Jason Roberts – Beware a Dedicated Group of Amateurs – TEDxSMU 2016
Jason Roberts and his neighbors broke some ordinances and took their street back. Then they published a fake website to get the streetcar back. Then Jason took the show on the road, traveling the world and addressing our desires for places we love, finding the beauty in our everyday, creating romance in unexpected places, and building on an intimate scale. Jason and his team have used technology to put place making in the hands of the individuals in communities who want to make change. Jason Roberts is originator of the Better Block, founder of the Oak Cliff Transit Authority, co-founder of the Art Conspiracy and Bike Friendly Oak Cliff, and candidate for U.S. Congress. In 2006, Jason formed the nonprofit, Oak Cliff Transit Authority, to revive the Dallas streetcar system, and later spearheaded the city’s effort in garnering a $23 million TIGER stimulus grant from the FTA to help reintroduce a modern streetcar system to Dallas. In 2010, Jason organized a series of Better Block projects, taking blighted blocks with vacant properties in Southern Dallas and converting them into temporary walkable districts with pop-up businesses, bike lanes, cafe seating, and landscaping. The project has now become an international movement, and has been featured in the New York Times, Dwell magazine, and National Public Radio. Jason was given a Champions of Change award from the White House in 2012.