New York’s Bracket And The Politics Of Maintenance

In New York City, a playful bracket about broken hoops and dumping sites turns routine maintenance into a citywide tournament. Carlee Alm-LaBar, Edward Erfurt, and Alexander Lazard explore what that reveals about complaint driven 311 systems, how priorities really get set, and which neighborhoods get left off the board entirely. Their conversation presses on whether mayors can turn one clever contest into lasting trust instead of a one week story. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES " Mayor Mamdani Launches March Madness-style Competition for City Fixes " by Spectrum News Staff, NY1.com (March 2026) " Municipal Madness: Mayor Mamdani Performs Winning City Fix, Cleans Up Illegal Dumping in Soundview on Day 100 " (Article) " Mamdani, Leaning Into ‘Sewer Socialism,’ Gets His Hands Dirty " (Article) Downzone: " Mary Colter: Builder Upon the Red Earth " by Virginia L. Grattan (Book) "The Image of the City" by Kevin Lynch (Book) "How Big Things Get Done" by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner (Book) Strong Towns National Gathering (Site) Carlee Alm-LaBar (LinkedIn) Edward Erfurt (LinkedIn) Alexander Lazard (LinkedIn) Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom . This podcast is made possible by Strong Towns members. Click here to learn more about membership.

You can listen to New York’s Bracket And The Politics Of Maintenance online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

New York’s Bracket And The Politics Of Maintenance is an episode from Upzoned by Strong Towns.

This episode is 40:54 long.

This episode was published on Apr 22, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Upzoned when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.