I Hate Politics Podcast

Housing is a highly individual choice, but how does it relate to larger trends in the market, loosening commutes due to work from home, interest rates, and politics? Sunil Dasgupta speaks with recently former College Park-resident Alaina Pitt and soon to be ex-Silver Spring resident Paul Meyer about how they rethought their family housing choices. Local news about the teacher's union disrupting Mo...

Downtown Silver Spring is a half square mile area and it has 20 coffee shops. It has had roughly 20 coffee shops since 2017, but the list keeps changing with closings and openings. Why do new coffee shop owners believe they can make this difficult business work for them? Sunil Dasgupta talks with David Fogel, owner of longtime DTSS coffeeshop, Bump 'n' Grind, about the economics of coffeeshops in...

Agricultural land preservation is a longstanding policy tool against the threat of sprawl and a particular issue in Frederick County, Maryland's fastest-growing jurisdiction. Sunil Dasgupta talks about how things are going in Frederick with Anne Bradley, the county's land preservation programs manager, and with Katie Stevens, who runs the county's agriculture business support. Local news about mac...

We take trash collection for granted today, but like housing and climate action today, garbage collection was once a controversial idea and tough ask. Sunil Dasgupta talks with political scientists Patricia Strach of the University of Albany and Kathleen Sullivan of Ohio University about their new book, The Politics of Trash, where they write about how corruption rather than good governance motiva...

The 445 th session of the Maryland General Assembly was billed as the cannabis session. Based on a referendum that was supported overwhelmingly by Maryland voters, the body had to build an entire framework for growing, processing, and selling recreational marijuana in the state before July 2023. What came of it? Sunil Dasgupta talks to Maryland Delegate David Moon, vice chair of the House Judiciar...

With school budget politics heating up, Sunil Dasgupta talks with former MCPS superintendent, continuing MCPS parent, and education consultant Josh Starr about losing his contract, his book on school leadership, and education challenges in a post-pandemic world. Music for this episode comes from Catscan! a Washington DC band who play art pop music with satirical lyrics: https://bit.ly/3KEpfFF . MC...

Sunil Dasgupta talks with MCPS juniors Yoseph Zerihun of Springbrook High School and Sami Saeed of Richard Montgomery High School, the two finalists for the Student Member of the Montgomery County Board of Education in 2023. The SMOB is one of the eight members of the county school board, nearly co-equal with other generally elected members of the Board, but voted in by MCPS secondary school stude...

Former Wall Street Journal reporter Neil King Jr. walked 26 days covering 330 miles from his home on Capitol Hill in Washington DC to Manhattan and chronicled the journey in a new book, American Ramble: A Walk of Memory and Renewal . Sunil Dasgupta talks with King about his walk, what made him go, and what he learned. Local news re Arlington's new zoning law and corruption, as a former aide to the...

America's fastest-growing sport comes not from the youth but from the aging. The rapid spread of pickleball has reinvigorated underused neighborhood rec centers and parks but also brought to the fore conflicts with tennis and complaints about noise and travelers crowding local streets. Sunil Dasgupta talks with Emer Daly, local pickleball coach and a founder of MoCo Pickleball Facebook group, and...

Nearly all 25 high schools in Montgomery County, MD, have greenhouses, but there is only one agriculture program and two programs on agriculture, sustainability, and the environment. Sunil Dasgupta talks with Lori Mayhew of Damascus High School and Glenn Miller of Sherwood High School about the rhetoric and reality of agriculture education programs, which are themselves part of the larger push out...

In early 2020, Montgomery County, MD, passed a new law which allowed owners of residential properties zoned for single-family homes to build Accessory Dwelling Units, ADUs, which are separate or adjacent structures designed for independent living, a way of allowing greater housing density. But few homeowners have taken the county up on it. To find out why, Sunil Dasgupta talks with architect Eric...

After the Maryland State Highway Administration took away two driving lanes to install new bike lanes following the deaths of two teenaged bicyclists on Old Georgetown Road, communities along the street have been up in arms. Sunil Dasgupta talks with Montgomery County Council Member Andrew Friedson and local resident Laura Chasen about rebalancing road safety and driving efficiency. Local news: ap...

With the Maryland General Assembly weighing several new gun-related bills, Sunil Dasgupta talks with State Senator Jeff Waldstreicher, vice-chair of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, about how Maryland can beat back the Bruen case, respond to a right-wing Supreme Court, and reduce gun violence. Local news on cannabis infrastructure. Music for this episode comes from Baltimore-based electr...

Following an increase in fentanyl poisoning and deaths, MCPS and Montgomery County launch a full court press to try to stem the crisis. Sunil Dasgupta speaks with MCPS Medical Officer Patricia Kapunan and county anti-drug use actiovist and PTA leader Laura Mitchell to try to understand the scope of the problem and what MCPS is doing to bring it under control. Music for this episode comes from Rock...

The successful demonstration of work from home during the pandemic has led urban cores losing population and transit ridership plummet. In this episode, Sunil Dasgupta talks with Nicholas Ramfos of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments' Transportation Planning Board about their "2022 State of the Commute" survey, and to Jordan Rappaport of Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City about his...

The arrival of winter snow and ice is met with millions of tons of road salt across the county, which corrodes infrastructure and automobiles goes into waterways, raising salinity levels even in drinking water and destroying plants and animals. Sunil Dasgupta walks with Abby Hileman of Izaak Walton League's Salt Watch Program and Karl Van Neste, a local salt advocate, about the problem and what to...

Last October, the climate group Declare Emergency blocked traffic on the Capital Beltway in an effort to force President Biden to announce a climate emergency. Sunil Dasgupta talks with Will Regan and Nora Swisher, who were arrested and jailed for that action, and Paul Severance, the group's spokesperson to find out about their theory of victory. The episode includes a second interview Maryland st...

Twenty-five years after releasing their first album, Finster, a band originally formed in 1990s in State College, PA, release their second album, Crosswinds, on this episode. Listen to their music, how they came back together during the pandemic, and about the tough economics of local music. Kate Johnson on vocals and guitar, Doogie Whittaker on guitars, Howard Rabach on bass, and Matt Zelenz on d...

In the 100 th episode of the show, Sunil Dasgupta talks with narrowly-elected Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater about her campaign, her coalition, and how she intends to govern, offering a case study in managing political polarization. Frederick is living through contestation between newcomers interested in mainline pocketbook politics preferred by Democrats and Trump-inspired right-win...

With the 2023 Maryland General Assembly session starting in less than two weeks, t he new governor and the new assembly not only will have to figure out which issues to focus on but also how to balance between them, all the while developing new marijuana legislation. Sunil Dasgupta talks with UMBC political science professor Roy Meyers and Maryland Association of Counties (MaCo) Legislative Direct...

Holiday Weekend Special with local music featured on the podcast and local nonprofit stories: Artists and bands in order of appearance: Ruben Dasgupta, The Sunshiners, The Airport 77s, Eddie Boxxer, The Treading Lemmings, A Shrewdness of Apes, Pete Chauvette, Emily Hall, Dara Blecher, and Kara Levchenko. Nonprofit orgs: Woman to Woman Mentoring, The Civic Circle,  Linus Project Montgomery County C...

New Year. New General Assembly session. New Governor. But most important of all, Maryland is looking at unprecedented budget surpluses for the next 5 years. In the counties, however, there isn't a feeling of flush. Sunil Dasgupta asks Delegate Marc Korman, the Maryland House Chair for the state's Spending Affordability Committee, how the state windfall is likely to reshape public finance in the st...

Sidewalks v trees is a common 21st century battleline in American suburbs pitting neighbor against neighbor in a struggle between two public goods, road safety and tree conservation. Politicians naturally promise both, but government agencies often fuel the conflict to justify inaction. In this episode, Sunil Dasgupta talks to one local government official, City of Takoma Park public works directo...

With Washington DC's education leadership working to revise the city government's School Report Card, Sunil Dasgupta talks with DC Board of Education member Ruth Wattenberg who has been fighting a long battle against test score-driven school evaluations. As the conversation dug deeper, Wattenberg opened up about charter schools, private foundation money, and mayoral control of DC's public schools....

Thanksgiving and the holiday season is also the college admission season. As families struggle with college decisions, Sunil Dasgupta talks with UMBC's Director of Financial Aid Andrea Cipolla to break down the primary instrument colleges use to determine financial aid, the FAFSA, and about the consequences of the college financing system we have created. And local area nonprofits tell you what th...