Seattle’s mayor wants to cut subjective design reviews and greenlight code-compliant housing without endless back-and-forth. As the City of Seattle reports, this trims months off construction starts. San Jose, Mountain View, and Palo Alto could follow suit: SB 330 already lets cities exempt qualifying multifamily projects from Architectural Review Board purgatory.
Read MoreMultiple CA cities (Bakersfield, Redondo Beach, etc.) have solved their homelessness crises. Not so in San Jose and Santa Clara County, as the homelessness crisis continues to trend upwards. Signal Hill is the first city in LA County to achieve a “functional zero homelessness,” and their leaders hope others will follow their model, as explained in the Signal Tribune.
Read MoreSometimes good ideas last forever. And Boxing Day is a good day to appreciate them. Local historian April Halberstat gives us an affectionate review of our epic, historic local rail line--now called Caltrain. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreOverflowing sunshine. Flowers, green grasses, and fruits of every kind. Early California poet (and namesake of the Oakland park) Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) revels in the wonders of “A California Christmas,” below. We echo his gratitude for this special place and the folks in it—and, from the Opp Now team, heartily wish you a wonderful Holiday Season and New Year. :-)
Read MoreIt's not North Beach, but SJ has its own legacy of Beat Literature from the 1950s. And perhaps none is more stirring than this dreamy, little-remarked passage from Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums, in which the narrator hitches a (literal and spiritual) ride on a southbound Xmas Eve train, beginning his SJ-to-LA journey from the sidings of the old Southern Pacific station downtown.
Read MoreHistorian April Halberstadt whisks us back to Christmas a century ago in her historic San Jose home—when local agriculture was booming, the city rapidly expanding via annexations, and the faith-centered Wright family (living in now-Halberstadt’s home) making their mark on CA politics. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreSmall restaurants/food trucks are disproportionately impacted by hidden gov’t fees, fines, and taxes (maybe that’s why so many are closing up shop and heading elsewhere). So Opp Now contributors Gus Mattammal and Susan Shelley have two main suggestions for local gov’t: “aggressively” permit new vendors, and break up big food monopolies. An exclusive.
Read MoreSJ residents recently reported receiving an online poll from City Manager Jennifer Maguire exploring resident feelings about a tsunami of expensive new city taxes. The potential levies range from upgrading SAP Center to fixing storm drains. This type of polling is often used by cities to determine what messages might help a particular proposed tax increase succeed in an election. A summary of the poll's new tax 'n' spend aspirations below.
Read MoreWashington Policy Center highlights Mariya Frost’s article on Sioux Falls’ SAM Flex app, powered by Pantonium’s tech. It ditches fixed routes for on-demand bus rides, cutting costs and CO2 while boosting rider access. With similar tech in nearby Sacramento, Silicon Valley has the opportunity to adopt this private-sector innovation and take its transit to another level.
Read MoreIf you thought it was over with the bait-n-switch Measure A, think again. November, 2026 will see SB63 on the ballot--a deceptive measure which aims to hide the bailout of the region's bankrupt and unsustainable mass transit systems under the guise of "road repairs." An Opp Now exclusive collated by our editorial team.
Read MorePre-approving modular design libraries. Waiving impact fees for workforce housing. And–yes—keeping CEQA under control. SF Briones Society’s Jay Donde and former Hollister mayor Victor Gomez lay out how local gov’t might streamline the building process—and save residents thousands along the way. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreSJ CM Michael Mulcahy sang the praises of the impact of bankrupt county hospitals in his district as he endorsed the "bait-n-switch" Measure A. Problem is: Mulcahy ignores the negative impact big hospital developments can (and do) have on local residents. Experts and National Community Reinvestment Coalition daylight what Mulcahy doesn't see.
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