Upzoned

Seven years of planning have not produced a version of Boston’s Blue Hill Avenue redesign that everyone can live with. In the Boston Globe article “More Parking, Fewer Bike Lanes: City of Boston and MBTA Release New Blue Hill Avenue Redesign,” the latest proposal restores parking and traffic space while reducing parts of the planned bike network. Norm Van Eeden Petersman talks with transportation historian Peter Norton and Ann Arbor transportation manager Malisa McCreedy about what happens when a street is expected to satisfy every demand, even when those priorities conflict. As each revision absorbs another concern, the challenge is whether the city can keep its focus on what will actually work best there instead of reopening the same choices again and again. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES "More parking, fewer bike lanes: City of Boston, T release new Blue Hill Avenue redesign" by Diti Kohli, Bostonglobe.com (Without paywall here, from September 2026) Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn) Peter Norton (LinkedIn) Malisa McCreedy (LinkedIn) Downzone: Ballot Babes (Podcast) The Ark (Site) Andy Boenau (X) The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson (Site) Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.   This podcast is made possible by Strong Towns members. Thank you! Join fellow members discussing this episode in The Commons.

A New York condo sold for $238 million, but the city assessed it at just $15.5 million. Mayor Zohran Mamdani has framed his new pied-à-terre tax as a way to “tax the rich,” but a recent article by Ken Girardin, “The Sheer Absurdity of New York’s Pied-à-Terre Tax,” argues that the bigger problem sits underneath it. Chuck Marohn talks with Urban Three founder Joe Minicozzi and land economist Lars Doucet about how classifications, assessment caps, and decades of special rules can shift the tax burden away from high-value property. If the system is already distorted, does adding another tax make it fairer or just harder to fix? ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES "The Absurdity of New York City’s Pied-à-Terre Tax" by Ken Girardin, Theatlantic.com (September 2026) Chuck Marohn (LinkedIn) Joe Minicozzi (LinkedIn), URBAN3 (Site) Lars Doucet (LinkedIn), Center for Land Economics (Site) Articles Mentioned an Downzone: DALT: Depreciation-Assisted Land Value Tax (Substack) Moneygpt: AI and the Threat to the Global Economy by James Rickards (Site) Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less by Leidy Klotz (Site) Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath (Site) Book Review: The Natural Dividend (Site)  Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.   This podcast is made possible by Strong Towns members. Thank you! Join fellow members discussing this episode in The Commons.

What happens when something people have always treated as free suddenly gets a price tag? A USA Today article, “Shopping Malls Are Charging for Prime Parking. It’s Not Going Well,” looks at what happens when a long-standing free amenity suddenly has a visible cost. Carlee Alm-LaBar talks with Parking Reform Network founder Tony Jordan and developer Monte Anderson of Neighborhood Evolution about what changes when shoppers are asked to pay directly for that convenience. For owners, “free” parking has never actually been free: the lot still has to be paved, repaired, cleaned, secured, and eventually rebuilt, even when much of it sits empty. If the land is expensive to maintain, could it be doing something more useful? ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES "Shopping malls are charging for prime parking. It's not going well" by Jessica Guynn, Usatoday.com (August 2026) Downzone: The Urban Climate Solution (Site) Civic Leader Summit (Site) Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill (Site) Carlee Alm-LaBar (LinkedIn) Tony Jordan (LinkedIn), Parking Reform Network (Site) Monte Anderson (LinkedIn), Options Real Estate (Site) Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.   This podcast is made possible by Strong Towns members. Join fellow members discussing this episode in The Commons.

A Los Angeles couple set out to build a 400-square-foot backyard home for about $300,000, only to watch the final cost climb to $600,000 in a project recently profiled by Lisa Boone in the Los Angeles Times. Norm Van Eeden Petersman talks with Tamara White of Small Housing and Mary Coddington, founder of 12 Incorporated, about what pushed the cost so high. The couple chose an ambitious design and built on a difficult site, but they also had two major advantages many small housing projects never get: they already owned the land, and they were allowed to build. If the land and permissions were already in place, what made the price skyrocket, and how much of that complexity could actually be removed? ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES "A compact ADU built on a dramatic ridgeline ‘floats’ over L.A. and its Midcentury neighbor" by Lisa Boone, Latimes.com (August 2026) Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn) Tamara White (LinkedIn) Mary Coddington (LinkedIn) Articles mentioned and Downzone: 'She couldn’t afford L.A. rent after law school. Her parents’ ADU came to the rescue' (Article) Courtenay Cohousing (Site) A Voter’s Guide to Asking Candidates about Housing (Site) Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.   This podcast is made possible by Strong Towns members. Thank you! Join fellow members discussing this episode in The Commons.

A six-year-old rides his scooter to a playground a quarter mile from home. Two days later, Child Protective Services is at his family’s door. His case is one of several in a recent New York Times article asking whether letting children play outside alone has effectively become a crime. Chuck Marohn talks with Lenore Skenazy, founder of the Free-Range Kids movement and president of Let Grow, and planner and pedestrian-safety advocate Angie Schmitt about “worst-first thinking,” neglect laws, and the decline of walking and biking to school. Parents are expected to raise capable, independent kids while also keeping them under constant watch, while the built environment often makes even short walks to school or the playground harder for children to navigate on their own. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES "Should Letting Children Play Alone Outside Be a Crime?" by Ian Frisch, Nytimes.com (August 2026) Chuck Marohn (LinkedIn) Lenore Skenazy (LinkedIn), Let Grow (Site) Angie Schmitt (LinkedIn), Love of Place (Substack) Downzone: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks (Site) The Wisdom of Not Knowing: Discovering a Life of Wonder by Embracing Uncertainty by Estelle Frankel (Site) A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck by YSophie Elmhirst (Site) Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.   This podcast is made possible by Strong Towns members. Thank you! Join fellow members discussing this episode in The Commons.