Claim OwnershipThe Henry George Program
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Dedicated to exploring several forgotten economic ideas. Can they solve modern problems? The housing crisis in the Bay Area and beyond, economic stagnation, widening wealth inequality, environmental degradation―can Henry George's ideas offer a path forward that unfettered capitalism and incremental socialism lack? Interviews, roundtable discussions, and debates.
140 Episodes
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Sy Adler, professor of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University, is here to talk about his 1980 manuscript, Redundancy in Public Transit - Vol III. The Political Economy of Transit in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1945-63, 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.
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