of the bus system. On day one, some children were still on their bus at 10 p.m. 

AP News reported this issue is partly the result of a bus driver shortage, which definitely plays a role in why Kentucky is having this transportation problem. But Kentucky isn’t the only place that’s struggled with getting children to and from school. There's more to the story, and it has to do with the suburban development pattern, and the closure of neighborhood schools.

In this Upzoned episode, host Abby Newsham digs into details of why, seemingly every year, many school districts have trouble with the transportation of students. She invites Dr. Michael Ralph, director of research at MultiStudio, and Daniel Herriges, Strong Towns’ editor-in-chief, to share their insights on the subject.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “New school bus routes a ‘disaster,’ Kentucky superintendent admits. Last kids got home at 10 pm,” AP News (August 2023).

• Abby Newsham (Twitter).

• Dr. Michael Ralph (Twitter).

• Daniel Herriges (Twitter).

• Learn more about the 2023 Local-Motive Tour.

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.