What your web developer won't tell you: AI Aggregation and Zero-Click Searches
Search behavior has changed permanently. Here's what web developers must do so content gets parsed, cited, and delivered in an AI-aggregated web.
AI
DDA
How Downtown Boards Handle Conflict of Interest and Self-Dealing
DDA boards regularly face situations where a member benefits from board decisions. Here's how to structure disclosure, recusal, and governance to protect public trust and prevent legal problems.
Downtown Revitalization
Political Palatability: The Fifth Filter of Highest and Best Use in Small Towns
Small towns need a fifth filter when evaluating highest and best use, political palatability. A project that is legal, physical, financial, and productive can still fail if the public will not support it.
How Downtown Boards Should Track and Measure Success
Vision plans and strategy documents are meaningless without measurement. Here's how downtown boards track whether revitalization is actually working.
Keeping Existing Downtown Merchants Through Revitalization
Downtown revitalization often displaces the merchants who survived the downturn. Here's how boards can retain existing businesses and create pathways for entrepreneurs to stay and grow.
Historic Preservation Tax Credits and How Georgia Boards Use Them
Georgia's historic preservation tax credits represent one of the largest downtown financing tools available. Here's how boards use them, why they work, and what to watch for.
When a Downtown Event Strategy Builds Economic Development, and When It Doesn't
A practical look at when downtown events create lasting district value and when they mostly generate temporary foot traffic without durable redevelopment impact.
Test Before You Build: Using Tactical Urbanism to Prove Downtown Capital Projects (Georgia Edition)
A Georgia-focused guide to using low-cost tactical urbanism pilots to validate streetscape and downtown capital projects before committing permanent funds.
Structuring Public-Private Partnerships in Georgia Downtown Projects
A practical Georgia-focused guide to structuring downtown public-private partnerships without tripping over legal or financial pitfalls.
Tax Allocation Districts: The Best way to fund a DDA for Downtown Revitalization
Traditional DDA funding shifts with politics and grants come with rigid rules. A Tax Allocation District directly captures the value a board creates and reinvests it into the district.
Walkability as Economic Infrastructure: Measuring ROI for Streetscape Investments (Georgia Edition)
A Georgia-focused guide to treating sidewalks, street trees, and streetscape improvements as real economic infrastructure with measurable returns.
PILOTs and Bond-for-Title Deals: How Georgia DDAs Structure Property Tax Abatements
A Georgia-focused guide to how DDAs use leasehold structures, PILOT agreements, and bond-for-title transactions to create lawful property tax abatements, grounded in a real Downtown Griffin mill redevelopment.
Unlocking Abandoned Lots: A Georgia Guide to Land Banks and Infill Development
A Georgia-focused guide to using land banks, in rem foreclosure, and redevelopment agreements to return abandoned lots to productive use.
Using Drones for Downtown Economic Development and Property Inspections
Drones reduce inspection costs, improve property marketing, and provide high-resolution data for downtown redevelopment decisions.
Why Small Downtowns Need a Redevelopment Site Pipeline, Not Just a Vision Plan
A practical case for moving from broad downtown visioning to a live shortlist of real sites, real owners, and real next steps.
A Practical Playbook for Adaptive Reuse Deals: From Blighted Building to Bankable Project (Georgia Edition)
A Georgia-focused framework for turning distressed downtown buildings into financeable adaptive reuse projects.
The Georgia Rural Zone Playbook: How Small Downtowns Stack Three State Tax Credits
A Georgia-focused guide to using Rural Zone job, investment, and rehabilitation tax credits to close financing gaps in small downtown redevelopment deals.
How Opportunity Zones and Enterprise Zones Work in Georgia Downtowns
A practical Georgia-focused guide to the difference between Opportunity Zones and Enterprise Zones, and when each tool is useful in a downtown redevelopment strategy.
Why Small Downtown Parking Studies Often Solve the Wrong Problem
A Georgia-focused argument for treating downtown parking as a management and walkability issue before spending public money on more supply.
Economic Development
Keeping Existing Downtown Merchants Through Revitalization
Downtown revitalization often displaces the merchants who survived the downturn. Here's how boards can retain existing businesses and create pathways for entrepreneurs to stay and grow.
When a Downtown Event Strategy Builds Economic Development, and When It Doesn't
A practical look at when downtown events create lasting district value and when they mostly generate temporary foot traffic without durable redevelopment impact.
How to Use Hotel-Motel Tax Revenue Without Confusing Tourism With Redevelopment
A practical Georgia-focused guide to what hotel-motel tax revenue can realistically support, and where local boards should avoid treating it like a general downtown redevelopment fund.
How Opportunity Zones and Enterprise Zones Work in Georgia Downtowns
A practical Georgia-focused guide to the difference between Opportunity Zones and Enterprise Zones, and when each tool is useful in a downtown redevelopment strategy.
Local Government Technology
How to Build a Safe Staging and Production Workflow for a Static Site with GitHub Pages
A practical way to separate review from production for a static or Jekyll site using GitHub Pages, GitHub Actions, and branch-based promotion.
How Downtown Boards Handle Conflict of Interest and Self-Dealing
DDA boards regularly face situations where a member benefits from board decisions. Here's how to structure disclosure, recusal, and governance to protect public trust and prevent legal problems.
What Local Government Boards Should Ask About Cybersecurity Before Buying Software
A practical checklist for local boards that need to evaluate software risk without pretending every board member is a security expert.
What a $50 Startup Taught Me About Running a Public Board
Seventeen years of self-funded startup discipline, doing more with less, cutting waste, and building for performance, translates directly to how public boards should manage technology spending and operations.
How Local Government Boards Can Vet Software Vendors and Custom Builds
Tech jargon and vague vendor promises often lead to budget overruns or unusable systems. Here is a framework for vetting software proposals and protecting public dollars.
What your web developer won't tell you: AI Aggregation and Zero-Click Searches
Search behavior has changed permanently. Here's what web developers must do so content gets parsed, cited, and delivered in an AI-aggregated web.
Using Drones for Downtown Economic Development and Property Inspections
Drones reduce inspection costs, improve property marketing, and provide high-resolution data for downtown redevelopment decisions.
Why Most Local Government Websites Fail the People Who Actually Need Them
A practical framework for treating a local government website like public infrastructure instead of a branding exercise.
Public Finance
Political Palatability: The Fifth Filter of Highest and Best Use in Small Towns
Small towns need a fifth filter when evaluating highest and best use, political palatability. A project that is legal, physical, financial, and productive can still fail if the public will not support it.
How Downtown Boards Should Track and Measure Success
Vision plans and strategy documents are meaningless without measurement. Here's how downtown boards track whether revitalization is actually working.
Historic Preservation Tax Credits and How Georgia Boards Use Them
Georgia's historic preservation tax credits represent one of the largest downtown financing tools available. Here's how boards use them, why they work, and what to watch for.
How to Use Hotel-Motel Tax Revenue Without Confusing Tourism With Redevelopment
A practical Georgia-focused guide to what hotel-motel tax revenue can realistically support, and where local boards should avoid treating it like a general downtown redevelopment fund.
What Local Government Boards Should Ask About Cybersecurity Before Buying Software
A practical checklist for local boards that need to evaluate software risk without pretending every board member is a security expert.
Test Before You Build: Using Tactical Urbanism to Prove Downtown Capital Projects (Georgia Edition)
A Georgia-focused guide to using low-cost tactical urbanism pilots to validate streetscape and downtown capital projects before committing permanent funds.
What a $50 Startup Taught Me About Running a Public Board
Seventeen years of self-funded startup discipline, doing more with less, cutting waste, and building for performance, translates directly to how public boards should manage technology spending and operations.
Structuring Public-Private Partnerships in Georgia Downtown Projects
A practical Georgia-focused guide to structuring downtown public-private partnerships without tripping over legal or financial pitfalls.
How Local Government Boards Can Vet Software Vendors and Custom Builds
Tech jargon and vague vendor promises often lead to budget overruns or unusable systems. Here is a framework for vetting software proposals and protecting public dollars.
Tax Allocation Districts: The Best way to fund a DDA for Downtown Revitalization
Traditional DDA funding shifts with politics and grants come with rigid rules. A Tax Allocation District directly captures the value a board creates and reinvests it into the district.
Walkability as Economic Infrastructure: Measuring ROI for Streetscape Investments (Georgia Edition)
A Georgia-focused guide to treating sidewalks, street trees, and streetscape improvements as real economic infrastructure with measurable returns.
PILOTs and Bond-for-Title Deals: How Georgia DDAs Structure Property Tax Abatements
A Georgia-focused guide to how DDAs use leasehold structures, PILOT agreements, and bond-for-title transactions to create lawful property tax abatements, grounded in a real Downtown Griffin mill redevelopment.
A Practical Playbook for Adaptive Reuse Deals: From Blighted Building to Bankable Project (Georgia Edition)
A Georgia-focused framework for turning distressed downtown buildings into financeable adaptive reuse projects.
The Georgia Rural Zone Playbook: How Small Downtowns Stack Three State Tax Credits
A Georgia-focused guide to using Rural Zone job, investment, and rehabilitation tax credits to close financing gaps in small downtown redevelopment deals.
Public Service
Why Most Local Government Websites Fail the People Who Actually Need Them
A practical framework for treating a local government website like public infrastructure instead of a branding exercise.
Redevelopment Strategy
Unlocking Abandoned Lots: A Georgia Guide to Land Banks and Infill Development
A Georgia-focused guide to using land banks, in rem foreclosure, and redevelopment agreements to return abandoned lots to productive use.
Why Small Downtowns Need a Redevelopment Site Pipeline, Not Just a Vision Plan
A practical case for moving from broad downtown visioning to a live shortlist of real sites, real owners, and real next steps.
Why Small Downtown Parking Studies Often Solve the Wrong Problem
A Georgia-focused argument for treating downtown parking as a management and walkability issue before spending public money on more supply.
Web Development
How to Build a Safe Staging and Production Workflow for a Static Site with GitHub Pages
A practical way to separate review from production for a static or Jekyll site using GitHub Pages, GitHub Actions, and branch-based promotion.