Case study: L.A. minimum loss threshold for eviction will increase rents for everyone
Extremist progressive policies often get launched in S.F. and L.A. before they reach the shores of the Guadalupe. Our Southland readers note a new anti-market, anti-productive housing scheme making the rounds in L.A. and predict SJ Housing Dept. will float this concept within a year: It's a requirement for a minimum loss before an eviction notice can be filed for failure to pay rent. Evictions often take 6 months to process as is; delaying the process’s start can add 3 months to that rent holiday. The impact? An increase in the cost of renting, and the increase will be spread out among other tenants. From Apt. Ass’n Greater Los Angeles newsletter.
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☆ BUSD board member: It’s time we address dropping enrollment
Second-term Berryessa Union board member Hugo Jimenez shares his 2023 district-level ambitions: reduce students’ competency gaps through beneficial services, and combat declining enrollment numbers. Other BUSD candidates/board members have not yet responded. An Opp Now exclusive.
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Perspective: CA’s outmigration epidemic has bad public policies to blame
Front Page Magazine’s Larry Sand discusses the Golden State exoduses en masse. Considering CA’s taxpayer money abuses, forced union membership, and medically irresponsible policies, is it surprising that more people are “U-hauling it out of California” than any other state?
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☆ Analysis: Land use restrictions spike up Bay Area house prices
Brian Holtz — SCC Libertarian Party Campaigns Committee chair and proud geolibertarian — discusses AB 2907’s proposal to eliminate parking minimums and other general zoning requirements. Holtz connects overbearing land use restrictions with the SCC’s less-affordable-by-the-day housing market. An Opp Now exclusive on Local Gov’t Hopes & Fears.
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Media expert: How to spot journalistic bias
Charges of favoritism in the Fourth Estate are nothing new, but the intensity and transparency of Orwellian partisanship, especially in the local digital realm, have hit hilarious new highs. Veteran journalist and media critic Mark Lisheron provided Opp Now readers with a handy guide for identifying that bias in March 2021; and his insights are even more relevant today.
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☆ Expert opinion on SJ's COPA proposal: "Not sound policy"
Are nonprofits better than private developers at meeting the needs of San Jose residents? Market Urbanism Report's Scott Beyer does a deep dive into COPA's history and specifics; he concludes it's a misguided, cost-increasing approach to addressing legitimate affordability and displacement concerns, in this Opp Now exclusive.
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Why (local) digital media remains so biased
As local online websites consider new ways to banish independent comments that run contrary to their lefty narrative, thoughtful readers wonder: How did this come to pass? What ruined so-called "journalism?" Audrey Mir in City Journal offers an answer: As the internet demolished legacy media's ad-based model, it ushered in an era of "Post-Journalism," which needs outrage, hyper-partisan postures, and an ever-present Enemy to make their subscription-based business model work. Excerpt below.
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Expert: Lack of electricity may put the brakes on Newsom’s electric vehicle plan
How will the worldwide electricity dearth impact Gov. Newsom’s only-EVs-by-2035 mandate? Will local EVs be permitted to charge when and as needed (if completely reliant on intermittent, unstable “green” power)? Ronald Stein, respected Californian energy policy commentator, explores in CFACT.
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☆ Business expert hopeful for Mahan’s mayoral tenure, wants more open plans
Asian Industry B2B president Marc Ang turns his gaze from SoCal politics to analyze new SJ Mayor Mahan’s Business Journal interview. Impressed with Mahan’s campaigning approach and straightforward acknowledgement of the City’s weaknesses, Ang requests the mayor give more details about his affordable housing/homelessness solutions. An Opp Now exclusive.
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This is how censorship begins
In this last election season, it was impossible not to notice how the local Left was trying to move the goalposts regarding acceptable political speech—at least for their opponents. While local progressive arguably indulged in race-baiting and homophobic rhetoric themselves, they contorted language and logic to claim, absurdly, that fair-minded critiques of far-left policies from centrists were beyond the Pale. Daniel Henninger at the Wall Street Journal unpacks the phenomenon of creeping censorship from the Left.
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☆ Halliday’s perspective: Historical literacy necessary for school district-level improvements
With 44.4% of the votes, Elisabeth Halliday was recently elected as a member of the Campbell Union High School District board (Area 2). Here, she sits down with Opp Now for an exclusive look at her Hopes & Fears moving forward — in particular, why ignorance of the past endangers local school boards. If “those who control the past control the future,” those who know the past can advocate for positive change.
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Reminder for Newsom: Modern CA lifestyles depend on crude oil
As Newsom ambitiously envisions Life Without Petroleum for California, America Out Loud’s Tom Harris offers a reminder: Crude oil derivatives, to be banned as non-renewable energy sources, are needed to create thousands of products CA’ns utilize in everyday living. Ban petroleum? Watch for shortages, inflated prices, and disastrously altered—much less modern—lifestyles.
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