San Jose unceremoniously booted from Top 10 largest US cities, still ranked one of “best places to live”
National rankings have confirmed what San Joseans have clearly discerned through and post Covid: SJ's population has dipped to the point of excluding the once-flourishing tech hub from the US's 10 biggest cities. While housing scarcity and unaffordability reach frightening highs, it's no shocker that residents are fleeing to areas with more hospitable policies. Yet, SJ rates #13 on U.S. News' "best places to live" list (#1 in CA) due to high quality of life—for the rare few who can afford to live in the 14th most expensive city. SF Chronicle & U.S. News report.
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☆ Opinion: Is Measure E a general tax or a special tax?
With all the wrangling and jockeying about how to best spend “Measure E Funds,” local small property owner Dean Hotop unpacks what kind of tax Measure E really is, and wonders if something's amiss. An Opp Now exclusive.
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Long-term nesters overwhelm SF's temporary housing
Surprise, surprise: After removing maximum stay limits on temporary homeless housing, San Francisco finds that the average guest checks out after roughly six months. Meanwhile, shelter space further dwindles, prompting calls for local land use deregulation, so that quickly-built tiny homes can serve the unhoused community. The SF Standard's analysis below.
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Poking CA's specious happiness claim
Don't be fooled by happiness studies in California, says California Focus's Thomas Elias. Those not high-tailing it to other states due to housing unaffordability (cough: SJ) are enjoying the Golden State's benefits and may register on multiple “happy” criteria, but many longtime residents feel forced to move elsewhere.
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Housing First, without services, doomed to fail
CityWatch LA's Tim Campbell describes how barrier-free housing programs, such as what SJ and LA provide, are not successful if used independently of other support measures—especially substance abuse and behavioral interventions. Many SJ locals like past councilmember Johnny Khamis are calling for more comprehensive strategies to address homelessness.
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Opinion: The Right shouldn't give up on CA
As mass conservative exoduses to red states like Florida persist, Edward Ring reminds us in American Greatness that realigning California to common-sense values is possible. That CA, even considering the prevalence of tribal hostility and wild “-ism” accusations, can't be dismissed as a “lost cause.”
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☆ Disinformation: Nonprofit housing advocates mislead in effort to slow growing momentum for Mahan's Measure E reallocation plans
Local affordable housing advocates have always had an arm's length relationship with the truth (remember when their brutally expensive Housing First strategy would solve homelessness by 2020?). But when their hand-outs from local governments get threatened (as in Mahan's proposed Measure E reallocation), the distance between fact and fiction more closely resembles a Grand Canyon. The Opp Now team exclusively fact checks four of their most questionable claims, based on public documents.
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☆ Separating fact from fiction on Measure E Reallocation
Panicked nonprofits and housing advocates are spinning all sorts of nonsense in their efforts to hold onto their poorly-spent Measure E proceeds. Local Real Estate Agent Mark Burns cuts through the yak to provide a clear-eyed understanding of what Measure E was supposed to do, and how to ethically and intelligently spend those monies. An Opp Now exclusive.
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Opinion: SF's “Homeward Bound” was far more successful than barrier-free housing
SF's Homeward Bound program subsidized homeless individuals' transportation back to their hometowns (at $280/trip), which helped many reunite with family members and caregivers. The city has since sunsetted the program as a stand-alone approach. The SF Examiner's Eric Jaye contrasts HB's efficacy/low cost with lingering “solutions” like Housing First (which is both unhelpful and incredibly expensive).
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BART user survey: Safety/cleanliness keeping most riders away
In KRON4, Alex Baker and Charles Clifford analyze the completely foreseeable findings of the Bay Area Council's recent BART survey: If our local transit system had tighter security and was cleaned more often, residents would take more frequent trips. Bay Area leaders claim they're taking steps to effect safer, more vibrant transportation; but it'll take more than lip service to reverse near-universal concerns.
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The illusory heretic: Case study of SF Democrats' exclusion
Is everything “far-right” now? SF's Dem Central Commitee lambasted a newly-founded Dem family club for a litany of absurd complaints—including the unfounded suspicion that the co-founders are racist or, worse, conservative. Bari Weiss discusses the leftist phenomenon of nervously name-calling anyone signaling individualism, and how this undermines language's impact over time.
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Surging minimum wage harms SJ's less wealthy residents, says expert
Minimum wage in SJ is, as per usual, on the rise, and is now sitting pretty at $17/hr. David John Marotta explains in Forbes that increasing the local minimum wage disproportionately hurts less privileged, lower-income residents—who find they've been replaced by more qualified (or even automated) counterparts.
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