Development cost charges are supposed to make growth pay for itself, but this conversation shows just how far that promise falls short. Norm Van Eeden Petersman, Michel Durand-Wood, and Dan Winer unpack Ontario’s deal to halve development charges, British Columbia’s per‑unit fee structure that punishes small infill, and Winnipeg’s court battle over impact fees. They reveal how these choices ripple into housing prices, municipal deficits, and whether existing neighborhoods ever see the gentle density and local services they’ve been promised.

• "City Councillors Fear 'Devil in the Details' in Federal-Provincial Housing Fund" by Arthur White-Crummery, CBC.ca (March 2026)
• Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn)
• Dan Winer (LinkedIn)
• Dear Winnipeg (Site)
• You'll Pay For This! (Book)

• Articles mentioned and Downzone:

  • Readying B.C. to deliver more homes for people in communities (Article)
  • The Party Analogy (Article)
  • The Master and His Emissary, Ian McGilchrist (Book)
  • Murderland, Caroline Fraser (Book)
  • Shrill Season 1 (Prime Video)
  • An Inside Job, Daniel Silva (Book)

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

This podcast is made possible by Strong Towns members. Click here to learn more about membership.

A Massachusetts town budgeted $600,000 for snow and ended up spending $6 million clearing its streets. Norm Van Eeden Petersman, Daniel Herriges, and Gracen Johnson trace the links between winter operations, stormwater, supply chains, labor, and land use in cities facing serious snow. Starting with Boston’s overrun numbers, they widen the lens to Ottawa’s snow storage sites and Minneapolis’ potholes, asking what happens when seasonal extremes collide with tight city budgets.

• "‘That comes with a price tag’: How snow removal is busting town budgets" by Kate Selig, Bostonglobe.com (March 2026)
• "The Cost of an Extra Foot" by Chuck Marohn
• "Transactions of Decline" by Chuck Marohn
• Downzone:
  • "Cost-Based Social Rental Housing in Europe" (Web PDF)
  • The Ink (Substack)
  • You'll Pay For This! (Site)
  • Criminal Broads (Site)
• Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn)
• Daniel Herriges (LinkedIn)
• Gracen Johnson (LinkedIn)
• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

This podcast is made possible by Strong Towns members. Click here to learn more about membership.

While Los Angeles gets ready for the Olympics and World Cup, residents watch trash pile up in the places tourists never see. Chuck, Norm, and Carlee trace the links between auto‑oriented growth, a strained city budget, and basic services that can’t keep up. Through one neighborhood organizer’s Saturday cleanups, they show how garbage exposes which streets are truly cared for.

• "Talking Trash" by Alissa Walker, Torched.la (February 2026)
• Chuck Marohn (LinkedIn)
• Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn)
• Carlee Alm-LaBar (LinkedIn)
• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

This podcast is made possible by Strong Towns members. Click here to learn more about membership.