‘Your City Could Be Better’: Why Are Chattanoogans ‘Doing It Their Damn Selves’? — Presented By City Cast DC
Sometimes it can feel like DC is two (or more) steps behind the needs of its neighborhoods. Enter the residents of Chattanooga, Tennessee. What Chattanoogans don’t have, they make up for in advocacy, whether by showing up to city council and organizing for change or just doing things themselves. City Cast CEO David Plotz sits down with creator and city lover Hope Henchey about how she and her neighbors are sneakily and secretly fixing up their city. You’ve heard of the Nashville bench builders — now get ready for the Chattanooga pothole fillers, sidewalk layers, and (literal) trail blazers.
Mentioned on the show:
- Atlas Obscura feature on the community-built benches in Chattanooga
- Efforts by Strong Chattanooga to make a path through the woods in a sidewalk-less neighborhood
- Review of Hoboken's streak of zero traffic fatalities
Is there something your city is doing that we should be talking about? Email David now!
We’re also on Instagram: @yourcitycouldbebetter
Looking to advertise on Your City Could Be Better? Check out our options.
Subscribe To Our Newsletter
Latest Episodes
Historic Artifacts in Danger, Reckoning with the Viral Metro Photo, and Best World Cup Final Parties
We’re talking about the problems at the Lincoln Memorial undercroft, that viral July 4 photo of a woman on the Metro, and World Cup speci...
D.C. Dates Under $15
Dating in D.C. can get expensive fast. But romance doesn't have to come with a $300 price tag, which yes that is how much some people are...
D.C. Fights Over Whether to Allow Waymo
Waymos—the autonomous, self-driving ride-hailing vehicles—are already cruising around D.C. with one big catch: under current D.C. law, th...
Inside the Controversy Tearing Apart A Prestigious D.C. Theater
Arena Stage is one of D.C.’s most prestigious theaters, but this month its biggest drama happened offstage: The theater’s artistic direct...
Lonnie Bunch and the Smithsonian Take On Trump
A new Trump administration report says the Smithsonian institution is run by radicals who aren’t trustworthy. And while the report focuse...
'Your City Could Be Better': Does DC Have a 'Perfect' Airport? — Presented by City Cast DC
There’s lots to love about DC, but being able to get in and out of it easily and cheaply can be an underrated metric of its livability. A...
DC's Coming Wealth Tax Debate, a Controversial Makeover for Rock Creek Tennis, and Waymo's Shady Robo-Caller
We’re talking about new taxes for D.C. residents, the politics of our fountains, and whether Rock Creek Tennis Center is going to be the...
What Does It Take To Make Our City Safer?
What does it take to make a dangerous street safer? That's what we're talking about today with Dan Reed. Dan is a transportation planner...
The Antidote to Your Humdrum Metro Rides
Have you ever sat on the Metro and wished it could transport you anywhere you dreamed? In her new novel Retro, D.C. author Jessica Goldst...
Trump’s Fourth of July, Reflecting Pool Charges, and an Historic Hotel Demolished
City Cast’s Emma Uber and contributor Marc Fisher are here to talk about the Fourth of July weekend in retrospect, the latest on the Refl...