Season 2, Ep. 8: Landlordess vs. Big Capital Postgame: An Interview with Mary Farmer

In this Dustbowl Diatribes episode, Spencer, Laurie and Emily have a frank discussion with a small businesswoman with rental properties in Kansas City, MO. Reminiscent of our discussion with Dan Krull on the loss of community gardening space due to development in the city, which makes the city less human and livable, Mary Farmer talks about how a big developer in her area is making it hard for her to stay in business and even harder for her tenants and others in the area who count on affordable housing. Mary points out that the goal of mass-transit and bike-reliant areas of the city may be ideally good, but they backfire dramatically if 1., decision makers fail to consult the people who live there or study their actual habits and needs, and 2., fail to understand what is required for small business people to operate in the areas impacted.