If Californian cities truly consider homeless citizens honored “guests,” wouldn’t they work to rehabilitate them instead of pushing short-term, accountability-free housing? The answer, says California Globe’s Katy Grimes, lies in pure politics: Costly development projects benefit legislators and their allies, while addiction and mental health treatment is challenging (and not as flashy) to implement.
Read MoreIn this installment of Opportunity Now’s favorite political book series, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (HJTA) president Jon Coupal and Market Urbanism Report editor Scott Beyer highlight powerful reads that have both inspired and challenged them—depicting in fine lines the state of our nation, as well as possibilities of transformation through “ordinary citizens’” perseverance.
Read MoreCalifornia’s charter schools serve 600,000+ children/year, roughly 10% of our state’s K-12 students (and in SCC, over 11%). Yet since 2020, CA EC Section 47612.7 has prohibited petitioning to create new charter schools, which face even further restrictions from proposed federal rules. April Warren—Head of Schools at California Virtual Academies—describes the advantages of fully-online charter schools, and why local parents’ choice is an important consideration when developing policy.
Read MoreEdward Ring of the California Policy Center analyzes California’s 2022-2023 state budget, totaling a whopping $300 billion. Looking back ten years, 2012’s budget (adjusted for inflation) was less than half of this upcoming year’s budget. But are Californians better off for it, when we consider statewide/local spiked-up costs of living, crime and homelessness crises, and overregulated business markets?
Read MoreSince a memorable 1984 campaign linked the lottery and public schools, many local Californians believe their gambling contributes to the educational system. However, the lottery system funds under 2% of our state’s education revenue. Columnist Joe Mathews corrects this misconception, exhorting that public school funding must directly serve students in Fox & Hounds Daily.
Read MoreIn its July 30 issue, SJ Merc pulls a curious sleight-of-hand trick to misdirect readers about a legitimate issue—the high cost of local housing. It’s an exaggeration that complicates and confuses the issue and potential solutions.
Read MoreAfter a fiscally devastating pandemic, businesses face rising pressure to spout progressive political jargon to retain investors? Bill Flaig of American Conservative Values ETF analyzes Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investment options, which force businesses to align inauthentically and dogmatically to extremist ideals—when they should instead prioritize effective financial decisions.
Read MoreSpeaking at SJSU Econ dept’s David S. Saurman Provocative Lecture Series, Dr. Phillip W. Magness—of the American Institute for Economic Research—examines a strange shift in higher education. While Economics departments mostly swear off Marxist principles (thanks to their “broad real world failure” in practical application), Humanities departments frequently assign Marx’s writings. Why? Magness points to academia’s data-backed “ideological tilt” towards leftism.
Read MoreSoCal’s Marc Ang is president of Asian Industry B2B and renowned for his pioneering journalism championing minority communities and fighting bills like Prop 16. He turns his gaze on local Santa Clara County decarceration advocates' arguments for zero dollar bail, and finds that facts don't support their assertions. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreThoreau Institute scholar and longtime Opp Now contributor Randal O'Toole provides a critical perspective on the Silicon Valley Business Journal's recent interview with VTA's CEO Carolyn Gonot, and laments a lack of clear-eyed, businesslike perspective on the troubled agency's prospects.
Read MoreIn the first of a three-part series about the key issues in the mayor's race, County Supervisor Cindy Chavez and D10 Councilmember Matt Mahan dig into the history of land use and housing policy decisions that led to our unaffordability crisis, and their plans to fix it.
Read MoreCity and transit planning expert Randall O'Toole famously called out San Jose's ongoing failure to revitalize its moribund downtown as one of local government's "5 Biggest Failures". The pandemic has thrown many other downtowns into serious decline, prompting WSJ reporter Justin Lahart to consider a strategy for a new urban renaissance that dumps all the subsidies, eminent domain, hyper regulation, and race-switching, and focuses instead on conversions of office/industrial space to cheaper housing. It's worked before.
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