Alex Rodriguez and Danny Lapin: Reactivating a Historic Space for the Whole Community

In this episode of the Bottom-Up Revolution podcast, we’ve got another fantastic, inspiring duo: Strong Towns members Alex Rodriguez and Danny Lapin.  Together, they’re part of a historic preservation, revitalization, community building, business incubating project in the town of Lexington, NY, called Lexington Arts and Science.

It all starts with Alex beginning to fix up a historic property called Lexington House. That turned into providing pop-up space for local businesses, room for local arts creation and a vision for a renewed community hub in this historic town. Danny, who’s an environmental planner and representative on the Otsego County board near Lexington, got plugged into Alex’s project, and he’s bringing his knowledge of local regulations to help with the process—and hopefully clear some of those regulations away so this project can flourish.

What you’ll hear in this conversation is Alex and Danny’s deep dedication to taking small bets and incrementally strengthening their community. They’re tapping into the history of their place, while also building on the strength and passion of their neighbors here and now.

Whether you’re interested in supporting local business growth, revitalization historic spaces or investing in community development—these are all key aspects of building Strong Towns. And Alex and Danny are approaching this work with a bottom-up mindset, rooted in their place.  Like all of our guests on this show, Alex and Danny are people who genuinely care about their town and stepped up to make it stronger.

Additional Show Notes

• Lexington Arts and Science website

• Lexington Arts and Science on Instagram

• Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity by Charles Marohn

• Advice, case studies and tools for ending parking minimums in your town

• Send us your own voicemail about the small (or big) thing you’re doing to make your town stronger. Just record a voice memo on your phone and email it to rachel@strongtowns.org.

• Subscribe to The Bottom-Up Revolution on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Podbean, or via RSS.

• Support this show and our many other resources for helping your town grow stronger by becoming a member today.