Municipal Equation Podcast

A preview of the Jan. 23 episode.

Did you take an Uber or a Lyft home on New Year's Eve? Did you wonder on your way back what that ride meant for city policy? Probably not as such, sure, but you've likely heard the conversation about regulating the elements of the sharing economy, like ridesharing (Uber; Lyft) or homesharing (Airbnb; VRBO). That's just one corner of the conversation, though. The sharing economy is expansive and is...

A year-end message.

It's time to meet your maker -- your talented, independent, local creator of tangible goods, like art, clothing, instruments, toys, knick-knacks, tech tools, anything. Your city or town might even have its own, motivated maker community that experts are increasingly calling a missing link in the local economic development strategy. On this episode we hear from four of these experts and dig in to a...

An "inbetweenisode" ahead of next week's episode and following up on the content of last week's > https://soundcloud.com/municipalequation/ep-39-the-police-recruitment-problem-and-solutions And a special request.....

It's a nationwide issue weighing on police departments of all sizes: the lack of good, qualified applicants when police chiefs seek to hire officers. Salary concerns, public scrutiny, the inherent dangers, long hours and the need for wholehearted commitment are just a few factors stressing the profession. And there's more. To get a handle on it, we talk with an expert and visit with police officia...

A preview of Episode 39, out Nov. 28.

Appropriate to the age of exponential innovation, the smart-cities conversation is moving quickly. Should we it slow down? Explore additional ethical questions? Evaluate our best practices and ideas? More and more people think so. On this episode, we meet a town that's built a "simulated smart city" so they can try it before they buy it and experiment to better understand how it all fits together....

A preview of Episode 38.

Typically, it would be time for the off-week preview. But since it falls on Halloween, we figured "why not?" and did a silly episode in tribute. But we keep our focus. We talk with a municipal official in Wisconsin whose town is like many these days in that its local government leadership actually schedules, by ordinance, when trick or treating takes place. We also look at the facts and figures on...

For as often as we hear the phrase "urban versus rural" -- like it's an irreconcilable competition between two oppositely distinct regions -- there are loads of examples of urban and rural communities working together to learn from one another, obliterate stereotypes on each end and team up on common goals. It's also fallacious to think "urban" and "rural" describe the whole of a truly complex spe...

A preview of Episode 36

Women are the majority of the United States, but only a slice of government leadership. On this episode, we talk with women working to turn the dial with research, myth-busting, confidence-building and a business case. (Tai chi, too.) We hear from the heads of the League of Women in Government, the president of N.C. Women in Municipal Government, and other local government officials who see positi...

A preview of Episode 35.

"Beer is the beverage of community," says Sean Lilly Wilson, a brewer who played a role in changes that brought exponential growth in the number of breweries in his state -- with happy extras for their surroundings. On this episode -- recorded live from CityVision 2017 -- we hear Sean discuss how breweries have played major roles in downtown and warehouse-district revitalizations and re-energized...

A preview of Episode 34.

A majorly successful social engagement program with a yearlong waiting list. Pianos left in the urban outdoors for any random person to play. And a totally mysterious city data collector. We plunge into their mutual concepts -- creative or playful ways of connecting people and their town -- and how they might work where you live. There's a lot of hectic stuff going on out there, so take this episo...

A preview of Episode 33.

Those dang video games. Can't peel kids these days away from them. And there's one city using that to its advantage -- with an innovative partnership that's actually teaching video game development to local youths from a rough neighborhood (yes, they jumped at the offer to become game developers), affording them a break from an anxious environment and setting them up with a sweet professional skil...

A preview of Episode 32.

On a summer day last year in Burgaw, North Carolina, a farmer named Michael Lanier snapped a photograph of bright new life on his family land and put it up on social media. The next day, a massive crowd beyond anything he'd imagined turned out for an in-person look. This farmer had unwittingly stumbled upon an amazing engagement opportunity, and when he tried it again this year, an even bigger cro...

A preview of Episode 31, out on Aug. 15.

If we gather up a bunch of "State of the City" addresses from mayors across the U.S. and rub them together, what happens? Well, the National League of Cities does that kind of work, and it's enlightening. We talk with NLC about its latest examination to find out what today's mayors are saying in chorus and why -- after a chat about a rare total solar eclipse over a gem-studded mountain town. Show...

A preview of Episode 30

When you think of downtown alleys, what comes to mind? Bad associations, maybe? The place to avoid at night? Ever since childhood, Americans have had the general impression that alleyways are dark, dirty, dangerous -- the right setting for noir crime stories. And that might often be the case. But some U.S. cities are starting to embrace their alleys like assets -- as places to be -- with art, ligh...