2015 Conference:
Reclaiming Our Land and Water: Michigan and the World
Joint Conference of the
Council of Georgist Organizations
and the International Union for Land Value Taxation
Embassy Suites Hotel, Southfield, Michigan
Tuesday, August 4th to Sunday, August 9th, 2015
Tuesday, August 4th
Welcoming Reception
Welcome by Dan Sullivan for the CGO, and Dave Wetzel, for the IU
America’s First Northwest: History of Settlement in the Detroit Area, with Ed Dodson
Wednesday, August 5th: Michigan Cities Day
8-8:45 each morning
Open Mike
9 – 10:30
The Situation in Michigan
Samantha Harkins, Marie Donigan and Maureen Taylor
10:45 – 12:20
Detroit and the World: Who Should Pay for Water and Transit?, David Triggs and Dave Wetzel
12:30 – 1:30 pm
Lunch – Table Topics with Dan Sullivan
1:30 – 2:30
How Moving Away from Property Taxes Hindered Detroit’s Development
Mason Gaffney
2:30 – 3:30
Southfield’s 1960s Boom and Other Successful Assessment Reforms
Ted Gwartney
3:45 – 5
Why Pensylvania’s Cities are Bouncing Back from the Collapse of Big Steel
Josh Vincent
7 – 9
What I Learned about US Foreign Policy
Film discussion led by Alanna Hartzok
Thursday, August 6th
8:45 – 10
Welfare for the Rich
How the Poor Subsidize Landowners: Heather Wetzel
Education for Movement-Building, What Must We Teach? with Mike Curtis, Lindy Davies, Ed Dodson, Edward Miller
Education & Movement-Building in Nicaragua, with Paul Martin
Hackathon
What Works (and Doesn’t Work) in Social Media: Jacob Shwartz-Lucas, Edward Miller, Karl Fitzgerald
Friday, August 7th
8:45 – 10
CGO Business Meeting
10:15 – 11:30
Hazen Pingree: The Leader Who Brought Jobs, People and Capital Flocking to Detroit: Alex Wagner Lough
Saturday, August 8th
Deadweight Loss: The Productivity We Never See, with Bill Batt
Nigeria Report: Governance, Trade and Natural Rights, with Gordon Abiama
Water Access in Underdeveloped Countries with David Triggs
1:30 – 3
The Total Resource Rent of Australia
…and the Neocon Constriction: Karl Fitzgerald
3:15 – 4:15
Victory
Lessons from the Life of Korean Admiral Yi Soon Shin: Alan Ridley
4:15 – 5:30
On the Spot Topics
Dan Sullivan and Jacob Shwartz-Lucas
7 – 9
Banquet
My 2014 Congressional Campaign and Movement-Building for LVT, with Alanna Hartzok
Sunday, August 9th
How Francis Neilson Came to Hold Winston Churchill in Such Low Esteem, with Ed Dodson
Open Mike Brainstorming
Hosted by Sue Walton
12 – 1:30
Our Traditional Farewell Lunch
Toasts and Farewells