The Globe's Evan Symon analyzes a key factor in SF's mounting homelessness crisis: Many homeless folks are being offered shelter but refuse the assistance—54%, according to recent research. Consequently, it's imperative that cities have the legal rights to 1) prohibit dangerous street encampments and 2) provide treatment for severely mentally ill individuals who are resistant.
Read MoreReform California's Carl DeMaio breaks down a list of tax hikes to expect if November's voters approve two controversial anti-Prop 13 bills: new mileage, healthcare, exit, savings, gas, utility, and local increases. Despite Bay Area voters' resounding support for Prop 13, State legislators—and SJ's City Council—are endorsing ACA 1 & 13's attempts to “gut” its safeguards by lowering the 66% voting threshold.
Read MoreSJ City Council has a bizarre habit of taking positions on statewide issues that run wildly contrary to what local citizens really want. In 2020, the Council voted unanimously to support expanding affirmative action in education with Prop 16—and local voters rejected 16 by a wide margin. In 1978, the Council voted to oppose Prop 13—and Prop 13 passed locally by a 2–1 margin. This year, history repeated itself as the Council voted to undermine Prop 13 by supporting ACA 1 and 10, and opposing the TPA initiative—even as polls show Prop 13 remains wildly popular. Tobin Gilman surveys the unrepresentative disconnects on Medium.
Read MoreSJ's Matt Mahan isn't the only Californian mayor speaking out against Prop 47, which demoted property thefts of less than $950 to misdemeanors. This fall, after a spiny altercation between 7-Eleven workers and an attempted robber, Stockton's mayor Kevin Lincoln observed how the proposition restricts law enforcement from protecting residents—thus creating more Unsafe Neighborhoods and Schools (isn't it ironic?). From WPDE ABC15.
Read MoreRoughly one-fourth of San Jose's offices were empty during 2023's first quarter, leaving residents dubious about leaders' promises of a revitalized post-Covid DTSJ. The Atlantic explains that office glut is now a nationwide problem—and is wreaking havoc on investors' interest rates, banks' loans, and (perhaps most importantly) municipal governments' property taxes.
Read MoreAs Newsom's CARE Court rolls out to seven counties (including SF), many are looking forward to its much-needed “overhaul” of CA's response to folks severely disabled by untreated mental illnesses or substance abuse. Local cities' hands are no longer “tied,” says the SF Standard, and can provide care to these residents who are endangering themselves.
Read MoreKenny Xu, prez of Color Us United, was a leading advocate in the successful fight for race-blind public school admissions (also backed by SCC GOP head Connolly and Palo Alto CM Tanaka). At the Liberty Forum of Silicon Valley, Xu unpacks how the Left's “equitable” educational paradigm exploits Asian and other minority students—by falsely, and dangerously, equating hard work/success with whiteness.
Read MoreArizona Republic cautions that Los Angeles' black market and drug-related crime have only risen since legalizing marijuana. Meanwhile, Gilroy CMs Hilton and Armendariz have high-fived the idea of authorizing pot business ops in the Garlic Capital, just like they're recognized in SJ and Mountain View—though others on Gilroy's City Council remain dubious.
Read MoreWhile the rest of the SJCC followed the admonitions of big state union interests, new D7 CM Bien Doan made a thoughtful and considered statement in support of the Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act (TPGAA) earlier this year. An excerpt from Doan's Council comments on 2.28 appears below.
Read MoreIn her Medium blog, Mayor Lydia Kou breaks down builder's remedy provisions, which sidestep local communities' approval of new construction as long as they qualify as “affordable” housing developments. Kou argues these provisions ignore true causes of housing inaccessibility, weakening local elected leaders' voices while barely—if at all—making SCC homes, yep, affordable.
Read MoreFreddie deBoer, longtime “old-school” Marxist/leftist, has extensively researched what he dubs the “Nonprofit Industrial Complex” for his book How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement. In this Opp Now exclusive, deBoer explains the prevailing phenomenon of underperforming homelessness nonprofits—and where the social justice-focused left is taking good intentions to grisly conclusions.
Read MoreThanks to urban-growth boundaries, most CA'ns inhabit cities that, together, occupy 5% of available State land. These pro-density boundaries make it much costlier for locals to develop and buy homes. Edward Ring argues in the Pacific Research Institute that artificial land constraints are unnecessary, impractical, and detrimental to already-struggling downtowns like SJ's.
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