One of the pressing challenges facing the city these days is a severe staffing shortage across all major departments. But, as long-time San Jose resident, community leader, and local history author Tobin Gilman notes, onerous paperwork to meet arcane DEI demands is making morale—and productivity—even worse. From Medium.
Read MoreHotAir’s John Sexton discusses pandemic-exacerbated declines in Bay Area Rapid Transit ridership. Since BART’s consistent funding requires residents commuting to the bygone physical office, Sexton wonders if the rail system will resort to mass layoffs and regular closures, which could spell “demise” for BART.
Read MoreIn this latest exclusive, Opp Now editor Lauren Oliver dives into and analyzes Stanford Law’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion—about which many are asking questions, post-The Judge Duncan Incident. Spoiler alert: They, and heckler-sympathizer Dean Steinbach, may not be doing all that much.
Read MoreThe executive director of the San Jose Police Officers Association has been charged with trying to illegally import synthetic opioid drugs and distribute them for more than seven years, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday. SF Chronicle and CBS News Bay Area reports below.
Read MoreIn the New York Times, Emily Badger and Larry Buchanan examine fiscal challenges of converting office buildings into housing, as considered in places like SJ. Due to high conversion costs, the produced rentals are generally unaffordable for the avg resident. Badger and Buchanan suggest tax abatements, subsidy programs, and relaxed zoning regulations could make conversions more financially attainable—for local developers and residents alike.
Read MoreSen. Cortese has coauthored the proposed AB 1, which would allow legislature members to participate in collective bargaining. But just how beneficial are public sector unions, to employees and taxpayers? In a Hoover Institution analysis, John O. McGinnis and Max Schanzenbach explain why public employee unions create unneeded, costly privileges to a sector already heavily protected and compensated. What’s more, the unions’ expand-taxes-to-expand-benefits cycle could contribute to CA’s outmigration crisis.
Read MoreHonor “Mimi” Robson, the immediate past Libertarian Party of CA chair, explains to Opp Now that if SJ scales back services and regulations to the bare essentials, taxpayers (local gov’t “customers”) are freer to lead productive and happy lives. Part of an exclusive series on SJ’s March Budget Message.
Read MoreFor two years, SJ’s Transportation Equity Task Force has existed to spotlight concerns of marginalization, which has unsurprisingly devolved into Woke anti-police ideology (for one, that East SJ officers have “criminalized Chicano culture, which inflates crime rates”). Coalition for a Better Oakland’s Steve Heimoff questions why local transportation depts centralize racial equity issues instead of working to make travel safe, easy, and efficient.
Read MoreThe Globe’s Edward Ring suggests that rather than fighting against new infrastructure projects (or further stifling laws on collecting, storing, and using water), Californian environmental advocates should be supporting wastewater treatment plant upgrades. Ring’s proposal below.
Read MorePete Constant unpacks a prominent—and misconception-ridden—anti-policing manifesto on the Silicon Valley Democratic Socialists’ website. Formerly a SJ policeman and SJ council member, Constant is now Chair of the Public Policy Department at William Jessup University (Rocklin) and board president at his local school board. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreThe Dept of Education has announced rollback of a “burdensome” exec order preventing public colleges from receiving grants “if they put limits on the activities of religious student organizations.” Conservatives are concerned in the wake of rampant anti-free speech protests, but Kyle Grow at SJSU’s Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) is quietly hopeful for continued First Amendment liberties. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreA recent vote by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to wean off and ultimately prohibit gas furnaces/water heaters has been widely questioned by economic and energy experts. Critics say the ordinance will be costly for locals and overwhelming for our electric grid, while meagerly beneficial to the environment. Ryan Mills at the National Review gives the details.
Read More
