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.
Read MoreIt was certainly one of the more eye-popping acts of legislative hypocrisy in recent years. East Bay state Assembly member Buffy Wicks on June 29 trumpeted on X how she both wrote and voted for advancing the revised Local Taxpayer Act (2/3 voter threshold for new taxes),while at the same time saying she "adamantly opposed" the bill. Lance Christensen of the California Policy Center and longtime Sacramento watcher unpacks the double-dealing in this exclusive Opp Now Q&A.
Read MoreA recent Mercury News article threatens the “sky is falling” if taxpayers don’t bail out transit, says Tom Rubin, who argues that ridership collapsed years ago. Where the Merc doesn’t look for cost savings, the former transit executive does: automate the trains like they did in Vancouver, hire way more part-time operators. Don’t like traffic? Encourage remote work because data show workers are driving, not riding, back to the office. An Opportunity Now exclusive rebuttal to the Merc.
Read More“People are leaving BART and other transit systems because they feel unsafe and because it's dirty,” says transit consultant Tom Rubin. While the Mercury News promotes a massive sales tax to rescue the troubled trains, Rubin asks of tax-happy government leaders: “why should they think if they give BART more money, that something will change? An Opportunity Now exclusive rebuttal to the Merc.
Read MoreThe Mercury News reports BART fares only cover 30% of costs, and suggests the only solution is a sales tax. But past transit executive Tom Rubin asks why BART is spending over a billion dollars to increase capacity, when ridership is down. He says BART could harness massive savings if they automate trains like they do in Vancouver. Why won’t the unions allow it? An Opportunity Now exclusive rebuttal to the Merc.
Read MoreA Mercury News piece whips up fear that BART will raise fares and shut down stations, if voters don’t agree to a half cent sales tax. Quote: “it’s an attack on the lower class.” But transit expert Tom Rubin says the top 20% of income earners would be the most impacted. Should the Bay Area’s poorest suffer a regressive sales tax to bail out rich commuters? An Opportunity Now exclusive rebuttal to the Merc.
Read MoreSan Jose is Prop 13 Country, but the city council remains oblivious to this fact. CM Cohen leads the council in opposing the restoration of taxpayer protections contained in this November’s Save Prop 13 act – and tells some whoppers while he’s at it. Susan Shelley at HJTA corrects Cohen’s misrepresentation of the important initiative in this week's Tax-free Tuesday. An Opp Now Exclusive.
Read MoreWe ask some psychoanalysts to provide tips to local politicians on how to be a good winner and a good loser.
Read MoreMaybe the way to make San Jose more affordable isn’t by demonizing gas appliances, single-family homes, and urban sprawl—say CFR’s Pat Waite and SVGOP’s David G. Johnson. Perhaps local elected officials should reconsider what’s proven effective and reasonable, not environmentally virtue-signal at the expense of (our) cost of living. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreThis gubernatorial campaign has highlighted a number of whopping contradictions, non sequiturs, and amazing flip-flops from Dem candidates who struggle with the legacy of failure of One-Party rule in CA. We play shrink and unpack the psychological dimensions. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreOn this Tax-Free Tuesday (5.25) Opp Now editor Will Sherman explores the Merc’s important opposition to Measure D and how a little-known loophole makes it fantastically easy to raise your parcel tax, despite what you may have thought were Prop 13 protections. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreOpp Now's Cristabel Cruz takes a ramble among cities which have embraced a "Contract" model (greatly reducing local gov't size and cost). And likes what she finds. An Opp Now exclusive.
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