Robert Stark, co-host Pilleater, and Cartrell Payne(The Adventure Kid) talk to art advocate and candidate for Santa Barbara Mayor Maiza Hixson. Maiza is the Former Chair of the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission and Co-Director, Curator, and Artist in Residence at SBCAST – Santa Barbara Center for Art, Science & Technology. Her campaign website is MaizaHixson.com.
Topics:
What inspired Maiza to run for mayor and her key issues
Making the city an arts destination and giving artist opportunities to network with local businesses
Economic niches in the art world and the need to support a variety of art
Giving artist a role in urban planning and city government
Solutions to the lack of affordable housing including rent control
The debate about housing density and height limits
The problem of empty storefronts on State Street, holding land owners accountable(ex. Transient Occupancy Tax), and Maiza’s proposal to use them for art
Ending the reliance on car transportation and creating a pedestrian friendly environment
The water shortage, water pollution, re-using reclaimed water, and the The Blue Economy
Transit, improving the bus network, and rail and monorail proposals
The City Budget
JEFFERY J. SMITH published The Geonomist, which won a California GreenLight Award, has appeared in both the popular press (e.g.,TruthOut) and academic journals (e.g., USC’s “Planning and Markets”), been interviewed on radio and TV, lobbied officials, testified before the Russian Duma, conducted research (e.g., for Portland’s mass transit agency), and recruited activists and academics to Progress.org. A member of the International Society for Ecological Economics and of Mensa, he lives amidst the beauty of Northern California. Jeffery is currently Chief Editor at Progress.org.
Topics:
Jeffery Smith’s new science fiction novel Perfect Timing about time travel to a future society
How the book conveys the tone of Hitchhiker’s Guide, offers insights like Stranger in a Strange Land, and presents an upbeat alternative to Brave New World
The theme and implementation of a Basic Income in the future society
Why a basic income is necessary and ways to implement it
The artificial notion of the work week and the book The Overworked American
The Post-scarcity economy and how the surplus of wealth is concentrated in the top 1%
The theme of Utopia; Aldous Huxley’s utopian novel Island
The future society of Geotopia, the theme of Ecotopia, and the book by Ernest Callenbach
Ecological based economics; Herman Daly’s Steady State Economics
Geonomics, Georgism, and the land value tax
How a land value tax is different from a property tax and leads to more efficient land use City Density—Friend of Trip Efficiency
The book Better NOT Bigger: How to Take Control of Urban Growth and Improve your Community
Jeffery Smith’s upcoming book on measuring the indicators of land value
The Concept of the Left Wing of the Alt Right; The Alt Left
Greg Johnson’s essay on SWPL Identity and Rabbit’s Alt Left Manifesto Millennial Woes’ talk with Rabbit and Greg Johnson about the Alt Left
The 60’s Left Counter-Culture as a fusion of Tolkien and Marcuse, and the need to reclaim the positive attributes of the left, such as ecology, historic preservation, and anti-consumerism
The Alt Left dilemma identifying with SWPL Culture, and urban aesthetics, while supporting forms of identitarianism that often lack strong aesthetic visions
The lack of cultural sophistication among conservatives, and the left’s monopoly on cultural institutions
Suburbia as a by product of the middle class being cleansed out of cities, and the need to sustain a strong urban middle class
Affordable family formation
The Basic income, how it should be implemented, and who it should favor
Putting caps on high incomes with the exception of artist and inventors
The Nietzschean concept of the artist as the ruler
The conservative outlook that judges people on their material wealth over their aesthetic taste, and creative potential
Overpopulation, and how the ideal is to have immigration reduction with a stable or slowly rising birthrate
Greg’s experience living in San Francisco and Berkeley, San Francisco as a SWPL Utopia, and the aesthetic and ecological attributes of the region
The Transamerica Pyramid and Embarcadero Center in San Francisco
Rabbit’s interest in Mid-Century Space Age aesthetics, and his observations going to Mid-Century Modern home tours Frank Lloyd Wright Art Deco, which was a heroic vision of the future with respect for tradition; Art Deco in New York and San Francisco Film noir, and the Blade Runner
David Lynch’s Archeo-Futurist aesthetic in Dune, and ruin porn
The tradition of right wing modernism; Italian Futurism which captured the vitality, optimism, and new possibilities created by technology
The concept of degenerate art, distinguishing between modernism and postmodernism
Defining what is degenerate; Robert and Pilleater’s show on Avant Garde Film
Robert Stark and co-host Pilleater interview Robert Brenner. Robert is a writer, critic, satirist, futurist, urbanist, and porkatarian. His work has appeared in the Huffington Post, New York Magazine, Salon, the Barnes & Noble Review, Medium, Different Truths, Antiserious, and Theory In Action. He is a graduate of the Writers’ Institute at CUNY.
Robert Stark and co-host Pilleater talk to Charles Marohn. Charles is a Professional Engineer (PE) licensed in the State of Minnesota and a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP). Chuck is the Founder and President of Strong Towns. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Technology and a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute.
Topics:
How Charles’s background in urban planning exposed him to the problems of sprawl development
Charles’s books Thoughts on Building Strong Towns, Volume 1 & Volume II
The fiscal unsustainability of sprawl development
Charles’ point that the key factor in urbanism is Incremental Development
Charles’s point that cities must be viewed as ecosystems
The “build it they will come” fallacy, and how traditionally massive infrastructure projects were designed to serve existing population centers(ex.Roman Aqueducts)
How pre-automobile cities tend to be the most viable
Nassim Taleb’s Antifragile theory, and how it relates to urbanism The Density Question, Charles point that density should neither be fetishized nor seen as inherently bad, but must take into account incremental development
How cities such as New York and San Francisco have value independent of their economies, while places like the Silicon Valley would become unviable if their industries collapsed
Zoning laws and land use regulations
The movement to Retrofit Suburbia, how it’s a step in the right direction, but has it’s limitations
How cities will contract in the future, with people living in both cities and towns, but that it’s the space in between that’s unviable
Micro Apartments
Political divides, and how when it comes to planning issues on a local level, people tend to be more pragmatic than dogmatic
The Public vs. Private sector role in infrastructure, and how Charles’s point that things that are high risk should be in the private sector, and low risk in the public sector(ex. Wall Street baillouts)
The role of the government in historic preservation and protecting the environment
Housing and affordable family formation
Robert Stark, Rabbit, and Alex von Goldstein talk to writer and social critic, James Howard Kunstler
Topics include:
The history of suburbia
James’ theory of history that things happen because they seem like a good idea at the time
How our auto oriented petroleum based society is unsustainable
How bad urban planing has negative psychological and cultural implications
The role of zoning laws, and how zoning can both encourage and prevent suburban sprawl
The future of suburbia, how some will be retrofitted into walkalble communities, while others will be abandoned
The New Urbanist Movement
Mass immigration and overpopulation
Why James does not view skyscrapers and hyper density as viable alternatives to suburbia
Robert’s point that tall structures can have aesthetic value, and how James acknowledges that the early wave of skyscrapers(ex. Singer Building, Woolworth Building, Manhattan Municipal Building) were beautiful structures but historical flukes
How European cities provide the ideal model for urbanism
Examples of sustainable American cities include Portland, Oregon, Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia
Mass Transit, and why James favors investing in existing rail infrastrusture over new high speed rail
The Streetcar suburb, and how they provide a model for New Urbanism
James’ point that even with alternative energy and technological innovation, we still have to downsize and localize our society and economy
How peak oil will lead to economic and political decentralization
How Peak Oil will make Globalization unsustainable
The future of China and the Arab Gulf States
Pre-War Japan as the best example of an advanced civilization without industrialization
The scarcity of water in the future, and how the inland water system will regain it’s value Historic Preservation, how the movement was started in the 1960’s in response to the demolition of Pennsylvania Station in NYC, and the debate about what should be preserved
Rabbit makes the case for mid century modern
Capital scarcities in the future, and how mass development is dependent upon the financial system
James’ four book series set in a post economic collapse America, the World Made by Hand
Robert Stark and co-host Rabbit interview Scott Jackisch. Scott is an IT consultant located in Oakland, CA. He blogs at The Oakland Futurist and runs the East Bay Futurists meetup.
Topics include:
Scott’s interest in futurism and science fiction writers including Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and William Gibson
Scott’s futurist meetup and how there is a strong interest in futurism in the San Francisco Bay Area
How in the modern era people are isolated, and how meetups can fill in that void, and create new communities
How the meetup itself is not political, but rather an open discussion on futurism
The different political factions within futurism including liberals, libertarians, and Neoreactionaries
Scott’s critique of Neoreaction, how his main disagreement is over their rejections of progress, but can sympathize with their reaction to extreme political correctness
Rabbit’s point that he got interested in Neoreaction because the idea of people being able to form their own societies appealed to him, but was turned off by the extreme traditional views
Scott’s political views, and how he is basically a Centrist and Pragmatist
Why Scott accepts Realpolitik, which is a system of politics or principles based on practical rather than moral or ideological considerations
Transhumanism
Scott’s series The Robot Lord Scenario, which he plans on turning into a novel
Trends in warfare, how the invention of the gun leveled the playing field, but that automative weapons will enforce inequality
Daniel Suarez’s novel Kill Decision
Economic automation and it’s implications
Economics, whether capitalism is necessary for innovation, and how a functional economic needs both capitalism and socialism
The Bay Area’s housing crisis, NIMBYism, and where to build new housing
Vertical Living and urban agriculture
Retro Futurism, dystopian and utopian visions of the future
How science fiction writers can provide narratives for engineers to build their visions(ex. Elon Musk and the Culture series)
The role of sociopaths in society, and how power generally gets concentrated by sociopaths
From a realpolitiks perspective how do you take power away from people in power that are causing harm?
Scott’s message for people to listen to each other instead of demonizing the other side
Robert Stark joined with Rabbit and Krishan Madan interview Laura Foote Clark. Laura is the president of GrowSF, which advocates for affordable and market rate housing in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Topics include:
The Bay Area’s lack of affordable housing
How the housing crisis particularly effects millennials
How integrated public transit provides better access to affordable housing
The severity of the housing crisis, and how a massive increase in housing is needed just to sustain current demands
The miss conception that there is no space to grow in San Francisco, and the twitter series wasteOfUrbanSpace
Mega Developments in the Bay Area, and Laura’s point that focusing on specific projects can distract from the overall housing shortage
Where to build new housing SF grants density bonuses to affordable housing developments
Micro Apartments What Silicon Valley Would Look Like if Tech Companies Built Themselves Cities
Laura’s point that if the Silicon Valley became a more urban environment it would ease the demand for housing in San Francisco
The role that suburbs play in the Bay Area’s housing shortage
How the lack of new housing in cities encourages suburban sprawl
The trend in preference for urban over suburban living among millennials
How Environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club are divided on the housing issue Bay Area’s Greenbelt Alliance and New Urbanism California Proposition 13 Proposition C: San Francisco Affordable Housing
Rent Control
Why Laura would like to see a unified zoning plan for the Bay Area
Whether there is a limit on how many people the Bay Area can accommodate
How the housing issue is the main political divide in the Bay Area
Krishan’s point that tax cuts effect the rich, welfare the poor, but housing can be the political issue of the middle class
The importance of getting involved in local politics
Robert Stark and co-host Rabbit talk to Adam Hengels.
Adam is SVP and Director of Development of PAD, a real estate development start-up that builds communities for young professionals. PAD’s developments will feature micro-apartments and other product innovations.
From Mega-Projects to Micro-Apartments, Adam has brought his development expertise to several high profile projects such as the $5B Barclays Center Arena and Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, New York . Adam earned his Masters in Real Estate Development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and has a BS and MS in Structural Engineering.
Adam is passionate about urbanism, and is known as a pioneer in the Market Urbanism movement. His mission is to improve the urban experience, and overcoming obstacles that prevent aspiring city dwellers from living where they want. He considers the conventional apartment layout to be stale. Product innovations such as micro-apartments are a key part of the next wave in urbanism.
Topics include:
Why Adam advocates for the liberalization of zoning laws
The debate between absolute private property rights vs. the argument that regulations are necessary to prevent landowners from harming their communities
Zoning laws that contribute to suburban sprawl(ex. parking requirements, limits on density in suburbs, and government subsidies of roads and highways) Retrofitting Suburbia
How demographic and economic changes are leading to the decline of suburbia
How to attract middle class families back to cities by improving education and increasing housing supply
New Urbanism
How zoning laws can prevent bad developments, but can also lead to increases in costs of living
Whether zoning laws are necessary to preserve the aesthetic and historic character of cities
How original mixed use communities declined due to zoning regulation and the rise of the automobile
Robert Stark’s point that even though he supports historic preservation and wilderness conservation, he acknowledges that many zoning laws have negative affects on cities and encourage sprawl
How the Lack of New Housing On The Westside of LA Is Causing Gentrification Of East And South LA
Height limit restrictions in cities
Minimum lot size requirements, and how they stifle creativity in urbanism
Whether highrises can provide housing for the middle class, and Adam’s point that new highrises are expensive but over time they decline in cost and eases the overall demand for housing
Whether mass transit can function in a free market, and how New York City’s Subway System started out as private, and Tokyo’s Subway System is semi private Transit-oriented development
Adam’s development of micro apartments and how they can address the housing crisis for young people How zoning laws make it difficult to create micro apartments
The role that Zoning and Urban planning plays in income inequality
