Conduit Street Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Social impact investing starts with a simple idea: capital can generate a financial return while also advancing a broader public goal.  In Episode 15, Dom and Terry sit down with Jacob Clark, head of JP Morgan Chase impact investing, to explore how that theory applies to housing, where impact investing fits within the financing landscape, and why investors may see value in project...

Send us Fan Mail Maryland's Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) program is nearing implementation, and counties face key decisions about how they'll participate. On this week's Conduit Street Podcast, MACo's Dominic Butchko and Karrington Anderson break down the latest FAMLI developments, including changes in the private insurance market, new coverage options for countie...

Send us Fan Mail What if vacant and abandoned properties could become opportunities for new housing and neighborhood revitalization? In Episode 14 of The Briefing Room , MACo's Dominic Butchko and co-host Terry Hickey, Director of Baltimore County's Department of Housing and Community Development, welcome Baltimore City Council Member Odette Ramos to break down land banking and its poten...

Send us Fan Mail From betting on election outcomes to AI agents acting on their own, emerging technologies are raising new questions about regulation, accountability, and the role of government. On this week's Conduit Street Podcast, Kevin Kinnally and Michael Sanderson welcome back Ben Yelin of the University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security and the University of Maryland...

Send us Fan Mail Private equity has become an increasingly prominent part of the housing conversation, but its role is often more complicated than the headlines suggest. In Episode 13, Dom and Terry break down how private equity fits into housing finance, why investors are drawn to the market, and where that capital can help support housing production and preservation. The conversation also examin...

Send us Fan Mail Five years into the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, how are local school boards navigating the challenges of turning statewide education reforms into reality? In the latest installment of the Conduit Street Podcast’s education reform series, MACo’s Sarah Sample sits down with Joseph Goetz, Executive Director of the Maryland Association of Boards of Education (MABE), to examine th...

Send us Fan Mail For much of this series, the housing conversation has centered on what states, counties, developers, and lenders can do to make projects work. But this summer, the federal government reentered the debate in a significant way.  In Episode 12, Dom and Terry sit down with Congressman Johnny “Johnny O” Olszewski, Jr. to unpack the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act and what a renewed fe...

Send us Fan Mail The Conduit Street monthly roundup of “News or Noise?” is back, as we dig into the headlines from recent weeks, looking for the real takeaways. The Governor takes action on AI and data centers. The State adjusts its revenue forecast. The Family Leave program prepares for its launch. Voters will get a tricky new ballot question. And the MACo team tackles all that and more, in a jam...

Send us Fan Mail Tax Increment Financing (TIF) can be a powerful tool for supporting development, but it can also be one of the more misunderstood pieces of local economic and housing policy.  In Episode 11, Dom and Terry break down how TIF works, why jurisdictions use it, and how future tax revenue can help finance infrastructure and other improvements needed to enable development. The conversati...

Send us Fan Mail Five years into implementation of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, how is Maryland’s sweeping education reform plan affecting the people responsible for bringing it to life in classrooms and schools across the state? Sarah Sample continues her Conduit Street Podcast series examining the Blueprint from different perspectives across Maryland’s education community. This week, she...

Send us Fan Mail For decades, vacant and abandoned properties have been one of Baltimore City’s most persistent challenges. Now, the numbers are moving in a different direction.  Vacant homes have fallen from more than 16,000 to fewer than 12,000 during Mayor Brandon Scott’s time in office, while census estimates show Baltimore gaining residents for the first time in a decade. In episode 10, Dom a...

Send us Fan Mail Five years into implementation of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, Maryland’s sweeping education reform plan is approaching a pivotal moment. On this episode of the Conduit Street Podcast, Sarah Sample kicks off a new series examining how the Blueprint is playing out on the ground and what could come next as lawmakers prepare for the 2027 legislative session. Her first guest i...

Send us Fan Mail Housing’s biggest challenges rarely have a single solution. What happens when you stop talking about the housing problem and start kicking the tires on possible solutions?  In Episode 9, Dom and Terry are joined by Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development Secretary Jake Day for a rapid-fire look at some of the ideas gaining attention in the housing conversation. Fr...

Send us Fan Mail This week on the Conduit Street Podcast , Kevin Kinnally and Michael Sanderson break down the latest from Maryland’s Local Revenue Task Force and the options on the table as it considers how to modernize county and municipal revenue structures. They dig into property tax flexibility, commercial property rates, land value taxation, data centers, municipal tax setoffs, and what grea...

Send us Fan Mail For the final episode of The Briefing Room's housing finance series, the conversation heads west to Garrett County, where local leaders are putting many of the tools explored throughout the series into practice. Dom Butchko and Baltimore County Housing and Community Development Director Terry Hickey are joined by Garrett County Commissioner Paul Edwards and Liz Georg of the G...

Send us Fan Mail Summer Conference is in the rearview mirror, but many of the conversations shaping Maryland policy are just getting started. In the latest round of News or Noise , Kevin Kinnally and Michael Sanderson are joined by Sarah Sample for a look at the headlines, policy debates, and emerging issues that could follow county leaders from #MACoCon into the 2027 legislative session. The conv...

Send us Fan Mail Building new housing is only part of the affordability challenge. Counties also need tools to preserve the affordable homes already in their communities. In Episode 7 of The Briefing Room's housing finance series, Dom Butchko and Terry Hickey are joined by Jonathan R. Butler, Director of the Prince George’s County Department of Housing & Community Development, to explore...

Send us Fan Mail The 2026 Summer MACoCon might be over, but many of the conversations that filled the convention center's halls are ongoing. In this episode of the Conduit Street Podcast, Shantelle Malcolm-Lym is joined by Karrington Anderson and Dominic Butchko to look back at what stood out at MACoCon and, more importantly, what comes next. From packed sessions and hallway conversations to...

Send us Fan Mail Following the response to The Briefing Room's energy series, we're revisiting one of the topics that generated the most listener interest: data centers. In this special bonus episode, Dom Butchko is joined by Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater to discuss why Frederick County has become one of Maryland's leaders in developing local data center policy. The c...

Send us Fan Mail Converting empty offices into housing sounds like a straightforward way to address two challenges at once, but the financial and physical realities are often far more complicated. In Episode 6 of The Briefing Room’s housing finance series, Dom Butchko and Terry Hickey are joined by Tim Karp of JPMorgan Chase to explore the office-to-housing challenge and what separates a viable co...

Send us Fan Mail Every month, the Conduit Street Podcast separates the headlines that matter from the stories generating more attention than action. Let's take a look at where things stand as July comes to an end. In this edition of News or Noise, Kevin Kinnally, Michael Sanderson, and Karrington Anderson discuss Maryland's upcoming special session on congressional redistricting, why lim...

Send us Fan Mail Housing costs rarely rise because of one single policy, fee, or requirement. More often, they build layer by layer until the numbers no longer work. Capturing a Maryland icon, a housing advocate started to tag the layer-upon-layer of process as the "Smith Island Cake Effect."   In Episode 5 of The Briefing Room’s housing finance series, Dom Butchko and Terry Hickey are j...

Send us Fan Mail Public Health is about more than hospitals and healthcare; it's also about the policies that help people live healthier lives every day. This week on the Conduit Street Podcast, Michael Sanderson and Karrington Anderson are joined by Laura Hale, State Government Relations Director for the American Heart Association, to discuss how counties can help improve community health th...

Send us Fan Mail Building affordable housing takes more than public funding. Private lenders and investors play a critical role in turning plans into completed projects. In Episode 4 of The Briefing Room's housing finance series, Dom Butchko and Terry Hickey are joined by Jordan Bishop of JPMorganChase to explore the private side of the capital stack - the financing that helps transform housi...

Send us Fan Mail Over the first two episodes of our housing finance series, Dom Butchko and Terry Hickey explored how affordable housing projects are financed and why today's economic conditions make development more challenging. In Episode 3, the conversation turns to the public sector. Joined by Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development Secretary Jake Day, Dom and Terry exami...