Why Some Cities and Towns Flourish and Others Flounder

In our Replay today, Mark’s 1,000 square-foot basement is almost totally made over. Imagine this: a built-in gas fireplace and a kitchen with cabinets that match those in his just renovated kitchen above. There’s a water monitor just in case. Egress was achieved with Bilco Doors. All things to consider, if you want to make your basement livable. In our Horror Story, we talk about a contractor who was called in to fix a leaky roof. He took 50 percent up front and disappeared for three weeks. Four months later, the job still wasn’t finished. Watch out for big upfront payments and contractors who don’t show. In our Feature segment, we’re joined by Gary Toth and Raj Mohabeer from The Placemakers Guild for part one in a two-podcast series about what it takes to make a city or town flourish. The Guild is a collection of urban planners and pros of related disciplines who know how to create places where life can happen. In part two, which posts on 5/13, Cynthia Nikitin, a colleague of Gary’s in The Placemakers Guild, joins the conversation along with singer, song writer, author, Dar Williams, who discusses some of the wonderous transformations she’s experienced in cities and towns across America. It’s all in her book What I Found in a Thousand Towns: A Traveling Musician's Guide to Rebuilding America's Communities-One Coffee Shop, Dog Run, and Open-Mike Night at a Time.