Renters Radio

We interviewed longtime progressive state senator Jamie Eldridge, from Lauren's hometown of Acton-Boxboro, talking about his new Housing and Environment Revenue Opportunities (HERO) Coalition Bill, Universal Basic Income, Criminal Justice Reform, with a few hard hitting questions from Evan about WHY the MA state house hasn't done anything lately!

Lauren and Evan take a call from State Rep Mike Connolly, friend of the show, sponsor of the COVID19 Housing Stability Act here in the MA state house. We discuss the eviction moratorium (soon to expire), the importance of the Housing Stability Act and debunk some myths the landlords have been throwing around to stop this bill! This is a big month for housing, with a whole #WeekOfAction coming up, so stay tuned! #MAPoli #HousingForAll

Evan does a deep dive into the latest Boston City Council Police Budget Hearings

We sit down and have a call with harm reduction specialist Angie Ní Mháille to talk about Operation Clean Sweep, Methadone Mile and how our city is failing when it comes to the opiate crisis in Boston.

We catch up with hot-take master, super canvasser Jonathan Cohn to bring us up to speed on the state of the state house in Massachusetts. We go through the recent police reform and housing votes, and the failures of Mass Democrats to pass real changes at the state level. Featuring a call from fellow podcaster Scamwell Tarly from “We Need Some Milk”!

Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu was brave enough to dawn her mask and join Lauren and Evan in-studio for a detailed discussion on her latest op-ed, the city council budget, abolishing the BPDA and defunding the police!

Lauren and Evan, after a long, apocalyptic hiatus, come together again, united by one issue...rage at the Boston City Councils failure to seize the moment and reject Mayor Marty Walsh's budget. We go into each city councilors statement about why they voted the way they did, vent about feeling betrayed, and take around 5 calls! You don't need us to tell you how much the world has changed the past couple months. If you need us, we'll be on the streets with the protestors. Black Lives Matter, Defund the Police and stay strong, Boston.

Evan George brings us a hearty portion of sexy taxes this week, diving into the transportation bill and the gas tax. Lauren gives us a few more Suffolk Downs updates, and Rod Webber makes it into the studio to give us stories from the campaign trail, court cases and conspiracy theories. We'll be back next week if coronavirus doesn't kill us all!

Evan George takes us to rent-control school, taking down MIT Economist Jon Gruber’s arguments against rent control point by point. Lauren Pespisa chimes in with a deep dive into why no one should be giving Jon Gruber a platform in the first place. Also a call from friend of the show Rod Webber - who almost gets arrested while filling us in on the presidential campaigns in South Carolina. Donate to his legal defense fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/baselvandal Also a dedication to WAAF, one of the last local rock stations left in Boston that got bought out and went off the air last week. Our hearts go out to all the local DJs and music we grew up on. Corporate buyouts SUCK!

Lauren and Evan are back with a Suffolk Downs Update from our caller Gabriela Cartagena of P.U.E.B.L.O. She fills us in on the fight for affordable housing in East Boston, go to https://www.reclaimboston.org/mayor_walsh_suffolk_downs_petition to demand an emergency meeting with Marty Walsh! We also talk about the ongoing violence against the men incarcerated at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center, and the disturbing stance the guards and warden have taken on it.

Lauren and Evan change it up and go national! Covering live results from the Iowa Caucus, before it turned into a dumpster fire. We have a special guest caller Warren Lynch, with insight and intel as the results come in! Lauren finally decides to give her endorsement to Bernie Sanders for president! Feel the Bern!

Lauren and Evan AKA "The Affordables" release the hounds with a call in show, and get some great callers. We hear from Stephen Mahood about the gentrification situation in East Boston and we talk about Tom OBrien, the developer in charge of the Suffolk Downs plan. Also we talk about the mysterious Texas billionaire funding the project, Bruce Harrison Jr! Armani White calls in, candidate for state committee and gives us the scoop on the work he’s been doing in Roxbury.

Lauren and Evan have special guest Jordan Meehan in studio discussing his run for Mass State rep for Suffolks 17th district (Allston-Brighton!) He just dropped a sweet housing bill of rights that aims to protect renters like never before! We also talk MBTA, Green New Deal and of course, Rent Control! Check out Jordan's campaign at www.jordanforma.com.

We're back of a second dose of Renters Radio, because it's Rent Control Week! We have special guest Cambridge City Councilor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler in studio talking about rent control, affordable housing and what's in store for Cambridge now that he's elected!

Lauren, Evan, Herb and Ben Simon are back from vacation bringing in the new year with our favorite topic: Rent Control! We have a super informative caller, Michael Kane from the Mass Alliance of HUD Tenants (www.maht.org) and we are talking about 30 years of organizing tenants on a building level, housing subsidies, and the big bill lifting the ban on rent control in Massachusetts going before the state house Jan, 14 2020. It's a new year, and it's time for rent control in Massachusetts! We also tell vacation stories, Ben Simons boujee trip to France, Evans Spirit Air fiasco in Puerto Rico, and Herbs geeky adventures at SuperMAGFest. Remember to support Bill H.3924 at the state house and stay tuned as we keep fighting for rent control now and affordable housing forever!

We are celebrating the holidays with friends of the show Ben Simon and Sophia Belle. Lauren celebrates "EMF-mas" talking about the issues that started getting us all activated to fight for Rent Control - the loss of our special artist space, EMF in Central Sq. We talk about what happened, what the greedy developer John DiGiovanni did to kick us out, and how Ben and Sophia and tons of Cambridge artists and musicians organized to fight to keep culture alive in Cambridge. Featuring original music from Home Despot and Toby Tantrum. Merry EMF-Mas everyone!

Last episode of the decade! And what a decade it was! We go through Laurens top 10 Boston protests of the decade, remember the legacy of the late Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner, review the new Cats movie, and Evan goes off on the MBTA one last time to end 2019 right. See you next year!

Lauren and Evan bring in our first in-studio guest, the one and only Lee Nave Jr! Known for his city council campaign, the #NaveWave is now the policy director for newly elected city councilor Liz Breadon. We talk about all things Allston-Brighton, affordable housing, nasty development projects, the BPDA and what we have in store for rent control in Allston Rock City for 2020!

Redlining is headlining! This episode of Renters Radio has Evan and Lauren getting into the history of the racial segregation that defined Bostons neighborhoods. We also talk about a recent Pyrrhic victory in Cambridge, the landmarking of the EMF building, with special insight from Dan Totten. Also featuring friend of the show Rod Webber talking about his latest criminal mischief, the Art Basel Lipstick Banana incident. Good times all around!

On a snowy day in Boston, Lauren and Evan still brave the elements to bring you the latest in local activist news. We talk to special guest Professor Nathan Phillips about the toxic Weymouth Compressor project. Support the fight against pollution and corrupt Charlie Baker visit nocompressor.com. Also featuring an interview with Robot Eric from the Harvard Graduate Student Union who are going on strike for a lot of reasons! Plus, more landlord horror and even sexier taxes, as Evan boldly goes where Marty Walsh won't...the MBTA!

Lauren and Evan share renters horror stories, mourn the loss of Rugg Road with Mikey Maker from madeinbostonbrand.com, sexy taxes and mock the Pro-ICE rally.

Lauren and Evan break down some interviews with the original writers of the rent control ban, discuss Elizabeth Warrens new housing plan for America, and do a deep dive with AOC and Taylor Swift into the evils of private equity firms like The Carlyle Group. We also get our first caller, Rod Webber!

Welcome to Renters Radio! In this pilot episode! Hosted by Lauren Pespisa of The Young Jurks and Evan George of Boston DSA! In this episode, we discuss our plans for the show, figure out tech stuff and talk about DSA and Rent Control. Find us on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RentersRadio/ and send us your worst landlord stories Rentersradio@gmail.com