How lowered expectations--for employees, managers, and elected representatives--become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Zsolt Farkas explains on Medium.

It's always somebody else's fault. State policies. County gov't malfeasance. Systemic something. Local politicians sidestep accountability for failed programs by deflecting blame somewhere, anywhere else--as long as responsibility isn't theirs.  Governance website examines the science behind the modern day political dodge.

With generations of civil service leaders failing to get a grip on performance management, it is time to get rid of lifetime employment guarantees for gov't workers. UK Cabinet Minister Pat McFadden dares to endorse the obvious, summarized in The Institute for Government. 

“Economic development” departments in SV cities and across California spend tens of billions for private capital. So says Mark Moses, who argues in CPC that incentives rarely influence a firm’s decision to move in. When budgets are blown out for pyrrhic ribbon cuttings, infrastructure crumbles. Cities then patch new budget holes with more taxes.

Even though homelessness continues to rise in SJ, Mayor Mahan and city officials point to an increase in the number of shelter beds as a sign of success. But is it? SF's Mayor Lurie says it's time to go beyond simply counting beds. Rather, he says, cities should be using a data-driven approach to match shelter types to individual needs—shifting from capacity to compatibility. Invisible People explains. 

As San Jose City Council moves forward with consideration of more rent control and new onerous regulations for housing providers, Joseph Weinstein (former housing provider) puts non profits' and advocates' claims that "housing is a right" into a new light.

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.

Multiple 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.