Continuing an Opp Now exclusive series, SV economic commentators Pat Waite and Pierluigi Oliverio assert that—in a welcome surprise in the world of local politics—SJ’s March Budget Message spotlights the core issues Mayor Mahan championed while campaigning.
Read MoreIn the ongoing dispute over whether local progressive nonprofits break ethical and legal regulations with their aggressive lobbying of City staff and politicians, former council member and current Planning Commissioner chair Pierluigi Oliverio offers a reasoned compromise: treat all advocacy activity the same. An exclusive interview with Opp Now.
Read MoreMayor Mahan famously said in his inaugural address that "We need to pay attention to what isn't working as much as what is." In the same spirit, local housing providers Roberta Moore and Irene Smith explain how the Housing Dept's proposed COPA program doubles down on the legacy of failed, overly complex, and hyper-regulated strategies that have brought about our current housing and affordability crisis. From Medium.
Read MoreTransit commentator Randal O’Toole and SV Taxpayers Association president Mark Hinkle analyze SJ’s March Budget Message in an exclusive Opp Now breakdown. The experts suggest that by abolishing SJ’s urban-growth boundary and taking another look at zoning legislation, the City can solve issues of homelessness, job shortages, and affordable housing.
Read MoreThe SCC Democrats are encouraging locals to call Gov. Newsom's office to approve of his cutting ties with Walgreens for not stocking abortion pills in their pharmacies. However, Opp Now contributor Olivia Summers (American Center for Law & Justice’s Senior Ligitation Counsel) is concerned that this sets a precedent for ideological blacklisting—and pressure to break state laws to follow a pro-abortion agenda. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreKristen Clements, Acting Deputy Director of SJ’s Housing Department, provides some refinements regarding the HD’s upcoming COPA proposal, in response to statements in a previous Opp Now article that included community comments on COPA. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreIn the CA Political News and Views, two Walnut Creek School Board candidates from the last cycle share their concerns about the district’s approach to a new vacancy: Rather than abiding by voters’ choice next in line, the WCSD is designating a replacement through a selection process—led by existing board members. If this “bureaucratic groupthink” sounds familiar to San Joseans… it’s probably because it is.
Read MoreIn the California Globe, Ken Kurson dispels the ubiquitous post-Reagan myth that progressives care about protecting the environment while conservatives—just don’t. Rather than only criticizing political environmental follies (case in point: CA’s HSR money pit), local free market advocates should endorse beneficial initiatives that maintain the community’s energy sources while upholding global human rights.
Read MoreSome experienced cannabis cultivators like Mendocino County’s Brandon Wheeler are barely making ends meet since Prop 64 legalized recreational weed sales, along with a slew of burdensome licensing requirements. CalMatters’ Alexei Koseff discusses why certification was “nearly impossible” for Wheeler, and what this widespread experience means for CA’s cannabis economy.
Read MoreOn the heels of SJ Spotlight's insightful piece regarding the cozy, mostly hidden relationship between local nonprofits and the City that helps fund them, the excellent SFStandard.com reports on how nonprofits in San Francisco can leverage huge sums of taxpayer dollars for political activity while neglecting their core mission.
Read MoreDo local progressive nonprofits step outside ethical and legal boundaries when they lobby the same City that funds them? As SJ Spotlight wonders, should they be treated like lobbyists? Opp Now co-founder Christopher Escher talked to nonprofit attorney Scott Hartley of Hartley Law (full disclosure: he’s also Opp Now’s lawyer) to get some clarity about the parameters that apply to nonprofits when it comes to political activity.
Read MoreLuke Burgis at the Free Press appraises the recent shuttering of the Silicon Valley Bank and how “mimetic contagion” (rapidly spreading copycat behaviors) in the local tech industry played its part. Soon after several widely circulated Tweets blasted the SV Bank’s mismanagement of assets, $42 billion were hastily removed—in a single day. Below, Burgis’s examination on “the power of suggestion” at work.
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