Natalie Cohen

Creating Community Wealth and New Revenue: Public Assets Workshop

Matt Horton, Ben McAdams, Dina Blaes, Jason Foster, Shayne Kavanagh, Joe Minicozzi, Dan Tangherlini, Natalie Cohen

The Milken Institute Center for Regional Economics convened a public finance forum where panelists including former Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams and Urban Planner Joe Minicozzi argued for "Urban Wealth Funds" to transform underutilized public assets into revenue generators that reduce reliance on regressive tax bases. While the session highlighted a Salt Lake County study revealing $12 billion in potential transit-corridor value, speakers like Dina Blaze and Dan Tangerlini emphasized that equitable implementation requires overcoming political barriers and establishing community equity endowments to prevent resident displacement. Experts concluded that local governments must adopt proactive asset valuation and flexible governance structures to legally function as corporate-like entities that capture public wealth for direct community reinvestment.