NY/CA analysis: Housing First (Treatment Later—if at all) only hurts local homeless individuals
Repudiating the simplistic assessment that homelessness is caused by lack of permanent housing, Michele Steeb of the New York Post explains how Housing First failed New York and California. After adopting “utopian” Housing First policies, both states observed increased homelessness statistics (in CA, a 47.1% rise in 2016). Steeb argues that in-service treatment centers provide dignified living environments while addressing mental health/substance abuse challenges at the core of long-term homelessness.
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Why Silicon Valley tech workers lean socialist
Heartland Institute research director Edward Hudgins speaks with experienced Silicon Valley free market advocate Patrick Peterson on the Heartland Daily Podcast. Peterson purports that local tech employees often support socialist economic policies because their high salaries shield them from the brunt of our fiscal crises. Many innovators in tech are optimistic, creative, and openminded—but they struggle to see the “big picture” of free market principles beyond their limited personal experiences.
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LAPD case study: CA must reform police forces, not incapacitate them
Political commentator Joel Fox writes about the risks of underfunding local police departments, specially highlighting the Los Angeles Police Department’s past drastic $150 million budget cut. Rather than endangering residents by reducing funding and discontinuing certain types of accident investigation, California’s police forces must be strengthened to serve their ultimate purpose of protecting local citizens, argues Fox.
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San Jose should mix abolition of parking minimums with other market solutions
Scott Beyer of the Market Urbanism Report takes a close look at SJ's parking policies and concludes that the city can solve multiple problems by reducing required parking—and embracing demand-based parking pricing and other deregulations.
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SF School Board study: “Equitable” admissions synonymous with anti-Asian discrimination
In 2020, SF’s school board established a lottery system for Lowell, one of our state’s highest-performing high schools. Due to claimed “racial isolation,” social justice advocates advised continuing the system through 2022-2023, but the Board unexpectedly shot the proposal down 4-3 in June. Former Lake Elsinore mayor Thomas Buckley breaks down the start of Lowell’s shift to lottery, rooted in explicitly anti-Asian interracial “equity” propaganda.
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School choice overwhelmingly supported by diverse voters/teachers, says CA School Choice Foundation president
Opportunity Now chatted with Michael Alexander—the California School Choice Foundation president and Californians for School Choice chairman—about the data on who supports local school choice initiatives.
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Recalling 2021’s “Exoduses”: Noteworthy companies that abandoned the Golden State in 2021
Commentator Brandon Ristoff reviews high points in California Policy Center’s 2021 “Book of Exoduses.” Notably, $1 trillion-valued Tesla’s headquarters transferred to Texas, along with data center firm Digital Realty Trust and myriad other organizations. What eminent companies will break free from California’s talons in 2022, and will our lawmakers embrace deregulation to bring them back?
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State’s HSR affordability argument falls flat after latest budget spike
BuildHSR.com is the official Californian website that defends our decades-long, politically-motivated, taxpayer-funded contretemps known as the CA High Speed Rail project. See previous criticism from TRANSDEF, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, and the SAFE Coalition. Opp Now refutes the State’s flimsy cost-effectiveness argument regarding comparable transit projects on a BuildHSR page most unfortunately titled “Get the facts.”
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Local leaders condemn misguided “catch-and-release” policies for criminals
SCC Supervisor candidate Johnny Khamis and SJ Mayor candidate Matt Mahan share the City’s concerns about uninhibited pre-trial releases, which are likely correlated with SJ’s drastically worsening crime landscape (as outlined in Mayor Liccardo and Councilmembers Carrasco and Mahan’s recent memorandum). Exclusive comments for Opp Now on public safety consequences of catch-and-release procedures.
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Oakland truckers protest State bill, claim anti-contractor mandated unionization
AB 5, chaptered in 2019, would force California’s freelance truck drivers to unionize under larger corporations—kissing the gig work option goodbye. Since the Supreme Court declined to hear a case against AB 5 last month, Oakland community truckers have blocked terminal traffic to protest this “man-made disaster” of coerced unionization. Stephen Frank of California Political Review examines the protest’s and AB 5’s powerful implications for our local economy.
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Only three other states’ unemployment claims recovering slower than CA’s
WalletHub recently analyzed all fifty states and the District of Columbia to determine fastest changes in number of local unemployment claims. California stood at #48, boasting one of our nation’s smallest decreases when compared to the beginning of 2020 (consistent with noticeable Bay Area job losses during COVID-19’s remote labor boom). Considering burdensome costs of living for all but the most wealthy, is it surprising that Californians are still, post-COVID, struggling with unemployment?
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Unaccountable Housing Dept drains city coffers while police dept starved
Concerned citizen Dean Hotop digs into a topic local media ignores—the wild misspending of funds by SJ Housing Dept—and links the dept’s fiscal mismanagement to increasing crime and lawlessness.
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