The Henry George Program

Latest Episodes:

Kirsten Bladh, Behind the Scenes on SB79 and How Transit Value Capture Got Gutted May 29, 2026

Show notes

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

Jake Berman on Lost Subways, and finding our way forward Mar 26, 2026

Show notes

Jake Berman is the author of The Lost Subways of North America, a book full of maps and histories of metro areas and the transit they've lost; what can we learn from this erosion of public infrastructure, and what do we need to do to build something better?

"An Introduction to Land Value Tax", with Stephen Hoskins Feb 12, 2026

Show notes

Something new: an attempt at actually creating an introductory episode to Land Value Tax. Why *should* anyone care?

Joshua B. Freeman on Garden Apartments, and the Secret Policy that Juiced Apartment Building Jan 16, 2026

Show notes

Joshua B. Freeman, professor of history at Queens College CUNY, and author of "Garden Apartments: The History of a Low-Rent Utopia", 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?

Sy Adler on the Birth of BART, Interregional Competition, and Real Estate Development Oct 30, 2025

Show notes

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.

Daniel Wortel-London on Land Values, Growth, and the Menace of Prosperity Sep 02, 2025

Show notes

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?

'Abundance': Hits and Misses, with Chirag Lala and Adriana Rizzo Jun 06, 2025

Show notes

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.

Introducing the Center for Land Economics, with Greg Miller May 13, 2025

Show notes

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 on California's Great America land sale and closure Mar 24, 2025

Show notes

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 on Cincinnati: Rail Sell-Off, Dev Woes, and "Subway Repurposing" Feb 14, 2025

Show notes

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).

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