Deadline for our August issue: August 25.
You can always reach the Georgist News at gn@progress.org
CONTENTS: (to return here just click the headline)
First, thank you for being a great readership. Please continue to send your comments, reports and news items.
Second, this month's Georgist News is unusually brief. That is because I have just returned from a vacation with my wife. Being in a cabin in the woods meant that I was unable to collect news and stories from the recent Council of Georgist Organizations conference in New Mexico. Please send your own reactions and impressions of the conference, and we hope to feature a full report in the next Georgist News.
Third, I need you to know that the Georgist News coffers are empty. We very much thank the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation for its support, which expired on June 30th. Will the Georgist News continue to exist? You can help in two important ways - by making a donation, and by telling the Schalkenbach Foundation that you believe it should continue its own generous support for this newsletter.
Donations can be sent to Hanno Beck (make checks payable to Hanno Beck please), 647 Plymouth Road, Baltimore, MD 21229. To contact the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation, send an email message to acting Executive Director, Mark Sullivan at msullivan@schalkenbach.org
Thank you very much indeed!
- Hanno Beck
Dave Wetzel and Eric Britton have started a new discussion group called The Land Cafe.
For more information, or to join the group, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LandCafe
Georgist Peter Meakin recently had an article printed in Business Day (Johannesburg, South Africa).
You can find his article. "Private Ownership Shackles Us All," reprinted at The Progress Report: http://www.progress.org/2004/land56.htm
A report from Tony Vickers:
In this week's "Housing Today" in UK, page 16, a surprising mention of how land values can fund infrastructure investment:
"The rise in land values after infrastructure is promised could be harnessed to pay for the installation of utilities and other services..." The claim comes from Anglian Water's Phil Butler, head of commercial consultancy. The company supplies water to an area that includes major growth around Stanstead, London's third airport, and Cambridge. He went on to say, in the article:
"We're trying to open up the debate and free up major projects, particularly on brownfield sites. A third of the budget on a large project is spent on infrastructure and, of that, a quarter comes from rising land values and a quarter from the revenue raised through tax increases."
He cites American practice in allowing local councils to issue bonds, on the prospect of raised land values, to pay for infrastructure development.
The Government response is "Anglian's proposal is one of a number of ideas we are considering at the moment."
A note from Ed Dodson:
GN Comments: This bill was indeed introduced and, as Dodson predicted, the name did change, to "The America Saving for Personal Investment, Retirement, and Education Act," or ASPIRE. For more information, visit: http://www.centristpolicynetwork.org/archives/000079.html
The Forum on Geonomics has released the summer issue of its periodical, The Geonomist. You can find it at: http://www.geonomics.org/
One of the most active Georgist outreachers, promoters and networkers is without a doubt Alanna Hartzok.
Here is just one excerpt of just one recent note from Alanna, detailing what she had been doing during the preceding few weeks:
"I just came back from Missouri where I gave two lectures to a total of about 180 people from around the world at the Global PROUT Convention.
"Before that, I attended four day National Security Seminar at US Army War College as one of 170 civilian participants - 400 officers were in training this year at the College. In Seminar Group 1 I directed discussions to economic injustice, resource wars, tax shift, and other Georgist concerns."
This may make the rest of us feel out of breath just to read it, but it's typical for Alanna Hartzok. Hartzok is also Vice President of the Council of Georgist Organizations and was one of the key coordinators for the recent CGO conference in New Mexico. Plus, she runs the Earth Rights Institute, about which you can find out more by visiting http://www.earthrights.net/
Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory.
- George Patton
There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is
translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in
all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never
exist through any other medium and be lost.
- Martha Graham
The Georgist News is an email newsletter, sent free of charge. Its purpose is to keep you updated on the latest news, world events, projects, and initiatives of relevance to people who, like Henry George, seek a world free from special privilege and free from the causes of poverty.
The Georgist News on the WWW - http://www.georgist.com/