Are We Here Yet Podcast

Host and substack writer Scott M. Graves on the premise for developing a strategy to alight the regional economy with an industrial basis in solving the housing crisis.  The Why, What and How to make this happen.  Work to create this strategy was inspired by his earlier work with Dominic Endicott to develop a regional strategy for Western Massachusetts. Download their white paper and presentation...

'My firm recently won the nod through a Request for Proposal (RFP) to build a 123+ unit mixed income development for the upscale town of Dorset, VT. In the midst of negotiating a development agreement, detractors for the project made themselves known. For several months and with our help, town leadership prepared to advocate for their efforts which had to that point totaled more than eight years a...

Our parent company, SMGraves Associates recently won the nod to build 123+ units of workforce and moderate income market rate housing in the town of Dorset, VT.  This was slated to be a $90MM project and one of the first in Vermont to take advantage of new programming including the Communities Housing Infrastructure Program or CHIP.  NIMBYs cratered the project before it even got off the ground an...

We're joined by Culture Desk co-host and writer Joshua Michael Stewart to explore the work of some of America's great living poets.  This is a great chance for our listeners to explore poetry and what's going on in the minds of some of our most capable and artistic writers for all ages.  We explore among others: Joy Harjo, Charles Simic, Billy Collins.  Find the work of our co-host by clicking her...

What Should Cities Do with Abandoned Properties? Today's Episode is taken from host Scott Graves 'Are We Here Yet? substack of January 2, 2026.  The following is a transcript. Explore the Are We Here Yet? substack Our city completed a round of dispossessing themselves of properties they own this past November. These properties were acquired sometime in the past because their last owners failed to...

Report from the New England Beacon We're talking with correspondent Chris Brady of the New England Beacon for this AWHY? Episode. His recent article in the Beacon entitled, 'CVS calls Woonsocket, RI home.  Do Residents Benefit?'  explores the relationship of a $373B corporate entity and its de-industrialized, under capitalized home city. While Woonsocket lets dozens of teachers go CVS found ways t...

Author Ryan Short's 2025  The Civic Brand: The Power & Responsibility of Place caught our attention for a singular reason.  One of the books many underlying themes is to choose substance over shallow 'solutions'.  Why do we hang new banners downtown every 5 years when we make no substantive investments in small business to fill those empty storefronts?  Why do we collect data points to defend proj...

Transcript taken from   SMGtheHouser.substack.com This week, a break from our work solving all the problems of small scale developers in rural America. Besides, our work relies on the success of tech entrepreneurs just as much as it does with municipalities, small business owners, manufacturers and advocates. So it's big tech and entertainment that's got my mind captured this time around . Ted Gio...

Empowering Gig Workers  Tamara Laine is the founder of MPWR, a fintech services platform launching in 2026 to serve the some 80 million global gig economy workers.  This isn't the first founding experience for Tamara, here she is speaking with Nasdaq in 2023 regarding an earlier experience with Card Shop Live.  MPWR will focus on providing lending and support tools to gig economy workers who up un...

The Later Days of Big Bands: From the Culture Desk Join co-hosts Joshua Michael Stewart & Scott Graves on a musical look at just what all those Big Band musicians were doing decades after the end of the Big Band Era.  The popular culture phenomenon of swing music did not end when the record deals started drying up.  The spectrum and synthesis of styles, the premium musicianship and the comradery b...

Cohosts Ryan Munn and Scott Graves delve into what's on the horizon in Vermont tech in 2026. Talk of BETA Technologies recent IPO and its consequences on employment opportunities was high among the list of other companies mentioned that we're watching in the upcoming year.  The list includes OnLogic, former podcast guest Rugged Micropower , Lightshift Energy and more.  If you didn't make the conve...

Rural Housing Report: New Ideas from Otis, MA We're joined by Dr. Stacey Schultze , a fifth generation citizen from the Berkshire hamlet of Otis, MA.  After listening to Stacey tell us in detail about the town's greatest assets we're feeling good about the resiliency of small town New England.  Alongside her neighbors Stacey is engaged in garnering new ideas to solve Otis's housing challenges in t...

Michael Cohen is a partner and founding member of Lean Real Estate, a successful investment firm buying directly from owners.  The team at Lean applies lean manufacturing principles to real estate investment, which has helped the team of three stay focused and well disciplined in every aspect of their operation.   Learn from Michael how to apply lean principles to your operation in our episode, pl...

Taiese Hickman is a realtor who recently donned the hat of a developer and non-profit leader. What makes this remarkable is the model of her new venture, The New England Equity Collective . The NEEC is targeting families across a wide spectrum of backgrounds for co-living in pocket neighborhood developments combining services like art and music therapy with a more affordable and desirable place to...

The Hill Country Blues is, in effect for many of us, a form of early american music that is hiding in plain site.  Take one part, fife and folk from the british isles,another part west african polyrhythms.  Mix european balladeering with caribbean hypnotic rhythms.   What begins as drum and fife music deep in the hills of northern Mississippi and Alabama blended with other blues from the region th...

Robert Reich wrote on his substack for September 16, One study found that  half of Americans expect a second civil war to happen "in the next few years," even if the specifics vary according to one's politics and imagination. On the other hand, unlike the Civil War of 1861-1865, no particular issue — like slavery back then — pulls the nation apart. While immigration, crime, abortion, and LGBTQ+ ri...

Darren Sherburne is Associate Broker of Four Seasons Sotheby's Fairlee VT office and an active houser developing a variety of properties in the Upper Valley region of New Hampshire and Vermont. Darren reports on the current housing challenges in his region and gave us plenty to think about regarding how to get more of your housers started, where the funding can come from, what policy measures coul...

Andrew Overton is a founding member of  Creative Land Strategies , where he partners with small developers and communities to make sense of the real estate process. From acquisitions and zoning to community outreach, my daily goal is helping others feel supported—especially those stepping into development for the first time. I've spent years coaching new developers, breaking down regulatory hurdle...

I'm joined this week by Ed Bove, the Planning Director for my hometown of Rutland, Vermont, USA.  A year into his tenure Ed is leading the effort to refine our cities zoning regulations to reflect an effort to build 1000 units of housing in five years.   Listen to Ed's 2024 interview for the Are We Here Yet? Podcast. We discussed the inner workings of the ongoing regs themselves, what changes are...

The city of North Adams, MA is a great locale these days if your passion is transforming downtowns.  The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is slated to fund a complete reversal of urban renewal's worst mid-century mistakes by eliminating the Route 2 overpass.  There are myriad other improvements in the works, too.  That's why the folks who care the most about their city reinvigorated the North Adams P...

We're joined this week by tech founder and Real Estate professional Lilian Chen.  She founded Proptimal in order to provide foundational knowledge for investors and developers who generally don't get the attention they deserve from firms focused on established clients. We talked about the inherent challenges in serving smaller clients and on the importance of your underlying analytical processes. ...

I've wanted to interview Ben Lamb for a few years now and he did not disappoint.  We spoke on diversifying revenue streams for his organization's regional work and whether the rapid federal funding changes are having an effect.  We also spent considerable time on housing challenges and what it could look like using a growing housing sector to improve the regional economy.   We made an argument aga...

The Innova802 crew sat down to take stock together on where we stand on Artificial Intelligence: Its effect on politics, creativity, industry, labor, culture and the possibility of global destabilization.  Have no fear, rather than simply complaining as to the side effects of an inappropriately deployed plan by the tech sector for AI, we delve into each of our insights on how a beneficial future c...

In two essays recently published and formed here into a podcast, Scott Graves offers perspective on how to build for the benefit of our society.  In We Didn't Ask for Stupefied Star Trek he explores the perils of launching a nationwide AI technological effort that continues the predatory business models from our largest tech platforms that has arguably produced one of the more widespread detriment...

Consorvia's founder, Christina Fedor wants to redefine society's relationship to the creative sector. With their latest client platform  the company is fundamentally bringing the individual and the system together to serve people in their effort to self actualize. Our conversation reached into the benefits of letting people young and old flex their deepest and most creative muscles.  Some of the i...