Public Money Pod

This week, we sit down with Chris Osgood, Director of Boston's Office of Climate Resilience and Senior Advisor for Infrastructure to Mayor Michelle Wu, and Ian Donnelly, Deputy Budget Director and Director of Capital Planning for the City of Boston. We explore how Boston is embedding climate resilience into its capital planning process and the tough tradeoffs between near-term fiscal pressures and long-term resilience investments. We also discuss what other cities can learn from Boston's approach to making climate-conscious infrastructure spending a core part of public finance.

This week we are joined by Keola Harrington, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) to discuss how the PPA has evolved since it's creation nearly seventy years ago. How the institution has changed to facilitate mobility in the city for the residents and using technology for these purposes.

This week we discuss the changing landscape of federal funding for disasters available to states with Colin Foard Project Director for Managing Fiscal Risks. How have the eligibility criteria changed over the years? And what other in-state funding methods available to intervene.

In this episode we discuss instilling fiscal responsibility in federal budgeting practices to ensure the national debt remains at sustainable levels. Professors Steve Redburn , Philip G. Joyce and Roy Meyers discuss checks and balances introduced by congress and the manifesto they have created to foster such practices again.

This week we talk to Ted Ross, Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the City of Los Angeles about it's approach to digital infrastructure, particularly the adoption of AI and how it's transforming the workplace and service delivery.

This week we talk about a very pertinent topic: How will the local electric grid accommodate the data center boom? When power grids tend to operate on close to maximum capacity, even a modest increase in demand demands significant investment. Where will those investments come from, and where will they go?

In this week's episode we discuss bitcoin backed municipal debt issuance in New Hampshire with Les Borsai & James Key-Wallace. There has been a wave of states embracing digital currency in debt issuance with legislation introduced in 32 states as of now. We discuss the mechanics, the partnership with the state and private firms, and the potential landscape going foeward.

Welcome back to the Public Money Pod, the first episode for 2026. In this episode we interview Professor Erick Guerra from the University of Pennsylvania. We discuss the transportation infrastructure which involves building, maintaining, and rebuilding an ever expanding road and highway network that has to be financed.

In the episode before thanksgiving we interview Mike Twitty, Pinellas County Property Appraiser. We talk about the different technological tools that have been employed in the Pinellas County to make the property tax process much more transparent, especially for new home owners. We also discuss the sentiment of lawmakers in Florida to property taxes and possible future outcomes.

In episode 11 we continue with the IG series with the former inspector general of the Department of Interior and the Chair of the Counsel of the Inspectors General Mark Greenblatt. We dive into topics such as the differences in IG's at local an d state level and IG's in federal positions and the evolution of IG's role in government as well.