Denyse Trepanier is the president of Bike Walk Alameda, a nonprofit organization in the island city of Alameda, California. She joins Norm to discuss the city's efforts to improve biking infrastructure, including the creation of a network of low-stress bikeways and neighborhood greenways. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Bike Walk Alameda (site) Alameda made it to the Sweet 16 in this year’s Strongest Town Contest, from a list of almost 40 nominees. There are many great lessons that cities of all sizes can...
Apr 22, 2025•15 min•Ep. 150
Steven Zittergruen is a city councilor and Strong Towns member from Decorah, Iowa. In this Bottom-Up Short , he joins Norm to discuss the ways he’s making his community stronger. His efforts include revamping Decorah’s budgeting process, helping launch Decorah’s Local Conversation group, and writing about local governance. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Dear Decorah (Substack) Learn how to do the math in your own community . Decorah made it to the Elite Eight in this year’s Strongest Town Contest. There ...
Apr 15, 2025•18 min•Ep. 149
Will McCollum is a registered architect and the president and co-founder of Citymakers Collective, a nonprofit that teaches aspiring architects and planners how to design resilient, beautiful and prosperous places. He joins Tiffany on this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution to talk about what it takes to design environments for human flourishing, as well as the importance of educating the next generation of architects and planners. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Local Recommendations: Piedmont Park Bold...
Apr 10, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 148
Amy Emery is a community leader focused on fostering sustainable growth and smart development in Warrenville, Illinois. In today’s Bottom-Up Short , she joins Norm to discuss several initiatives the city is running, including an incubator program for local businesses and a zoning overlay that allows for mixed-use development. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Warrenville made it to the Sweet 16 in this year’s Strongest Town Contest, from a list of almost 40 nominees. There are many great lessons that cities...
Apr 08, 2025•13 min•Ep. 147
Sarah Rose is an artist from Spokane, Washington, who uses her art to raise awareness about street safety and the protection of native insects. She is active in her city’s Local Conversation, Spokane Reimagined, and often speaks with local reporters and at city council meetings. She joins Tiffany on this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution to talk about how the intersection of advocacy and art is driving change in Spokane. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Local Recommendations: Pacific to Palouse Wine Bar ...
Apr 03, 2025•35 min•Ep. 146
Hannah Rechtschaffen is the director of the Greenfield Business Association in Greenfield, Massachusetts. She joins Norm on this episode of Bottom-Up Shorts to discuss the unique challenges and opportunities that Greenfield faces and how it’s becoming a stronger town. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Read more about Greenfield: Hope for More Affordable Housing Options Is Growing in Greenfield (article) Strongest Town Nomination Visit Greenfield (site) Feeling inspired? Vote for Greenfield in the Strongest ...
Apr 01, 2025•18 min•Ep. 145
Kip Santos is a trained civil engineer and construction manager who quit his job to build Local Conversations full-time. Now he splits his time between the U.S. and Canada, nurturing the groups he's founded and building missing middle housing In this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution , Santos talks about what inspired him to quit his job, what his different groups are working on, and how he became an small-scale developer. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES The Strong Towns National Gathering is coming to ...
Mar 28, 2025•37 min•Ep. 144
Sean Hayford Oleary is a city council member in Richfield, Minnesota. A Strong Towns member of seven years, Hayford Oleary has helped reintroduce duplexes, reduce parking mandates, and support walkable, financially strong neighborhoods in his community. In this episode of Bottom-Up Shorts, he and Norm discuss the progress Richfield is making in becoming a stronger town. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Richfield made it to the Sweet 16 in this year’s Strongest Town Contest, from a list of almost 40 nominee...
Mar 25, 2025•15 min•Ep. 143
Montana Gau is the founder of Strong Denver, a Local Conversation in Colorado. A software engineer by trade, he built the group into a registered nonprofit with a board of directors and several hundred members. Now, city officials are reaching out to the group for collaboration on a variety of initiatives. In this episode of the The Bottom-Up Revolution, Gau joins Tiffany to discuss Strong Denver’s origins and where the group is now. He talks about how his role shifted as the group grew, from ad...
Mar 20, 2025•40 min•Ep. 142
Travis Goedken is the city manager of Decorah, Iowa. In this Bottom-Up Short, he joins Norm to talk about a few of the practices and reforms that are making Decorah strong, including making its budgeting easier to understand for residents, embracing a highly collaborative planning process, and opening up new housing options by finding creative loopholes in restrictive state laws. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Feeling inspired? Vote for Decorah in the Strongest Town Contest! Travis Goedken (LinkedIn) Nor...
Mar 18, 2025•16 min•Ep. 141
Ryan Andrews is the CFO of Hiatus Homes, a small-scale development company in Bend, Oregon. He is also the CFO of the Hiatus Capital Fund, which helps Bend locals invest in development projects in their own community. He’s managed more than 20 investment funds and syndications across real estate debt, equity and venture capital, and he specializes in capitalizing construction and development projects. In this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution, Andrews discusses the importance of local investme...
Mar 13, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 140
David Jenkins is a city councilor in La Plata, Maryland, as well as the city’s Local Conversation leader. He joins Norm on this episode of Bottom-Up Shorts to discuss his work with the city’s budget, particularly his efforts to share the city’s financial information with the community in a way that’s easy to understand and actually allows residents to participate in the budgeting process. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES La Plata Financial Sustainability podcast The Local-Motive session that inspired Jenki...
Mar 11, 2025•18 min•Ep. 139
Dr. Jonathan Gingrich is a professor of engineering at Dordt College in Iowa. A trained chemical and environmental engineer, he started teaching transportation engineering due to staffing shortages. Unsatisfied with the standard materials required for the class, he incorporated the book "Confessions of a Recovering Engineer" by Chuck Marohn into his curriculum and had his class conduct a Crash Analysis Studio. In this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution, Dr. Gingrich shares how his unusual backg...
Mar 06, 2025•50 min•Ep. 138
Josh Stewart is an advocate from Littleton, Colorado. A year ago, his 12-year-old son was struck and killed by a car while biking to school. Since then, Josh has been relentlessly pushing for safer streets in his community. He joins Norm in this Bottom-Up Short to share his story and what he’s learned over the last year of advocacy work. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES “ The Cost of an Extra Foot ” (article) “ Large Trucks Need Better Street Design ” (article) Learn more about the Crash Analysis Studio mo...
Mar 04, 2025•21 min•Ep. 137
Jesse Russell is the founder and CEO of Hiatus Homes, a development company in Bend, Oregon, that specializes in small home design and cottage community development. In 2019, he introduced Bend’s first small-scale housing community. He’s also been involved in citywide policy and incentive reform for small-scale development and urban infill. Russell joins Tiffany on today’s episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution to discuss his journey from Los Angeles TV producer to small-scale developer. They talk ...
Feb 27, 2025•52 min•Ep. 136
In this Bottom-Up Short, Norm is joined by Christian Schick, the leader of Strong Towns RVA, a Local Conversation in Richmond, Virginia. The group has built a lot of momentum in the past year, and Schick talks about how they did that in a productive and helpful way, particularly while juggling local elections. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Strong Towns RVA (Linktree). Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn). Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!...
Feb 25, 2025•14 min•Ep. 135
Mike Christensen is the executive director of the Utah Rail Passenger Association, where he works to educate the public and policy makers about the value of investing in passenger rail. He also serves on Salt Lake City’s planning commission, as well as the boards of the Utah chapter of the Congress for the New Urbanism, the Utah Transit Riders Union and the national Rail Passengers Association. Christensen joins Tiffany Owens Reed on this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution to discuss the benefi...
Feb 20, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 134
Varsha Gopal is an architect from Chennai, India. She is putting Strong Towns ideas into action by starting conversations about what makes places thrive — what makes them special, sustainable and prosperous. On this episode of Bottom-Up Shorts , she joins Norm to discuss two research projects she recently conducted in her city and what they taught her about thriving cities, urban design and community engagement. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn) . Do you know someone who ...
Feb 18, 2025•13 min•Ep. 133
Maricela Sanchez is a city council member and anesthesiologist from Prosser, Washington. She has lived in major cities all over the U.S., including Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City. In today’s episode, she joins Tiffany to discuss how her travels and profession molded her perspective on what makes a town safe and resilient. They also discuss Sanchez’s role as a councilor, where she focuses on creating safe, walkable neighborhoods and improving active transportation. ADDITIONAL SHOW N...
Feb 13, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 132
Stanis Moody Roberts is a business owner from the Portland, Maine area. For the past year he has been organizing locals to oppose a highway expansion that would have claimed eight acres of his land. He joins Tiffany on today’s episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution to discuss this journey and the progress his community has made — including how they convinced their town council to rescind support for the project and delayed construction by several years. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Local Recommendations: ...
Feb 06, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 131
Welcome to this episode of Bottom Up Shorts ! Today, Norm is joined by Andrew and Anna Carley, the leaders of Strong Towns Grand Rapids, a Local Conversation in Michigan. They discuss the progress they’ve made in advocating for policy changes in their city and how they became one of the go-to groups that city officials turn to when they’re considering policy changes. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Strong Towns Grand Rapids (site). Want to hear more from the Carleys? Hop on the Spring Local Motive Tour , ...
Feb 04, 2025•16 min•Ep. 130
Emily Hutcheson is a bike advocate in San Antonio, Texas, and a mom of three. She joins Tiffany on this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution to discuss her work improving bike infrastructure in her city. They discuss her path to advocacy, some of the initiatives she’s spearheaded, including a bike club and bike bus, and the response from the public and local officials. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Local Recommendations: Bright Coffee . Copper Rose Winebar . SoHill Café . Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram). ...
Jan 30, 2025•32 min•Ep. 129
Spencer Coyne is the mayor of Princeton, British Columbia. As a proud Strong Towns member, he works to bring incremental development and community resilience to his city. Coyne joins this Bottom-Up Short to explain how he’s implementing the Strong Towns approach in Princeton, including how to incrementally reform a zoning code and how to do a lot with a small amount of funding. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Connect with Spencer Coyne: Facebook . LinkedIn . Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn) . Do you kn...
Jan 28, 2025•15 min•Ep. 128
In this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution, host Tiffany Owens Reed is joined by Ellie Riggs and Ryan Carter from Catawba Riverkeeper, a grassroots organization that preserves the waters of the Catawba-Wateree River basin in North Carolina. They discuss stormwater’s effect on the environment, how it’s connected to parking reform and developers, and a new stormwater management bill that Riggs and Carter are introducing to the North Carolina state legislature in a few weeks. They also discuss Rig...
Jan 23, 2025•47 min•Ep. 127
In this episode of Bottom-Up Shorts , host Norm Van Eeden Petersman is joined by Michael Bassili, one of the leaders of Strong Towns Nanaimo, a Local Conversation group based in British Columbia, Canada. Bassili explains how his Local Conversation created a parking campaign that convinced their city council to vote 8-1 to eliminate parking mandates in their downtown. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Connect with Strong Towns Nanaimo: Website . Instagram . LinkedIn . Try Strong Towns Nanaimo’s letter of sup...
Jan 21, 2025•18 min•Ep. 126
Matt Harder is the founder of Civic Trust, a participatory budgeting company that provides technology infrastructure, communications and process methodology to help citizens participate in their governments’ budgeting process. In this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution, Harder joins host Tiffany Owens Reed to discuss participatory budgeting, a method of getting resident input on how a city’s budget is spent. They talk about the three phases of participatory budgeting, the benefits and challenge...
Jan 16, 2025•49 min•Ep. 125
In this special episode of Bottom-Up Shorts , host Norm Van Eeden Petersman is joined by Edward Erfurt, chief technical advisor for Strong Towns, to discuss a transformative 4-step approach to public investment. They explore real-world examples of this approach in action, including the inspiring stories of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and Chisholm, Minnesota. These stories illustrate the power of starting small, focusing on what's possible today, and engaging local energy to build something truly trans...
Jan 14, 2025•11 min•Ep. 124
In this episode of Bottom-Up Shorts , host Norm Van Eeden Petersman is joined by Jake Loftis, a pastor and leader of the Local Conversation group Strong Towns Blair. They discuss the ways that North America’s built environment can lead to social isolation and how Loftis used his local paper to combat that isolation and encourage engagement in his community. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Transcript available on our site . Read more about Loftis and Strong Towns Blair . Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn)...
Jan 07, 2025•12 min•Ep. 123
In this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution, host Tiffany Owens Reed is joined by Chloe Groome and Aaron Feldman, co-leads of the Local Conversation group Strong Towns Chicago. They discuss the initiatives that Strong Towns Chicago is working on, including legalizing fourplexes throughout the city and getting city officials involved in tactical urbanism. They also talk about the challenges the group faces and their strategies for overcoming those difficulties, including building a coalition with...
Dec 19, 2024•57 min•Ep. 122
In this episode of Bottom-Up Shorts , host Norm Van Eeden Petersman is joined by Joshua Hopkins, the newly elected mayor of Chugwater, Wyoming. They discuss Hopkins’ path to becoming mayor and how he created a rodeo ring that provides a third place for his community and supports local businesses and walkability. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Tri-County Mercantile . Read more from Strong Towns about Chugwater . Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn) . Do you know someone who would make for a great The Botto...
Dec 17, 2024•15 min•Ep. 121
