The Bottom-Up Revolution

In this week’s episode, we hear from two dedicated Strong Towns advocates who are working with their neighbors to fight a highway project in their city of Erie, Pennsylvania.  

Adam Trott is a Strong Towns member, an architect and a long-time Erie resident who’s passionate about seeing his city be financially prosperous for all residents.  Roland Slade is a newer Erie resident with media chops and neighborhood know-how—who has no less dedication to seeing his city be a place where everyone can thrive, regardless of which neighborhood they live in.  

Together, Adam and Roland are part of a community group called Connect Urban Erie, which is fighting a multimillion dollar road expansion project that would run a massive volume of cars along Erie’s waterfront—an area already dominated by a large highway.  Adam, Roland and their neighbors have been tirelessly advocating to instead transform this waterfront roadway into a space where people can safely walk and bike, and enjoy the beautiful asset of Lake Erie.

We know you’ll learn a lot from this conversation about Adam and Roland’s work in Erie. Make sure to stay tuned to the end where they share a ton of fantastic pieces of advice for all of you out there who might be working through similar challenges in your city. 

Additional Show Notes

• Connect Urban Erie website

• Connect Urban Erie instagram (lots of great videos here)

• “PennDOT Trying to Solve the Wrong Problem” by Michael Fuhrman (GoErie.com)

• “Skip the Highway; Build a Boulevard,” by Lisa Austin and Adam Trott (Erie Reader)

• “PennDOT’s bayfront plan fails to prioritize people,” by Maxwell J. Hentosh (GoErie.com)

• “Protesting Erie’s Bayfront Expansion,” by Natalee Stinebiser (The Gannon Knight)

• Send us your own voicemail about the small (or big) thing you’re doing to make your town stronger. Just record a voice memo on your phone and email it to rachel@strongtowns.org.

• Subscribe to The Bottom-Up Revolution on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Podbean, or via RSS.

• Support this show and our many other resources for helping your town grow stronger by becoming a member today.