How do we save the Bay's troubled transit system? Proponents of a five-county sales tax are peddling misinformation to convince Bay Areans that making everything more expensive is the only solution -- while The SF Standard and KQED take their deceptive talking points at face value. We caught up with Gregg Dieguez, spokesperson for the opposition, who debunks three of their most glaringly unquestioned claims.
In response to plans to upzone all of San Jose to high-density, multi-unit neighborhoods, the community group Families and Homes warns that the plan could lead to a dramatic loss in the city's tree canopy.
On the heels of downtown SJ World Cup watch parties devolving into violence, the city of Morgan Hill is reeling after a shooting at an out-of-control, social media-inspired party killed one and left six injured. Morgan Hill Times reports, below.
Five decades. More than $40bn (no typo) in taxes. And for all this, we get the worst-performing transit agency in the country. Prof Pete Constant chronicles the lost time and money, and how regional transit agencies keep peddling the same dishonest arguments in their quest to keep their grossly mismanaged agencies afloat. An Opp Now exclusive.
Scanning local media, it sometimes seems like everybody is always in favor spending more taxpayer money on gov't "services," even if those services don't deliver. We highlight some local leaders who advocate for professional fiscal restraint.
In a thoughtful Merc op-ed, former Assessor Larry Stone says the quiet part out loud: Entertainment Zones won't awaken DTSJ from its somnolence. Stone calls for stronger demands for in-office work. But imaginative international city planners realize those days are long gone, and it's time for a complete reimagining of downtown space. Their ideas explored, below.
Year after year, decade after decade, local gov't has asked county residents to shell out more and more for a mass transit fiscal sinkhole that has delivered less and less. Public policy prof and former SJ CM Pete Constant walks us through the sorry tale. An Opp Now exclusive.
Carol Pefley, candidate for CA Assembly District 28, says real financial accountability starts when leaders have the guts to pull the plug on failed gov't programs.
On August 18th, San Jose City Council is considering approving the Planning Commission’s proposal for upzoning of the whole city, in which historic single-family-home zoning will give way to high-density, multi-story, multi-unit zoning, with by-right development and no parking requirements. Some of F&H's key concerns:
