Right now, only 34% of SJ offices are occupied and being used by employees. This aligns with data from America’s big cities, in which most are opting post-COVID to work in hybrid or fully remote capacities. But why? In the Wall Street Journal, Shehnaz Ali analyzes several factors pushing jobholders to stay home, most namely the transit time/costs and public safety concerns of commuting to work.

Avouching that sole dependence on “green” energy is even possible (not to mention CAISO’s false claim that renewables compose 97% of CA’n energy use) might be as preposterous as asserting the Moon lights up the Sun? Californians for Green Nuclear Power president Carl Wurtz contrasts tried-and-true nuclear energy with unreliable, impractical, and inconsistent renewable energy in the California Globe. While helpful in supplementary uses, renewables should never get the “green light” for 100% local energy dependency, says Wurtz.

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.

Question 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?

Columnist 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?

Writing 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.

This 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).