While SJ is the least dangerous big Bay Area city, it isn't the safest big city in California (that's Sandy Eggo) and in fact ranks 46th out of 100 cities in California (over 50,000 pop.) when it comes to violent crimes. From a report by law firm Spolin and Dokes P.C.
Read MoreIn a Reason Foundation study, economist Pierre Lemieux envisions a “formal voluntary cooperation” model for healthcare. Considering individuals' willingness to cooperate with others to forward their interests, and entrepreneurs' ubiquitous profit motive, the health field could be propelled by innovative new institutions if gov't stepped back—and let local consumers shape the market. Meanwhile, Newsom and local Assemblyman Ash Kalra push for pricey “universal” coverage.
Read MoreFormer SJ D10 Charter Review commissioner Tobin Gilman scrutinizes the City and County's plan to make housing more cost-effective: by raising property owners' taxes (median of $1,250/month in SJ), via a $10–20 million regional bond. Bond funding would then go to counties for “building affordable housing.” But does it really make sense, asks Gilman on Medium, to make housing less affordable for one group in order to subsidize affordable housing for another?
Read MoreIn this Opp Now exclusive, three experts (SJSU's regional planning professor Kelly Snider, Bay Area Council's senior VP Matt Regan, and California YIMBY's research director Nolan Gray) parse the builder's remedy provision of CA's Housing Affordability Act—which lets developers bypass local zoning laws for affordable housing projects if that city's Housing Element is noncompliant. The provision has yet to be tested in court, as many jurisdictions are negotiating with—or, like SJ, throwing their hands up at—developers to prevent lawsuits.
Read MoreIt's a time-honored business nostrum that "you are what you measure." Housing expert Scott Beyer of the Market Urbanist takes a look at the beleaguered SJ Housing Dept's audit, and finds the organization's metrics confused, avoidant, and not very useful. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreHoward Jarvis Taxpayers Association's president Jon Coupal explains how California's unfunded pension liabilities, at nearly $250 billion (for SJ specifically: $3.6 billion), strain taxpayers, who must shoulder the price of overgenerous commitments. By switching from defined benefit to defined contribution plans, the State could reduce taxpayers' risks while maximizing retirees' returns. From the OC Register.
Read MoreLike SJ's system that reroutes street water into the SF Bay, LA's urban runoff heads straight to its county beaches. Currently, many of these beaches are warning residents to avoid the water at all costs, due to high fecal-indicator bacteria (FIB). City Journal connects LA's surging FIB numbers and sprawling homeless encampments in an insightful piece on preserving public safety.
Read MoreIn a hard-hitting Free Press piece, Neighbors Together Oakland's founder Seneca Scott observes that the Left assumes wealth/race divide people's perspectives on criminal justice, with only affluent white folks wanting fortified police forces. Instead, says Scott, minority residents in poorer neighborhoods are often the firmest advocates for beefed-up policing—because they're most impacted by unsafe living conditions.
Read MoreTwo San Jose AI companies—A-CX and InfoObjects—and UC Berkeley finance prof/AI researcher Anastassia Fedyk comment on Mayor Mahan and CM Cohen's initiative to promote local artificial intelligence innovation. Making AI “approachable,” they explain, involves tapping into population density, university talent, and civic problem-solving. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreThe Opp Now team dove into Reddit community r/BayArea to find out how local residents feel about Bay Area Rapid Transit, and the following comments—excerpted from a thread titled “Why does BART suck so much?”—are all things frank, tongue-in-cheek, and, yes, profoundly sobering for taxpayers. Fasten your seat belts.
Read MoreOver the last couple weeks, masses of students and faculty have advocated for the end of the Israeli people at universities such as Stanford, Berkeley, and UC Davis. In the LA Times, Cal's law dean Erwin Chemerinsky expresses horror about the discrimination Jewish folks have experienced on college campuses since Hamas' first attack—which some suspect is tied to DEI ideology's inherent antisemitism.
Read MoreFolks of all political stripes who want safer, more humane streets are banding together to request the SCOTUS review Johnson v. Grants Pass, which builds on Martin v. Boise by prohibiting cities from maintaining certain restrictions on street encampments. Similarly, San Jose's mayor—among others like San Diego's—wants the city to enforce more stringent rules on illegal camping. From the National Review.
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