Will Land Value Tax Turn Baltimore Around?
Our Schedule
Charles Avila — National Chairman of the Philippine Association of Small Coconut Farmers’ Organizations (PASCFO). Fr. Avila is author of several books, including Ownership: Early Christian Teachings. Based in Manila, he continues to be involved in the coco levy funds case, mining issues and the cause of the peasantry. He is a staff writer of South magazine in London, and lectures on agrarian reforms in colleges around the world.
Bill Batt — Longtime Georgist and board member for a number of Georgist organizations; “Our man in Albany” has contributed both scholarship and activism for decades.
Heber Brown — pastor of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in North Baltimore; founder of the Black Church Food Security Network. He is a regular voice on local media, and received the Ella Baker Freedom Fighter Award and the Kingdom Ambassador Award. In 2007, The Baltimore Afro American identified Pastor Brown as one of the “25 Under 40 Emerging Black History Leaders.” He and his wife, Chanté are the proud parents of Heber M. Brown IV.
Yolanda Brown — a Minister of Economic Development for more than two decades; founder of Imani’s Quest Ministries, a faith-based community economic development organization, whose mission is to “Arrest the Trends of Poverty by Creating Pathways to Economic Dignity.”
Tom Daniels — directs the concentration in Land Use and Environmental Planning at the Univ. of Pennsylvania. He is part of a Penn team working on a grant from the EPA to study how to use green infrastructure to reduce urban stormwater runoff. Tom authored the authoritative Environmental Planning Handbook, now in its 2nd Edition.
Clarence Davis — served 24 years in the Maryland House of Delegates, introducing LVT bills with his Baltimore colleagues along with other tax reform and enterprise zone legislation. He is immediate past president of the Maryland AARP, and current chapter commander of the National Association of Black Veterans. He was introduced to Henry George while earning his BA and MA at Morgan State University.
James Dawsey, PhD — Wolfe Chair of Religious Studies at Emory & Henry College, Virginia; ordained minister in the United Methodist Church. He has published several books, including Peter’s Last Sermon: Identity and Discipleship in the Gospel of Mark and From Wasteland to Promised Land: Liberation Theology for a Post-Marxist World. Dawsey also enjoys writing fiction. “It’s no secret why Jesus and other great religious leaders were storytellers.” Recent novels are Masters and Savages and Malachi Oracles: Evil’s Scent.
Ed Dodson — Retired analyst for Fannie Mae, longtime Georgist educator and invaluable archivist for the movement; curator of www.cooperative-individualism.org.
Courtney Dowe — has performed in subway stations, and at The Fillmore in San Francisco. Her interest in human rights has inspired “protest songs” on police brutality in the US and the persecution of the Falun Gong in China. In recent years, she has felt called to repair her relationship with the Earth and hopes to support others in doing so.
Fred Foldvary — teaches at San Jose State Univ. Scholarly interests include public finance, real estate and social ethics. He is known for his research on community associations and for accurately predicting and explaining the 2008 recession.
Lorenzo Gaztanaga — came to the United States from Cuba with his family in 1961. As a Libertarian Party officer, he worked to ease ballot access requirements that have effectively kept independent and third party candidates off the ballot for 25 years. He is active in the Cliftmont Community Wesleyan Church, where he has mentored young people of the Belair-Edison community.
Quisia Gonzalez — trained as a medical doctor in Brazil, practiced medicine in Honduras and moved to the US in 1989. She has worked extensively in the field of education and active in the Proyecto de Los Trabajadores Latinoamericanos, advocating for fair wages and immigration reform.
Steve Hanke — Professor of Applied Economics and Co-Director of the Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise at The Johns Hopkins University. He also serves as director of The Troubled Currencies Project, with CATO and Hopkins.
Alanna Hartzok — UN-NGO representative for the Intl. Union for Land Value Taxation; co-founder of the Earth Rights Institute. She received the Radical Middle Book Award for her book The Earth Belongs to Everyone. In the 1990s she initiated and assisted with passage of LVT enabling legislation by the Pennsylvania state legislature. She is currently working on LVT implementation projects based on the UN’s New Urban Agenda.
Devpreet Jassal — A chemical engineer, he has studied financial engineering at the Schulich School, seeking to understand the relationship between finance and economics. Having learned a lot at CGO conferences, he wishes to give back.
Alexandra Lough, Ph.D. — served as the director of the Henry George Birthplace and Archive; assistant editor on the Annotated Works of Henry George; serves on the board of directors of the American Journal of Economics and Sociology.
Marty Rowland, Ph.D. — Education Committee Chair, Henry George School; Senior Fellow of the Asset Leadership Network; Primary author of ASTM Guide on Infrastructure Management (publication set for 2018); adjunct professor at Pace University; frequent speaker on economics, ecology, engineering, and environmental cleanup.
Rick Rybeck — an attorney with a master’s degree in real estate and urban development, he is the director of Just Economics, LLC. He advises clients about structuring economic incentives to harmonize with job creation, affordable housing and transportation efficiency.
Sharon Suarez — Planning Commissioner for Frederick County, MD and Board Member, Maryland Planning Commissioners Association. She served for many years as housing coordinator for the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.
Dan Sullivan — President of the Council of Georgist Organizations; Director of Saving Communities.
Josh Vincent — Director of the Center for the Study of Economics and foremost on-the-ground expert on LVT implementation.