Santa Clara County teachers’ unions brazen power play in keeping schools closed despite scientific evidence that said it’s okay to reopen may have backfired. Parents around the country are checking out of public schools and private and charter schools are benefitting. Paul Peterson reports in the Wall Street Journal.
Read MoreFrederich Hayek, noted libertarian thinker and steadfast defender of personal liberty, discusses how it's important for modern people to keep the protocols of our family and intimate relationships free from the conventions of the public square.
Read MoreNational cancel culture came to Santa Clara County this month, when the local Democratic party, prompted by activist outrage, censured and called for the resignation of its long-time county assessor, Larry Stone. The Assessor had used a barnyard metaphor to describe his potential rival's relationship with unions. Veteran investigative journalist and media expert Mark Lisheron explores in this exclusive report for Opportunity Now.
Read MoreIn our ongoing series outlining misstatements in the discussion over the Schiele Ave., historic designation discussion, we clarify what historic preservation aims to do, and disprove inaccurate comments from councilmember Arenas that suggested the Schiele Ave. neighborhood has a long history of segregation.
Read MoreIn 2016, 77 percent of Los Angeles voters approved a $1.2 billion bond for the construction of 10,000 units that were supposed to help solve the city’s homelessness crisis. It was the vanguard of the “Housing First” approach policy that became popular with many California metro areas, including Santa Clara County. It has been a bust, explains Christopber Rufo in National Review.
Read MoreThe April 19 print edition of National Review, a venerable conservative weekly, featured a lead article by Will Swaim that skewers the SJ Housing Dept's much-maligned "Dwellings" podcast series. The article makes fun of the disinformation and biased nature of the series and department, especially when it comes to the podcast's blatant advocacy for citywide upzoning. The article quotes a posting from this humble website as well.
Read MoreIn our continuing series on dubious statements made during the March 24 Rules Committee debate on the Schiele Ave. historical designation, our web editor team examines councilmember Arenas' inaccurate comments about the relationships between racism, segregation and home design.
Read MoreAt the April 28, 2021 SJ Rules Committee meeting, residents who take issue with the proposal to abolish single family zoning in the city explained the multi-faceted reasons for their opposition.
Read MoreThe current racial mix of the Garden Alameda neighborhood in San Jose is roughly the same as the City as a whole, except Garden Alameda has a higher percentage of Black and Mixed Race residents. At the March 24 Rules Committee Meeting, however, Coucilmember Sylvia Arenas suggested that efforts of neighbors in that district to preserve their 100-year-old homes were racist and that the neighborhood was segregated. Arenas also confused many in the audience by conflating New Deal federal financial loan terms from the 1940s with racist property lot covenants from the 1920s. The Opportunity Now web editor team tries to clarify.
Read MoreVirtue- and wealth-signalling often seem endemic to Silicon Valley. Millionaires and billionaires talk about their desire to help to the poor and the environment—all from their comfortable enclaves of mansions and private schools and private jets. The scientist Stephen Hawking offers an explanation for the hypocrisy in The Spectator.
Read MoreFor all the local talk of equity regarding vaccine distributions, a sobering truth emerges: the hardship of lockdowns fell disproportionately on the poor and people of color, while wealthy whites skated by on zoom calls. The UPI reports.
Read MoreIncreasingly, homeless advocates and public policy experts suggest that shelters and triage services are most appropriate for many of our unfortunate homeless neighbors. But cities, many in Silicon Valley, keep throwing huge sums at overpriced, new housing. Katy Grimes at California Globe explores a Sacramento case study.
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