# marohn (podcasts) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 2 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover marohn. Page: Feed: --- ## [L.A.’s 8-Mile Bike Path Is Now a $1 Billion Project](https://upzoned.strongtowns.org/e/la-s-8-mile-bike-path-is-now-a-1-billion-project/) _2026-08-19 · Upzoned_ An eight-mile gap keeps Los Angeles from having a continuous river bike route through the heart of the city. Voters approved hundreds of millions of dollars to help close it, but years of planning have pushed the project toward a possible billion-dollar price tag. Carlee Alm-LaBar is joined by transportation advocate Dave Snyder, Pasadena city councilmember and longtime local government leader… [Listen](https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/bby6ugune8puz49r/UPZ_8-19-26.mp3) ## [The Water Crisis That Left a Small Town Abandoned](https://upzoned.strongtowns.org/e/the-water-crisis-that-left-a-small-town-abandoned/) _2026-08-12 · Upzoned_ Hartman, Colorado, reached a point where it could no longer function as a town. Its water system was unsafe, every member of the town board had resigned, and no one remained with the authority to hold an election or sign the agreements needed to fix the water. Norm Van Eeden Petersman is joined by Joshua Hopkins, mayor of Chugwater, Wyoming, and Strong Towns executive director John Reuter to look… [Listen](https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/riu3s2kbqjhcdmx4/UPZ_8-12-26.mp3) ## [The $1 Trillion Infrastructure Backlog Cities Aren’t Counting](https://podcast.strongtowns.org/e/the-1-trillion-infrastructure-backlog-cities-aren-t-counting/) _2026-08-10 · The Strong Towns Podcast_ A strong bond rating can tell investors that a city is likely to repay its debt. It says much less about whether that city can afford to replace the roads, pipes, and other infrastructure its residents depend on. Richard Ciccarone, president emeritus of Merit Research Services, developed a new metric using financial statements from nearly 2,000 cities to estimate that burden. When he compared the… [Listen](https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/hikvsv3fgja73c2g/STP_8-10-26.mp3) ## [What If NIMBYs Were Paid to Say Yes?](https://upzoned.strongtowns.org/e/what-if-nimbys-were-paid-to-say-yes/) _2026-08-05 · Upzoned_ What if the easiest way to overcome opposition to new housing was simply to pay people to accept it? A recent article in The Atlantic argues that after state laws, packed public meetings, and economic appeals have failed to overcome local resistance, cash payments might succeed where persuasion has not. Chuck Marohn is joined by John Reuter, executive director of Strong Towns, and Dr. Chloe… [Listen](https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/2s8rwmh8fa9ukf9x/UPZ_8-5-26.mp3) ## [This Atlanta Corridor Makes Walking Normal and Deadly](https://podcast.strongtowns.org/e/this-atlanta-corridor-makes-walking-normal-and-deadly/) _2026-08-03 · The Strong Towns Podcast_ Atlanta’s Buford Highway supports apartment communities, small businesses, and an international food scene that draws people from across the region. It also carries six to eight lanes of fast traffic, and drivers use it as an alternate route when nearby interstates clog. More than 20% of trips happen outside a car, yet roughly 90% of the corridor’s space is reserved for vehicles. Rebecca Serna,… [Listen](https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/pbkgit37bigekf89/STP_8-3-26.mp3) ## [When Boomers Don’t Downsize, What’s Left for Everyone Else?](https://upzoned.strongtowns.org/e/when-boomers-don-t-downsize-what-s-left-for-everyone-else/) _2026-07-29 · Upzoned_ What happens when one generation holds much of the country’s housing wealth and has little reason to give it up? Chuck Marohn talks with Strong Towns board chair Andrew Burleson and historic property renovator Richard Rumrill about boomers buying bigger homes, even as younger families wait for those houses to come back onto the market. The generational frustration is easy to understand, but the… [Listen](https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/h85zw5g9ffck9nnm/UPZ_7-29-26.mp3) ## [America’s Half-Funded Highway System](https://podcast.strongtowns.org/e/america-s-half-funded-highway-system/) _2026-07-27 · The Strong Towns Podcast_ The Highway Trust Fund brings in roughly $45 billion a year and spends closer to $80 billion. Congress keeps the system running by borrowing the difference and moving that money into a program still treated as if road users fully fund it. Rebecca Higgins, vice president of policy at the Eno Center for Transportation, explains how the fund reached this point and why the gap keeps growing. She and… [Listen](https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/ggwcwvtry57mjfwx/STP_7-27-26.mp3) ## [The Retirement Plan Trapped Inside the Housing Crisis](https://upzoned.strongtowns.org/e/the-retirement-plan-trapped-inside-the-housing-crisis/) _2026-07-23 · Upzoned_ Americans have been told that buying a home is one of the safest ways to secure their future. But when retirement depends on home values continuing to climb, affordability begins to look like a threat. Carlee Alm-LaBar is joined by Daniel Herriges, co-author of Escaping the Housing Trap, and Alli Thurmond-Quinlan, executive director of the Incremental Development Alliance. Together, they push… [Listen](https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/epz4xh2y2r9xrgj3/UPZ_7-23-26.mp3) ## [A Better Block Versus Years of Planning](https://podcast.strongtowns.org/e/a-better-block-versus-years-of-planning/) _2026-07-20 · The Strong Towns Podcast_ Cities often spend years studying a street before making a change, only to discover that the public is reacting to plans no one has actually experienced. Krista Nightengale, executive director of Better Block, explains another approach: build a temporary version, invite people into it, gather data, and adjust what does not work. She and Chuck talk about winning over skeptical engineers, learning… [Listen](https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/kb2ydsx5rvfp9dp8/STP_7-20-26.mp3) ## [Chicago’s $1.2 Billion Parking Meter Problem](https://upzoned.strongtowns.org/e/chicago-s-12-billion-parking-meter-problem/) _2026-07-15 · Upzoned_ In 2009, Chicago traded 75 years of parking meter revenue for a $1.2 billion payment that helped fill an immediate budget hole. Norm Van Eeden Petersman is joined by Tony Jordan, executive director of the Parking Reform Network, and Edward Erfurt, chief technical advisor at Strong Towns, to look at what the city actually gave up and why its recent $3.3 billion bid never made it to the finish line.… [Listen](https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/z9kdrhe68jeeqeqn/UPZ_7-15-26.mp3) ## [Never miss a game (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/zBZMdEH7NqnX) _2026-07-15 · **Sponsored**_ Follow any team; get an hour and one-minute web and email reminders. ## [The Transit Tradeoff No City Can Escape](https://podcast.strongtowns.org/e/the-transit-tradeoff-no-city-can-escape/) _2026-07-13 · The Strong Towns Podcast_ Putting a route near every community sounds fair until the buses only arrive once an hour. Jarrett Walker, author of Human Transit and principal of the firm helping Des Moines rethink its bus network, explains why cities cannot maximize frequency, coverage, and affordability at the same time. In Des Moines, the tradeoff comes with a 10% service cut, long waits, indirect routes, and streets that… [Listen](https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/pv9nr4p864qcxm49/STP_7-13-26.mp3) ## [Can Rebuilding Make a Town Weaker?](https://upzoned.strongtowns.org/e/can-rebuilding-make-a-town-weaker/) _2026-07-08 · Upzoned_ Five years after wildfire destroyed most of Lytton, British Columbia, rebuilding remains slow despite more than $140 million in committed public funding. Norm Van Eeden Petersman talks with Michel Durand-Wood, author of You’ll Pay for This, and Graham Watt, who manages strategic initiatives and flood recovery for Grand Forks, British Columbia. They look at what happens when a small town is pushed… [Listen](https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/vycfbk4ucupkiu6v/UPZ_7-8-26.mp3) ## [Why Great Streets Are Not Enhancements](https://podcast.strongtowns.org/e/why-great-streets-are-not-enhancements/) _2026-07-06 · The Strong Towns Podcast_ Street trees, benches, slower speeds, and beautiful proportions are often treated as extras, added only after the “real” engineering work is done. Victor Dover argues that this gets the whole assignment wrong. In this episode, he talks about the second edition of Street Design: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns and why great streets have to be designed as places, not just routes. Dover makes… [Listen](https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/e6wr4sywx98cu2n3/STP_7-6-26.mp3) ## [The Housing Crisis Isn’t Moving in One Direction](https://upzoned.strongtowns.org/e/the-housing-crisis-isn-t-moving-in-one-direction/) _2026-07-01 · Upzoned_ Chuck Marohn has long been critical of housing research that treats affordability as a simple supply problem. This week, he brings Andrew Burleson, chair of the Strong Towns board, and Jeff Fong, a board member at YIMBY Action, a new paper on Australia’s housing crisis that starts somewhere else: with the way price increases move between detached houses and apartments, and from one city to… [Listen](https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/srmtcdak2ausmss5/UPZ_7-1-26.mp3) ## [The Deadly Road Design We Keep Defending](https://podcast.strongtowns.org/e/the-deadly-road-design-we-keep-defending/) _2026-06-29 · The Strong Towns Podcast_ Pedestrian deaths have climbed sharply since 2009, yet transportation agencies often point to small, recent dips as proof that things are getting better. Beth Osborne, president and CEO of Smart Growth America, returns to the Strong Towns Podcast to talk about the latest Dangerous by Design report and the choices that keep making American roads so deadly. She and Chuck dig into why state-owned… [Listen](https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/sjrxf6nz58uw6anw/STP_6-29-26.mp3) ## [Charlotte Said No to a $4.3 Billion Highway. Now the State Wants $60 Million Back.](https://upzoned.strongtowns.org/e/charlotte-said-no-to-a-43-billion-highway-now-the-state-wants-60-million-back/) _2026-06-24 · Upzoned_ When Charlotte and its regional planning body withdrew support for a $4.3 billion widening of Interstate 77, North Carolina lawmakers responded by threatening a $60 million penalty and a funding cutoff. Host Carlee Alm-LaBar is joined by Patrick Kennedy, whose Atlas of Inner-City Highway Impacts documents highway damage across 142 cities, and John Reuter, the newly named Executive Director of… [Listen](https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/nwigz4njc2c7mkb8/UPZ_6-24-26a4c13.mp3) ## [Inside the Strong Towns Leadership Transition](https://podcast.strongtowns.org/e/inside-the-strong-towns-leadership-transition/) _2026-06-22 · The Strong Towns Podcast_ Strong Towns has always warned cities about the danger of fragile growth. Now, Chuck is applying that same lesson to the movement he helped build. In this episode, Chuck explains why Strong Towns can no longer depend on everything landing on his desk, and introduces the organization’s new Executive Director. His guest shares how he found Strong Towns as a Sandpoint city council member, his… [Listen](https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/zfmeek78qxwa8vaf/STP_6-22-26.mp3) ## [Why Do Vacant Storefronts Stay Vacant?](https://upzoned.strongtowns.org/e/why-do-vacant-storefronts-stay-vacant/) _2026-06-17 · Upzoned_ A decade ago, a row of North Park storefronts was cleared for a university housing project that never came. The businesses are gone, the buildings are mostly empty, and neighbors are still pushing Northeastern Illinois University to act. Norm Van Eeden Petersman is joined by Bernice Radle, an incremental developer in Buffalo, and Alex Montero of Strong Towns Chicago to ask why places like this get… [Listen](https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/wgch29jacdhizjzw/UPZ_6-17-26.mp3) ## [What's the Housing Crisis Beneath the Housing Crisis?](https://podcast.strongtowns.org/e/whats-the-housing-crisis-beneath-the-housing-crisis/) _2026-06-15 · The Strong Towns Podcast_ Lars Doucet digs into a problem that shows up in expensive cities, sprawling suburbs, and even countries Americans often point to as models: land. Monopoly, he argues, became frustrating by design because it captured something real about how land markets work. The episode connects that lesson to housing costs, land value tax, Henry George, Norway, Texas, sprawl, and the uncomfortable question… [Listen](https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/wv2wxmn4cudi7gs5/STP_6-15-26_REV.mp3) ## [CLI-first decentralized GPU compute (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/LHkpdPaHMuj7) _2026-06-15 · **Sponsored**_ Pay workers or run your GPU for FFmpeg transcode and AI inference. ## [Rethinking the Federal Role in Transportation](https://podcast.strongtowns.org/e/starve-the-beast-rethinking-the-federal-role-in-transportation/) _2026-06-08 · The Strong Towns Podcast_ Beth Osborne has watched the same story play out five times: a new federal transportation bill arrives with big language about goals and accountability, states adopt the right words, and nothing changes. Osborne, who led Transportation for America and worked inside USDOT, has been through five federal transportation reauthorizations, watched reform language get adopted and neutralized every single… [Listen](https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/cnxrqr5938gamq44/STP_6-8-26-revised.mp3)