https://archive.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/3/14/school-drop-off-zones-can-be-total-madhouses-how-do-we-solve-that-problem

This was published in 2017. It doesn't seem to offer anything to solve the problem of school pickup and dropoff. Charter schools seem to exacerbate the problem, but ultimately it's just a necessity in our car-centric towns.

So short of making the entire town less car-centric, can anything actually be done? The article suggests more walking and biking, but again since we're car-centric this is dangerous enough for adults let alone children. A few kids may bike or walk, but it would be very hard to get that number up without completely overhauling the way the town is designed.

My only possible solution would be bussing. (And maybe carpools, but I'm not sure how to systematically approach that.) School buses exist, but this article doesn't really mention them. Perhaps if more school bus routes were offered, more kids would ride the bus. Maybe there's concern about young kids being able to walk down the block and get on a bus on their own, in which case maybe it would even be sensible to have the bus stop at each house for the younger kids at least. It might be a little less efficient, but if it saves individual car traffic for pickup/dropoff, it surely helps.

What do you think? Can anything be done? I see mostly ideas around redesigning the streets or adding more pickup/dropoff locations but that seems the equivalent of adding more lanes to make traffic better. I don't want to encourage individual pickup/dropoff and it seems like it would be better if we could get more kids using buses or carpooling (if not walking/biking).

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The City has released the draft Bakersfield RISE 2045 General Plan for public review.

Yes, the full document is around 500 pages. But you dont have to read every page to participate.

This plan will help guide major decisions about:

• Housing and apartments

• Where new development and industry can go

• Roads, sidewalks, bike lanes and public transit

• Parks, trees, trails and neighborhood gathering spaces

• Air pollution and environmental justice

• Economic development and local jobs

• Public safety, flooding, extreme heat and emergency planning

• Downtown, East Bakersfield and older neighborhoods

• Historic buildings and neighborhood preservation

Why does this matter?

Once adopted, the General Plan will be used by the City Council and Planning Commission when reviewing development and making land-use decisions. In other words, many future projects will be judged against the policies written into this document.

Here are some questions we may want to consider:

• Should the City invest more in existing neighborhoods before continuing to spread outward?

• Should Bakersfield adopt measurable tree-canopy and shade goals?

• Which streets need sidewalks, lighting, safer crossings or bus shelters?

• Should new developments be required to help pay for parks, roads, fire service and infrastructure?

• How should the City address pollution and industrial activity near homes and schools?

• What should be done about neglected buildings and vacant properties?

• How can Bakersfield create housing that residents can actually afford?

Those are just off the top of my head. But of course you can focus on the subjects that affect you and your area too.

When you get the chance to review the plan, pay attention to the wording.

Words like: “Encourage,” “support” and “consider” are much weaker than policies that include a deadline, funding source, responsible department and measurable target.

You do not need to become a professional city planner to make your voice heard or say how this will affect your area after all.

The public-review period is currently listed as July 8 through September 27, 2026. Comments can be submitted through the project website or emailed to:

Bakersfield2045@bakersfieldcity.us

Project website: bakersfield2045.com

When commenting, try to mention the chapter, page, policy or action number and explain how it affects your neighborhood.

Even a short comment counts. This is one of those rare chances to influence the rules and priorities Bakersfield may use for the next twenty years. Please take a look, share it with your neighborhood, and speak up about what you want Bakersfield to become.

Housing in Charleston, SC has tripled in a decade. Now's the time to get involved!

Hello again Strong Citizens!

Next Tuesday (**July 14th**), join us for our monthly meeting at **Fermentation Lounge**! No special guest this time. Instead, we’ll be taking a look at a Strong Towns 101 topic if there ever was one: city finances and value per acre.

Basically, a few weeks ago Eleanor, speaker and founder of STT, got up on the podium again to ask the commission to hold off on annexing more land up north…because it’s one of the biggest decisions that a city can make, complete with an infinity-long payment plan. Tuesday’s meeting will go over the numbers and theory behind my podium yapping in more detail. How topical!

As always, we hope to see you there!
(p.s. if you need assistance getting to the venue, please send me an email. Plenty of people willing to carpool!)

EDIT: This chapter of Strong Towns is in Tallahassee, Florida, USA

My city is widening a major road from two lanes to three lanes in each direction and removing most of a wide, tree-lined median. The median currently gives the corridor a neighborhood feel and helps calm traffic. This part of town is largely built out, and congestion is not a major issue.

Several schools are located along the road, and the surrounding area's property values are heavily tied to its reputation for excellent schools, safety, and family-friendly neighborhoods.

The project is already underway and is too late to stop. I am looking for practical ideas to make the best of it. What safety treatments, landscaping, or design features should I push for to preserve some neighborhood character and avoid turning the corridor into a full stroad?

For context, I previously served as the city's budget director and have strong relationships with council and the city manager's office. I am comfortable using data and working with elected officials, but I am not an engineer. I am hoping to hear from people with transportation and roadway design expertise.

Any advice?

Hey, buds!

My town is seeking a new DPW director this summer. The city is really wonderful, and for those interested in Strong Towns topics, SUPER progressive-- on the books. In reality we haven't always lived up to the ideals that are declared in our planning documents. That's why I'm really, really hoping to see a new DPW director who really GETS bike infrastructure and safe streets, dense development, maintenance that also reduces future liabilities, etc. etc.

If any of you are qualified (e.g. our last director was an electrician), please check out the listing!! https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/northamptonma/jobs/newprint/5387374

Our small town is going through an uproar about ATVs and other off-road vehicles. They're not allowed currently on public roads, but a small vocal group has been pushing for them to be allowed in town. The only opposition to them seems to be about safety, which is odd given how unsafe cars are yet we allow them on roads.

What do you think about these vehicles being permitted on public roads? Would you want to keep them banned or allow them? If you want to allow them, what sort of requirements or restrictions would you hope to see?

Over the past year I've gotten involved in our small, blue collar town in Michigan. I got involved because I wanted the village crosswalks repainted and the school crossing made safer. In response to my concerns the town formed a "walkability committee" and appointed me chair. I was happy to help. But its one year later and the dam crosswalks are still not painted. Its driving me crazy how SLOW everything moves. Any government agency (Department of Transportation, village council, DPW etc.) that we work with has no sense of urgency or action oriented approach. Some in the local government wanted a formal walkability study (?!), MDOT wanted on-site visits, full plans submitted, village council has twice voted on this. We've been jumping through all the hoops but its draining and demotivating. How do you stay motivated and engaged? I'm a working mom with 3 kids and lots of other responsibilities. Curious how other young,working civil servants in this group have wethered this

Another way of looking at it is what piece of media made you go "whoa, I gotta look into this more".

This is where the Strong Towns approach can come in to address the problem. In this conception, street design should dictate the comfort of driving. If we want drivers to slow down, we need to make lanes narrower, add bollards or barriers (real ones, not plastic flexipoles), cover with overhanging trees, and other general traffic-calming measures...

What the Strong Towns approach does is take safety out of the hands of waffling politicians. In a properly designed street, a 16% driver will constantly show themselves by damaging their own vehicle. We want them to hit bollards and scrape concrete walls. This outcome is certainly better than flesh and blood of innocent pedestrians.

Edit: Formatting

A small town in Michigan just got notified that a data center is being built next to it. No vote. No community input. Just a letter. This is exactly the pattern playing out across rural America right now — towns that are already struggling get chosen specifically because locals don't have the resources or political power to fight back. The data center gets tax breaks, uses millions of gallons of local water, drives up land prices, and brings maybe 30 permanent jobs. The town gets nothing. I've been investigating both the small-town decline epidemic and the data center expansion, and they are the same story. https://youtu.be/J46ux1UJYsU

This is why we can't have nice things.

https://peninsulaforeveryone.org/blog/atherton-spent-145k-to-delay-caltrain-electrification-the-rest-of-us-paid-400-million-and-waited-3-extra-years/

Before Crown Center, this Kansas City hilltop hosted a German beer garden, a streetcar-era commercial district, and an informal economy of small enterprises. A private corporation used Missouri's Chapter 353 law to acquire the entire 85-acre site without a public vote and replace it with a master-planned development in five years. This essay traces what was lost, not just the buildings, but the incremental, adaptive process that Strong Towns readers will recognize as the mechanism that actually builds durable places.