Encouraging Civic Engagement

Who are the leaders in your city? What can you do to empower them? What is holding them back from achieving their full potential?

Our founder understands this dilemma first hand because he was one of these leaders. He eventually found mentors by accident but how do you make this process happen more naturally and then how to continue to provide a pathway for these leaders to continue to grow?

The definition of the leader we are describing could be written a variety of ways, whether it be a future CEO, the organizer of a large festival, the person pushing for a new crosswalk in their neighborhood or the organizer of a popular run club.

Public Transportation

Why is public transportation such a controversial topic? In my experience in advocating for public transportation (politics aside) there is a rough edge when it comes to the intersection between need riders and choice riders. Choice riders tend to require a little bit more of a push to get them on transit and advocates for need riders say no money should be spent on choice riders because there are still gaps in service for need riders.

Public transportation can really add to the vitality of a city and now people are finally paying attention to the benefit of public transit to those who can't drive including the older residents.

Public transportation also opens up more real estate opportunities as it allows for more dense development which promotes walkability and stronger neighborhoods

Establishing City Brand

I have lived in Austin since 2018 but long before moving to Austin, the predominant thing you know about Austin is SXSW. Off the cuff, I would say that SXSW played a huge part in the large influx of tech companies/new jobs to the city over the past 15 years.

Now there is a strong element of wellness and fitness in Austin. This is being manifested in a variety of ways such as an influx of fitness related businesses and cutting edge wellness practices but also a springboard for start up CPG brands in the wellness space as well as apparel. This also can be traced back to Whole Foods in regards to why there is a strong contingency of existing and growing food related CPG brands in Austin.

Real Estate Development

What drives real estate development? This answer varies depending on macro vs. micro. From city to city, population growth especially when the growth is happening quickly pushes for more apartments in turn the services and amenities such as restaurants, bars and grocery stores to service the new residents.

Within a city, meaning neighborhood to neighborhood, how walkable an area is, school districts, cool factor of the neighborhood, access to amenities such as bike paths, trails or water and public transit.

It also can be driven by location of job creators. Both a large employer moving or expanding or just where jobs are located within a city, whether it be a high rise downtown, urban office center/mixed use or office parks in more remote areas.

Cultural Activity

Let's use live music as an example. Are people willing to pay for live music? How much are they willing to pay? If you are a small city, what are your drivers for cultural activity? Do you have a coliseum? Amphitheater? Strong bar scene? or do you rely on individual promoters to produce shows in partnership with a restaurant and bar or on city property in the form of an event?

What do you do if citizens in your city are not willing to pay even a $5 cover charge at a local bar for live music?

These are the types of issues that we don't think get included in most "consulting" conversations in cities but that we think are critically important.