Don't confuse the 'aha' moment with the destination; this is the invitation to go further, to listen, and to seek to learn about the things you didn't know you didn't know. This is really on Step 0.1. Here is my 2nd key takeaway from my work this month: https://t.co/Wh6ynq8T0v

Over the last month, I have presented to four different audiences around my work with human-centered design & Civic Innovation. Over the next several days I will be sharing my insights & takeaways from these experiences. Stay tuned for the next two: https://t.co/8aLiPZFwCu

I proposed a new Dept of Transportation in Richmond, to propose projects like this all across the city. If we are rezoning for multimodal, then we have to redesign our streets, traffic flow, & sidewalks to support it. Will never be done. Best we get is a few curb bump outs.

GDP & Economic Growth rarely match. One is the size of the economy, the other is the rate of change. Mixing them up is like confusing your weight today with the pounds you gained last year. Hope that fellowship isn’t in economics. Oh wait…

Update: the detour route is also under construction with Diamond District & VCU Athletic Village. Warning that this detour is needed should be posted at Broad St. All around failure on city’s part to respect businesses, residents & visitors. @DannyAvula @KatherineJRVA

I wish @DPW_RichmondVA would plan ahead when shutting down a main road like Arthur Ashe Blvd north bound & help adjust traffic patterns for getting to the highway. This lack of planning is why I pushed to create a new Dept of Transportation.

Imagine if Richmond had vision like this for utilizing its publicly owned land (we own more than you think) for transformational projects & developments like this? Especially to update old libraries or build needed new ones under new mixed income housing.

I didn’t succeed despite government programs. I succeeded because of them. My story, from free lunch and food stamps to City Hall, is why Civic Innovator exists. And why our next innovation wave must create the American Dream 2.0. https://t.co/eab3zCGRMi

Subscribe to follow along (for free!) with my stories and accounts for change. This isn’t another blog. It’s a playbook for fixing broken systems. Follow along here:

That’s why I launched Civic Innovator Substack: bold stories, frameworks, provocations. Because while deals make headlines, systems make cities. Read my first piece:

I believe the best government is invisible, not absent, but so seamless you don’t have to think about it. Trust isn’t built on press conferences. It’s built on systems that deliver. Aligned to improve services & quality of life.

Gov't isn’t broken because of bad leaders. It’s broken because of bad systems. A newly paved street gets torn up for a utility project. A streetlight stays out until someone’s car is broken into. A tree drops a limb on a car before anyone acts. This isn’t service. It’s triage.

Richmond has been a deal-making city. But our future depends on being a plan-making city. My @RichmondBizSense Commentary: https://t.co/lTkbUbjI1m @mitchell_silver you championed vision-led planning. How do we get more cities to make this shift? #CityPlanning #UrbanInnovation

4 days left to vote for my SXSW 2025 panel: American Dream 2.0: How Cities Will Design Our Future The old American Dream isn't working. It’s time for cities to lead the future of life in the US. 🗳️ Vote here: https://t.co/Rtn2XsEhDV #SXSW2025 #CivicInnovator #AmericanDream2_0

Richmond is a city with so much potential & opportunity. Embracing these opportunities requires vision, stacking our incentives & aligning our resources to deliver that vision. This is our waterfront wharf opportunity connected to the Pulse & Cap Trail.

This podcast made me pause and think about how little I understand about how the products I use everyday are made. If no one person can make a pencil, then how can throwing a wrench into how one is made with tariffs make them better?

What does the Future of Work look like in America? Does it require a high school degree, associates, trade or skill, college degree or advanced diploma? Probably a combination of all the above. We need to focus, not on the past, but on what the future can be and how to build it.

I’m all for strengthening our economy and creating new jobs & careers. Manufacturing being brought back to the US will only expedite automation as it’s cheaper to run a dark facility with machines. We are not seeing strong labor protections with this effort which is a concern.

Even when US manufacturing was strong, we had imported materials needed to make our products. If those were tariffed, it wouldn’t make the price of the item cheaper, or better. Not every imported material can simply be made or created in the US. We are a global supply chain.

Every step and piece of what makes a pencil reaches around the globe. The most effective, most supplied, best available pieces that are needed to make a pencil aren’t available in the US. That’s why tariffs won’t have the impact they are being touted to have.