Community-directed funding is making a difference for small businesses in downtown Wheeling, WV. The premise is simple: Community members are presented with projects that would positively impact the city and vote for the project they want to support. Over the past 10 years Show of Hands has contributed over $100,000 to small businesses including $10,000…Continue reading

 

The little city of Monroeville, AL, has a big reputation. After all, it’s the hometown of two famous authors — Truman Capote and Harper Lee, who set To Kill a Mockingbird in Monroeville. Alas, literary bona fides take a struggling town only so far. A textile mill that was an economic driver closed down, leading to an…Continue reading

 

The ribbon cutting and bridge-lighting ceremony in downtown Waterloo, IA, marked a new beginning for the city’s Fourth Street bridge. The Waterloo River Lights Experience brings a series of 30-minute light shows to the bridge and river below. The city says that the display serves as an economic development engine, a source of community advancement…Continue reading

 

In Gastonia, NC, and Wilson, NC, city officials grew frustrated by the lack of passengers on their public bus networks. In response, both cities opted to end their bus services and replace them with Uber-like on-demand services. Wilson did so first, in 2022. The city replaced public buses with a rideshare service that lets riders…Continue reading

 

In Columbus, GA, the city’s greatest natural asset had been turned into an eyesore. In the 1800s, textile mills dammed the Chattahoochee River as a power source. A century and a half later, the textile industry was long gone — and the river languished as an industrial wasteland. But downtown leaders, including the Uptown Columbus…Continue reading

 

In Champaign, IL, reducing minimum parking requirements (MPRs) has spurred development and boosted the density of both downtown Champaign and the urban district anchored by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. That’s according to University of Illinois researchers Bumsoo Lee and Srirang Sohoni. The city provides an early case study of the impact of removing…Continue reading