Watch as Jason Roberts Spreads the Gospel of Building a Better Block on the OU Campus

Whilst browsing through the YouTube moments ago I stumbled across the video you see above, which was just posted by the TEDx'ers: Jason Roberts on the OU campus talking, at times breathlessly, about how to build a better block on January 27. It's but the first in a long line...

By Robert Wilonsky

February 21, 2012

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Whilst browsing through the YouTube moments ago I stumbled across the video you see above, which was just posted by the TEDx'ers: Jason Roberts on the OU campus talking, at times breathlessly, about how to build a better block on January 27. It's but the first in a long line of similar presentations Roberts is giving this year; he did TEDxAUSTIN just a couple of weeks later.

I asked Roberts this morning about the reactions to his presentation. Following the OU talk, he said, "A ton of people came up afterwards and were excited about this idea of communities coming together and creating solutions rapidly. The frustration we have in Dallas is the same frustration everywhere: We're meeting to death, we're planning to death, we're just talking. They can't move fast enough to make these changes permanent."

In coming weeks the gospel will spread -- to McComb, Mississippi, and Wichita, Kansas, and San Antonio. In all of those places, says Roberts, "streets have been widened so much, and regulations restrict how they can be used. One thing I've learned is: We're not in this alone. This process is revealing that to a lot of people. And this isn't about the paint, the pop-up shops, the cafe seating. It's getting everyone in a room to talk about problems and put together solutions in days, not years."

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