The loss of CA'n companies continues to take a toll on the Bay Area's once-vibrant economy, particularly in Downtown SF—where announcements of yet another closed shop have become a regular, and seemingly never-ending, refrain. The California Globe's Katy Grimes analyzes how CA's exorbitant income tax is forcing out businesses and individuals, who frequently relocate to friendlier states like Texas.
Read MoreHomeless shelters without behavioral requirements are known to endure some gnarly treatment by residents who sidestep much-needed rehabilitation for mental illness/addiction (see: LA's Skid Row Housing Trust disaster). KQED reports that SF is expected to pay millions in property damage to Hotel Whitcomb, which housed people during the pandemic—and supervised “safer” (though noting 18 overdoses) hard drug use.
Read MoreGrowSF reports that California plans to keep local transit agencies afloat, according to the latest budget revision. However, BART's essential problems—pervasive passenger drug use, violence, and unclean conditions—will remain. A sharp 180 turn is needed, says GrowSF, to ensure people are comfortable taking public transportation again in the Bay Area.
Read MorePat Waite, president of Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility (CFR) in San Jose, unravels a Biz2Credit report that drops the City from #1 best city for small businesses in 2022 to #7 in 2023. He attributes our dismal new ranking to a business-unfriendly regulatory climate. But what's more boggling: San Francisco has made its way to the nation's top spot—and Waite isn't quite buying it. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreThe California Policy Center's Sheridan Swanson breaks down a recent LA Area Chamber of Commerce research study, which finds that CA's long-competitive economic standing is, yes, being eroded: by overbearing regulations and unaffordable costs of living. If local gov't relaxed our restrictive laws, says Swanson, we'd encourage creativity in a historically innovative, tech-progressive state.
Read MoreDistricts around the Bay continue mixing instruction with ideological agendas, while ignoring basic performance failures and budgetary follies. Atascadero USD board member Rebekah Koznek exhorts CA'n school districts to refocus on teaching students valuable skills and spend funds more moderately. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreThe phrase “book banning” is becoming a greater concern for parents and educators (prompting some districts like the FMSD to make official—perhaps heavyhanded—resolutions against such prohibitions). Both the Left and Right have led bans on literature/curriculum of all kinds, with no signs of stopping. Reason's Ilya Somin suggests that school choice policies would allow parents to select an institution that aligns with their values, and this could reduce censorship efforts.
Read MoreWhen it comes to outlandish assertions, San Joseans have seen it all from left- and labor-backed news sites. California Globe commentator Thomas Buckley explores how many media outlets have abandoned the "Pentagon Papers Principle" and now prioritize bias-driven, advocacy-oriented narratives over, you know, verifiable facts.
Read MoreAtascadero Unified School District board member Rebekah Koznek campaigned on several key priorities, including trade school opportunities for students. This rings true for San Joseans, given that the City's primary tech ed school, Silicon Valley CTE, is seeing recently increased enrollment via added programs (whereas Covid-era stats were less encouraging). Koznek argues in this Opp Now exclusive that the Silicon Valley should better promote trade schools to HS students.
Read MoreIt's no secret that folks with dependents find it challenging to afford Bay Area living. Since the pandemic, California has welcomed many single people to its golden shores, but families are, in worrying numbers, shrinking away from CA's sky-high expenses. The OC Register's Jonathan Lansner analyzes this imbalance in light of CA's extensive population losses.
Read MoreSan Jose's nonprofit affordable housing complex took a body blow earlier this month, as its widely discredited Housing First strategy was—for the first time—examined fully in a frisky citywide public debate. And the end result was a compromise weakening nonprofits' unquestioned control over Measure E spending. Planning Commission Chair Pierluigi Oliverio and Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility chief Pat Waite parse the politics of it all and the way forward for our homeless neighbors and advocates of smart housing policies. First in an Opp Now exclusive series.
Read MoreIf State legislature is good at one thing, it's enshrining new liberties into our constitution that residents find puzzling, polarizing, and even downright paradoxical. Their latest proposed addition (ACA 10) establishes a "fundamental human right" to housing. Opp Now sat down with a local real estate expert, housing provider, researcher, and urban policy analyst to parse ACA 10 for the Bay Area's housing market. A variety of exclusive perspectives below.
Read More
