Strong Towns

 We seek an America where our local communities are designed to grow stronger in the face of adversity, to be the solid foundation on which our shared prosperity is preserved.

--From the Strong Towns Mission Statement

I had not realized that Strong Towns was a membership organization until recently. Once I did so, I joined. I'm not generally a joiner, but the Strong Towns philosophy of sustainability and of putting things like planning, zoning, and transportation into a context of how these contribute to an economically and socially self sustaining community, absent frequent infusions of IOUs, makes perfect sense to me. Indeed, in the context of how Los Alamos has discussed things like the new Smith's Marketplace, economic diversification, a walkable community, and what to do with Trinity Drive, we need to ask how projects, programs, and planning ensure that Los Alamos will persevere, regardless of what the Feds do with the National Laboratory. Having grown up in the heart of the Rust Belt (Buffalo, NY), I know firsthand what happens when the golden goose stops laying eggs.

We need to put some critical thinking into this at a deep enough level. Indeed, Kevin Shepherd of Verdunity, a Dallas based consulting firm and key Strong Towns supporter, gave the keynote at the recent joint APA/ASCE conference in Las Cruces and stressed the Strong Towns approach to truly sustainable communities. So Strong Towns needs to be present as a non-partisan think tank. I suggest you join if you have not considered it. Click up top for the full mission statement and think about it.