The Current Media Inc.

Big Towns

News EN ↓ 3 episodes

You’ve heard of middle America. Big Towns is a conversation for mid-sized America: places too big to be small towns and too small to be big cities. A two-day summit in Lafayette, Louisiana, Big Towns brings together leaders from around the country, hosting conversations with big thinkers about mid-sized city stuff like housing, healthcare, work and quality of life. We help mid-sized cities find ideas that fit.

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The Current Media Inc.

Episodes

Episode 3: Zoning, Banks and Goat Rodeos: What it takes to lead a Big Town 17.07.2025 20:46

In this third and final part of our Big Towns conversation between Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly and journalist Dean Baquet, we take more audience questions about the economic challenges faced by Chattanooga and how they're making progress. Kelly discusses the impact of losing Chattanooga's manufacturing base, which led to diversification efforts starting in the 1990s. He talks about the importance...

Episode 2: It’s About Agency: Turning Coca-Cola into water 17.07.2025 21:45

This is the second of a three-part conversation between Dean Baquet and Chattanooga, Tennessee Mayor Tim Kelly at the Big Towns summit in Lafayette, Louisiana. In this episode, Dean Baquet and Mayor Kelly dive deeper into Tim's lightbulb moment re: executive vs. legislative leadership, why early childhood development is a really big deal and how the Coca-Cola legacy continues to shape Chattanooga'...

Episode 1: Eye on the Sparrow: Why divided economies fail 17.07.2025 22:20

This is the first of a three-part conversation between Dean Baquet and Chattanooga, Tennessee Mayor Tim Kelly at the Big Towns summit in Lafayette, Louisiana. In this episode, The Current's Executive Editor Christiaan Mader introduces Dean Baquet and Mayor Tim Kelly and Dean invites Mayor Kelly to riff on why the local stuff matters (a lot), what precipitated his choice to run for mayor and how th...