L.A. housing researcher–author and city planner M. Nolan Gray breaks down the successes of Houston ditching zoning codes and minimum lot sizes in favor of opt-in deed restrictions. On the UCLA Housing Voice podcast, Gray explains how private deed restrictions (and opt-out provisions to no-zoning)—appropriately reliant on the free market—empower residents with an informed choice about land use laws.
Read MoreQuestion for mayoral candidates: Does political ideology matter for municipal positions? San Jose's elections are officially "non partisan," but that doesn't stop the major political parties from attempting to influence the elections, and endorsements come fast and furious invoking national political rhetoric and hot button issues. Do you think your political ideology (you're both Democrats) informs how you'd govern? Is it corrupting for partisan players to be throwing money at SJ races and attempting to make them partisan?
Read MoreColumnist Dan Walters analyzes the fallacious idea that public schools need more funding to help students succeed—a timely one, amidst Silicon Valley schools’ latest cries for renewed parcel taxes and additional million-dollar bonds. If money is the central element in the equation, why are standardized test scores from New York schools (which spend over 50% more per student) indistinguishable from California’s?
Read MoreEnergy consultant Ronald Stein connects California’s exorbitant gas prices with Gov. Newsom’s longtime efforts to kill local fossil fuel production, which have necessitated over 60% dependence on foreign countries’ crude oil. Further, Newsom’s anti-fossil fuel agenda manufactures shortages and hikes up residents’ gas/electricity costs. Barring legislative reform, high fuel prices “may be the new norm.”
Read MoreJackson Reese—longtime political consultant and California Policy Center’s VP—unpacks the bizarre claims made in a recent article by the SCC Democrats, which warns locals against conservative school board candidates. One of several exclusive interviews for Opp Now.
Read MoreWhile Cavalry Chapel may have beaten back excessive government health restrictions with its appeals court victory, the widely respected Pacific Legal Foundation notes that the struggle to resist extravagant health directives from unelected bureaucracies continues. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreWriting for the Hoover Institution, Lee E. Ohanian reports on the pervasive phenomenon of “Silicon Valley giants” like Tesla, Oracle, and HP abruptly leaving the Golden State. Ohanian traces recent mass business departures to California’s imprudent economic policies—which uphold ridiculously high office space prices, worker costs, and taxes.
Read MoreCurrent state law does not require parental consent for underage abortions, as was recently emphasized by Planned Parenthood’s (ultimately unsuccessful) recent partnership with SoCal school district Norwalk-La Mirada USD. While that chapter has concluded, conflict between parents, lawmakers, and public schools persists. Just-passed AB 1940 will fund abortion clinics in local CA’n public schools. Olivia Summers—Associate Counsel of the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ)—speaks with Opp Now about the Norwalk-La Mirada USD experience, CA’n law on underage abortions, and her view of parents’ constitutional rights.
Read MoreThis August, the SCC Board of Supervisors approved a proposal to distribute $1,000/month to every local homeless high school senior. City Journal’s Guy Sorman breaks down this concept, also known as the negative income tax (NIT). He highlights the dangers of giving identical payouts regardless of income, as well as simply adding a program to existing welfare initiatives (which could lead to students seeking less employment opportunities).
Read MoreCalifornia Policy Center editor–commentator Edward Ring points out, in the Epoch Times, embarrassing contradictions between the SV’s globalism ambitions and proscriptive public policies. Rather than silencing dissenting voices, the nation’s tech hub should reevaluate: what globalism means, if it’s worth pursuing, and how that goal could align with local laws—rising above mere Woke lip service.
Read MoreJack Wolfsohn of the National Review breaks down the Manhattan Institute’s report on New York City’s “bail-reform” legislation, active since 2019 (and which many of our county supes appear to agree with). In the name of halting mass incarceration and protecting minority communities (both highly dubious claims), NYC prohibits local judges from assigning pre-trial bail for most nonviolent felony offenses—including drug and robbery. The all-too-expected resulting crime spikes have spoken for themselves, says Wolfsohn. SCC residents have been forewarned.
Read MoreFamilies with young kids have been some of the fastest to flee major urban cities during 2020–2021, demonstrates Adam Ozimek and Connor O’Brien’s report for the Economic Innovation Group. Ozimek and O’Brien unravel curious data behind nationwide child exoduses. If 46% of SCC and San Mateo County children have caretakers who can’t afford basic necessities, is it surprising that local family outmigration has reached historic highs?
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