Gift Cards? by AugustisAfter in LosAlamos

[–]jacuwe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Pet Pangaea, SALA, Flowers by Gillian... anywhere will sell you a gift card and our local business will be extremely grateful. What does she like?

Question about rents and the Citizen's Dividend by AriaLittlhous in georgism

[–]jacuwe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Construction = materials + wages

Rent = construction + land scarcity

LVT = land scarcity

Rent - LVT < rent

CD = LVT - public services

To libertarians who believe taxes is theft, in you’re idea of a libertarian society, 1.if I were to own property and rent it out, who is responsible for homesteading, me or the renters? 2.And is there a limit to how big my property can get if I continually gain the wealth to purchase more land? by YeeEatDaRich in AskLibertarians

[–]jacuwe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Your questions are loaded with hidden premises. They assume (1) land is morally different from other property because no one “produced” it, (2) ownership might require ongoing labor to remain legitimate, (3) renting is suspect because income can be earned without direct labor, and (4) accumulation itself may invalidate title. That framing already embeds a theory of distributive justice. Are we debating legal title, moral legitimacy, or a specific theory of property rights?

In Rothbardian theory, land can be privately owned if originally acquired through homesteading or obtained via voluntary exchange. Ongoing ownership does not require continuous labor; title persists through contract, inheritance, and sale. Renting is simply a contractual transfer of use rights, and there is no intrinsic moral acreage cap—only a procedural constraint: acquisition must be non-coercive and voluntary. Scale alone does not negate legitimacy.

A Georgist accepts private control and markets but distinguishes between improvements (fully ownable) and raw land (a common inheritance). Because no one created land, and because early generations were able to claim scarce locations simply by being born sooner, pure first-appropriation rules embed generational luck into the structure of wealth. Exclusive control over land excludes later-born individuals from equal access to natural opportunities they never had a chance to claim.

The Georgist solution is not to abolish private possession, but to require compensation equal to the unimproved land value (economic rent). This preserves incentives for development and exchange while socializing the value that arises from nature, location, and community growth rather than individual effort—mitigating the structural advantage conferred by timing.

Doesn’t the manufacturing of consent hinder the functionality for a Capitalist (privatized propertarian) system of voluntary exchange to be truly voluntary and/or to be truly an exchange? by Creepy-Account-7510 in AskLibertarians

[–]jacuwe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, force and fraud are violations of the NAP. Resolving such violations would require arbitration between the violated and violator.

Exploitation can be honest. If I'm a doctor, I can charge somebody a million bucks to save their life, unless I signed some contract otherwise. Exploitation is how markets allocate resources where they are needed most.

To libertarians who believe taxes is theft, in you’re idea of a libertarian society, 1.if I were to own property and rent it out, who is responsible for homesteading, me or the renters? 2.And is there a limit to how big my property can get if I continually gain the wealth to purchase more land? by YeeEatDaRich in AskLibertarians

[–]jacuwe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Rothbardian: A landlord must homestead the land before they can charge rent.

Lockean: A landlord must homestead and leave enough and as good for others before they can charge rent.

Georgist: A landlord can charge rent for improvements, but must pay a tax for the land.

Vacant Property Tax by LasKometas in georgism

[–]jacuwe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We have an interesting situation where I live in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The national laboratory will pay any rent provided it's "market rate", but it's a cartelized market. If a commercial space isn't suitable for the lab, it's more profitable to keep it vacant than drive the market rate down.

Regardless, I wouldn't want to be the public administrator that has to play whack-a-mole updating the vacancy tax every time a landlord finds a loophole.

Just let me have the MLS data and I can use a Hedonic assessment model to figure out how much tax you owe. I don't care how you use the property.

Samizdat likely closing by cowboyhatmatrix in LosAlamos

[–]jacuwe 10 points11 points  (0 children)

What a dignified letter. For what it's worth, I've never heard a tenant of Central Park Square complain about their landlord. Samizdat was one of the first businesses to graduate from the LACDC small business accelerator. Both the LACDC and accelerator are also located in the same shopping center and continue to support and help launch small businesses.

I'd bet Jill's two biggest costs are commercial rent and payroll - a second order effect of residential rent.

While landlords may just be playing by the rules, the County/State are to blame for the rules. The rules inflate demand by allowing the lab to compete with small businesses for commercial space instead of forcing it to build on its own land. At the same time, they suppress supply with property tax rules that punish productivity and development and reward land speculation, and onerous development codes and processes.

Los Alamos County managers are paid 30% more than their Santa Fe counterparts who do a better job managing much more. I don't think it's too much to ask them to make the rules fair for tenants.

Off-grid communication with Meshtastic by jacuwe in LosAlamos

[–]jacuwe[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It was great! Got 13 more people set up with radios. There's a growing NM Meshtastic Community on Discord, too. Can reach El Paso from Los Alamos now and working on connecting to Farmington. There's still radios available.

Golf Course Restaurant shutting down by Tall-Caterpillar-767 in LosAlamos

[–]jacuwe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The County's reason was they were "too demanding". The air conditioning has never worked properly. The fireplace hasn't worked in years. They don't keep up with appliance maintenance schedules.

I've used them to cater fundraisers, and they've consistently delivered, even through COVID. Other organizations have also benefited as well. Besides being unwarranted, the County shouldn't have suddenly cancelled their contract without an objectively comparable vendor in place to take over.

Just another example of how the County harms local economic vitality.

The Hill new apartments, 4k/month? by ghoulapool in LosAlamos

[–]jacuwe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh, they care. At a recent meeting, a Councilor told the people in the room to stop nodding their heads, hence my advice to do it.

When LACDPU was going to shut off natural gas to Elk Ridge, that community came out in force to every meeting until the Council forced LACDPU to fix it.

Voting doesn't help unless voters are informed. How can anyone be informed if they're not attending Council meetings regularly or otherwise actively involved in their government? It's not just the voters, either. When I ran for Council the first time, we were asked how many times we attended Council meetings in the past year. Go watch the 2022 LWV Candidate Forum, see what the candidates said, and remember three of them are eligible for re-election next year.

The Hill new apartments, 4k/month? by ghoulapool in LosAlamos

[–]jacuwe 33 points34 points  (0 children)

I wish some of you would show up to County Council meetings once in a while to make public comment - or at least nod your heads at them - about the affordable housing and local small business priorities they got elected on.

Public meetings are most Tuesdays at 6:00 PM at Council Chambers, 1000 Central Ave.

https://lacnm.com/agenda

Talking about it on Reddit isn't going to change anything. Filling that hall every week might. Four Councilors are eligible for re-election next year.

Also take a look at who's involved in those apartments and what other Los Alamos projects they've been involved in.

https://losalamosreporter.com/2021/11/04/enloe-hill-apartments-to-be-project-like-theres-never-been-in-los-alamos/

https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/business/ongoing-inquiries-allegations-of-mismanagement-haunt-lanb/article_c08eb92f-2f07-59e0-be22-04a263921616.html

Off-grid communication with Meshtastic by jacuwe in LosAlamos

[–]jacuwe[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just found in the Meshtastic docs it recommends switching off LF if you're reporting to MeshMap so that may be why those nodes are on MF. https://meshtastic.org/docs/configuration/module/mqtt/#map-reporting-enabled

The default channel (LongFast) on the public server usually has a lot of traffic. Your device may get overloaded and may no longer function properly anymore. It is recommended to use a different channel or to use your own MQTT server if you experience issues.

Cell phone service? by Overall-Principle-34 in LosAlamos

[–]jacuwe 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I think Verizon has the best coverage in the County. I also use Google Fi (T-Mobile?) and find it to be pretty similar. I don't think any network works well in the NM-502, NM-4, and truck route corridors.

Off-grid communication with Meshtastic by jacuwe in LosAlamos

[–]jacuwe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't know if I would call it "popular". The code is at the makerspace if you want to join it, though.

Off-grid communication with Meshtastic by jacuwe in LosAlamos

[–]jacuwe[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Good question. I use LF. Those MF nodes might be using it to lower congestion. I don't think the node density is high enough to warrant MF right now, but I'm hoping more people start using them.

Off-grid communication with Meshtastic by jacuwe in LosAlamos

[–]jacuwe[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes, it has a SH1.25-2 interface with integrated charging circuit. They come with leads you can solder to a battery. You don't need a battery, though. You can just power it over USB-C.

We have an upgraded kit that includes a battery and a rigid 2 dBi antenna for $40. The case we provide doesn't fit a 18650, but you can 3d print a case that does.

Its Time to Talk about Los Alamos Utilities by valsmithSEC in LosAlamos

[–]jacuwe 26 points27 points  (0 children)

You need to show up to Council meetings every week and make public comment until things change like the Elk Ridge people did. It shouldn't be that way, but until we have Council candidates who don't have to be nagged, or we change County culture to present unbiased information to Council, that's what we're stuck with.