The Henry George Program

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.

Max Kapczynski, an expert in highways and land acquisition, joins the hosts to discuss 'The Power Broker' by Robert Caro. They explore the protagonist's strategies for land acquisition, corruption in slum clearance, and the impact of prioritizing highways over public transit. The podcast also delves into scandals, deceptive practices with toll money, and the corrupting nature of power.

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).