The Henry George Program: Recent Episodes
Mark Mollineaux
Kirsten Bladh, of Open New York, and previously of Streets for All, talks about her experience with SB79 getting passed in Sacramento, and how unfortunate sacrifices were made for transit value capture. Discussion on whether transit agencies are really fighting for themselves, reforming local control, transit governance reform, and inevitable talk about Cincinnati
ve lost; what can we learn from this erosion of public infrastructure, and what do we need to do to build something better?
Something new: an attempt at actually creating an introductory episode to Land Value Tax. Why should anyone care?
, is here to discuss to discuss this almost invisible history of combining greenspace with dense low-rise apartments. We cover the radical ideology (georgist and otherwise) that inspired this movement, compare it against European social housing, and discuss how it actually came into action in the New Deal and beyond. Special focus on the secret history of Section 608, and how subtle policy details in government insurance of mortgages for rental apartments turbo-charged their production. What can we learn from this for the future of production of missing middle, social housing, and more?
, which documents the complicated political territory in various metros and sub-metros that led to the birth of BARTD. We also discuss the rise of municipal ownership in bus agencies, real estate development, land value capture, sprawl, and much more.
We have on Daniel Wortel-London to discuss his new book "The Menace of Prosperity: New York City and the Struggle for Economic Development, 1865–1981", which covers a century of ideological evolution as to urban economics, growth strategies, the georgist movement, sprawl, and much more; in what ways can the political topography of 19th century urban politics still tell us about the future of modern cities?
Everybody's talking about Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson's 'Abundance', the book about the future of a Democratic Party politics about building more; we have on Chirag Lala (director of energy for the Center of Public Enterprise) and Adriana Rizzo (of Californians for Electric Rail, among other hats worn) to talk about what the book does right, and what it misses; deep dive into energy policy, overview of its housing policy sins and omissions, and a loose discussion on its curious concept of politics.
The Center for Land Economics has just launched; its co-founder Greg Miller is here to talk about its mission to spread LVT, better judge assesssor offices, and explain how to work with state governments. We talk about state-level enabling legislation and constitutional hurdles, and much more.
Nicholas Laschkewitsch is with the American Coaster Enthusiasts (N. California chapter), and has been a lifelong fan of Santa Clara's amusement park, California's Great America. Until 2019, the city owned the land; just a few years after selling the land off, the operator resold the land for a profit and announced the closure of the park. We talk more about this, as well as larger issues of how urban areas and recreation coincide, the future of amusement parks, coaster NIMBYs, and much more.
Josh Junker is back with more info deep from Cincy archives: what can we learn from decades of development snafus in Cincinnati's core‒what does this mean for systems of private/public cooperation, and what could be done better? Also updates on how the Cincinnati municipal rail sale turned out, talk about interstate transit planning (Josh's op-ed here), and the surreal proposals that the city commissioned to use the subway for non-subway purposes (Josh proposes using the subway tunnels for subways).
"Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis: A Fable" (2024, Francis Ford Coppola) is a Christmas classic, but also offers a great deal of insight into 20th century urban issues, urban politics, de-slumming, liberal ideology, democracy, etc. What can this movie tell us about the boomer brain?
Part two of interview on transit costs: more focus on public-private partnerships, talking about how risk is managed/mismanaged in these arrangements, a case study on Shafter, CA, and talking about public ownership of right of way.
A deep-dive with Jordan Grimes and Derek of EB4E into affordable housing initiatives, the nitty-gritty of how the bonding for this operates, how to make regional affordable housing more efficient and accountable, and how Proposition 5, reducing anti-democratic measures against issuing bonds, will affect this for housing and transit. Sidelines on how to defeat realtors politically and more.
In part one of a super-charged episode, we have Eric Goldwyn of the Transit Costs Project on to discuss the recent publication, "How to Improve Domestic High-Speed Rail Project Delivery"; what practical political and policy changes do we need to scale up high-speed rail and more useful transit to more places?
Marc-William Palen is a historian and author of "Pax Economica: Left-Wing Visions of a Free Trade World"; he's on the show to discuss how free trade was once not the purview of neoliberals and free-traders, but rather a varied group of left-wing ideologues, from pacifists to georgists to feminists, and how these strains influenced key aspects of super-national institution-building, but foundered against the cold war and American hegemony. What can we learn as the modern GOP invokes McKinley-era tariffs as a new model?
Stephen Hoskins is on for a round of meta-discourse, as we try to classify and understand the many flavors of anti-yimbyism and anti-georgism for all corners for the ideological spectrum. With some discussion on New Zealand housing, and more‒
Christopher England is the author of "Land and Liberty: Henry George and the Crafting of Modern Liberalism", a history of the land reform movement in the time of Henry George and after‒today on the program, we talk about the contours of the political strategy and history covered in this text, in particular the make-or-break years of 1900-1920. How were "the interests" addressed, and what lessons does this have for us today?
Kevin Burke from East Bay for Everyone is here to talk about the latest in Housing Elements; we get into the weeds on how different jurisdictions have complied and struggled against the process, get into details on quantifying fair housing standards, talk about land value, and of course get into Builder's Remedy (which Kevin wrote about in the SF Chron in 2022.
Robert Fairbanks is here to talk about his 1988 book, "Making Better Citizens: Housing Reform and the Community Development Strategy in Cincinnati, 1890-1960"; we discuss the rise of the anti-slum movement, how it evolved from decade to decade owing to different ideological and political shifts, and how it resulted in wide-scale urban renewal and the displacement of countless residents. The environment here is Cincinnati, but with fairly universal relevance.
Rohin Ghosh has moved on to school in DC, and has been keeping busy by acquiring public office (!); he informs us all about how DC's ANCs work, as well as larger dynamics of housing in our nation's capital. Also talk on tenant organizing, as well what this means for democracy more generally.
Are you aware that it's possible to power trains from wires? It's more likely than you think; this and more, as our guest Adriana Rizzo (of Common Ground California and Californians for Electric Rail) writes in a new Streetsblog article. We talk all about electric trains, plus overall dynamics of the Inland Empire, and what UC grad students are doing to organize.
What can you find in Marin County other than redwoods? Is there is a future for people and nature co-existing? Is growth possible in such a slow-growth hotbed? Jenny Silva of Marin Environmental Housing Collaborative and Warren Wells of the Marin County Bicycle Coalition tell us all.
Professor David Colander was a co-creator of MAP: "A Market Anti-Inflation Plan", in the context of stagflation. We talk about the history and theory of this technical approach, how inflation can be understood as a political and institutional problem, and some of the other ways in which economics must be informed by an understanding of philosophy. Also featuring discussion on inflation for asset prices, including the conundrum of real estate.
New York City (famous city) is also famous for having notoriously screwy property taxes; we talk about the details of this convoluted system, how we got here, and how people are trying to make the system more equitable.
Everybody is talking about single stair reform AKA vertical shared access AKA point access blocks AKA skinny apartments etc etc etc... what's the big deal? Ed Mendoza of the Livable Communities Initiative is here to explain what it's all about, including a deeper dive about how it alleviates concerns over safety, etc, and what the costs of land assembly premiums are today. (Link to an article on land assembly mentioned in the ep)
Cincinnati is the only city that owns a railroad; they're looking to change this by selling it off permanently. Josh Junker is here to talk about all the ways this is imprudent. Discussion also about other transportation issues, including the incomplete subway, and working with hostile state government.
Theresa O'Connor is based in Chico, and shares about the rise of anti-homeless politics on city council, what people have been doing to face off against it; changes in shelter and sweeps policy based upon court rulings, and what's next to take back city council in Chico.
Darrell Owens is back to talk about the bills of 2022 in California: will Gavin sign the bills on parking minimum abolition and commercial upzoning? What happened when the public housing bill, AB2053, died? Also the new fast food sectoral bargaining bill
Cameron Murray is an Australian economist with critiques of the common conceptions of how development takes place, generally disregarding the role of developers to landbank. We dig into the details here, talk about the promise of public housing (but also the political challenges), and dig into controversies over his discussion of "supply crisis myths"
Colin Drumm (author of a fascinating dissertation on the history and theory of money and legitimacy) is here to talk about inflation indices and housing, and what it means for largely issues of equality, governance, and far more.
Andrew Crockett is the challenger to SCC assessor (and hgp bête noire) Larry Stone, and is promising to focus on housing, competence, and honesty as part of a modernization campaign. He's previously worked in the office, and talks both about what sorts of changes he can bring to the office within the constraints of Prop 13, etc, as well as some nuts-and-bolts explanation of the office's work.
Lars Doucet authored three exciting papers on the empirics of the land value tax and is here to talk about what he's learned, some of the controversies that have cropped up over some of the studies, and the future of using data to implement LVT in as rigorous a way as possible.
Alan Joyce is back on to talk about the San Diego Padres, how Joan Kroc was not allowed to donate the team to the city; how Petco Park was part of an ambitious city-directed real estate scheme, and the future of Major League Baseball, municipal finance, and land hustles.
Derek Sagehorn is the author of East Bay for Everyone's 2021 paper California Housing Corporation: The Case for a Public Developer, and is here to take about the overall case for a public houser as a way to create a more robust, equitable, and efficient housing industry, as well as new legislation taking up the issue: Alex Lee's AB2053 (californiasocialhousing.org). We also get into some talk about UC Berkeley's CEQA woes: how can we make environmental law work better?
California nearly toppled minimum parking laws last year, and will likely try again (bless the name of Shoup); some weird discourse arose around why this is a bad thing... because of value capture?!!? (???) Enter Michael Manville of UCLA Luskin who spoke out against this analysis; he's here to talking about the nuts and bolts of value capture paradigms and parking policy, what happens when we create planning that we don't really intend to use, and much more; how can we undo the knots of our parking nightmare?
"It's a Wonderful Life" (1946, Frank Capra) is a Christmas classic, but also offers a great deal of insight into 20th century urban issues, the ideology of self-improvement through homeownership, lines of credit, and ex-urban sprawl. Do we live in George Bailey's world today, and what does this mean for us?
Josh Albrektson of South Pasadena talks about his work fighting against illegality in his city's housing element, and how PlaceWorks is a contractor at the heart of a massive scheme to underbuild housing and make many rich. We also dig into the nuts-and-bolts of HCD's process, legislation to keep it on rails, and how people can keep our Housing Elements honest.
Gene Slater's new book is the secret history of Realtors, their role in create modern housing markets and politics, and importantly, their role for incubating racial segregation in our cities.How did Realtors manage to create a backlash against Fair Housing built around "freedom", establishing a California constitutional amendment, and laying the future of the modern right-wing?
Paul Williams has new article on public housing out, talking about the various potential space we have to explore the benefits of public ownership, with an emphasis on the bureaucratic apparatus we wield to achieve it; we talk about what this means for the future of economic justice in cities, and effective governance.
Darrell Owens is back to talk about the 2021 legislative wins (SB8, SB9, SB10) and losses (AB1401); and also to discuss the debut article on his new Substack ; what do we talk about when we talk about vacancies?
Patrick Condon, Vancouver-based urban design professor, published Sick City in the last year, which invited a good deal of controversy; though the book was all about overcrowding, inequality, and georgist theories of land rents, it was most rapturously praised by Livable California and various homeowner NIMBYs. Why? And can we agree with all the book's conclusions?
Rohin Ghosh was a high-schooler in Palo Alto just a few months ago, but has already had years of involvement in renter and houseless campaigns throughout the Peninsula, and is here to talk about what's it's like for teens in this crazy environment, as well as his perspective on the landscape of non-profits throughout the Peninsula, based on his work. Also talk about how cities are reflecting to RHNA allocations, tenant organizing in Palo Alto, and more
While moratoria expires federally, California has one more go-round of "eviction protections"; landlords get paid out 100%, but where exactly are tenants today? Shanti Singh of Tenants Together is back to talk about how Sacramento crafts tenant bills; also talk about how SF CLT's is held up by dismal city institutions.
Alex Contreras is from Downey, CA (southeast LA County), which is facing off against a freeway expansion, which will destroy homes and take away public space. Who's responsible, and how is Alex and everybody else in the Happy City Coalition organizing to stop it?
Jennifer Bradshaw is a housing activist in Vancouver, and is here to talk about how social housing and public housing works in her city, and the dismal politics that pits them against each other. Who controls property wealth, and how can we organize to achieve more equitable ends?
Derek Sagehorn of East Bay for Everyone and Common Ground California is the co-author of a paper on transit value capture, and is here to talk about the dismal history of Bay Area transit and recapturing land value, and its more rosy future. What is Link21, and why do we need to take on Prop 13 and Prop 218 to make it work? Also featuring a discussion of the sort of bad "value capture" beloved by lazy non-profits, and how they almost killed AB1401.
Alex Fisch is the mayor of Culver City, and a powerful poster on California Housing Twitter; we talk about projects within the city to improve the homelessness crisis, as well as recapture value from land value uplift; also talk about regional cooperation amongst the many governments, and how Culver City addresses its racist foundations a century ago
Shane Phillips of the UCLA Lewis Center is on to talk about his recent Atlantic article about the limitations of homeownership of a wealth-building tool; we also dig into his 2020 book "The Affordable City" and talk about what tools cities can use so that everything is less screwed up. Only the most controversial topics get discussed: vacancy studies, vacancy control/decontrol, the politics of rent control, home equity, generational inequities, and much much more
Ma’ayan Dembo, formerly of KZSU fame, is back on the airwaves to share her academic research, done in conjunction with ACT-LA, about alternatives to policing in transit. In Los Angeles as well as the Bay Area, what interventions are effective, what best works to actually make riders feel safe, and how does this integrate into the larger homelessness crisis?
We finally talk about McDonald's, and the big business of landowning with McDonald's expert Alan Joyce. How did the McDonald's Corporation leverage land speculation to grow faster than its competitors? What special relationships did the rise of McDonald's have in common with suburbanization? And should McDonald's just go all-in on becoming a REIT?
The Embarcadero Institute is a think tank based in Palo Alto, producing slick-looking white papers about how California doesn't need so much housing, actually. Stan Oklobdzija, research director for CA YIMBY, is on to pick apart the claims these papers make. We talk shop on headship rates, RHNA adjustments, derpy quadratic fits, and much more.
Senator Stanley Chang is here from Hawaii to talk about Aloha Homes, a proposal to import what works about Singapore-style public housing (cheap, dense condos built on public land). History about housing and land in Hawaii, including its public trust model.
Palo Alto has a large park that has a unique ban on non-residents. They're changing this prohibition... but not if Lydia Kou's referendum has anything to say about it. We have on former Palo Alto councilmember Cory Wolbach to talk about the history of this park, the legal challenge which Palo Alto settled but may resurrect, and how this fits into the particular ideology of many Palo Alto residents: “Residentialism”.
It's been a painful election in many ways (Prop 15 losing, Prop 22 winning), and local races were a mixed bag. Darrell Owens of East Bay for Everyone is one to give a post-mortem. For obvious reasons, we get to talking about municipal annexation, vacancy rate controversies, and value capture.
We check back with Shanti Singh of Tenants Together to find out about Gavin Newsom's eviction moratorium and its many flaws, talk about how this relates to the financialization of housing, and talk about action plans between here and February.
There's one wild race in the South Bay for the state senate, in which one candidate took dubious positions on housing, labor, taxes, and more... but still got the endorsement of Barack Obama. We talk about this race and more, with Prop 15 advocate Natasha Cougoule and transit advocate Monica Mallon; what's the deal with Prop 22, how do local and national political organizations align and depart ... and what's the role for young people in the changing political landscape?
It's election time! We have on Angie Evans and Jordan Grimes of Peninsula for Everyone to talk about each of the roughly 1,000 city council elections up and down the peninsula, plus local and statewide ballot measures... as well as discursions into the weird and woolly world of housing.
John Lashlee is running for Mountain View City Council on a Democratic Socialist Platform; we talk about what this means, in terms of creating a "snowballing" effect for municipal housing policy, police issues, and economic justice for residents. We also talk some theory, getting a marxist perspective to housing policy.
Darrell Owens of East Bay for Everyone is back, and answering the big questions: is disinvestment in minority neighborhoods the right approach for anti-gentrification (no); are there Black anti-tenant NIMBYs in SoCal who get confused for anti-gentrification advocates (yes); are duplexes scary (listen to find out). Finally, hear about Berkeley becoming the first US city to take the police out of traffic enforcement
Jordan Grimes has been live-tweeting Livable California calls over the last year, and comes on the show to share his insights into the ideology and political framework of California's NIMBY conspiracy. Learn more about Joel Kotkin, Jeffersonianism, what 'WIMBYs' are, and what the left should do about it. Also some brief updates on anti-eviction bills and whatever the hell was going on with Caltrain.
Chris Beiser is back to talk about his recent article on Administration Markets; we talk what this means for the bureaucracies we see all around us. Topics covered: structured competition in South Korea, Estonian e-residency, automation, railroad standards, Zume pizza, railroad standards, city planning, and the role for risk and debt during the COVID crisis.
We're in the midst of an eviction crisis in the danger of getting much, much worse. Shanti Singh of Tenants Together is on to talk about what is getting done, and what can be done to stop this. (We agree not to go at each other's throats about land-use for an entire show!) Talk about local-level, state-level, and federal-level interventions; talk about neoliberal vs forward-looking approaches to remedy tenant issues, and on the struggle to organize tenants and build power.
Max and I check in with San Francisco, in the aftermath of COVID, and discover it's still cursed. Talk about its aesthetic identity, the baffling lack of ideology of the progs, and more.
Laksh Bhasin (of the SF Berniecrats) is a co-author of the SF Community Housing Act, which looks to cross-subsidize public housing so that the city can operate units with less dependence on the vagaries of federal financing. We talk the nuts and bolts of the policy, interesting new ways it empowers its tenants, its political challenges, as well as the future of Article 34.
COVID has nuked tax receipts, and cities are hurting; what patterns do we see in their budget crises, and what can we do to avoid a new regime of austerity?
Monica Mallon is a SJSU student and transit advocate, active in the plans to improve regional buses and more before COVID, and now active in trying to best help our transit agencies as we deal with a transit-unfriendly crisis.
Coronavirus is throwing the housing world upside-down; we talk to Darrell Owens and Derek Sagehorn of East Bay for Everyone and freelance writer Diego Aguilar-Canabal about the turmoil. Discussion about eviction moratoria, public housing, rent suspensions, municipal budgets, and more
Discussing MMT, other currency theories, and more, with some focus on Silvio Gesell; recorded a mere month ago, from a very different pre-COVID world, but more relevant than ever--
Victoria Fierce tells all about what it's like to serve on the RHNA Methodology Committee, her election to the Dem Central Committee, and how it fits in with an anarchist outlook.
Sacramento passed state-wide protections to limit rent increases and prevent just cause evictions, a real win for renters. BUT: various loopholes led to the need for a series of urgency ordinances on a city-by-city basis to prevent last-minute evictions. We hear from Stasha Powell, tenant activist (of One Redwood City) and Jordan Grimes (of Peninsula for Everyone) to hear about these actions, and some general thoughts about the challenges of implementation, and the future of tenant rights in California and beyond.
Roberta Ahlquist (of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom) and Jeff Levinsky (of Palo Alto Matters) are on the show to talk about the aftermath of the evictions at the President Hotel, where AJ Capital is still attempting for a hotel conversion, and we hear background on the Palo Alto Tenants Union.
Derek Sagehorn (of East Bay for Everyone) has been raising awareness for Prop 13 Split Roll (Schools and Communities First) through a series of walking tours, writing articles, and now comes on the show to discuss the nuances of the law, the urgent need to get this revenue to the cities who need it, the history of the political coalitions behind Prop 13, and more.
San Francisco is cursed, and leaves everybody with a no-win decision between lacklustre "progressives" and incrementalist moderates. Why is this so, and what can be done about it? We use material analysis to learn more. Chatter about the November election.
Alex Nunez is a housing equity advocate for Cafecito and the Housing Justice Coalition, he's here to talk about the recent RV Ordinances in Mountain View, and discuss paths for real and effective anti-displacement programs.
Kelsey Banes is a leading voice for housing production in Palo Alto, while working in supplying support for our neediest: the homeless. How are the systems of supplying both affordable and market-rate housing related to the needs and struggles of those who are housing insecure, and what can we do to help?
Does landownership matter in agriculture? Turns out it does! Crop scientist and podcaster ("Farm to Taber") Sarah Taber is on the program to talk about how landownership drives power dynamics, creates inefficient classes of exploitative family farms, while destroying the environment. Showcasing approaches and technologies that deliver more productive and more sustainable results, from labor practices to alternate forms of ownership and tenure.
The legendary book about a fatal love of highways, the drive for land acquisition, and the seductive world of municipal bonds.
Diego Aguilar-Canabal comes on the show to speak on his article about how an anti-public-housing movement began with Oakland homeowners, and Jordan Grimes discusses how the constitutional amendment that came out of this movement still affects affordable housing programs today. We talk about the unsuccessful Supreme Court challenge to this amendment, and rant for a while about how dumb dead-ends in leftist discourse undermine a future in which we are able to build public housing again.
Ray Wang, a Cupertino planning commissioner, threatened to get Richard Mehlinger fired, after a hubbub over a NextDoor post in which Mr. Wang called YIMBYs "fascists". We discuss the story, what it means for participation in local democracy, with some tangents, on the real nature of fascism.
Talking politics, both with the exciting new white paper with all the best policy proposals (including land value tax), and some fun discussion on the dem candidates' housing plans.
It's easy to take highway funding and construction as a natural and unavoidable fact, but in reality it's people behind it. In Clayton Nall's book "The Road to Inequality: How the Federal Highway Program Polarized America and Undermined Cities", the nitty-gritty of what this did to our politics is explored in depth. We are joined with Alex Baca, who explores the relationship of highway funding to the viability of the left in America.
SB50 is stalled for a year, but we recorded this just before, as we see efforts to block it underway by our favorite Palo Alto NIMBYs, aided by ostensibly woke anti-gentrification groups in direct coordination with homeowners. But mostly, about Lydia Kou being bad on twitter.
Lenny Siegel served on the Mountain View City Council from 2014-2018, serving one term as mayor, and has been a lifelong activist for progressive causes. How has Mountain View been able to address equitable solutions for housing better than its neighbors, and how can it do more? We also debate the contentious issue of local control, with Pardis Beikzadeh and David Watson of South Bay YIMBY saying that state intervention is necessary, and Lenny saying that other (perhaps bigger) solutions are needed.
Sasha Perigo is co-chair of the Homelessness Working Group for SF DSA, and has worked in the past for fair housing in Marin County. What can we learn from sharing this perspective with Darrell Owens's activism in the East Bay, as well as a view from Silicon Valley, where the show is recorded? Plenty to talk about regional issues, as well as tenant solidarity as well as other socialists views on housing justice.
What's mightier, redistributing land vs building more housing? Are these ideologies necessarily at ends, and what's their respective roles in the current housing scene? Sonja Trauss of SFBARF/SF YIMBY/CaRLA makes the case that georgists are too focused on taxing the land to see that zoning needs reformed. Other topics are broached, from property rights, political orgs, and whether sweeping wealth redistribution is needed (we quickly agree it is).
It's been about a year since the Stanford land-use/housing justice activism group SCoPE 2035 (Stanford Coalition for Planning an Equitable 2035) has been on, and there's a lot to catch up on: campus protests against university lawsuits, more challenges for housing Stanford employees, university dealings with Palo Alto, and more; we hear all about the challenges and advantages of being a group made out of current (overworked) Stanford students.
Holly Balcom tells us how, compared to the Bay Area, Portland, Oregon does so many things better: better cooperation between land-use groups and tenant groups, coherent regional government, an anti-sprawl Urban Growth Boundary, and even the exploration of land taxes. However, pushing back against suburban conformity and exclusion, NIMBYism, and unaffordability is very much an active challenge, and Holly lets us know about what's been going well, and what still needs attention in Portland.
Chris Beiser runs the facebook meme group "Georgist Memes for Land Value Taxation Teens", and comments both upon the modern phenomenon of Image Macros as a way to spread ideas, as well as the functional value of ideology, the implications of modern technology with the evolution of ideology, and the special role of Georgism to navigate ideological rifts in the modern landscape.
We continue the CASA talk by talking about the infighting, the disappointments, and most importantly, the cartoonish villainry we've seen. Rants about the CAA, Realtors, ranking NIMBY cities into a hierarchy of awfulness, and picking apart why some YIMBYs can't figure out how to get onboard with tenants rights.
The CASA Compact is the "grand bargain" that could transform housing and tenant protections throughout the Bay Area. But what are the details? We pick apart the ten pillars and anticipate some of what we'll see in Part II of this series: CASA, the Drama.
We've talked Cupertino on the program before, but never with a native.... until now (!) JR Fruen talks about the relationship between council and Better Cupertino, Mayor Scharf's comments on "building a wall around Cupertino", irregularities around commission appointments, and what all those lawsuits are all about.
Alex Baca has plenty to say about the shortcomings of the Green New Deal platform, with respect to the waste that comes from our land use decisions. We're also joined by Ollie Zhu, as we probe key questions about equity (for whomst?), chat about rust belt urbanism, and talk about the challenges of grow-the-pie solutions being balanced against zero-sum battles.
Quakers (The Religious Society of Friends) have for centuries combined a radical commitment to personality morality with works in the world, including reforming economic life. This continues today, as we talk to Olivia Hanks, program manager for the Quaker Peace & Social Witness "New Economy" project, looking at overturning the inequities of modern economic life, looking to bring natural resources in common and create a sustainable world for future generations.
Vancouver is a city with housing policies that are the dream of the Bay Area, with an recent end to single-family zoning as well as stronger tenant protections, but yet exclusion and tenant instability still persist. What more could Vancouver do to address this, and could a move by City Council to introduce a Land Value Tax help? Jennifer Bradshaw talks about this, her work in housing activism, why housing opportunity matters to those who desperately need it, and why high vacancy rates are good for renters.
Alex Schafran discusses his new book, which is about the new style of segregation we see throughout the greater Bay Area (even beyond the Altamont Pass), how even well-meaning people helped create it, and what changes to our politics we need to find our way out.
Max is back on, and we talk about the grievance culture of those fighting to preserve "Local Control," focusing on the extreme measures being taken by the League of California Cities to preserve the rights of Beverly Hills and Palo Alto. Nuttiness ensues.
Darrell Owens, housing advocate wunderkind travels from the East Bay to share his experiences dealing with class and racial segregation reinforced by our land-use policy, and also finds time to rant about transit, blind spots in otherwise progressive policy, and so much more...
So, the election happened. Diego comes on the show (via a telephone submerged in molasses, sorry listeners) to talk about the good news in the East Bay and disappointing news in SF (including how this was tied to the shocking failure of Mayor Breed and Scott Wiener to endorse Prop C). Some South Bay election updates, though expect more in future weeks for all the in-depth details...
We cover city council elections in the major Santa Clara County cities, along with local measures, county-level elections, and the state propositions. Jason Uhlenkott is here to explain how South Bay YIMBY endorsed all the races, and we try to analyze all the major policy decisions.
Rent stabilization may seem simple, but as Yonathan Randolph lays out in his recent article, it interacts with a body of legal precedent that reflects what "fair rate of return" a landlord shall receive. What exactly does this mean for rent stabilization programs, and how does this compare to other powers (such as that to tax) to take land rents away from landlords?
What taxes should Disney parks owe, and to whom (considering that in Florida, they literally are the government). And does Disney resemble a NIMBY in how they resist residential equity in their enterprises? These questions are pondered with guest Alan Joyce, Disney Park aficionado.
Ollie Zhu is based out of San Jose, and is active in housing, through the Silicon Valley DSA and beyond. We talk about what it means for tenants to build power, the pitfalls of depending upon non-profits in place of bottom-up organization, the challenges of Silicon Valley's housing situation, and what the left could stand to articulate better about housing.
Max Kapczynski of Palo Alto Forward is back to talk about the eviction process at Palo Alto's President Hotel, but first off: talk about the Cupertino head tax and the Cupertino hyperloop. What is it? Is it a savvy method of bringing Bay Area transit into the 21st century, or is it a ridiculous boondoggle (spoiler: it is a ridiculous boondoggle).
Simon McKenna, a member of the Henry George Foundation and a contributor to Land & Liberty magazine, has been advising the QPSW (Quaker Peace & Social Witness Central Committee) on their new economy project. What would a more moral economy look like, with reference to land, and why does Simon believe that talk about natural rights is unlikely to move us in a positive direction?
Jordan Grimes is an activist for housing and transporation in San Mateo, where efforts to add housing capacity are often met with hostility from homeowners, who often trace the city's problems to an influx of tech workers. Jordan, though, is a San Matean born and raised. Paul Leone also joins the program to talk about how San Mateo thwarts affordable housing. We talk process and policy, including the extension of Measure P, to set a hard limit on possible density.
We talk Sunnyvale with Richard Mehlinger of Livable Sunnyvale, and Max Kapczynski of Palo Alto Forward. Sunnyvale still has a corn field, which is going to be developed... into single family homes (?!?!?!). We talk why, as well as the history and latest with the evictions of the Blue Bonnet mobile home park, to be turned into relatively low-density townhomes. Who bears the weight of change in Sunnyvale, and why? Too, we talk about the future of expanding tenant protections to Sunnyvale renters through a 12-Month Lease program, and how Catholic social teachings have influenced Richard's thinking.
Gregory Stevens was a pastor at Palo Alto First Baptist until a series of tweets about Palo Alto's failure to actually address its moral failings was shared with City Council, leading to his resignation. He's on to talk about the anarchist, anti-capitalist message of Christ, what it means to actually practice this moral vision, and why Palo Alto isn't doing it.
Glen Weyl is a co-author of a new book dedicated to William Vickrey, embued with the spirit of Henry George, and full of bold ideas to use economic policy in innovative ways to give workers the share they deserve and to bring forward a fairer world. We discuss these policies, including how they overlap and depart from the idea of the original land value tax.
San Jose is one of the few places in the Bay Area that has more housing than jobs. San Jose has a seriously gnarly budget situation. How are these two things related? Asn Ndiaye has plenty to say.
Michael Goldman is a councilperson for Sunnyvale City Council. We recently had an extensive conversation about affordable housing at a Denny's after a council meeting, and are extended it onto the airwaves. It certainly seems that we disagree fundamentally about everything, but after we share ideas, what can we learn? Plenty of talk about urban economics and land markets.
Max Kapczynski of Palo Alto Forward is back, to talk about recent goings-on in Palo Alto. An affordable housing overlay made its way through council, but what does it really mean about the housing situation at large. We expand this into a conversation about developers, and how money is made. Some claim they're no different than anybody else offering a service, and some claim that their form of making money is inherently immoral. Who's right?
We talk with Asn Ndiaye about what leftist housing policy means, analyze the PPP Social Housing policy paper that everybody's talking about, and find time to discuss the importance of real estate in Sex and the City.
Paul Leone of the non-profit Midpen Housing Corporation is on to talk about the intricate, complex systems that produce affordable housing today. Max Kapczynski is back, as questions are asked about how to understand how policy impacts the production of affordable housing, and how affordable housing in California can work better.
Chris P. of KZSU talks about the experience of living in an RV in Silicon Valley for 18 months.
SCoPE 2035 (Stanford Coalition for Planning an Equitable 2035) is a group of Stanford Students, trying to influence the way that Stanford does land use, to give housing stability to Stanford students, faculty, staff, and the surrounding community. Cecily Foote and Nani Friedman talk about the organization's goals and progress.
Max Kapczynski is back, and we're talking about Scott Weiner's SB 827, which has created a nearly nuclear amount of buzz. What's it all about? Will it really fix housing? Will it have side effects? And does it have a chance?
Everybody talks about regressive taxes vs progressive taxes, and many are saying that congestion taxes on our roadways would be regressive. Who's right and wrong?
We talk positive and negative visions of the future with the founder of the Foresight Institute, Christine Peterson. The Foresight Institute holds a conference looking forward to future technology and society: Vision Week, held December 2-3, 2017.
What can someone do to make the housing situation better? That's the question we talk about with Max Kapczynski of Palo Alto Forward, fighting the fight for housing reform in the midst of the most ingrained NIMBYism one can possibly find. Perverse incentives, perverse incentives, perverse incentives: we have it all.
In the lead-up to the Fed Chair decision, we talk the policy-ineffectiveness proposition, modern controversies about monetary theory, and nit-pick about inflation.
We talk about 19th century beefs in the Catholic church, the excommunication of Georgist priests, and how modern Catholics view economic principles.
Mark and Jake start off talking about Esperanto for 20 seconds, and then get into a long discussion about the power of idealism, and how central the role of fairness is in popular consciousness.
Kedar gives us the scoop about urban and surburban development in Connecticut, with a focus on Hartford's experiments with Land Value Tax, municipal debt financing, and the millennial rush towards dense urban hubs. Additionally, we fail to deliver useful information about New Haven Pizza.
Diego Aguilar-Canabal (of East Bay Forward) isn't here to talk about housing, but rather the disaster in Puerto Rico, how it has personally affected his family, and the unfair policies that continually works against the US Territory.
A roundtable discussion on how the issue of critical goods (water, food, fuel) is treated after a natural disaster. Is raising prices necessarily immoral? When is rationing necessary? And how can this be tied into theories of value?
Alan Joyce (co-host of Earful of Convoy and Earful of Cocktail) comes on the program to explain the ins and outs of some of the weirder and wilder economic laboratories out there: videogames. How does scarcity in Eve Online resemble real estate bubbles? What does Second Life tell us about marginal land?
We have Matt Krisiloff of YC Research to talk about the Basic Income project, Y Combinator's United Slate (which featured LVT as a plank). Should these be viewed as separate, or two ideas that are fundamentally linked? Also a conversation with Kedar about the technical and moral merits of a UBI versus a Jobs Guarantee.
2012 Nobelist and Stanford professor Alvin Roth has saved lives by designing better markets: clearinghouses to trade kidneys, as well as improved matches in public schools and medical residencies. He joins the show to talk about his life's work and the many lessons we can learn about fixing broken markets.
Steve Omohundro shares plans for creating provably correct protections against AI superintelligence, and thoughts on how human values can be embued into AI. Resource allocation, decentralized cooperation, and discussions on how Blockchain Proofs of Work/Stake can possibly be compatible with basic needs.
Let's head back to the early nineties―Prop 13 was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in an 8-1 decision, and Jack Miller wrote a 66-page barnburner about the injustice in the decision. We have Jack Miller on to talk about the jurisprudence of fair taxes, the importance of Horizontal Equity, and how this all came together in Nordlinger v Hahn.
Victoria Fierce works for (pro-housing) East Bay Forward. Victoria Fierce is a member of (pro-economic-justice) DSA. This has led to an undue amount of drama. Does this have to be so? Why can't socialists and YIMBYs get along?
Katy Tang represents the Sunset on the SF Board of Supervisors, and has led Home-SF, which works to end displacement while still building more units, by tying affordability to upzoning incentives. We talk about ending zero-sum thinking.
James K. Galbraith has produced a deep catalogue of books; in his recent "Inequality: What Everyone Needs to Know", he touches on the land value tax. We talk about that and much more.
Jeff Andrade-Fong works with Tech for Housing to bring attention to tech workers about how housing policy affects them, and what they can do. Josh Vincent advises land policy on a city-by-city basis using open data and more. Changing policy is hard, but we talk about what people can do about it.
We talk to James Howard Kunstler, who has long been a voice railing against the ugliness of modern sprawl and its attendant psychic torment. How does a land tax offer a possible answer to this tragedy?
Last November, Berkeley passed Measure U1, nicknamed the "Landlord Tax." It increased the tax rate for landlords of five or more rental units. Behind the bill was Stephen Barton, who's been working for affordable housing for decades. On the side, he's been writing about the Georgist history of Berkeley's leadership.
Tomas Piketty showed that accumulation of capital was driving modern inequality. But then a young economics student showed how scarcity of housing explains Piketty's phenomenon, not accumulation. We're joined by Professor Nic Tideman of Virginia Tech, to discuss Matthew Rognlie's influential paper.
Kedar is back to talk about mobility. We have depressed economies and cities with excess demand. Why?
Corey Smith of the San Francisco Housing Action Coalition talks about the policies and the politics to get the housing supply up to 5,000 units a year. All your favorites are here: CEQA and Prop 13. Some talk about the limits of empathy: are our land-use policies making us meaner?
We featured the libertarian transhumanist perspective of Zoltan Istvan a few weeks ago. Today, James Hughes, who couples a concern for transhumanism with a progressive attitude and a focus on economic justice.
Zoltan Istvan ran for President on the Transhumanist party, and is now running for California Governor as a Libertarian. He proposes a Universal Basic Income, funded by the leasing of federal lands. How does this compare to the Georgist ideal of a citizen's dividend funded by land rents?
Mark Mollineaux, Jacob Schwartz-Lucas, and Edward Miller discuss the land-use policies of Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and more. How responsible is municipal ownership to land to the world-class infrastructure and vibrant economies of these cities?