In the Wall Street Journal, Carol Ryan breaks down why the idea of widespread office-to-home repurposing projects may be little more than castles in the air. Unless office costs drastically plummet — or planning regulations are relaxed, as with the U.K. — no company will find it financially feasible to convert.
Read MoreLeading mayoral hopefuls (Chavez and Mahan) and a city council candidate (Irene Smith) in San Jose have joined the chorus of politicians (including President Biden and Governor Newsom) calling for the resignation of Southland politicians who were caught on tape expressing racist and other hateful statements. One of the LA politicians, Kevin de Leon, has ties with San Jose politics and is rebuffing the calls to resign. Excerpts from SJ candidate forum, Twitter feeds, and Merc coverage below.
Read MoreFor the first time, local nonprofits are getting heat for their questionable relationship with the City of SJ. Even Mayor Liccardo recently said the quiet part out loud, expressing concern over how some nonprofits can be seen as unaccountable and underperforming. Some nonprofit leaders took to the pages of the Merc to defend their patch, but, to our way of thinking, came up short. The Opp Now team unpacks the arguments.
Read MoreCalifornia Policy Center president Will Swaim unpacks the recent flurry of Los Angeles City Journal resignations, prompted by leaked audio where several Latino councilmembers made explicit racist comments. This shocking event, says Swaim, derives from California’s domination by the progressive ideology: Extremely tilted politics are devoid of “philosophical rigor” — which encourages local leaders to resort to ad hominem, ad nauseam.
Read MoreNumerous studies have pinpointed the dangers of kids’ screen time, but what about adults’ use of social media and TV? Ever wonder why some local pols seem to lose their cool so often? Entertainment researcher Dr. Cristel Russell explains that according to cultivation theory, consumers’ beliefs about the world are shaped by media, and the effect is more pronounced the more they watch/interact with media. On Fox & Hounds Daily, Russel posits that hateful, name-calling online discourse normalizes cruel communication in the realm of politics.
Read MoreExamining key donations from Gov. Newsom’s anti-recall campaign, policy analyst Brandon Ristoff breaks down the biggest collective contributors as government unions — including multiple teachers unions (over $2.3 million total), a peace officers association ($1.75 million), and a service employees union ($1 million). Ristoff’s analysis highlights the dangers of sizable, formidable unions working with politicians to scratch each other’s backs.
Read MoreIn an email thread recently released by the City of San Jose as part of an action by SJ Spotlight, Mayor Liccardo echoes a concern voiced here on Opp Now: how local nonprofits may be gaming the City's lax management systems, and underperforming due to lack of oversight and accountability. Liccardo’s email and the Spotlight’s comments below.
Read MoreIn Reason, Eugene Volokh breaks down that universities can’t reasonably police student orgs’ ideological exclusions (even including nine Berkeley Law groups’ blatantly anti-Zionist bylaws). However, this latest UC Berkeley controversy uncovers an anti-Israel tilt among extreme progressives, says Volokh, one that should inform how local Californians view cogent conversations on race.
Read MoreFormer Mountain View mayor and two-term councilmember John Inks sat down with Opp Now to discuss his view on local zoning and housing issues — including the dangers of historic home designation and authoritative approval processes. Inks also offers his “capsule version of Libertarianism,” and how it informs his policy approach. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreThe National Low Income Housing Coalition’s 2022 Out of Reach report highlights how burdensome rising rent costs are for the young Bay Area workforce. For instance, San Joseans must earn over $55/hr to afford a two-bedroom rental home. In a Yahoo! News article, Rose Horowitch unpacks further data on the nationwide housing market, of which cost continues to creep up post-COVID — disproportionately hurting recent college grads and beginning professionals.
Read MoreAs part of Opp Now’s latest election series, San Jose City Council candidates for District 7 — Bien Doan and Maya Esparza — parse the local gov’t decisions they’d undo if given the opportunity. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreWhen even starter homes are financially out of reach, what’s incentivizing Santa Clara County residents to build a life here? (And is it surprising, then, that SC was CA’s #2 most vacated county in 2021?) Realtor.com serves the numbers on home renting and buying in metro areas. At #5, San Jose boasts a $2,175 discrepancy between renting and buying costs per month — making settling down in the capital of Silicon Valley near-impossible.
Read More
