GovLove - A Podcast About Local Government

Power to the public. Two guests join the podcast to talk about their new book, Power to the Public: The Promise of Public Interest Technology. Tara Dawson McGuinness, Fellow at New America and Founder of the New Practice Lab, and Hana Schank, Director of Strategy for Public Interest Technology at New America, explain the process of writing their book and explain public interest technology. They shared the importance of data, design, and delivery to public services and in implementing policies in government. They also discuss what must happen for successful change to occur as well as the role of technology.

Host: Ben Kittelson

The authors of a new book, The New Localism: How Cities Can Thrive in the Age of Populism, Bruce Katz and Jeremy Nowak joined the podcast to talk urbanism and cities. Bruce and Jeremy share how localism isn't just local government solving problems, but bringing different stakeholders together to tackle big issues that cities face.

Topics: Lightning round (1:40), Mt. Rushmore of Mayors (8:15), Writing "The New Localism" after the 2016 election & Brexit (19:20), Writing as co-authors & the aim of the book (23:30), The story of Pittsburgh & localism (36:20), Dealing with homelessness through localism (39:40), Diversity in the workforce (44:55), and The issues that need to be addressed in 2018 (51:50).

Public memory and public art. Three guests joined the podcast to talk about the process the City of Newark, New Jersey went through to replace a Christopher Columbus statue with a monument to Harriet Tubman. The City conducted a national open call for artists to replace the statue and artist Nina Cooke John was selected to begin working on the monument. Fayemi Shakur is the Arts and Cultural Director for the City of Newark and David Andersson and Tracey Knuckles are part of the Arts Team at Bloomberg Associates.

This episode was recorded live at the #ELGL21 Annual Conference.

Host: Ashley Copeland

Holistic wellness. Cameron Marlin, the General Manager of the Clear Creek Metropolitan Recreation District, joined the podcast to talk about how they offered new recreation programming to meet the community's mental health needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. She shared how they identified instructors, partnered with Clear Creek County to use CARES Act funding, and are measuring success. She also talked about how this wellness programming has changed CCMRD and their plans for this programming in the future.

Host: Lauren Palmer

Dr. Missy Stults, Sustainability and Innovations Director with the City of Ann Arbor, Michigan, returned to the podcast to give an update on the implementation of the A2ZERO Climate Action Plan and discuss the recent referendum where voters created a Sustainable Energy Utility. She shared how the sustainable energy utility will improve resilience and benefit residents, and what it will take to actually implement the new utility. She also discussed geothermal energy, an upcoming green rental housing program, and other initiatives to address climate change.

Host: Ben Kittelson