There's nothing more relatable than feeling like the government is two steps behind the needs of its neighborhoods. I feel that every time I instinctively brace for that pothole I bike over daily, or when I have to stand forever at the bus stop that doesn't have a bench (in this heat!??!? no thank you).

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.

In this week's episode of "Your City Could Be Better", 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. She's literally filled a pothole herself! With a vigilante pothole supergroup 👀

You’ve heard of the Nashville bench builders — now get ready for the Chattanooga pothole fillers, sidewalk layers, and (literal) trail blazers.

Also 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