Santa Rampage Topeka had almost 40 riders, including Santas, Elves, Reindeer, and two Grinches!
No one stole Christmas, but we all had a great time touring the city. Many thanks to the organizers of the ride (Thanks, Santa!), to our hosts at all 6 stops, and to the #BikeWalkMHK crew that came through!
If you missed the event, check out this video to experience The Haul ride!
THANK YOU to all of the sponsors, donors, racers, and riders who came together to make Topeka’s seventh annual Cranksgiving event successful.
This year was the biggest ever:
Once again, thanks to Burger Stand at College Hill, Josey Baking Co, all of the individual cash donors, and all of the racers and riders.
Now, stay tuned for Santa Rampage on December 7th!
Pump up your tires, bring your bikes and your bags, and choose from participating in the haul or the race! It’s the SEVENTH ANNUAL Cranksgiving ride in Topeka!
Food items will be donated to Door Step food pantry.
Registration is at 12:30 and the race starts at 1pm.
Don’t want to ride? You can donate here on the Bike Topeka site with our Paypal link.
Once everyone has finished the race, prizes will be announced and awarded after food donations are tallied.
Feel free to stay to grab a bite and beverage at the Burger Stand during or after the event!
Chuck Marohn, humble engineer-leader of the Strong Towns network, demonstrated this assertion in a dynamic presentation at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library on October 28.
Marohn brought his latest book, Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity, and his presentation loosely followed the chapters within.
If you missed the meeting, you can view the Facebook Live video here.
He showed, through value-per-acre graphs, that cities have high-performing real estate in core downtown areas, but tend to have built beyond their means in other areas.
What does that mean for cities?
We can look to what Marohn calls the “traditional development model.”
A family might build a house in a neighborhood near friends and relatives. If their family grew, they would add on to the house. In the same way, a business owner might start with a one-story building, next to other, similar buildings. If they became more successful, they would build up and out and improve their buildings. If they were not successful in those houses or buildings – there weren’t great fortunes invested, so it was easy for families or businesses to move on.
The suburban development model builds entire shopping malls or residential districts all at once, requires all new infrastructure to be built, and typically adds on to the outskirts of an existing community.
If one building in NOTO needs a new roof, the owners can make the necessary repairs. If a sewer line breaks, they can work with the city to get it fixed. The work gets completed on these projects, and business goes on as usual, most likely without affecting the rest of the street or neighborhood much.
But in a suburb, where every house was built the same year, and all of the infrastructure was installed at the same time, all of that construction and infrastructure ages out at about the same time. So you don’t have just one roof in a neighborhood that needs replaced. You have 25 or 100. And when one sewer line gets old enough to fail, you can guess that others will begin to fail, too.
It bears out in the data that Marohn and Urban3 have been collecting in their value-per-acre graphs. It’s a compelling case for moving cities from the current development model of building huge areas to a finished state, all at once — back toward something a little more incremental and iterative.
Following the presentation, Topekans in attendance had varied questions, ranging from neighborhood concerns, like addressing a heritage of redlining and urban renewal, to applying Strong Towns ideas to problems faced by rural communities, to starting new businesses or building trust among neighbors.
On challenges within neighborhoods or communities, Marohn said, “Empower people at the block level to solve problems in their way.”
He gave an example from Oswego, NY of the Oswego Renaissance Association, which gave neighbors grants to improve their residential properties – but only if they got together as a block, and made a proposal of multiple small projects from that street. Since the start of that program, Oswego has seen $2.5 million invested in neighborhoods.
To start a public project, or even a new business, Marohn emphasized the need to humbly observe where people in the community are struggling, part of the Strong Towns approach to public investment. “Ask yourself, ‘How can I be of service to my neighbors?’”
About 100 people attended the presentation in Topeka, including the City Manager, City Council members and candidates, state officials, county officials and county staff, neighborhood advocates, and city staff from many different departments.
The presentation was made possible by the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, the Topeka Community Foundation, the Shawnee County Health Department, and several other community groups.
Stay tuned on BikeTopeka for follow-up discussion from the Strong Towns presentation, including a book club to discuss Chuck Marohn’s book.
Topeka, Kansas (October 2019)—On October 28th, Charles L. “Chuck” Marohn, Jr., founder of Strong Towns, will be coming to Topeka, Kansas as part of his coast-to-coast Strong America Tour. He will be speaking at the Topeka Shawnee County Public Library at 6:30 pm on October 28th.
Marohn’s tour kicks off the release of his new book, Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity. He is traveling to dozens of communities across North America—big cities and small towns alike—to share the ideas in his book and give audiences a new way to think about how they approach revitalization and growth.
The presentation will begin by showcasing why so many towns in North America are struggling financially despite decades of robust growth. Marohn will then invite the audience to “choose their own adventure” from a range of presentation tracks and go deeper into just one area where their unique community can make a change today. Designed to be dynamic and bespoke to each town, the Strong America presentation is part community conversation, part lecture from an expert, and the catalyst you need for your place to become financially stronger.
Here are just a few of the insights from Marohn’s book, some of which may be featured in October 28th’s presentation:
In every stop on the tour, a Strong Towns staff member will write an essay about the stories they find there. Then, Marohn will put all of the essays together in a new e-book that paints a portrait of what a Strong America looks like today. It will include photos, profiles of local advocates doing what they can to make their own towns stronger, tour diary updates from the road, and great writing from Strong Towns advocates from across the country.
Topeka will also be featured in other Strong Towns content and on Strong Towns social media feeds, which reach an international audience of millions of readers annually.
Marohn says he was thrilled by the hundreds of requests for proposals to host Strong America Tour stops.
“It’s clear that cities and towns of every size are hungry for a new approach that can help them grow financially strong and resilient,” he says. “Every time I visit a different town, I am gratified to see how passionate and smart and creative people can be. Meeting people, hearing their stories, and exchanging ideas is my favorite part of the job.”
Sponsors of this event include the Topeka Shawnee County Public Library, the Shawnee County Health Department and the Topeka Community Foundation. Supporters also include the Heartland Healthy Neighborhoods Coalition, Greater Topeka Partnership, Momentum 2022, and El Centro of Topeka.
Chief Executive Officer Gina Millsap of the Topeka Shawnee County Public Library shares, “Strong Towns offers an opportunity for Topeka and Shawnee County to look at current community projects and visioning processes to ensure sure we are pursuing community betterment with future resources and sustainability in mind. The library is excited to be convening this thought-provoking discussion!”
About the Author:
Charles L. “Chuck” Marohn, Jr., is the founder and president of Strong Towns and the author of Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity. He is a professional engineer (PE) licensed in the state of Minnesota and a land use planner with two decades of experience. He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a master’s of urban and regional planning, both from the University of Minnesota. Marohn hosts the Strong Towns Podcast and has presented Strong Towns concepts in hundreds of cities and towns across North America. He is featured in the documentary film Owned: A Tale of Two Americas, and was named one of the Ten Most Influential Urbanists of all time by Planetizen.
About Strong Towns:
Strong Towns is a national media organization whose mission is to advocate for a model of development that allows America’s cities, towns, and neighborhoods to grow financially strong and resilient. Strong Towns began in 2008 as a blog written by Charles Marohn. Today, it is a nonprofit publishing daily content by dozens of contributors, sharing weekly podcasts, and giving presentations around the U.S. and Canada. Strong Towns reaches an audience of more than 1.5 million readers per year and has over 2,900 members. Learn more at www.strongtowns.org.
To see some of the other towns that are on the Strong America Tour, visit www.strongtowns.org/events.
About the Book:
Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity (Wiley, October 2019, ISBN: 978-1-119-56481-2, $25.00) will be available at bookstores nationwide, from major online booksellers, and direct from the publisher by calling 800-225-5945. In Canada, call 800-567-4797. For more information, please visit the book’s page on www.wiley.com.
About Wiley:
Wiley, a global research and learning company, helps people and organizations develop the skills and knowledge they need to succeed. Our online scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly journals, combined with our digital learning, assessment and certification solutions help universities, learned societies, businesses, governments and individuals increase the academic and professional impact of their work. For more than 210 years, we have delivered consistent performance to our stakeholders. The company’s website can be accessed at www.wiley.com.
Glow Ride, sponsored by Stormont Vail Health, took place in the Oakland neighborhood this year on Saturday October 5th, starting and ending at the Oakland Community Center. There were about 150 riders of all ages!
