To address high living costs, SJ insists on archaic market controls that artificially—and dangerously—cap tenants' rents. As Loyola University's Victoria Perrie and Walter Block explain in Political Dialogues, rent control interferes with housing providers' capacity to maintain and profit from their units, which keeps investors out of the market, restricts housing stock, and dampens competitive rent pricing.
Read MoreAt the Federalist Society’s National Lawyers Convention, Bari Weiss (Free Press founder and editor) explains how many universities avert constitutional mandates and discriminate against certain students' ideas: via disproportionate “fees,” logistical hurdles, and shaming/pressure. Weiss recalls Stanford speaker Judge Kyle Duncan, whose hecklers were defended by then-DEI dean Steinbach (who, oddly, went on to praise free speech in a WSJ op-ed).
Read MoreThe San Jose City Council voted this year to support ACA 1, which proposes California reduce its two-thirds voter approval requirement to 55% for “infrastructure” projects (read: most tax increases). The Sacramento Business Journal's Ken Monroe points out that small mom-and-pop businesses will be burdened the most if ACA 1 passes, as many can't afford legal teams to parse (more) tax hikes and onerous regulations.
Read MoreSupe Ellenberg and Sen Cortese are teaming up to pilot a guaranteed income program for 50 homeless SCC students. Local media lauds this purported win for equity, but others like Forbes' Marco Annunziata observe the project's crucial flaw: It enables an imbalanced job market, in which needed but less universally enjoyed jobs (plumber, janitor, welder, etc.) are sidelined—exacerbating skill shortages.
Read MoreEarlier this year at the SJ City Council, Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association (SVTA) board member Elizabeth Brierly advocated for the Taxpayer Protection and Gov't Accountability Act, which would protect Prop 13 against loopholes. For pro-Prop 13 voters like SCC's, Brierly asserts that the Act would empower them to keep gov't in their lane (and, phew, budget).
Read MoreLocal political watchers have a warning for SCC residents: All those nice-sounding words in ballot initiatives could be camouflaging their real intent. Why the subterfuge? Maybe pols “think we're too stupid to understand what's good for us... like how you give a dog a pill and cover it in peanut butter,” says Manhattan Institute's Tim Rosenberger, Jr. Or perhaps they're simple money/power grabs, according to taxpayer advocate Jon Coupal and SCC Libertarian officeholder Brian Holtz. Below, more insights in this exclusive Opp Now series.
Read MoreIn 2014, California voters (perhaps bamboozled by its now-ironic title “The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act”) voted “yes” to prosecuting property crimes under $950 as misdemeanors rather than felonies via Prop 47. Almost a decade later, city leaders, police chiefs, and residents are condemning the law's consequences on widespread and largely unpunished crime. Palo Alto's mayor Lydia Kou joins the conversation, pointing out that everyone—“even the addicts it purported to help”—is hurting from Prop 47.
Read MoreThe Silicon Valley Business Journal reports that the Bumb family has filed to remove the office space portion of their Flea Market development (leaving only residential/retail space), via the '80s-established “builder's remedy” provision. The Bumbs' consultant cites SJ's struggling office market. While CM Cohen thinks the Bumbs did the “right thing,” Mayor Mahan calls this emergent downsizing/downzoning pattern a “perversion of state law.”
Read MoreIn an exclusive Opp Now interview, Adam Mayer—a Bay Area architect/designer specializing in adaptive reuse—explains why converting offices to apartments proves an elusive endeavor that isn't usually profitable for developers. Mayer suggests that local gov'ts focus less on cutting red tape for conversion projects, and work more to revitalize their downtowns by encouraging commercial activity.
Read MoreJust 1 of 26 University of California Regents has spoken out against the Ethnic Studies Faculty Council's 10.16 statement, which equated labeling the Hamas attack “terrorism” with a malevolent “colonial narrative” bent on ethnic cleansing. Campus Reform reports that Jay Sures—UC Regent since 2019—criticized the council's letter as “appalling and repugnant,” given what he claims are “absolutely verifiable and undeniable” facts.
Read MoreIn the second installment of an exclusive Opp Now series, three contributors—UC Berkeley College Republicans' Utkarsh Jain, public policy prof Joel Fox, and local housing provider Dean Hotop—analyze how State gov't performs verbal sleight-of-hand when it comes to titling and describing ballot measures.
Read MoreThe Independent Institute looks into San Francisco's widespread problem of developers bribing low-level bureaucrats to speed up the permitting process. On the other hand, cities like Houston that minimize red tape and quickly issue permits don't face such rampant corruption. The Institute connects SF's excessive building codes/permitting procedures to its escalated bribery scandals (and housing shortages).
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