It may be too late for VTA’s light rail system—widely panned as the nation's worst performing system—to ever realize anything resembling sustainable returns. Especially given ridership losses during the pandemic. Mario Polèse unpacks the problems in City Journal.
Read MorePolitical analyst Tony Quinn recalls the far-left state Democrat party’s failure to pass key propositions in 2020. Despite huge voter turnout and extensive campaigning, their propositions to raise taxes on businesses and establish affirmative action were rejected. Quinn posits the Democrat party is “out of step” with local Californian’s perspectives—and that it may cost them in 2022.
Read MoreWhy would SJ residents believe the City is considering an electrification mandate in all existing buildings? Maybe it’s because the latest electrification plan from the Dept of Environmental Services basically says it will, despite unconvincing denials from staff and council. A quick analysis of the plan's statements reveal the weakness of the city's disclaimers.
Read MoreSilicon Valley cities have spent millions upon millions on affordable housing, and the result seems only to be a steady increase in human suffering, as people live outdoors in haphazard tents and cardboard coverings. Perhaps the Housing First strategies favored by planners--in which units that cost upwards of $800k/unit take years to build--is hopelessly flawed. SJ District 3 council candidate Irene Smith explores a different, more incremental housing strategy based on the perspective of a therapist. From her Medium account.
Read MoreFirst it was the SF Schoolboard recall special election, in which three hard-left, woke elected got the boot. Next, the City of Santa Clara's City manager got shown the door by her bosses, the SC City Council. What gives? Our political system doesn't invite a lot of do-overs, but local voters and pols are pushing back on perceived government overreach and unaccountability. Planning Commissioner Pierluigi Oliverio reads the tea leaves in an exclusive conversation with Opp Now co-founder Christopher Escher.
Read MoreTexas Public Policy Foundation vice president Chuck DeVore comments on California companies' migration to Texas. With the 4th best economic freedom ranking in North America, Texas boasts reasonable costs of living and business regulations. “Anti-free enterprise” California will continue to lose companies to Texas unless local politicians take action.
Read MoreWhile SJ City staff complains to local media, correctly, about how excessive regulation and pandering to special interests contribute to high cost of new housing, they completely miss the main reason new housing costs so much: San Jose has forced all new building to take place within its Urban Growth Boundary (UGB), where land is more expensive and building constraints force taller, more expensive construction. The sainted Randall O'Toole parses the data.
Read MoreWhile South Bay activists continue to lobby for the discredited "Defund the Police" movement, LA may provide some useful lessons with its Community Safety Partnership. Founded in 2011, this partnership promotes healthier relations between police and their communities. Though police are often centralized in the reform conversation, “[b]oth sides” must be engaged, and change must emerge from within—not outside—police departments and communities." Joel Fox reports from the Southland.
Read MoreLocal social media was abuzz last week after D6 Councilwoman Dev Davis alerted the community to an upcoming plan from SJ's Environmental Services Department that considers forcing homeowners and businesses to switch from gas to electric appliances. Sandra Devlin, co-founder and board member of the grass-roots Families and Homes group, alerted City Manager Jennifer Maguire in a March 4, 2022 letter to the deeply flawed citizen outreach regarding the plan. In an edited excerpt from her letter, below, Devlin notes that the city has contacted numerous progressive social justice non profits for their input, but essentially ignored homeowners who may bear the brunt of the cost.
Read MoreMuch has been made in local media about the millions upon millions spent on so-called "affordable" housing. And how all those millions don't make a dent in the problem. Michael Shellenberg, author of “San Fransicko: Why Progressives Ruin Cities,” connects the dots in Reason magazine and concludes that a blinkered insistence on a Housing First strategy is the root of the failure.
Read MoreEast Palo Alto city council earlier this week rejected their version of SJ's COPA--an overly complex, overwrought ordinance that would privilege nonprofits in the residential real estate property market. CM Antonio wonders "whether we as legislators should place nonprofits in the business of being real estate brokers," and if the scheme would actually have any impact, or is just a symbolic, feel-good gesture. From a Palo Alto Daily news op ed.
Read MoreOn March 1, East Palo Alto City Council met and failed to pass a dubious, overly complex ordinance that would privilege nonprofits in the real estate market, at the expense of mom and pop property owners. Councilman Carlos Romero moved that City Staff take the rest of the year to work on an updated ordinance and that it returns to Council before the end of the year. SJ's Housing Department's version of the ordinance (called COPA in San Jose) has run into withering criticism from all sectors of the real estate economy as an onerous, intrusive, and byzantine ordinance--and one that potentially would actually increase housing costs in the city. The following are notes from community leaders regarding the EPA vote.
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