T2x: State of the City (Triumvirate Reunion)

August 22, 2012

When we last saw our heroes, Griff was coaching civic bloggers and fomenting dissent on the Locally Grown blog; Ross was lobbying for downtown when not playing bass in the New Moon Trio; and Tracy was fighting a losing battle against an unwieldy land development code and cheap disposable floor coverings. Where are they now? [...]

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T2x: Economic Development Fads

August 19, 2012

An intro to what I hope will be an ongoing series on business and economic development trends, and their potential relevance for the Northfield area.  I spoke too fast when I read the essay at the end– sorry about that. MP3 Audio: . . . . . . . . . . . . . [...]

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Constructive Conflict, a/k/a Thinking

August 13, 2012

Here’s another TED talk that’s worth the time  (13 minutes), about how to disagree constructively.  In our current political climate of instant polarization on almost every issue, it helps to think of disagreement as being a means to creative problem-solving, rather than the end of a conversation.

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How Listening to Experts Can Fog Your Brain

August 3, 2012

Economist Noreena Hertz talks about the need to keep our critical thinking abilities sharp and active — especially when making decisions relying on the advice of experts. [W]e’ve become addicted to experts. We’ve become addicted to their certainty, their assuredness, their definitiveness, and in the process, we have ceded our responsibility, . . trading off [...]

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T2x: Smackdown

August 1, 2012

  In which I criticize everyone, thereby making an ass of myself. (Lance’s comment, after hearing the episode: “Oh, so this is what your show is like when it’s hot out.”)

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T2x: Conflicts of Interest

July 26, 2012

  In today’s episode, I address one of my pet peeves: The  sloppy and promiscuous use of the term “conflict of interest” as applied to municipal officials. This most recently came to my attention during the fracas about funding options for the Safety Center.

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T2x: Dead Ideas

July 12, 2012

  My second broadcast, featuring an article by Strong Towns about old dead-end ideas that towns and cities must put behind them in order to make it through these tough economic times. I did a little better on the “you knows”, but need to work on the “ums”.

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Inaugural broadcast of my radio show

June 28, 2012

“Think Twice” airs Wednesdays at 6:00pm. If you’re local, you can tune in to KYMN 1080 AM; or listen online by clicking the “Listen Live” link on the KYMN website. Here’s the audio of yesterday’s broadcast, along with the show notes which link to the resources mentioned. Episode 001, 06/27/12 Show Notes:

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The CNU Webcasts Are Up

June 4, 2012

The webcasts from the Congress for the New Urbanism are now available online here.  I’m especially eager to watch the plenary session with Leon Krier, who’s one of my heroes. In addition to the plenaries, there are links to breakout sessions too. The ones of particular interest to me, based on their titles, are: Form-Based [...]

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“Urbanism” is a Misnomer

May 20, 2012

Being married to a guy who grew up in North Dakota has made me very aware that the word “urbanism” doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone.  As generally used and understood academically, urbanism is not about cities and city life per se (as opposed to villages, towns, suburbs, etc.);  rather it refers to the [...]

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