In this Small Block, Chip sits down with Nolan Marshall of the Social District in downtown Los Angeles to talk about Pico — the district’s “Canine Experience Officer” and an important member of the Ambassador team.

What begins as a conversation about a dog quickly becomes something deeper: a conversation about place identity, emotional connection, and the surprisingly powerful role symbols can play in shaping how people relate to neighborhoods — and to each other.

Some places become instantly recognizable through culture, history, food, music, or iconic public figures. But what happens when a district intentionally tries to create a face people can connect with? Through Pico, the Social District may have stumbled onto something more meaningful than branding: a vehicle for fun, recognition, and human-scale connection in the middle of a large and complicated city.

It’s a short conversation about mascots… that turns out to be about community joy.

Episode Links

The Social District

PICO’s Corner

Peacoat Project

Downtowns exist in tension.

Public and private. Civic and commercial. Open and managed. They are places where strangers negotiate coexistence in real time — and where questions around trust, authority, belonging, and safety become deeply visible.

In this episode, Chip sits down with Shane Zahn, Director of Community Safety for the Minneapolis Downtown Council and Downtown Improvement District, for a thoughtful conversation about public safety, civic stewardship, and the evolving role of downtown organizations in one of the most scrutinized public environments in the country.

Together, they explore the complicated space between public and private responsibility, how trust in institutions has shifted in recent years, and what it means to steward public space in communities where safety is experienced differently by different people.

This conversation touches on:

• the evolving role of Business Improvement Districts

• legitimacy and accountability in public space

• safety as both operational and emotional infrastructure

• Minneapolis in the wake of George Floyd and Operation Metro Surge

• the challenge of rebuilding trust in complex civic systems

More than a conversation about policing or enforcement, this episode asks a broader question:

How do we steward public spaces people can trust?

Episode Links

Mpls Downtown Improvement District

Minnesota Justice Research Center

Block by Block

Downtown Community Storage

Drone First Responder

Axon Body Cam

IKE Smart City

Civicity

Stay Connected Occasional notes and ideas from Big Creative: sidewalkballet.com

To Celebrate Jane Jacob's Birthday, Sidewalk Ballet is launching a new series of bonus episodes that we are calling Small Blocks. Short stories about people and places that you can listen to when you just have a few minutes.

Our first Small Block comes from Susan Hughes, a Children's book writer from Toronto and her story about, well, Jane.

Susan Hughes

Kids Can Press

Valerie Boivin Illustration

Janes Walk

Jane’s Walk SF

Support The Sidewalk Ballet If this work resonates, you can support the show: buymeacoffee.com/sidewalkballet

Stay Connected Occasional notes and ideas from Big Creative: sidewalkballet.com