Is Norwood Ohio the Strongest Town in America? It’s hard to say for sure, but through a recent contest put on by Strong Towns, our city has been thrust into the limelight. And while thousands of Norwoodians have taken time to vote, it’s important to realize that this isn’t just a popularity contest. This is a crucial opportunity to engage with Strong Towns principles.
On this episode of the Move Norwood Forward podcast, Alisha Loch and Mike Skelly join the show to talk about the six principles for a strong town.
Alisha Loch is a mother of three, lover of cities, and Board Member for Norwood Together. Living in south Norwood near Wasson Way, she has gotten involved with projects to expand the city’s bicycle friendliness.
Mike Skelly is employed by the City of Norwood as a Community Development Director. Arriving in our community in 2021, he brings years of professional experience and a sincere willingness to help.
Yes, the purpose of this episode is to engage with the Strong Towns principles, but I will also encourage you to vote for Norwood in the Strongest Town championship round. Voting runs April 4-7, 2022.
In this episode you’ll hear about:
- Principles for making a Strong Town
- Current projects that are emblematic of the S.T. approach
- Why it’s been a year since I’ve done anything with Move Norwood Forward
- … and much more
Listen here.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS
More links to help make Norwood Ohio the Strongest Town
Learn more about the city’s financial solvency, including revenues and expenses, by visiting the Norwood Auditor website. Even if the charts are a few years old, you can still get the basic gist.
Read more about Factory 52, a mixed-use project that’s going on the former site of the US Playing Card factory. Since 2009, this parcel has set empty, rendering one percent of Norwood’s most valuable commodity useless.
Check out Norwood Together and everything they’ve got going on.
Wasson Way is a bike trail that runs east-west across several of the region’s “near in neighborhoods”. It touches Norwood on the south boundary of the city and may someday go up the west side of Ward 1.
An alternative to the many breweries in the region, Northwood Cidery is a new business that’s going in next to Victory Park.
The Montgomery Road revitalization plan aims to make “the pike” a place to GO TO, not just blow through.
Alisha referenced the Norwood flood of 2016 as a galvanizing moment for our community.
Before coming to Norwood, Mike Skelly worked for Carlisle, PA, which won the 2016 Strongest Town contest.
Mike talked about the unusual nature of a city being reliant on Income Tax revenue. In this article, How a city goes bankrupt, I detailed the four basic levers that Norwood has to improve its financial situation.
Are you sick of the high price of gasoline? Norwood has a number of great bus lines that run through the city, which you can locate with the Transit App. Pro tip: this app works everywhere in the world that has public transit and was a life saver when Jessica and I went to Paris.
Mike Skelly praises Norwood leaders from 2013, who had the foresight to create the corner store provision. This bit of law allows certain businesses to go into historically-commercial buildings in residential areas.
If you’re fired up about the topic of this podcase, feed your soul with Jane Jacobs books. Or simply start by reading about the concept of eyes on the streets.
Two books mentioned on the show are: Strong Towns: A Bottom Up Revolution To Rebuild American Prosperity and Walkable City Rules: 101 Steps To Making Better Places
—–
Move Norwood Forward aims to shed light on the people, businesses and happenings that are bettering the city. If you know of a person who should be featured on an episode, nominate them here.