Earlier this month, SJ Councilwoman Dev Davis kicked off an initiative campaign to reverse SB9, Sacramento's heavy-handed takeover of residential zoning authority. Davis, in a SJ Merc op-ed, argues that SB9 stifles local control and won't even guarantee an increase in affordable housing. Councilmember Matt Mahan provides additional perspective, as do council hopefuls Bien Doan, Irene Smith, and Ramona Snyder. Both Davis and Mahan are SJ mayoral hopefuls.
Read MoreBad-faith redistricting does not honor and respect established communities of interest, and instead favors partisan political interests. Gilroy Mayor Marie Blankley argues that the proposed union-backed county gerrymander, also known as the Yellow Map, is an example of bad-faith redistricting, as it would dilute south county residents' voting power.
Read MoreWord that the county Supervisors bizarrely moved forward with the discredited, labor-backed Yellow "Unity" redistricting map (see here) prompted widespread condemnation across the local political spectrum. Councilwoman Dev Davis, Councilmember Matt Mahan, and Planning Commission Pierluigi Oliverio chime in with their concerns.
Read MoreLocal Asian American leaders repudiated the dilution of Asian-American voting power in the labor-backed county redistricting plan, noting it runs contrary to population, community, and geographic realities.
Read MoreThe redistricting process can appear arcane, but concerned residents should be wary of the redrawing of political boundaries, as the process can be done in bad faith and with nefarious goals. Jackson Reese, vice president of the California Policy Center, outlines what citizens should be on the watch for when local politicians start messing with the maps.
Read MoreIn a shocking act of political chicanery, county supervisors are considering a redrawn county electoral map that would effectively prohibit two already-announced candidates (not labor-backed, of course) from participating in the election by redistricting them out of the communities in which they are currently campaigning. Two-term San Jose councilmember Johnny Khamis is one of the potentially-banned candidates and explains the wild county exploits in an exclusive Opportunity Now interview.
Read MoreThe follies continued at the Charter Review Commission (CRC) this week, as three commissioners whined loudly in local media that their insistence on adding policing, climate change, equity, and housing provisions to the CRC's work was subject to questions and deliberation. {The CRC is supposed to be exploring mayoral election cycle timing and mayoral powers}. The complainers claimed that the commission used "procedural attacks" to temper their far left, progressive agenda. In reality, those “procedural attacks” and “bureaucratic roadblocks” are more commonly known as "rules of order." They are used at all public meetings in San Jose and throughout most democratic countries. A friend of Opp Now reports from the CRC public meeting.
Read MoreSan Jose's activist Housing Department is promoting COPA (Community Opportunity to Purchase Act), an extremist city intrusion into the local housing market that would disadvantage small property owners and systemically privilege the non-profit housing organizations that the Housing Dept funnels so much money to. The program has been roundly rejected by local business as an onerous and awkward corruption of market forces, as public comment at an October 25 public meeting revealed. Edited versions of comments and letters from that meeting are below.
Read MoreAfter more than a year of school closures, during which time children received substandard remote learning and SF Unified busied themselves with renaming the city's schools, local parents said "Enough is Enough." They have launched a recall petition that looks like it has a very good chance of success. Joanne Jacobs reports.
Read MoreGreg Tanaka, Palo Alto Councilmember and candidate for US Congress for Silicon Valley, provides a business leader's perspective on the roundly-criticized County Supervisors' Bonus for Bureaucrats program, and emphasizes the importance of aligning workplace incentives with an enterprise's mission and goals.
Read MoreSan Jose's activist Housing Department is promoting COPA (Community Opportunity to Purchase Act), an extremist city intrusion into the local housing market that would give non-profits the first right to purchase rental properties and forbid sellers from listing their property on the open market. Small local property owners would be especially disadvantaged by the proposal, as public comment at an October 25 public meeting revealed. Edited versions of comments and letters from that meeting are below.
Read MoreLocal parents are up in arms about extremist, doctrinaire Critical Race Theory curricula being forced upon their children by local school districts and county governments. But at the same time, many of these parents welcome a fair-minded, even-handed approach to teaching students about how racism fits into American history. The Alliance For Constructive Ethnic Studies explores that kind of thoughtful alternative, in the excerpt that follows.
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