In our little #redlined Baltimore neighborhood “pre-#DAO”, we are operating under a similar thesis, starting w/our own trash & recyclables collection because the city can’t do it effectively, but we can & we can create neighborhood jobs & create/keep wealth in community doing it.

We’re doing the gritty work of decentralizing housing finance on the #streetsofbaltimore,so we’re totally in. But we also witness&worry about the #tyrannyofstructurelessness. Wonder how you’d respond to joseph.eth’s take on this, in latest @defiantnews anchor.fm/thedefiant/epi…

We have construction co-op jobs rebuilding Park Circle, starting at $16/hr, w/opportunity to feel supported, to move up, to move into & take equity in the housing we are creating. I invite Gwynn Oak squeegee boys to come see us on the 2800-2900 Hilldale blocks whenever we chat.

We do this w/our anyone-can-join construction co-op. Folks who come are coming from prison, rehab & the hood, often w/trauma & w/o skills, which is tough for all. But we are building a system & a culture which welcomes, trains, & lifts everyone into leadership. & it’s working.

I'm DeFi optimistic. Why? Long before I ever heard of dapps & daos I'd been on the streets of #baltimore grinding out how to reconstruct/permanently democratize & decentralize US housing finance, to empower & enrich neighborhoods, to create a new, lobbyist-proof FHAthing. (1/7 )

Around 2019 I heard tell of blockchain's promises: √bank the unbanked √eliminate predacious RE practices (title insurance, etc) √replace legacy (read: discriminatory/predatory) financial institutions √distribute equity √localize governance, √reward participation (2/7)

And I studied up & now I come knocking. I see what you see. The technology is a loooooonnnnnggg way from banking the unbanked. I am grossed out by the - what owocki calls - "ponzinomics"...but heartened by the fact that he calls it out - look: (3/7)

I found my way over to great communities like Commons Stack & Token Engineering Commons & city3 -places where I can bring our #streetsofBaltimore blood sweat tears brick&mortar DAO (aka multi-stakeholder 'hood rebuilding co-op) & connect our ideas & experiences to the digital commons. (4/7)

You are way smarter & better-versed than I, I imagine I am not tipping you off to anything you don't already know, but, speaking of podcasts - if you're lamentation is "the difference between what crypto can enable & what that ends up looking like in practice today" - then: (5/7)

There are so many good & brilliant cats in this space. My heart palpitates at every read, listen & convo. The evolution is real. Plenty of fuel for optimism. If you're fuel is low, come on out to the streets & let's see what we can do to get this W3 impact party started. (7/7)

Tavon’s moved up to muddin’. #parkheights #baltimore

I’m such an The Ownership Economy stan I can hardly breathe!! I’ll follow up soon with some slick media retweets but in the meantime thank you sooooo much @againstutopia.bsky.social 🏴 (he/him/او) & Martin Smith i’m so unbelievably honored!!

The Baltimore Banner Baltimore Beat y’all aughta come see what we got goin’ on in #ParkCircle #ParkHeights.

Someday please lemme tell you the story ab how Baltimore City Hall #zoning confirmed an already 2unit bldg we bought to bring our neighborhoodequitybuilding model to #sandtownwinchester was ok to renovate as a 2unit only to tell us 5 MONTHS LATER “oh sorry we goofed you can’t do that

you’ll need a variance. That’ll take at least 12 weeks.” The property is surrounded by bandos, just off a NorthAve corner loaded with liquor stores. We are bringing housing justice & equity to the hoods.

So yeah please lemme tell you about that sometime lemme show you the emails & you’re gdammed right this bs just needs to stop.

Think about it: If Area A is trying to reduce homelessness through Housing First, but Area B keeps driving homeless people to Area A through criminalization/encampment sweeps, that is obviously going to undermine Area A’s efforts. 16/

The other issue is housing costs. If housing costs weren’t so high, many of the homeless people in Venice wouldn't be homeless in the first place! The worse the housing shortage, the higher the homeless rate. Homelessness is primarily a housing issue 18/ x.com/aaronacarr/sta…

Ok what I was trying to say is I figured out how to donate to the Gitcoin grants of these really cool projects & you should this too: @0xUrbanika Cambiatus 🌱 Bloom Network Gravity DAO Commons Stack Trusted Seed @proof_integrity Giveth @lunarpunk_labs AgroforestDAO

How does a really compelling irl (think: the streets of Baltimore) decentralized equity/governance project overcome the significant tech barriers to DAO-ifying?