Economics professor Bryan Caplan argues on Econlib that deregulating the housing market would increase movement to urban and suburban areas. Some commenters voiced concerns of population density and traffic congestion. However, others point out that mass transit, if privatized as in Hong Kong and Chile, could operate profitably and manage growth better than current failed U.S. public transit schemes.
Read MoreSmall property owner Dean Hotop has previously written critically in Opp Now of San Jose Housing Department’s (SJHD) proposed Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA) and the unintended consequences it will produce (see here). In this essay, he takes a step back and gives a 10,000 ft view of what COPA really is, in its essence, and then proposes some alternatives {for anyone who still thinks it’s a great idea to use gov’t funding (i.e., taxpayers money)} to facilitate the transfer of privately-owned, market rate housing units to Non-Profit Organizations and converting them to low-income housing forever.
Read MoreIn a series of dueling op-eds, Supervisor candidate Johnny Khamis took issue with Supervisor Susan Ellenberg's efforts to dramatically decrease the county jail population, efforts which are part of the radical left's decarceration movement. Instead of Ellenberg's binary approach to the issue, Khamis calls for coupling new jail and mental health facilities. Decarceration has been widely discredited as an effort that increases crime and recidivism, see nearby. Khamis' op-ed is in San Jose Spotlight, Ellenberg's in CalMatters. County supervisors are likely to vote on the fate of the county jail on January 25, 2022.
Read MoreNoted forensic linguist Dr. Alan Perlman applies his expertise in BS-identification (see nearby) to city staff's recent redefining of "equity" and finds that, well, it's full of it. City staff drafted this definition at the request of City Council to help clarify the mission of San Jose's new Office of Racial Equity. Perlman believes the bizarre definition will create a radical expansion of affirmative action commitments that will torment San Joseans for decades. Perlman provides a line-by-line exegesis of the daft definition below. City staff language is in normal font, Perlman's comments in italics. (City Council will vote on approving this incoherent inflation of its affirmative action obligations on Tuesday, January 25).
Read MoreLanguage expert and forensic linguist Alan Perlman says there has always been a category of human communication which we now call BS. But rhetoricians and language pros have only recently turned their attention to unpack actually what this type of malarkey is, and how it works. Perlman provides a brief synopsis for Opp Now readers as part of his exegesis of the city staff definition of "equity," which is analyzed nearby.
Read More"Decarceration" is a social justice movement that aims to greatly decrease the number of people jailed for all types of criminal offenses. Progressive advocacy groups and Supervisor Susan Ellenberg are pressing the county for a "Care not Cages" strategy that would redirect monies for jail maintenance and improvement onto abolitionist and reformist non-custodial programs. Rafael Manual of the Manhattan Institute suggests these strategies lead to disastrous results, including greater crime and recidivism.
Read MoreScott Beyer of the Market Urbanism Report reviews Alain Bertaud's upcoming book, Order Without Design. The book brings economic logic and quantitative analysis to guide urban planning decision-making, colored by a hands-on, 55-year career as a global urban planner. Bertaud concludes that urban planning is oblivious to the economic effects of its decisions, and eventually creates unintended consequences to urban development.
Read MoreNext week, San Jose's City Council will consider a new definition of "equity" that will greatly inflate the scope and impact of race-based affirmative action policies across the city. In anticipation of the meeting, we recall Suzi Murillo's Opp Now analysis of the Fall 2020 elections, in which she alone pointed out that local voters soundly rejected local politicians' moves to expand race-based preferences.
Read MoreAs the City Council readies its Study Session on Climate Change, we humbly suggest a consideration of how free market policies can advance environmental betterment, instead of heavy-handed gov't actions. In an Econlib article, former U.S. Office of Policy Analysis director Richard L. Stroup discusses the feasibility of privately managed parks and environmental habitats. A past study found that state parks, which operate mostly from user fees, serve more people and provide superior services as compared to federally tax-funded parks.
Read MoreAfter sitting through six months' worth of discussion about topics for the Charter Review Commission to consider, former Commissioner Tobin Gilman was floored that CM's. Carrasco and Arenas introduced a midnight motion on 1.11.22 to include non-citizen voting into the discussion. Gilman recommends the city reject such divisive manipulations and return to a level-headed, businesslike approach to charter review considerations. From Gilman's Medium account.
Read MoreNegotiations continue about a bizarre, proposed city regulation that would privilege nonprofit buyers in the local housing market (COPA). But local small housing provider Dean Hotop provides a bracing analysis which suggests that the curious proposal would likely defeat its stated purpose, and in fact make local housing even more expensive and unaffordable.
Read MoreMichael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York, argues that non-citizen voting proposals, similar to the ones recently floated by SJ CM's Arenas and Carrasco, are bad for immigrants and the movement to loosen immigration protocols at the federal level. His arguments align with opposition statements nearby from CM Dev Davis and former CM Johnny Khamis. This article originally appeared on Bloomberg News.
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