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Strong Towns President On Making Phoenix Stronger

How can cities and towns become “strong?” It’s something Chuck Marohn travels the country talking about.

Marohn is president of Strong Towns, a nonprofit that looks at cities’ financial strength and resiliency. He was in Phoenix recently for what he calls a “curbside chat” — basically, a conversation about how a city has been built and the finances used to do that and maintain it.

He believes the current model, which he calls horizontal expansion, is expensive and doesn’t bring in much tax money. And, Marohn says, part of the goal is to talk to cities about how to transition to a better way.

The Show caught up with him while he was in town. Marohn talked about about some of the changes cities can make to go from one model to another.

Mark Brodie is a co-host of The Show, KJZZ’s locally produced news magazine. Since starting at KJZZ in 2002, Brodie has been a host, reporter and producer, including several years covering the Arizona Legislature, based at the Capitol.