Podcast 352

Pacific Coast. From LA, to El Capitan State Park. Back on the road and headed to Napa, California to do a podcast with an old friend. From there, who knows? Have to be back in Minneapolis and Saint Paul on April 25th for the big shindig at the Chanhassen Dinner Theater. While the current news events beckon, once the wheels get rolling, the immediacy of today’s momentary outrage starts to fade. People getting shot by cops? Iran doesn’t like the ‘deal’? Bah. Perhaps part of the reason for that is the perfection of the Pacific Coast heading out of Los Angeles. As California faces tough choices on development, water and budget issues, the biggest concern seems to be too many people will move to the Golden State. LA projects its population to continue growing through 2050 and some claim ‘there’s nowhere to put them’. Forget for a moment California has been losing businesses due to regulation and taxation. Then there is the fact that people who live in no tax, or low tax states decry the regulation and taxes in California, and its easy to see why. Businesses are moving and incorporating in those low or no tax states, especially Texas. California doesn’t seem to care and its easy to see why. From dreamy Los Angeles and the movie set that is Santa Barbara, all the way up the coast, why wouldn’t you want to move here? Oh yeah, taxes and rules, rules, rules! While there are rough places in California, and of course poverty, and a lot of people drive Hondas or beat up Impalas, there are those beach houses in Malibu, State Street in Santa Barbara, coastal villages and the sunsets. Nowhere is the space between those on the lower end of the economic scale and those on the highest more obvious. Live from the state park at El Caspitan beach, some thoughts on the trip so far, a little ‘Californio’ history and oh yeah, a sunset. Sponsored by Autonomous Cad. 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:10 — ) | Embed

Subscribe: RSS

 

Podcast 342

Fighting City Hall. They say you can’t fight city hall and win, but residents of Invergrove Heights, Minnesota recently proved getting involved in your community has a big pay off. Unelected planning councils, county planning commissions, and other layers of local, regional and state government can sometimes be daunting. There are a lot of complaints about the heavy hand of government, and you often hear the words, “I would get involved but it never does any good anyway”. A group of residents in “InverGrove” as it is called, found out they were going to lose their homes through Eminent Domain Condemnation when they learned the county planned to build a 6 lane highway right on top of their homes. Homeowners gathered, organized, learned the details, suggesting solutions. Moreover, they learned to work together. Sometimes partisanship can be a great thing, but sometimes the ‘my way or the highway’ approach literally means, the highway. Learn how these people worked the system to a ‘win-win’, and how compromise isn’t always a dirty word. The question is whether this kind of approach can be applied to bigger problems in bigger cities; Invergrove Heights is a suburban city of about thirty two thousand people. The moral of the story? Faceless councils and bureaucrats make decisions for communities that are often simply guidelines, and they’re adopted because no one says anything. You can alter these plans if you get involved. Hear how they did it, in their own words. By the way, yes we can cover local stories from the road, this time in Amarillo, Texas! Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul. 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:22 — ) | Embed

Subscribe: RSS

Podcast 262

White Line Fever. Road Trip Return! The trip back to Minneapolis, staying in the warmth of the southern late fall for as long as possible. Richmond, southwest to Roanoke, Virginia and then onto Nashville, Tennessee. Passing through Bristol, Virginia and Knoxville, Tennessee and all points in between. You know all that talk about ‘infrastructure’ in the US? How we need new roads and bridges? With many miles covered on these Road Trip Podcasts, there have been few – if any – pot-holes, rotted bridges, or signs of any crumbling infrastructure. Even cities like Bristol, Virginia and Roanoke feature new construction, smooth roads, brand spanking new housing developments, and new and thriving downtown ‘urban’ experiences like Farmer’s Markets, yoga studios and the like. There are so many smooth roads you can get ‘white line fever’ rolling through hills and gentle turns, as traffic comfortably hits eighty plus mile an hour speeds. Sounds like a science fiction novel, but it is true. From the Twin Cities east, all the way to Virginia, and now coming back across the mid south, it’s hard to find evidence of ‘decaying infrastructure’, not to mention all the shiny new cars! Hear tips on how to travel fast and easy, avoiding speed traps, and getting a boat load of coffee before departure. As we ease back into the work week after a long Thanksgiving Holiday, some thoughts about what we should be hearing from politicians in Washington; how to make our economy thrive, not just ‘do better’. Traveling across the country this quickly, you can’t help but notice the developing economies of small, medium and large sized cities you pass through, especially outside the center cities. The overall effect is optimism. Americans are still innovative, and ready to work. Its about time our lawmakers understood what to do, how to do it, and how to talk about it so they can get what they need to get done, so we can get done what we need to get done. Sponsored by Baklund R&D.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:04 — ) | Embed

Subscribe: RSS